Page 119 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

116 ART AND CRAFTS

extracted the sincere admiration of posterity. It is generally believed by the scholars
that these architects not only worked with clay but wood as well and were known as
sutradhars (who worked with the help of threads), because in executing these finer
decorative lines and measurements they used cotton threads. This simple method is
still practiced by the Bengali artisans and builders even today Mukul Dey in his
44
work on Birbhum terracottas found that even up to the last century guilds or groups
of skilled artisans worked under a master artist who was the chief architect and
responsible for executing the commissioned temple by the donor. The potters or
Kumhars of today, who make idols of Gods and Goddesses, may also possibly be
their descendants. 45
The ornamentation of these temples with terracotta plaques and friezes followed a
definite plan and pattern. In most of the smaller temples, the frontal facades mainly
had profuse decoration on the tympanum, the arches, the side walls and the bases etc.
But the other sides had one or two large panels, or repetitive molded designs, or were
left bare. In the larger and more famous temples, like the Kantanagar temple of
Dinajpur, the Shyamarai and Jor-bangla temple of Bishnupur of W.Bengal and some
fig. 2.30 Pillar of others, the walls are profusely decorated on all the four sides, including the inner walls
Kantanagar temple of the porticoes (fig. 2.30). There was a definite scheme in this decorative pattern
which was followed by the artists all over the country quite strictly. The plaques used
on these temples had figures as well as floral, geometric and vegetal designs. The
primary function of these friezes was the same as
on the Muslim monuments, i.e. to emphasize the
varying lines of architectural design and to
demarcate the area containing narrative themes
and scenes which included both mythological
stories as well as secular scenes (fig. 2.31). In this
scheme of design, the tympanum or the space
above the central archways were reserved for the
heroic acts of Gods and Goddesses and scenes
from the epics, which sometimes spilled over to
the side walls as well and the upper portion of the
columns. The upper of the two friezes at the
bottom portion of the walls and columns mostly
had narrative scenes from epics or mythologies. It
must be mentioned here that, though temples with
terracotta ornamentation covering small or large
amount of the wall space may be found in
innumerable villages inhabited by the Bengali
speaking people of Bangladesh and India, the
largest and the best preserved one is in the soil of
Bangladesh, i.e. the lavishly decorated three-
storied nava-ratna Kantaji temple in Dinajpur