Two local feudatories, Maharaja Mātṛviṣṇu and his younger brother Dhanyaviṣṇu, raised a twin temple, under the shadow of the 13-meter-tall 'Column of Janardana' (Vishnu/Krishna), marking the area's religious and cultural significance.

The Rīsthal Inscription of Mālava Year 572 (515 CE) documents the successful reestablishment of order in Daśapura by King Prakāśadharman with the help of the powerful Naigama merchant family.

This religious change emphasized the revival, as the sixth-century Aulikara rulers dropped Vaisnavism, the original state religion, in favor of a vigorous and militant form of Shaivism.

This form of Shaivism, which was linked with the Pāśupata movement, was from the region between the Narmadā and Mahī and became established in Gujarat and Rajasthan, backed by an interconnected system of temples and Mathas.

Shaivism introduced new characteristics, such as the appearance of Śiva in the form of the Brahmin named Lakulīśa, which provided ordinary people access to superhuman powers (siddhi) and divine weapons through instructions learned from human gurus (achāryas) who were said to be the very personification of the Lord himself in ritual practice.

First among these are the colossal Śiva Śūlapāṇi stele in Daśapura, perhaps commissioned by Bhagavaddosa under the patronage of King Prakāśadharman in the Prakāśeśvara Temple, which, according to the Rīsthal Inscription, was "the ornament of Bhāratavarṣa (India)."

About 3 meters in height, this stele rivaled its Vaiṣṇava counterpart, the Varāha statue of Eran, erected by Dhanyaviṣṇu during the conquest of Toramāṇa and similarly renowned as "the pillar of the universe.