Temples Ofdoom
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HINDUSTAN TIMES, KOLKATA 02 | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2016 > THERE ARE›YOU THREE WILL TEMPLES ALWAYS HAVEIN PARA, TO FACTOR EACH CARRYING IN CURRENCY A VERY STRONG INFLUENCE FLUCTUATIONOF ODISHA SCHOOL IF YOU AREOVER GOING BENGAL TO A SCHOOL FOREIGN OF LAND ARCHITECTURE. bengalvariety Wendy Kennedy, consular section chief, Consulate General of the USA Somen Sengupta over Bengal School of architecture. ■ [email protected] Oldest among them is a stone-made Jain temple but local people called it Laxmi n eastern India, Jainism had flour- temple for some unknown reason. ished before Buddhism but due to In its shape and size, it has similarity lack of royal patronage, it vanished with other rekh deul temples of Purulia and in many places was overtaken like one of Banda or Telkupi. Believed to by Hindus. In Manbhum region of be made in 9th century this temple does TEMPLES IBengal-Bihar border, the expansion of not have any deity. Jainism was amazing at one point of time It lost its glory even before Begler and from 9th century to 11th century, the recorded it for the first time. It is now area revealed a slew of Jain archaeologi- 40 ft in height. It is assumed that with cal monuments but from 12th century its intact pinnacle, it must be 47 ft tall. onwards it saw a sharp decline. Made of soft sandstone, the temple con- Soon huge archaeological treasures tains excellent curving of various floral also went into oblivion or were simply motifs and human figures on its wall. OF DOOM destroyed by non-believers. It remained Some figures like dancing women in fes- in dark till the middle of 19th century tive mood, yaksha, horses, etc. are found. when Joseph Daviditch Melik Begler Some Hindu gods like Laksmi, Surjya NEGLECTED HISTORY The (1845-1907) an assistant surveyor of legen- and Ganesh are also visible but all the dary Alexander Cunningham, who with figurines are decaying fast and gradu- an extraordinary passion for oriental ally collapsing. beautiful Jain and Hindu temples of study did a deep study of Manbhum’s Stylistically, the figures are deeply archaeological relics. influenced by Gupta-Chalukya periods. Para in Purulia district of Bengal is in It was Begler, the man who in 1878 Archaeologists are of the opinion that published a study paper titled A Tour once a varandha encircled it and still few Through the Bengal Province, covering stone-made pillars are found at a nearby a dilapidated condition, but the state unexplored and unexplained archeologi- primary school supports the claim. On cal sites and relics, who mentioned about its outer wall, it has three small cham- a village named Para that houses three bers which once used to house some Jain government is doing nothing to very interesting structures. It is a fact Tirthankara statues. that Begler’s discovery of these struc- Unfortunately those statues are all tures gave a new insight into the history lost but still some statues of girls offer- preserve the rich heritage of this place. ing services is a common feature of any The village Para is just 29 km from Tirthankara statue is visible here. This Purulia town. The village cuts a sorry clearly confirms that it was a Jain temple picture. It simply looks like any other which was later abandoned or captured poverty-stricken Bengal village. Once by the Hindus. inside the village and standing on In his report, Begler mentioned that ■ Begler’s discovery of these the field one gets to see two this temple was not repaired in recent structures gave a new exceptionally significant times and the last repair was executed insight into the monuments of more than during Emperor Akbar’s reign by his history of this thousand years old. army General Man Singh who had place From here time supreme authority over these parts. whispers the story of Just 150 ft away of this stone deul the past and one can stands the biggest archaeological see history. It is the attraction of Para. It is the red brick interesting temple deul temple constructed between 10th of Para that contains and 11th century. The 45 ft high temple are taking a toll over these three temples In 1957, at the time of constructing the oldest testimony is very badly preserved and is broken of Para. If these temples are lost, a golden Panchet Dam, DVC, without any consid- of Jainism in Bengal. from the top. part of Manbhum’s history will be lost eration, flooded and destroyed more than Historians have traced out It looks like the Deulghata deul of forever. Already enough damage is done 19 excellent stone temples in Telkupi. that this place was second