| By : Ajit Hari Sahu | Previous | Next |
| Posted on : 31 Aug, 2005 | Total Views : 637 |
Vishnupur
201 km away form Kolkata (Calcutta), with architectural temples like Ras Mancha, Shyama Raya Temple, Keshta Raya Temple, Madan Mohan Temple...
There are two principal reasons for choosing to write about Vishnupur. Firstly, it is a wonderful site at which to see terracotta temples, a style unique to this region of the subcontinent. Secondly, the recommended entry point to Vishnupur is though Calcutta, India's most resilient city.
Vishnupur (or Bishnupur, as it sounds in Bangali) was once a flourishing town and served as the capital of the Malla rulers of Bengal from the seventeenth to eighteenth centuries. As to its origin, as with most stories about local chieftains wishing to add respectability to their name, there several myths that explain how the Malla family became rulers. One variation of the myth recalls how a high caste prince from the north was traveling with his pregnant wife on his way to Puri for a pilgrimage. His wife gave birth to a son, and finding it difficult to travel, he left them behind, hopping to pick up his wife and young baby on the return journey. The queen died soon after, but left her young boy in the care of a local tribal family with enough jewels to ensure his well-being. When the child was seven years old he went to a tribal funeral feast that was being celebrated to honour their leader. There, before a large community gathering, the elephant of the departed king picked up the boy and placed him on the throne and a new dynasty of rulers was established, as it were, by divine intervention.
The young ruler was given the title Adi Malla (the first ruler of the forest of Mallabhum) the first ruler of the forest of Mallabhum, and forty generations ruled after him. The most prosperous period of recorded Malla history begins with Veer Hambir, a contemporary of Akbar. Veer was an ardent devotee of Vishnu and hence the name of his capital Vishnupur, meaning the city of Vishnu. It was in his reign that the first of the surviving temples was built at Vishnupur. Today there are as many as thirty brick and stone temples, each with a different design and scheme, scattered over a large area. The city was once known for its beautiful lakes and ponds, and its lush vegetation. A fortification wall once encircled the capital, its lakes, palaces, and temples, but little of it remains.
Plan of Vishnupur-There are a few general characteristic features of these varied temples at Vishnupur, which should be described first. Most of the temples are placed against an expansive background and are built on raised platforms. A well-established local tradition of brick construction (found throughout the eastern part of the subcontinent in Bengal and Bangladesh) served as the basis for the creation of a distinct style of architecture. The brick built temple structure was usually covered, by way of protection against the humid climate, with a layer of burnt brick tiles. These tiles, only a few centimeters in size and very slim in width, were produced to fit the shape and design of the temple. The tiled veneer soon became a surface for decoration. In time the entire façade of the temple was covered with terracotta tiles embellished with intricate sculptured motifs and patterns.
The tiles were produced, apparently, in two ways. The first, an easier technique, was used to make segments of a repetitive pattern, while a more time-consuming method was reserved for special tiles carrying thematic sculptures. For the repetitive pattern the design was first worked out on a wooden mould, which has segments of the design carved on its surface, in reverse or intaglio. Wet clay, when pressed into the mould, took the impression of the design so that parts of it stood in relief, raised above the background. The tiles were then fired in a kiln till they were a nice toasted brick red. They were then assembled along the base of the temple, around the doorway, windows, or to create borders along the temple well-scheme. In the temples of Vishnupur one can see yards of wall space covered with recurrent panels of flower motifs, lotus petals, and creepers.
The other technique required much more skill and time. Each clay tile was individually carved with figures and narrative panels. The artists worked with an array of pliable knives to carve out on the soft clay tile individual details of the figure: costume, hairstyle, and facial expression. Several such tiles fixed in sequence would be used to relate a particular episode of a story. There are temples at Vishnupur, which illustrate entire scenes from epic poems: the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the amorous escapades of the romantic Krishna, the human avatar of Vishnu.
Not merely in decoration but in architectural temple style, Vishnupur is very interesting. Throughout the region, with its once dense tropical forests, locally available bamboo and wood was used for rural house construction. One of the joys of working with bamboo is that it is extremely flexible. Bamboo beam roofs attained a sweeping bow-like curve, a sort of graceful arched appearance, when used in house construction. This bamboo hut roof façade was adapted to the stone and brick construction in the temples at Vishnupur and many of them have expansive curvilinear facades, often repeated on all four sides of the building. The graceful shape of the Bengal bamboo roof so impressed the Mughal Emperor Akbar that he reproduced these forms in his palaces and later emperors continued the tradition in their royal forts.
Shyama Raya Temple, Vishnupur-The earliest temple at Vishnupur is Ras Mancha, built during the reign of Veer Hambir (1587-1600). It is a peculiar structure with huge, stepped masonry pyramid-shaped roof. Around the base, like a gentle wave, run a series of Bengal hut roof. The vaulted, pillars, draws light into the dark interiors and casts deep shadows on the external façade. This temple is located near the Archaeological Museum, which also has an interesting collection of carved tiles from the region.
