Kantanagar Temple

Kantanagar Temple, the architectural beauty.

Set in the graceful heart of gorgeous country­side, the rouge sandcastle of Kantanagar Temple (admission Tk 10; 7.30am-5.30pm) is a stunning block of religious artwork, and is surely one of the most impressive Hindu monuments in Bangladesh.

Built in 1752 by Pran Nath, a renowned maharaja from Dinajpur, it is the country’s finest example of brick and terracotta style. Its most remarkable feature, typical of late-Mughal–era temples, is its superb surface decoration, with infinite panels of sculpted terracotta plaques depicting both figural and floral motifs.

The folk artists did not lack imagination or sense of humour. One demon is depicted swallowing monkeys, which promptly reappear from his ear. Other scenes are more domestic, such as a wife massaging her husband’s legs and a lady combing lice from another’s hair. Amorous scenes are often placed in obscure corners. These intricate, harmonious scenes are like a richly embroidered carpet.

This 15-sq-metre, three-storey edifice was originally crowned with nine ornamental two-storey towers, which collapsed during the great earthquake of 1897 and were never replaced. The building sits in a courtyard surrounded by offices and pilgrims’ quarters (now occupied by several Hindu families), all protected by a stout wall. Visitors can no longer go inside the temple, which houses a Krishna shrine, but the intricate detail of its exterior will keep you engaged. A popular Hindu festival takes place here each November and would certainly be a colourful time to pop by.

Almost as much of an attraction is the utter peace and tranquillity of the site; after you’ve finished fawning over the temple take a stroll through the fields down to the nearby river. In the dry season the sandbanks exposed by the dropping water levels make a handy cricket pitch for local children.

It might be possible to stay at the CDA training centre at Proshikhan Kendra, 3km from the temple in the village of Mukundupur. It’s a large complex and all rooms have an attached bathroom. Food is also available.

Terracotta Decoration

Terracotta Decoration Every available inch of its wall surface from the base to the crest of its three stories, both inside and out, pulsates with an amazing profusion of figured and floral art in unbroken succession. The vast array of subject matter include the stories of the mahabharata (Mahabharata) and the ramayana (Ramayana), the exploits of Krsna, and a series of extremely fascinating contemporary social scenes depicting the favourite pastimes of the landed aristocracy.

The astonishing profusion, delicacy of modeling, and the beauty of its carefully integrated friezes have seldom been surpassed by any mural art of its kind in Bengal. However, even in its bewildering abundance of diverse motifs, one can observe a carefully arranged thematic scheme in the composition of subject matters at different levels and spaces on the temple wall.

In general pattern of terracotta decoration of the temple's outer walls, the lowest four basal panels, running parallel across the four faces, depict from bottom upward, immediately above the plinth: (a) a recurring floral motif, consisting of full blown rosettes alternated with a four-foiled foliate pattern; (b) the second frieze portrays contemporary social scenes and the hunting parties of the landed nobility; (c) the third parallel panel above depicts an intricately designed series of full blown rosettes commonly found on earlier Sultanate mosques such as at the shatgumbad mosque, bagha mosque, kusumba mosque, chhota sona mosque etc.

The second register depicts animated hunting scenes of wild games, royal processions of elephants, horses, camels, and dainty ox-carts of the nobility with their retainers in Mughal dress and arms. The richly caparisoned majestic elephants and splendid stallions, their chariot and harness are vividly delineated; corpulent zamindars are seen squatting in their gilded palanquins puffing from luxurious hukkas with long sinuous pipes. Still other panels portray river cruises on long slim boats crowded with revellers; squads of soldiers often wearing European dress are also shown marching with drawn swords and even muskets.

