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Regarding the site, the District Gazetteer of Shahabad (1924) mentions:-
“At Deo Markandeya, a village in the Sasaram subdivision, five miles north of Nasriganj, 37 miles to the south of Arrah and a few miles west of the Son near the Sasaram-Arrah road, there are three temples and three isolated lingas standing on a large mound covered with bricks. The principal one enshrines statues of Vishnu and Surya, of a very crude fabric and probably of a late period. The second temple merely has an image of Surya; and the third, which is still a place of religious worship has a linga with four heads (Chaumukhi Mahadeo). The inhabitants quote a Sanskrit verse which says that the main temple was built in Vikram Sambat 120 (AD 63) by Gobhavini, the queen of Raja Phulchand Chero; and General Cunningham assigns the temples to the rule of the Cheros in Shahabad in the sixth or seventh century. Later investigation shows, however that they are not very old. (see Reports ASI, Vol XIX, 1885, and Report ASBC, for 1903-04).”
The Shahabad Gazetteer (1966) further mentions “The principal archaeological remains at the place are the ruins of two Brahmanical temples and an old tank called the Suraj Pokhara. The oldest temple called Deo Markandeya ka Shivalaya was already in ruins when Garrick visited the place in 1881. There is a smaller temple known as Suraj Shivalaya or the Sun temple. Sun temples are rather rare in Bihar. There are remains of some cells.”
To be continued....