Sassi da Kallara

They call it Sassi da Kallara, or simply Kaalar, and connect it to the popular legend of Sassi, the washerman’s daughter of Bhambore in Sindh, who here becomes a princess, and Punnu, the prince of Kech (Makran), who is transformed into a camel driver. Standing on the crest of a crumbly clay and sandstone ridge on the banks of the seasonal Leti Kas (Stream) in the extreme northwest corner of Talagang tehsil, the stubby ruin is visible from a distance. Built with large kiln fired bricks (440 mm to 480 mm x 260 mm x 50 mm), it is the only Hindu Shahya temple in the Salt Range to use this material. All others being constructed with porous, fossileferous limestone.

Situated at the very edge of the crumbly hill, the building raised above a high plinth of limestone blocks, is entered from the east via the remains of a portico that fell away years ago. Indeed, the erosion that undermined the entrance now threatens to sweep away the entire building. Inside, the floor of the cella has been partially dug up, very likely by treasure hunters. The walls, fortunately, are intact, above which the original roof has been replaced by a cement and steel dome - the brave attempt of some concerned archeologist to preserve the deteriorating structure.

While Kaalar largely follows the pattern of decoration of the other Salt Range temples, there are two unusual elements seen in this building. In the interior, just below the squinches above which the dome springs, there runs a band of chequer motifs all around, while on the exterior the elaborate and beautiful two-depth rosettes. The rosette, it needs be said, is believed to be a manifestation of the sun brought to the subcontinent by Persian sun worshipping travellers or immigrants as early as the beginning of the Christian era. To the Hindu stone mason this must have seemed a pleasing embellishment regardless of its extra-Vedic origin, and one to be incorporated into the grand design of temple ornamentation. Strangely, it yet remained restricted to this temple alone.

The three external facades are decorated in the prevalent style of the period with a niche topped by a trefoil finial that experts believe to be a rendition of the Buddhist stupa. This is flanked by square pilasters topped with ornamental capitals. Above these, all around the building, runs a band of triangular motifs over which there is an arrangement of semi-circular representations of stupas interspersed with chequer designs topped by a band of bold rosettes. Above these, and rising to the top of the building, is an interconnected and coherent repetition of yet more miniature stupa renditions, three leafed clovers and other curvilinear forms.

At the bottom of all this, just above the plinth, is a band of broad petalled flowers. Together with the rosettes, the chequer design, the use of kiln fired bricks, this feature makes the temple of Kaalar remarkable and unique among the Salt Range temples.

The open hill top is strewn with the ruined foundations of houses and pottery shards. A date, if one can at all be assigned, comes from the find of a single coin of King Venkadeva who ruled in the latter years of the 8th century AD. Such an early date seems unlikely. The building probably dates from the 10th century, when coins of Venkadeva were still legal tender in the country.

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