MADAN MOHAN TEMPLE OF BISHNUPUR

An oeuvre of the delicate wall reliefs from Madan Mohan temple of Bishnupur

The imposing facade of Madan Mohan temple.Wall-reliefs of identical size adorn the entire surface of the temple.

Madan Mohan temple is one of the finest  terra cotta temples built by  the Malla dynasty of Bishnupur . It was built by Durjana Singh Deva in 1694 AD  and was used for worshiping the royal family's 'griha-devata' .  The temple can be called a classic 'Ek-ratna' temple - I was awed by the sense of proportion.The large 'Nata Mandir' on the south makes photography of the entire facade a little difficult. Yet the 10.7 m tall and 12.2 m wide temple create a very imposing impression .


Very noteworthy are the work on the three pillars too - fluidity of movement of Krsna and  the iconic scene from 'Nouka Khanda'. Seduction of Radha was often an inspiration to the artists of terra cotta panels .  

A section of the wall - reliefs.

I felt that  the  Shyama-Raya, Jor-Bangla and Madan Mohan temples were very  carefully planned - each has an unique visual appeal, an individual character. I have visited numerous terra cotta temples of West Bengal, seen many photographs and read dozens of books and articles on the same. I am yet to come across any critique on the criteria  of aesthetically proportioned temple structure. If any reader can help me in this matter, I shall request him/her to leave a 'comment' on this page....Coming back to Madan Mohan temple, one will find Krsnaleela and dance are the high points of this temple. Also famous is the series of swans . Very watchable are the processions of cows and swans too, much like the 'Ganas' of the cave temples of Badami.

The pillars of the arches are , as expected, are beautifully decorated. The very 1st 'NabaNaareeKunjar' can be found on 'Jor-Bangla' temple - but, the one in this temple is more famous. Please view my blog on this human composite in  http://hubpages.com/hub/icon_ttob_2.  

Those who keenly follow the 'Krsna Leelaa'  wall -reliefs on terra cotta temples, based on Vaisnavite themes, will find that  while creating these panels, the artists have tried to introduce variations. Two 'Nouka Khanda' wall-reliefs at Jor-Bangla and Madan Mohan temples stand out  for their beauty.

Two stages of seduction of Radha. On the RH, Krsna is seen seducing Radha. 

He embraces Radha on the LH side as a Gopini , while rowing, shuts her eyes !

Central pillar - beautifully crafted. 

As lyrical as  writings of  Vidyapati - Candidas 

Dancers and swans run across the length of the temple.

 I suggest the tourists never may not fail capture the panels in their camera.

TIMELINE OF SIX BEAUTIES AMONG TERRA COTTA TEMPLES

Those lovely temples......not easy to choose the 'beauties' !


I am very late in starting my 3rd Blog, for the simple reason I could not decide what the 3rd blog would be about.Will it be a blog containing   a selection of wall panels with descriptions  or the Timeline ? Finally, I decided on the Timeline.... and the reader  may kindly excuse me for the error in spelling of 'Raja Ramanath Roy - one of the two patrons of Kantaji's temple.

The hesitation I had is not only because of the problem of editing an 'Excel saved-as Jpeg' file. I was wondering if I am being fare to Pratapeswar temple of Kalna and the cluster of temples of Baronagar.Well, it is very difficult to decide. Eventually, I decided to publish the Timeline I prepared 2+ years ago. It is here :

Tmeline contains temples' photos,Patrons' names and respective years of constructuin.
Please click on this Timeline for having a larger view on your monitor. 

If a person wants to cover all these temples, except for the one in Bangladesh, with her/his hub in Calcutta, s/he must have  atleeast 4 full days in her/his disposal. At least 2 days for Bishnupur and 1 day each for Antpur and Bansberia.

At  and around,Bishnupur, there are more than 3 temples worth visiting plus a very nice , though small, museum which has a very helpful Curator. Mr Chittaranan Dasgupta , a well known figure among Bishupur terra cotta's historians , often cones to the museum in the afternoon - one can visit the temple at Kotalpur       ( different from a village of the same name from in Bankura district). Ditto about Antpur. One word of warning - Photography @ Bishnupur Museum is not allowed . Couple of years ago, I found getting permission for photography at  RadhaGovindjiu's temple at Antpur was difficult too . But, for a serious student of Hindu Iconography, these temples offer rich reward.

Before I close this blog, I would like  to mention  a few specialities of Pratapeswar temple and the cluster at Baronagar. Pratapeswar temple is a Deul type construction , with a distinct style of art.The social scenes stamd out.Baronagar temples' cluster offer a grand display of mythology  and social scenes. More on these temples in later blogs.

THE BEGINNING AT BISHNUPUR :

A robbery in the Malla kingdom in 16th century changed the face of Bengal's architecture. Vaishnav guru Srinivas Acharya and two other greats, Narattoma Das and Shyamanand were taking three cartloads of scriptures from Vrindavan to Puri . The writings were priceless.....these carts contained books by great Vaishnavites Sri Jeeva Goswami, Sri Rup Goswami and Raghunath Das among others *.The dacoits knew that cartloads of great treasure were being moved from one location to another.They had no other clue. There were only ten foot soldiers 'protecting' these cartloads. The 'treasure' was easily looted during one night when all the travelers were asleep. This happened at Gopalpur village, within the territory of the Malla king.

Srinivas Acharya stayed back in Bengal determined to recover the books .The robbers' allegiance was to the local King Vir Hambir. Srinivas had a face-to-face interaction with his court's religious supremo Vyasacharya where Srinivas Acharya demonstrated his depth of knowledge regarding Vaishnav religion. King became his ardent disciple and the books were restored to Srinivas.

WELCOME TO MY BLOGS on TERRA COTTA TEMPLES of BENGAL

The amazing world

of Bengal's architecture

It was a couple of years before my retirement from professional life.... I was traveling to Delhi in a train. A Dancer from Calcutta was also traveling to Delhi in the same cubicle. She was looking forward to a performance where she would present to the Delhi audience a repertoire on dances of Bengal. While explaining her repertoire, she mentioned that some details of her presentation is based on research on the classical dance postures found on the temples of Bengal. This was revelation to me. I have visited some of the best preserved/restored temples of Bengal, enjoyed the architecture and the artistic sculptures adorning the walls, took many photographs of the same ….. but did not observe the details of the then society depicted . I was more attracted to the mythological depictions.

Slowly, a desire to revisit these temples with a camera and cover more temples at the next opportunity grew within me …. but, only after, after doing more homework. During this phase, I have come across interesting books and writings on history and architecture of the TERRACOTTA TEMPLES of Bengal .

Here I share with the visitors of this site with what I found interesting during my journey through the amazing world of the wonders of terra cotta temples of Bengal .

With time and more details, I hope, these pages will bring out more of the treasure many artistes created and bequeathed to us.......