The best preserved of the three is the Vishnu temple with both mandapa and garbhagriya standing. The temple has a pancha-ratha plan, with two bands of images over its jangha. The notable artwork on the outer walls that can be identified include Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parvati, and Vaikuntha. The sanctum is flanked by Ganga and Yamuna goddesses, with Vishnu on his vahana Garuda at the lalata-bimba. On either side of the lintel are Brahma and Shiva.

The second of three temple had a mandapa, but this is lost. The front of the original temple was restored in the 21st century. The outer walls have much artwork, of which the notable and better preserved are those of Narasimha, Saraswati and Ganesha.

The third temple faces east and was likely dedicated to Shiva. The artwork found here include Ganesha, Parvati, Saraswati and Gajalakshmi.

Background:

Kadwaya – also referred to as Kadwaha, Kadambaguha and Mattamayurapura – is a historic Hindu site in north Madhya Pradesh. With ancient roots, Kadwaya developed into a monumental Hindu temples town between 8th and 11th century. By the 12th century, it contained over fifteen group of temples, a Shaiva monastery-college site, a range of wells, gardens, and water tanks, according to the scholar Tamara Sears. Kadwaha's rapid growth and fame was partly because of its significance to a Mattamayuras-related Shiva tradition as well as partly because it was on the trade route between the northern kingdoms including those in the Yamuna-Ganga river plains and those in the Deccan and central Indian valleys.

Mattamayuras literally means "drunken Peacocks". This site was not exclusive to the Shaiva tradition; of the fifteen temple groups, five were dedicated to Vishnu, the other ten a blend of Shaiva-Shakta (that is, Shiva and Devi-goddess traditions).

The town was among the earliest targets of conquest by the Delhi Sultanate. The monastery built around itself a fort, in response to attacks and plunder in the 13th century. The town and this fort was conquered by the Tughluq army of the Delhi Sultanate and converted into an Islamic outpost with mosque. It later became a strategic outpost for the Mughals. During this period, many of the temples were reduced to ruins and desecrated. Of these, nine sites of Hindu temples, the Shaiva monastery along with many inscriptions have survived into the modern age. These are important to an objective understanding of the history of central India.

For further scholarly discussions:

• Arvind Singh, Kadwaha temples, in Art, Icon and Architecture in South Asia, pp. 361–382
• Tamara Sears, Following River Routes and Artistic Transmissions in Medieval Central India
• Saurabh Saxena, Kadwaya – The Vestiges of the Mattamayuras