Terracotta Temples of Bishnupur

Temples in India standout as exotic structures  incongruous  with the  dwellings of the people who lived when these were built  or at any period during their long history spanning many centuries. Visitors to the temples are devotees of the deities that reside inside the places of worship and so they overlook the sharp contrast between their living standards and those of their gods.

Unlike the temples and monuments built out of marble and stones brought from far-off places,  the basic construction material for the Bishnupur temples was the local red soil.   Out of the red clay terracotta tiles were made. On the tiles  scenes from the the immortal Hindu epics like the Bhagawata, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata  were artistically depicted. On structures raised with clay bricks  tiles were fixed.  The distinctive feature of the of the Bishnupur temples is that in their structural design  they resemble the local huts.

Bishnupur is about 200km by rail from the city of Kolkata and there are many trains each day in either direction.

With a picture it is easier to convey much more than what can be said even with thousand words. Therefore,   a picture gallery on the temples of Bishnupur has been created, which can be accessed from the thumbnails shown below.

HOMEPAGE of Professor A. N. Maheshwari