Page 117 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

114 ART AND CRAFTS

It must be mentioned here of one new factor which appears to contribute a lot to the
unprecedented increase in temple building in this period. That was the rise of Sri
Chaitanya as propagator of the liberal Bhakti cult, preaching love and devotion to God
and equality of men in the eyes of the creator irrespective of cast and creed. The
oppressive and stringent rules of the shastras enforced by the Brahmins, was
disowned by Sri Chaitanya, who preached the love of God incarnated in Krisna or
Vishnu. This socio-religious revolution seemed to rock the age-old social order of the
Hindus and a new life dawned in Bengal. This wave of Vaishnavism and the cult of
love of Radha and Krishna preached by Sri Chaitanya, set ablaze the devotional spirit
manifested by the Bhakti movement which swept over Bengal touching people of all
classes. Especially the landed gentry of Kayastha or other lower caste, who had
acquired power and wealth during this period, became converts of the Bhakti cult and
their devotional urge was expressed through temple building and decorating these with
narrations of Radha-Krisna stories in terracotta portrayals. Thus it is said that the
Bhakti cult of Radha-Krisna preached by Sri Chaitanya provided the main inspiration
for the revival of Hindu art and architecture in late mediaeval Bengal, the decorations
of which utilized the traditional terracotta art with the refinements brought in by the
Muslims (fig. 2.29). But it must be mentioned here that though at the beginning, most
numbers of temples were dedicated to Krishna-Radha and Vishnu, yet the number of
temples dedicated to Siva or Kali of the Shakta cult were also not negligible. These
terracotta monuments adorned with scenes of various epics and myths, as well as of
secular life, are found from early 16th century until as late as the later part of the 19th
century, scattered in most districts of Bengal. The maturity and developed state of
these terracotta decorated temples of 16th century onwards have led the renowned
scholar David McCutchion to suggest that perhaps a considerable number of such
decorated temples were built even earlier. But as yet no extant proof has been found.
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fig. 2.29 Creepers in The new architectural style based on the village huts of Bengal, with curved or
alpana design humped roofs, introduced in brick structures in the Sultanate period and later adopted
by the Mughal master-builders was employed in this temple architecture as well. Thus
we find terracotta decorated temples of Bangla types both in
single and twin forms (ek-bangla and jod-bangla), chala with 4
or 8 sloped roofs (chau-chala /charchala and aat- chala) type.
Of these the jod-bangla and char-chala are more common,
while the ratna or towered style of temples have enjoyed
similar popularity. Of the extant examples, the Char-chala
Simhabahini temple of Ghatal in Midnapore dist. of W.Bengal
in India, built on 1490 AD, seems to be the earliest terracotta
decorated temple. The ratna temples vary in the number of
their towers from one to nine or more, such as, ek-ratna,
pancha-ratna, nava-ratna etc. Beside these the traditional
rekha style of temples continued to be built, but not many of
these had terracotta ornamentation on their walls.