Bengali temples

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Bishnupur - Nandalal temple (17th century) with tower ( ratna ) over the cella ( garbhagriha ) and three-part portals on all four sides; the outer walls are decorated with figural and ornamental terracotta relief panels. The corners of the slightly curved roof hang down.

Bengali temples are a little-known special form of the Hindu temple . They mostly date from the 17th to 19th centuries and are mainly located in what is now the Indian state of West Bengal . A few - but often ruined - buildings are also on the area of ​​today's Bangladesh .

materials

Antpur - rural temple ( mandir ) with thatched roof

Bengal consists largely of the fertile alluvial land of the Ganges / Hugli and the Brahmaputra as well as a number of tributaries, the largest of which is the Meghna . Natural stone deposits are almost unknown and until well into the 20th century, houses in the countryside were built almost exclusively from branches, sometimes plastered with clay, or (more rarely) from air-dried clay bricks ; the roofs were made of straw or reeds.

Already early on, people in Bengal knew how to burn loam earth , so that the temple buildings of the 5th / 6th Century (or the difficult to date Deul temples) were built from bricks . In the temples of the 17th to 19th centuries, figurative and decorative terracotta relief panels were regularly applied. Most of the city's residential houses were also built from bricks and then plastered.

Consecration

Although early Buddhist and Jainist traces can also be found in Bengal , most temples are dedicated to the Hindu deities Shiva , Vishnu and Kali or their locally and regionally revered aspects, which is why many temples have different names. The god Krishna and his beloved Radha are also very popular in Bengal.

history

Belonging to the group of so-called Gupta temple belonging earliest known temple Bengal is an inscription on the year 448 AD dated brick temple (.. Mandir ) of Balgram ( district Dinajpur , Bangladesh) of the Vaishnava can be assigned sect - are of him however, only ruins remain. The two - also largely destroyed - temples of Mahasthan Gokul ( Bogra district , Bangladesh), which, due to the remains of figures found, are very likely to be assigned to Buddhism , are at about the same time . Both temples have a square floor plan with a likewise square cella ( garbhagriha ), which were enclosed by a walkway ( pradakshinapatha ) resting on supports and formerly covered . Possibly from the 9th to the 11th century, but maybe much later, several temples were built in the south of West Bengal that are clearly influenced by Odisha's architecture - perhaps the most important of them are the tower-like temples ( deul ) of Satdeulia and Raidighi ( Jatar Deul ), but also the Ichai Ghosh Temple is noteworthy.

After the arrival of Islam , which was extremely restrictive in relation to Hinduism, which was classified as 'pagan' and 'idolatrous', in northern India, many older temples were destroyed and hardly any new buildings were built. In the early 17th century, however, one began - taking advantage of the Mogul ruler Jahangirs (ruled 1605–1627) , who was at times tolerant in religious matters, as well as the political and military weaknesses of the Mughal empire and the great distance to the courts of Lahore , Agra or Aurangabad - reinforced with the new construction of temples, which represent a completely independent architectural type within the Hindu temples. The temples in Bishnupur , the old capital of the Malla dynasty and the temple districts of Antpur and Kalna are to be mentioned here in the foreground; but also the temple complexes of Puthia in Bangladesh deserve special mention.

architecture

Bishnupur - Radhamadhab Temple with gate hall (1739)
Bishnupur - Rasmancha Temple (1600)

Early 16th century temples are rarely preserved; they consisted only of a single-storey cella ( garbhagriha ) with a square floor plan , without contact and not elevated by a tower (cf. the temple complexes of Puthia ).

Characteristic features of the later Bengali-type temples are the retention of the square floor plan - but now with a stronger internal and external structure - and the arched roofs with their drooping corners ( Bengali roofs ). All temples now stand on two to almost five meter high platforms ( jagatis ), which divert the rainwater from the building and at the same time lift it up real and symbolically above other buildings. Behind the four - mostly three-arched - (false) portals, which are based on a triumphal arch scheme, is the likewise square cella ( garbhagriha ), which is enclosed by a gallery ( pradakshinapatha ) that is completely integrated into the temple structure . The roof is usually raised by one ( ekaratna ) or five ( pancharatna ), mostly round, drum-like towers, which differ significantly in their shape from the tower-like structures ( shikharas ) of north Indian temples of the Nagara style . Between the 17th and 19th centuries, nine- to thirteen-tower temples were built, but also a few with flat roofs.