Mythological scenes on the third register depict the nativity of Krsna; the demon King Kangsa; successive attempts to kill the infant Krsna; Krsna's killing of the Putana ogress and the Bakasura or crane-demon; the lifting of Govardhana mountain, the killing of Keshi; the quelling of the snake-demon, Kaliya, and Krsna's pleasure ride on a long slim boat with revellers. The south face of the temple also presents stories from the Ramayana in a somewhat confused sequence. Ramayana stories continue on the east face. Here the exile of Ramachandra, Sita, and Laksmana in the Panchavati forest; Laksmana's striking off the nose of Shurpanakha; the abduction of Sita by Ravana from Dandakaranya; Jatayu's futile attempt to obstruct the chariot of Ravana; the captivity of Sita in Ashoka Forest; the fight between Bali and Sugriva with their monkey followers for the throne of Kiskindhya; Ramachandra's sapta tala veda and Sugriva with his monkey followers and their palaver with Ramachandra are shown in striking details.

The north face predominantly portrays scenes of Krsna and Balarama. Thus Krsna's various marriages and cowgirls carrying milk and curd pots in shika (string bags) suspended from pole etc are shown. In the second register an interesting European battle ship is depicted in great details with soldiers and a cannon.

The entire western face of the third register depicts various episodes from the Krsna legend, ending in the slaying of Kangsa, the demon king of Mathura. It includes the annihilation of Kuvalayapida, the monstrous killer elephant of Kangsa; and Radha's fainting fits on her failing to dissuade Krsna from participating in Kangsa's sport tournament in Mathura. Of particular interest is a group of cowherds carrying milk and butter in string bags, suspended from a pole on shoulder, which is still a familiar scene in rural Bengal. 

The elaborate panels over the spandrels of multi-cusped arches exhibit animated battle scenes from the great epics and also rasa-mandala, with dancing Radha-Krsna couple within circles, and a host of accessory figures. The spirited battle scenes of Kuruksetra and Lanka are depicted with great vitality and invention by the folk artists.

In the seemingly inexhaustible store of terracotta mural decoration on the temple wall, the folk artists, mostly from Krsnanagar, often have left behind the imprint of their keen awareness of the environment in which they lived. The deities they depicted in panels were sometimes treated with an astonishing sense of reality and as intimate and familiar members of their society. For instance, an extremely interesting series of upright western panels on the bottom register of the western face, depicts Krsna plucking coconut from the tree and handing them over to one of his companions climbing halfway up the trunk, who, in turn is delivering these to another companion waiting on the ground. It is a familiar scene in Bengal where the deity is intimately shown as one of the members of society. Individual plaques often display idiosyncratic compositions such as the one found at the inner face of the corridor on the south face where Radha-Krsna are shown dancing on an elephant very cleverly composed of a dozen human figures. Again, on the northern face, Krsna is depicted with one of his newly wedded bride seated on a pidi (low wooden stool) under a canopy where she is coyly holding her veil with one hand over her head and bashfully peeping at her lord. This, of course, is an endearing familiar wedding scene in rural Bengal. In the bewildering crowd of friezes, one may even find Krsna squatting nonchalantly with folded knees, tied with a gamchha (a strip of cloth) round the knees and back, in a posture altogether uncommon among Bengalees, but common among the working classes in adjacent Bihar. 

However, one distinctly delightful aspect of the fabulous terracotta ornamentation of the Kantaji Temple (Kantajir Mandir) is its restraint in depicting erotic scenes. In this, it is unlike Orissan and South Indian temples.

The endless panels of terracotta art embellishing the wall surface of the Kantaji temple, have a life and vitality of their own and are deeply imbued with the spirit nourished for thousand years on the silt-laden soil of Bangladesh. In a country like Bangladesh, being formed by enormous volumes of fertilizing soft alluvium, the development of an indigenous terracotta art was a logical outcome, given the absence of stone. The tradition of this plastic art is rooted in the early historic period, especially during the Pala-Chandra period, when Buddhist temples at paharpur (Pahadpur), mainamati, bhasu vihara, Sitakot and other monuments were enlivened with floral and figured terracotta art. These plaques are however, large and usually archaic, but the terracotta embellishments on the Kantanagar temple walls are of totally different nature. They represent a highly sophisticated mature art with a very carefully integrated scheme of decoration. Contrary to the earlier tradition of isolated and somewhat unrelated composition, the art in this temple was composed of several individual plaques, integrated into an extended composition so that the entire space followed a rhythm. The effect often is more like a richly decorated carpet or embroidered tapestry than an architectural composition.