Jor Bangla Temple - Bishnupur

When we think of temple architecture in India, the image that usually comes to mind is a tall shikhara or gopuram.

Jor Bangla Temple in Bishnupur looks completely different.

At first glance, it resembles two traditional Bengal village huts placed beside each other. That is not accidental. The familiar curved, sloping roof of Bengal's vernacular houses was translated into brick and turned into a temple form.

And then almost every available surface was covered with terracotta.

That combination makes Jor Bangla Temple one of the most interesting monuments in Bishnupur.

Bishnupur and the Malla Kings

Bishnupur, in the Bankura district of West Bengal, was once the capital of the Malla rulers of Mallabhum.

The town entered an important phase of temple construction from the seventeenth century onwards, particularly after Vaishnavism became influential at the Malla court.

King Bir Hambir is traditionally associated with the spread of Vaishnavism in Bishnupur and the worship of Madan Mohan. The rulers who followed him continued building temples, and Raghunath Singh was responsible for some of Bishnupur's best-known monuments.

Jor Bangla was one of them.

The temple was built in 1655 CE during the reign of Malla king Raghunath Singh. It is also known as the Kesta Rai Temple, Kesta being a form of the name Krishna.

Why Is It Called Jor Bangla?

The name becomes easy to understand once you look at the building.

Jor means a pair or something joined together.

The temple is formed by two structures resembling the traditional do-chala huts of Bengal. A do-chala roof slopes down on two sides with curved cornices, a shape that developed naturally in Bengal's heavy monsoon climate.

Here, two such hut-shaped units are joined together.

One forms the porch and the other contains the shrine.

A tower rises above the joined structures.

Instead of copying a stone temple form from elsewhere, the builders transformed something very local, the roof of an ordinary Bengal house, into sacred architecture.

That is what I found particularly interesting about Jor Bangla.

The temple may be monumental in purpose, but its basic idea comes from a humble village dwelling.

Terracotta Everywhere

Then there are the walls.

You cannot understand Jor Bangla by looking at it from a distance.

Move closer.

Rows of small terracotta panels begin to appear.

Deities, warriors, animals, floral designs, musicians and scenes from sacred narratives cover the exterior. Episodes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata, Krishna's life and other Vaishnavite and Puranic themes appear across the walls.

Some panels can be understood immediately.

Others need more time.

Among the scenes identified on the temple are the marriage of Rama and Sita, Bhishma lying on his bed of arrows, Krishna's childhood episodes and the encounter between Lakshmana and Surpanakha.

But sacred narratives are only part of the story.

There are also animals, hunters, soldiers and scenes that give us glimpses of the society in which these temples were created.

This is one of the reasons I enjoy looking at terracotta temples.

The walls do not merely decorate the building.

They tell stories.

Why Terracotta?

Bengal does not have the same easy availability of building stone that shaped the great stone temples of many other parts of India.

Clay, on the other hand, was abundant.

Brick therefore became an important building material, and craftsmen developed terracotta decoration to an extraordinary level.

Small clay plaques could be moulded, carved and fired before being fitted onto the temple walls.

At Bishnupur, this practical response to available material eventually became an art form of its own.

Jor Bangla is one of its finest examples.

Look closely at a panel and it is easy to forget that the figures are made from ordinary baked clay.

Expressions, jewellery, weapons, clothing and movement are compressed into surprisingly small spaces.

Look at the Roof Again

The terracotta panels naturally attract most of the attention.

But I would suggest stepping away from the walls once more and looking at the entire temple.

The curved roofline is important.

The architecture seen here did not remain confined to Bengal's village houses. Bengal's curved roof forms later influenced buildings constructed in other parts of the subcontinent as well.

At Jor Bangla, however, we can see the form where it belongs naturally.

Brick walls.

Curving cornices.

Sloping roofs.

And hundreds of terracotta stories covering them.

More Than One Temple in Bishnupur

Jor Bangla should not be seen in isolation.

Bishnupur has several temples where the Malla builders experimented with completely different forms.

The nearby Shyam Rai Temple uses the Pancha Ratna form with five towers.

Madan Mohan Temple follows the Eka Ratna style.

The Rasmancha looks unlike either of them.

And the Chhinnamasta Temple, although much later, shows yet another side of Bishnupur's religious landscape.

This variety is one of the pleasures of exploring the town.

Walk from one monument to another and the basic building material may remain brick and terracotta, but the architecture keeps changing.

Do Not Rush the Terracotta Panels

Jor Bangla is not a huge temple.

It is possible to walk around it quickly and move to the next monument.

I would not do that.

Choose one wall.

Look at the panels row by row.

Try to identify the figures before reading about them.

Look at the borders separating one scene from another. Notice animals and smaller figures that are easy to overlook while concentrating on the larger narratives.

The architecture gives Jor Bangla its name.

But the terracotta makes you stay longer.

That, for me, is the real attraction of this temple.

Happy travelling.