During structural restoration work on a 9th-century Gurjara-Pratihara temple in Morena, Madhya Pradesh, conservators discovered a hidden Vedic fire altar (Yajna Kunda) situated directly beneath the floor of the main mandapa. This discovery suggests that the temple was built atop a much older site of Vedic ritual worship, providing a rare physical link between earlier sacrificial traditions and later temple-based Hinduism.
The fire altar is constructed of specialized terracotta bricks and shows signs of ritual use, including carbonized remains of organic offerings. This find is expected to reshape the understanding of architectural evolution in Central India, indicating that early medieval temples often incorporated and preserved older sacred spaces rather than replacing them entirely.