Bishnupur: temple town and cultural hub of West Bengal

The name of Bishnupur is mentioned in the novel Durgesh Nandini written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. Earlier, this small hamlet was known as Van Bishnupur. Van Bishnupur was the capital of erstwhile state of Mallabhum that included parts of Bankura, Burdwan, Midnapur, Murshidabad of West Bengal as well as Chotonagpur of Bihar. The rulers of Bishnupur were called Mallaraj.
These rulers reigned from seventh century to nineteenth century. These rulers were part of the ups and downs of the Indian history. Sometimes they rose to the zenith and sometimes fell to the deepest gorge. Whoever ruled India, they tried to keep Bishnupur under their control; sometimes they succeeded, sometimes not. Sometimes the rulers of Bishnupur revolted against the central rulers, fought with them and even defeated them.
All these are not history; some are myths and some are folklores. Yet local people still cherish these and love to share with pride.

Jayanagar was a small princely state near Vrindavan. The king of Jayanagar started for a religious trip to Puri. On the way at Laugram his wife gave birth to a son. The king left his wife and the new born to a local priest and continued his journey. The boy grew up at the brahmin’s place and he was taking care of his herd of cows. One day he took the cows for grazing and fell asleep. To protect the boy’s face from the ray of the sun a snake shaded the face of the boy with his hood. Seeing this, the Brahmin realized that this boy is not an ordinary one. He arranged for his studies. This boy did not excel only in studies but also in wrestling or Mallayudh. Later he became a local king and settled his capital at Pradymnapur. He was the founder king of Bishnupur and was known as Adi-Malla alias Raghunath.

Raghunath’s decendant Jagat Malla shifted his capital to Bishnupur. The palace and the temple of goddess Mrinmoyee was made by him.

The fame and glory of Bishnupur rose to its peak under the rule of Bir Hambir, the 49th king of Mallabhum. He was contemporary with Akbar. He is known to defeat the pathan rulers like Daud Khan, thereby befriended the Mughals. Bir Hambir was deeply influenced by Sri Nibas Acharya, a deciple of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Thus he became a Vaishnav – worshipper of Lord Vishnu. May be Bishnupur got its name from Lord Vishnu.

With time, a number of Vishnu temples were built at Bishnupur by different kings. Rasmancha, Jorbangla, Radhashyam are a few of them. Seven large water bodies called Bunds were also dug by them.

Renowned musician of Seni Gharana, Ustad Bahadur Khan came to Bishnupur during the reign of Raghunath the 2nd . This started another important cultural heritage, the Bishnupur Gharana of music. This gharana is still an important part of Indian classical music.

The small sub-divisional town of Bankura district of West Bengal, Bishnupur, is known for its terra-cotta temples. There are more than ten noted temples in Bishnupur but all are not made of terra-cotta.
RASMANCHA
Rasmancha is the most renowned terra-cotta structure of Bishnupur. Constructed during the reign of Bir Hambir this square structure is 24.5 metres in dimension and 12.5 metres in height. The architectural design of Rasmancha is quite unique and is rarely found in India. The upper part is pyramidal in shape that comes down and takes the shape of Bengal hut. The lower portion has Islamic arches. The base of Rasmancha is made of stone but the upper portions are made of brick.
Ras yatra is a month long festival that is associated with the love story of Lord Krishna with Sri Radhika during his tenure at Vrindavan. From 1600 AD to 1932 AD Rasmancha was the centre of Ras festival of Bishnupur. Now a days Ras festival is celebrated in the Krishnaganj & Madhabganj area of Bishnupur.
MADAN MOHAN TEMPLE
Madan Mohan Temple is a live temple. The deity of Madan Mohan is still worshipped here. This temple was built by Malla King Durjan Singh in 1694.The temple is based on a square plinth. The dimension of the temple is 12.2 metres and the height is 10.7 metres. On the top of the flat square roof there is a lofty tower. Such style is called EkRatna style. The walls of the temple contains some of the best terra-cotta sculptures depicting scenes from the life of Lord Krishna, Ramayana, Mahabharat, motifs of birds and animals etc.

Good thread Chiradip. This would be of interest for people bound to the temple town!

Thank you. I am just trying to bring all available information on Bishnupur under one thread so that people can use it if required.

