Apr 9, 2016

Brick Temple Known as Durga Temple at East of the Village of Para, Manbhum District (Now in Purulia District), Bengal - 1872

Brick Temple Known as Durga Temple at East of the Village of Para, Manbhum District (Now in Purulia District), Bengal - 1872

Entrance of the Temple

Photographer: Joseph David Beglar

At that time Beglar wrote the following account of this temple, "…the bricks used measure more than 17 inches long by over 11 inches in width, and are all set in mud…so minutely was the carving done, that a space 1 inch square shows sculptured two tiny bells, their ropes, and the twist of the several strands of the ropes clearly made out…." The temple stands on a high plinth which was added to stop the structure from falling down. This fate has already befallen the mandapa, of which very little remains. At one point the interior of the temple was plastered however little of this remained when Beglar visited. "The entrance to the lower portion now existing is, as usual, cut up into two portions, - a lower rectangular doorway proper, and an upper pentagonal illuminating window, by a stone door frame inserted in the opening; the upper portion, when it begins narrowing, does so by the usual expedient of overlapping courses; there is no trace of any arching whatever…." J.D. Beglar, Report of a tour through the Bengal Provinces...in 1872-73 (A.S.I. vol. VIII, Calcutta, 1878), pp. 164-5

Source: British Library