Photos

This is the terrakotta art in Ananta Basudeba temple,a temple of Lord Krishna in the Hangseshwari temple complex in Banshberia, in the Hooghly District in the Indian state of West Bengal. Built by Raja Rameswar Datta in 1679, this temple is noted for the exquisite terra cotta works on its walls. It is built in the traditional eka-ratna style, with curved cornices. The tower on top of the temple is octagonal. The terracota works depict stories from the great Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, as well as from lilas of Krishna.

This soil structure is reflected in the building material chosen by the Bengali temple designers. Mainly the terra cotta temples with elaborate surface decorations and lettering written in nagari alphabets. The roof structure also has been the effect of the heavy rainfall that the Ganges river delta and the Terai experiences throughout the monsoon, it has been curved effectively in most cases to get rid of the huge amount of water as soon as possible and thereby increasing the lifetime of the structure. The architectural evidence generally has been from the Gupta Empire period onwards.
Apart from the Palavi and Phamsana influence on the architectural style it is also closely connected to the Bhanja style of temples from Mayurbhanj district of Orrisa. But the temples of south Bengal is a distinction due to its roofing style so unique and closely related to the paddy roofed traditional building style of rural Bengal.
Most of these temples are covered on the outer surface with terra cotta reliefs which contains plenty of secular materials making these important to reconstruct the social structure from these times.
The temple structures contain gabled roofs which are colloquially called the chala, For example a gabled roof with an eight sided pyramid structured roof with be called "ath chala" or literally the eight faces of the roof. And frequently there is more than one tower in the temple building. These are built of laterite and brick bringing them at the mercy of severe weather conditions of southern Bengal. Dakshineswar Kali Temple is one example of the Bhanja style while the additional small temples of Shiva along the river bank are example of southern Bengal roof style though in much smaller dimension.

Thank you. And Happy new year to all.

Dear Angshuman da, this one is for you,as you wished to see the terrakotta art.valo theko.