Ananta Basudeba Temple
Ananta Basudeba Temple is a temple of Lord Krishna. And It is situated in the Hangseshwari temple complex in Banshberia, basically in the Hooghly District across the Indian state of West Bengal. In 1679, it was built by Raja Rameswar Datta, this temple is famed for the terra cotta works on the walls of the temple. It was designed in the traditional eka-ratna style, with curved cornices and decorated wall paintings. On the top of the temple is octagonal shaped tower. And the terra-cota works display the stories from the great Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, as well as from Leelas of Krishna during Dwapar Yug.
Significance:
Ananta Basudeba temple, which is a temple of Lord Krishna, is in the Hangseshwari temple complex in Bansberia. This temple is noted for the exquisite terra cotta works on its walls. It is basically built in the traditional ekaratna style, with curved cornices. The tower on top of the temple is octagonal. The terracotta works depict stories from the great Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, aswell as from Lilas of Krishna.
How
to Reach:
There are numerous trains available on the
Howrah-Katwa rail line. Tourists can also get the Trains on the Sealdah-Katwa
rail line.
Visitors can avail
cycle-rickshaws in order to reach the temple complex. People also opt NH 2 to
reach Bansberia by road from Kolkata. However, there are evening trains back to
the city.
History
The Mughal emperor appointed Raghab Dattaroy
of Patuli as the zamindar of an area that is- Bansberia now a days in 1656. The
Legends say that Raghab’s son Rameshwar cleared a bamboo grove to build a fort,
inspiring the name Bansberia. In 1679, the real Ananta Basudeba temple was
built by Rameshwar Datta, who was an ardent follower of Vaishnavism. This
three-storeyed temple has three sides and each one is decorated with richly
carved terra-cotta panels. The turret also contains terracotta carvings. The
temple’s infrastructure is similar to the decorative scheme of the terracotta
temples which is situated in Bishnupur. Bansberia’s importance in pre-Muslim Bengal
was religious, owing to its location at the Tribeni or confluence of three
rivers- Ganga Jamuna and Saraswati. In the late 13th century, after Muslim
occupation, it continued to be an important city under the Tughlaks rule, as a
military base, mint-town and port. In the mid-16th century, after the Mughal conquest
of Bengal, the city started to decline due to the loss of royal patronage, but
some areas such as Bansberia continued to prosper upto the19th century.
Architecture
This famous temples in Bengal has 3 types of architecture- Chala Style, Deul(or Nagara) Styleand Ratna( or tower) style, like the other temples in Bengal State. However, the architecture of the Anant Vasudeva Temple is a mixture of 2 architectural styles. It is built by adopting the conventional “Ekaratna” Style ofarchitecture with an octagonal shaped tower and curved cornices. 3 sides of this one-storied shrine are adorned with luxuriously carved panels of terracotta. There are terracotta carvings on the tower as well on the external walls. The interior design of this attractive temple resembles the Bishnupur terracotta temple. The outside walls of the shrine are also decorated with the complex and innovative works of terracotta.
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