Group of Temples, Amarkantak

Amarkantak is a Hindu pilgrimage town in Anuppur district, Madhya Pradesh, situated at an altitude of around 1,000 metres where the Vindhya, Satpura and Maikal ranges meet, and revered as the source of the Narmada, Son and Johila rivers. The Group of Temples here, protected by the Archaeological Survey of India, brings together the archaeologically significant temples of the town within a single complex close to the main Narmada temple.

The temples were built by the Kalachuri dynasty of Tripuri, which shaped the architectural character of the site between the 10th and 13th centuries. The largest is the Karna temple, named after the Kalachuri king Karna, with three sanctums raised on a common platform sharing a single mandapa; other structures in the group include the Machhendranath, Pataleshwar and Kailash Narayan temples. The Karna, Shiva and Pataleshwar temples were declared protected monuments under the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, 1904, in December 1952.