cap- Purulia. Its outer walls are embellished to Purulia’s archaeological treasures by If proper protection is not taken soon, ital of Panchet kingdom of with rich work of brick terracotta and the local people temples of Para will face the same end Manbhum till the year 969 stucco work. This also contains floral and DVC. like the Telkupi temples. And history and after that they shifted motifs and human faces though many will not forgive us. capital to Garpanchakot. of those are badly weathered. The lower After staying in oblivi- wall is given a protective brick-casing. on for few centuries, the Though the temple is in semi-dilapi- place was again surfaced dated condition and signs of vandalism in the memory of com- are clear, it has huge appeal because of moners in 1878 when its size and shape. The lower part has JD Begler rediscov- three niches and each is decorated with ered it in semi ruined a chaitya kind of structure where as state. The discovery there is a heart-shaped chaitya on the revealed three rekh top of the tower. deul style place of The entrance is tall corbelled triangle worship. and the temple is facing south. Inside One made of the temple, there are few stone-made stone, one made of statues. Out of that a Shiva statue brick and another with weapon in hand is known as made of stone and Narteshwar Shiva. There is a deity brick. All are excep- with four hands in the temple. tionally enriched in Locals call it Udaichandi temple artistic expression and worship it as per Hindu ritu- but no written tes- als. The third temple of Para vil- timony was found. lage is also unique. Though it is There are three in a bad condition and now partly temples in Para covered with wild vegetation, this and all are rekh is the only temple of Para which deul style carry- has proven history. ing a very strong The stone and brick made influence of temple is known as Radharaman Odisha School Temple. It was established by one Vaishnav from Vrindavan named Purushottam Das who came to this village with Mughal general Man Singh. The tomb of Purushottam Das is situated opposite to the temple. The original deity was removed from here by a ruler named Kalyani Prasad or Shankari Prasad, who took it to their new capital in Kashipur. The temple has a foundation stone placed on its wall but the letters are so badly defaced that now nothing is legible. The tem- ple also has no deity inside but during Janmashtami a tem- porary clay-made Krishna is worshipped here. Needless to say, weather and time ■ If proper protection is not taken soon on a war-footing, the temples of Para will face total destruction very soon. And history will not forgive us. PHOTOS: SOMEN SENGUPTA Salt was associated with all forms of ritual from birth to death BRUSH STROKES going by the analogy of colour, any- from the earth through time, the of money spread to other parts of blessed, excluding the erring goats. thing dark would turn a little grey crisscrossing salt routes of the central Africa. Though not buried in The ancient sanctity of salt slid with the white of salt, or so it seems. world itself would seem the same. salt, of all the roads that led to Rome, towards superstition during the Not everything that one saw in the From the land routes that the Via Salaria – the salt route – was middle ages. Considered to be ill- large Chapel Hall – the final destina- led from South Morocco across the busiest. While Roman soldiers omened, the spilling of salt spelt a tion of The Wieliczka Salt Mine was the lengths of the Sahara to marched in routine vigilance, mer- portent of doom. Having unexpect- actually sculpted by the miners. Timbuktu – one of the most tra- chants in oxcarts full of the precious edly encountered the recreation of They are additions made by versed salt routes in the world crystals drove up the Tiber from the Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper professionals who have been would shift to the sea with ships salt pans of Ostia. in the Chapel Hall of Wieliczka of employed to do so after the mines loads of salt being carried from Salt became associated with very all places was not only surprising, were shut down and the site was Egypt to Greece through the deep form of ritual, from birth until it seemed a little misfit. turned officially into a tourist Mediterranean and the Aegean. death. The Roman religious ritual of But it was much later that I attraction in the 1990s. These addi- Going by Herodotus, a caravan placing grains of salt on a eight-day- made its connection with salt that tions, though clearly marked, not route that began from the salt oases old babies’ lips is later appropriated justified its presence.