| The village saw
the two currentsof Saivism and Tantricism.Among the various diet’s still worshipped
mention may be made of Mankeshwar Shiva, Ananda Mayee Sakti, Panchkali and Bora Kali. The
village had produced a number of Sanskrit scholars in the British times.Two of them were
Raghu- nath Siromani and Raghunandan Goswami who was described by Adam in his report in
1837 as "the most voluminous native authority I had met with is Raghunandan
Goswami." Adam made a list of 37 books of Raghunandan, 35 in Sanskrit and two in
Bengali. The most famous of the temples in Burd- wan
district are the four temples atBarakar, a village in Asansol subdivision of the district.
The temples are located on the left bank of Barakar River about 143 miles. They are on the
Grand Trunk Road and also accessible by train. Barakar is right in the midst of a series
of collieries and the
river forms the boundary between the provinces of Bengal and Bihar. The following
description of the four temples
at Barakar is condensed from that given in the Archaeological Survery Reports, Vol. VIII
(1878):
"There are four templeswhose towers are in entire
preservation. Of these two consist of a simple cell each, sum- mounted by a tower roof,
but there are traces of a mandapa in front, of which all but the foundations have
disappeared. Apparently the temple consisted of a cell with its doorway: an Antarala,
formed in the thickness of the back walls of the Maha- mandapam: and a mahamandapa about
thirteen and a half feet square. The towers are richly indented. There is an inscription
at the doorway of one of the temples. It is in two distinct pieces, both of which are in a
variety of the Bengali character. |
