| Temples & Legends of Bengal |
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| Temples & Legends Of India |
THE TEMPLES IN BURDWAN |
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| Close to this
temple and facing it stands temple No. 4. It is now partially enclosed within a courtyard:
but the walls of this enclosure are evidently later additions, as they cover up the
mouldings of the temple outside on the sides. Divested of this wall the temple consists of
a cell and an Antarala or vestibule. It does not appear to have ever had a mahamandapa in
front. The object of worship is a lingam placed in a great argha 4 feet 7 inches in
diameter. Externally the tower differs considerably from those of the other temples,
and though in bad order, surpasses them in beauty and richness, though thesculptured
details are not so profuse or minute. The temples are surmounted by urns and not, as
usual, by cylinders or spires, or cones."2 To this report on the temples which is substantially correct, a few facts may be added. These temples are made of stone, which is not the usual material with which the Bengal temples are made. The inscription of the temples and the style of the building have been recently studied by a number of scholars. Shri S.K. Saraswati has compared them with the ancient Rekha temples of Orissa. @ Prof. Nirmal Kumar Bose has made some studies on these temples.According to ShriSaraswati, the fourth temple in position is the oldest and he has found points of stylistic similarity between this temple and the temple of Parasu Rameshwar at Bhuban- eshwar, which is commonly accepted as the oldest Rekha type temple of Orissa. Shri Saraswati thinks that this fourth temple at Barakar belongs to the 8th or 9th century A.D. and could be taken to be the oldest of the Rekha style temples in Bengal. Prof. Nirmal Kumar Bose thinks that the Amalakas on the Barakar temples have concave folds and not convex and so there is an impact of the temple types of South West India. One inscription has been found in one of the temples. 2 The District Gazetteer of Burdwan by J.C.K. Peterson (1910) pp. 186-187. @ Journal of the Indian Oriental Society, First Volume, Second Issue. |
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| About Temples In Burdwan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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