Due north is the Shyama Raya Temple built around 1643. Growing out of the base, the square temple body is framed by an artistically curved roof. The side walls of the temple are broken into details with three curvaceous arches of the entrance on each side and elaborate tile-work. Above, the roof is formed in several layers. Over each corner is a turret with a peaked roof and from the center a taller single tower emerges, also with a pyramid-like roof. The interior and exterior of the temple is adorned with wonderful terracotta tile-work decorations. Near the entrance are huge medallions with Krishna, the divine cowherd, playing his flute, with the gopis, his cowherdess companions, forming a lively circle around him as they dance in celebration.
Keshta Raya or Jor Bangla Temple, VishnupurNear the Shyama Raya Temple is the Keshta Raya Temple built around 1655. This brick temple imitates the indigenous double hut (jorbangla) design, in which two huts with sweeping curved façade are built, back to back, as one unit. Above the vaulted chambers is the protrusion of the central tower with a peaked roof. The front of the temple has a triple-arched entrance and the entire wall is alive with miniature sculpture and decorative motifs. There are scenes from the Ramayana: the great battle scene between Rama, assisted by Hanuman and his monkey army battling to rescue Sita (Rama's wife) kidnapped by Ravana, the lord of Lanka. In these scenes chariots clash, arrows fly menacingly, and hordes of hapless victims fall to their death in the most theatrical poses. A whole universe of ideas have been captured by a diminutive set of tiles.
Further north of the Shyama Raya Temple is the lovely form of the Madan Mohan Temple (constructed around 1694). It is less complex in design and consists of a square building with deep bow-like curved cornices framing the edges of the roof on all four sides. From the center a tall, many-sided tower is capped with a rounded roof. Rows of tiles line the wall surface of the temple, each portraying a theme. Most playful and original are the rows of (plump) ducks waddling around in single file imitating the life-like gestures of a noisy flock.
One can spend hours enjoying the world of terracotta tiles, the humorous details, the sensitive rendering of a face, the folds of a face, the folds of a garment, the subtle compositions of the miniature tiles, because their impact is both aesthetic and pleasing.
What's in the neighbourhood
Vishnupur is accessible by road and rail from Calcutta (201 kilometers away) and is a city, which has to be seen to be believed. In the seventeenth century foreign (Portuguese, Armenian, etc.) traders had already selected sites along the Hooghly river to set up trading posts. In 1690 an Englishman, Job Charnock, selected three villages (one was Kalighat or Kalikata, from which the present name is derived), and this constituted the nucleus of present-day Calcutta. The city was designed beside the Hooghly river. Fort William (named after King William) was rebuilt in 1773. Around it is the open expanse of the Maidan. At the southern end is the shapely white form of the Victoria Memorial Hall (built in 1921), housing an interesting collection of artifacts, sculptures, and paintings of the Raj, much of which commemorates the declaration of Queen Victoria as Empress of India. At the south-eastern corner of the Maidan is St Paul's Cathedral, a wonderful example of Indo-Gothic architecture. Along Chowringhee, the road that borders the Maidan, is the Indian Museum with an outstanding collection of early Buddhist and Hindu sculptures, textiles, and paintings. Further north of the Maidan are Eden Gardens, the hollowed cricket stadium of Calcutta, which draws crowds of over 50,000. North of the Maidan stand the stately government buildings: the Town Hall (1813), High Court (1872), Metcalf Hall (1840), the striking Writer's Building (1880), and a few old churches (St John's, 1787, with Job Charnock's tomb and St Andrew Kirk, 1818). At the end of Park Lane, off Chowringhee, is the old British Cemetery (sadly very poorly maintained) with lovely tombstones recording the tragic plight of these early traders and administrators who died, most of them very young, from the devastating heat, fatal illnesses, and the foods of tropical India.
But these romantic buildings and places do not adequately represent Calcutta or capture its spirit, which is always lively and full of fun. There are street stalls, shops, and bazaars, excessively crowded roads where you can catch glimpses of amazing architecture-a bit of Art Nouveau here and Indo-baroque there-trams, horse carriage, and rickshaws drawn by half-starved human beings. The rich, the famous, the poor and the jobless, all take a keen interest in politics, a game of cricket or football and, because of their lovely women, are lovers of all things beautiful.
North of Vishnupur is Shantiniketan, the haven of peace, the renowned university developed by Rabindernath Tagore, the Noble Laureate poet of India. Set in rural landscape, like the ancient gurukul or traditional school, the university still attracts great teachers and has been (for the last ninety years) the nursery of some of India's finest artists and scholars.
How to get there
Calcutta has an international airport with connection from Europe and East Asia. There are air, road, and railway links to all major towns in India. Calcutta has a whole range of hotels and small motels to suit the budget of every traveler. From Calcutta it takes 8 hours by train to Vishnupur and this is the best way to visit, though there is a 'motorable road'. Trains from Calcutta also can be taken to visit Shantiniketan, and there is an overnight train journey to the state of Orissa to see Puri, Bhubaneshwar, and the Sun Temple at Konarak.