Good initiative I would say! I strongly feel that the temples of Bishnupur have all the potential to be great tourist attractions...for us, people who have been there know that for sure. However, correct me if I am wrong, the place mainly attracts tourists from West Bengal the only, and is yet to be a prominent name in the national tourism map. I guess with threads like this, the scenario might change!

I strongly agree to what you say. There are quite a few destinations in West Bengal that have high potential to be a prominent tourist spot. Tourists for West Bengal mostly head for Darjeeling and adjoining areas. They hardly have any idea on other tourist attractions of the state.
Here is a list of places that can be promoted (it is my personal listing, others can ofcourse ammend it):

Forest: Gorumara, Chapramari & Raiganj
History & Culture: Gour, Murshidabad and Bishnupur
Nature: Mukutmanipur
Tribal: Purulia
Beach: I dont feel West Bengal have good beaches.

But we have to admit that the mind set of local people in many places are not tourist friendly and many of these places lack required tourist infrastructures.

I would add to the forest and nature list: the entire dooars region and Jaldapara. For trekking enthusiasts: the Neora valley area.

I think we should have included Shantiniketan in this list under cultural tourism.
What you say?

Definitely we should have. Anyway better late than never! And a bad miss on both of our fronts on the 'forest' list: Sunderbans!

Sagarneel
Started a new thread on the topic we were discussing here. See you there.

Temples of Bishnupur II

Shyamrai Temple:

This temple is a Pancha Ratna temple, i.e., it has five towers. Mallaraj Raghunath Singh, the son of Bir Hambir, made this temple in 1643 AD. This is a south facing temple and holds some of the exquisite terracotta designs. It is said that this temple is one of the best temples of Bishnupur in terms of terracotta motifs. Terracotta works of Ras-lila, floral designs, anecdotes from Ramayana and Mahabharata can be seen on the outer as well as inner walls of this temple. The temple is 10.7 metres in height and 11.4 metres in dimension.

Jor-Bangla Temple:

The structure of the temple is unique, as if two do-chala (two roofed) Bengal hut are joined together. On top of it is present a char-chala (four-roofed) tower. Thus the more popular name is Jor –Bangla – Joint Bengal. It is also named as Krishna- Rai Temple. The terracotta designs on it include incidents from Ramayana and Mahabharata, scenes from hunting and daily life. This unique architecture is 10.7 metres tall. Its dimensions are 11.8 metres and 10.7 metres. Mallaraj Raghunath Singh (I) established this temple in 1655 AD.

Radheshyam Temple:

This temple is quite unique with its designed arches. Personally I feel arches of Rasmancha are more elaborate but the designs here are a visual pleasure. The top of the temple is dome shaped and is a bit different from other Ekratna temples of Bishnupur. The temple is 10.7 metres tall and 12.5 metres wide. This temple was built by Mallaraj Chaitanya Singh in 1758. Jagannath, Netai- Gour and Radheshyam are still worshipped here.

It would be nice if you can post some photos of the temples too, Chiradip!

Thank you Sagarneel. Will try to do the same in a few days.


A request to the Moderator, I wish to change the name of the thread to BISHNUPUR: THE TEMPLE TOWN OF WEST BENGAL. Can that please be made?


Done!

Thanks a ton!

BISHNUPUR: OTHER PLACES OF INTEREST

Acharya Jogeshchandra Archeological Museum

This museum contains different artifacts collected from various places of Bankura District. It contains various articles of archeological importance. Statues from pal and Sen era, antiques of Mughal empire, coins from Kusan and medieval period are exhibited here. Ancient Puthis (handwritten manuscripts) , silk clothes from yester year, Pats, Dasabatar cards and local handicrafts can also be seen. A musical instrument named Surbahar, used by noted musician Surendranath Bandyopadhyay is shown. Sri Bandyopadhyay was a close associate of Rabindranath Tagore and was an exponent of notation of Rabindra Sangeet. This musium was inaugurated on 29th January 1951.

Stony Gateways

There are two stony gateways – Large and Small. The large gateway was the northern entrance to the ancient fort of Bishnupur. This two storied gateway had cell for the soldiers and the walls had pores through which guns and arrows could be used. The smaller gateway is located on the north-western corner of the large gateway. Both of these gates were built by Mallaraj Bir Sing in mid-seventeenth century.