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.