Apr 7, 2016

Stone Temple at East of the Village of Para, Manbhum District (Now in Purulia District), Bengal - 1872

Stone Temple at East of the Village of Para, Manbhum District (Now in Purulia District), Bengal - 1872
Photo of the stone temple east of the village of Para. This photograph is taken by Joseph David Beglar in 1872-73.

"The stone temple was once a large and complete temple; traces of the foundations of the mahamandapa can still be seen , but only the tower portion containing the sanctum is standing now; this portion was once profusely ornamented with mouldings and sculpture, but the weather has worn away the stone (a very soft sandstone) so much, that the correct outline of the mouldings can nowhere be made out." J.D. Beglar, Report of a tour through the Bengal Provinces...in 1872-73 (A.S.I. vol. VIII, Calcutta, 1878), pp. 163. The top part of the temple is built differently to the lower part; it is fashioned from a coarser stone and is more plainly cut perhaps representing a later repair of the temple. The temple houses an image of Laxmi hewn from a black stone.

Source: British Library