The Terracotta Pyramid of Bengal

Tucked away in the heart of West Bengal, the small town of Bishnupur remains one of India’s best-kept secrets. Still largely unknown outside the state, it hosts some of the most refined temples in the subcontinent.

As our car drove westward from Kolkata, the urban sprawl of the Hooghly delta fell away and revealed lush paddy fields crisscrossed by lazy distributaries. Then, as we entered Bankura district, the paddy gave way to the ‘Jungle Mahals’ - a rugged forest region of silver-barked Sal trees and gnarled, thick-leaved Mahua.

For centuries, these forests had served as a refuge for Bengal’s most independent-minded chiefs, and even today it feels a world away from the riverine plains to the east.

The forest is smaller than it once was, of course, and Bishnupur itself is fast transforming into an urban sprawl like any other. Yet the town is still remarkably green and slow-paced.

Eventually, the first terracotta temple came into view. This was the Rasmancha: a massive, square plinth of laterite supported a colossal terracotta pyramid, punctuated by a dozen arches and small carvings of musicians and dancers attending kirton. Some arches held fragments of the now-lost stucco-work that would have plastered the entire structure.

The Rasmancha was the first manifestation of a extraordinary cultural flowering that occurred in Bishnupur from the 16th to 18th centuries.

Here, in the court of the Malla dynasty, this isolated forest outpost was transformed into one of India’s great temple towns. In time, Bishnupur developed its own gharana of classical music and its own school of painting.

Most remarkable of all, however, was when it was built. Contrary to the narrative of relentless Hindu-Muslim conflict, this Hindu temple town was almost entirely built during Mughal rule. Even more suprising, it was the Hindu Marathas who eventually decimated it. The story of Bishnupur is one that flips traditional nationalist narratives on its head!

I have just published a full story on Bishnupur in my latest ✨️Substack✨️.