On the other hand, the towerless Rasmancha Temple in Bishnupur , which was built around 1600, offers a very unusual architecture : The huge, square structure, which takes up about four times the area of ​​a normal Bengali temple, is elevated by a pyramid-like structure. The roof of the corridor, which is open to the outside through ten arcades on each side, consists of several smaller roofs of the Bengali type, lined up next to one another.

Another characteristic of Bengali temples is the complete lack of vestibules ( mandapas ), windows ( jalis ) or balconies ( jharokhas ); Decorative elements such as amalakas and kalashas are also rarely found. Occasionally there are gate structures ( toranas ), but they have the appearance of smaller buildings.

photos

  • Puthia ( Bangladesh ) - Jagannatha Temple
    (16th century)

  • Bishnupur - Shyam Ray Temple (1643)

  • Bishnupur - Jor Bangla Temple (1655)

  • Bishnupur - Kalachand Temple (1656)

  • Bishnupur - Lalji Temple (1658)

  • Bansberia - Ananta Basudeba Temple (1679)

  • Bishnupur - Radhyashyam Temple (around 1758)

  • Antpur - Radhagovindjiu Temple (1786)

  • Kalna - Siddheswari Kali Temple (18th century)

  • Kalna - Lalji Temple (1739)

  • Puthia - Shiva Temple (19th century)

  • Bansberia - Hansheshwari Temple (19th century)

Architectural jewelry

The poorly structured outer skin of most temples is divided into fields. These either have no decoration or, in individual cases, contain terracotta reliefs in which gods and demons, but also geometric and vegetable decorative motifs or scenes of courtly, but also of rural-peasant life can be seen. The depictions of the god Krishna playing the flute and surrounded by dancers at the Shyamrai temple or a (reed?) Boat with seated rowers and standing musicians ( vina players) at the Jor Bangla temple in Bishnupur are particularly noteworthy; What is remarkable is the wide open mouth of the dragon on the bow of the ship.

  • Bishnupur - terracotta relief at the Shyamrai temple ( Krishna and dancers)

  • Bishnupur - Terracotta reliefs at the Jor Bangla Temple

  • Bishnupur - Terracotta reliefs at the Jor Bangla Temple

  • Antpur - Terracotta reliefs with figures of gods at the Radhagovindjiu Temple

  • Kalna - terracotta figures at Lalji Temple

  • Jiaganj-Azimganj - Terracotta relief at the Ganesvar Temple

Deul temple

The Deul temples or tower temples, also built from bricks, form a subgroup with independent traditions that can be traced back to architectural suggestions from Odisha . Characteristic for this group are the almost vertically rising high tower above the cella ( garbhagriha ) and the complete lack of other components ( mandapas ). Structural elements are kept to a minimum and sculptural jewelry is completely absent. All of the hypothetical dates for these temples range from the 8th to the 18th century, with the Islamic-dominated period (13th to 16th centuries) ruled out as a construction period from the outset.

New temples

While no Hindu temples are more built in predominantly Muslim Bangladesh, are in predominantly Hindu West Bengal several temples of modern times, including the plastered and painted in shades of yellow neuntürmige Dakshineswar Kali Temple (1847-1855) in Calcutta , the Hangseshwari Temple in Bansberia , the famous Kalighat temple (19th century) in Calcutta, of the Ramakrishna sect attributable Belur Math temple in Howrah (consecrated in 1938) and the Birla temple in Calcutta (1970-1996).

literature

  • Michael W. Meister u. a. (Ed.): Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture. North India - Foundations of North Indian Style. Princeton University Press, Princeton 1988, pp. 19ff ISBN 0-691-04053-2
  • George Michell: The Hindu Temple. Architecture of a world religion. DuMont, Cologne 1991, pp. 190 ff ISBN 3-7701-2770-6

Web links

Commons : Hindu temples in West Bengal  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files