The Foreigners in their Midst: Recovering the Voices of Rural Bengal from Terracotta Temples (original) (raw)
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Journal of Bengal Art, 2020
Lokāyata, as a word, primarily denotes the philosophy of the masses – spread or found among the common-folk. In that sense, it could largely be traced in the history of human culture and art, in various forms of architecture, sculpture, painting, music, dance, drama etc. But, whether the terracotta-ornamentation on religious-architectures of Bengal could also be included in the lokāyata-genre has always been a matter of great debate. Some are of opinion that even after having a kind of mass-expression in nature and style, the temples and mosques of Bengal lack the other symptoms of folk-tribal character. Most of them were built for and by the riches and hence couldn’t connect with the folk-tribal traditions of rural-Bengal. On the other hand, others have identified the terracotta-plaques from Paharpur, Mainamati and Mahasthangarh as specimens of folk-tribal art. They discovered inspiration and characteristics of the local folk culture in the works of Sultanate-era, considering their strong, lively and soulful motifs as to be extracted from the lokāyata archetype. But, in both the cases, these terracotta-ornamentations exhibit two prominent features: • their sprawling geographical-presence among the common populace of Bengal • their cultural-evolvement and unanimous-acceptance among the natural artistic-sense and aesthetic-belief of the rural-folk. No matter what the scholars say, these temples, mosques and their various ornamentations have been evoking for centuries a kind of awe and esteem in the minds of the local people, instigated by a diversified expanse of mass-culture typical to Bengal. Right from the core-philosophy or source-religion till the final result in form of viewers’ experience – the entire process was monitored by a continued analysis and deconstruction of various cultural-units through a series of conscious-thinking and subconscious-acts. This paper aims to analyze the source and evolution of this wonderful history spreading across fourteen-hundred odd years.
IGNCA, 2024
Among the many scholars who have documented and catalogued the terracotta temples of Bengal, the most pioneering and exhaustive work is by David McCutchion (during 1970’s). Other than him, scholars like Hitesh Ranjan Sanyal, Tarapada Santra, Amiya Kumar Bagchi, S.K. Saraswati, A.K.M. Zakaria, and Satish Chandra Mitra have also contributed to the vast body of knowledge on Bengal temples of this period. To date, the data have been extensively used as a primary source to analyse and interpret different aspects and attributes of these temples. However, never have they been attended to question several dominant discourses. This paper attempts to use the same records to problematize a few fundamental notions and discourses about the development, transformation and spatio-temporal variabilities. For example, the normalized role of Neo- Vaishnavism in the development of these temple building activities can be questioned. The complex process of interconnected processes of contextual transformations can also be related to the difference in formal as well as transformation of religious terrain in Bengal. The regional variations and gradual changes in socio-religious contexts, I argue, was entwined to these temples.
The Journal of Asian Studies, 2021
It is in this context that Bhatia makes a brief but striking point about the spatiality and its significance for the ambiguation of Vaishnava identity: "For one of the most remarkable features of precolonial Vaishnavism in Bengal was the lack of a central governing authority-monastery or church-to which the laity could turn to in periods of uncertainty. Instead, Bengali Vaishnavism weaved together charismatic gurus, sacred sites such as the shripat, and a willing population" (p. 72). While Bhatia's presentation focuses on the human authorities in the shripats, this reviewer was struck by the importance of the place itself. Indeed, throughout the book, we find that authority was often claimed through association with some place, particularly Chaitanya's birthplace of Navadwip. So, it begs a question unanswered in the book about the significance of proximity and space in the construction of premodern Vaishnava identities in Bengal and how this prepares the groundwork from a broader Bengali Vaishnava and national identity in the colonial period. This would have been particularly helpful in foreshadowing the discussion of Navadwip as a recovered sacred place in chapter 5, "Utopia and a Birthplace." Bengali national identity is the subject of the third chapter. In this chapter, the idea of space is again elided in favor of the "territorial belonging" (p. 92) and "mapping" (p. 113) of identity onto the vernacular literary history of Bengali/Bangla, specifically through the writings of Dinesh Chandra Sen. In this chapter, Bhatia effectively constructs a global context of romanticism in which folk culture is viewed as a return to purer forms of production and expression. It is in this context that Sen articulates a literary history of Bangla and Bengali identity, from which Chaitanya emerges as an icon of Bengali national and historical identity. Through this process, the reputations of Chaitanya and Bengali Vaishnavism, more generally, underwent radical transformations from their association with the uneducated masses to becoming an integral foundation of Bengali Swadeshi history and culture. This transformation is central to chapter 4, which discusses the journal Shri Bishnupriya Patrika, edited by Kedarnath Datta, its associated collective the Gauranga Samaj, and the formation of a salaried middle-class Bengali Vaishnavism. In line with many of the themes in the previous chapter, Bhatia demonstrates that the emergent presentation of Vaishnavism romantically clings to the idea of the rural, ascetic ideal while using that to reconstruct the popular conception of Vaishnavism for the babu, the educated literate bureaucrats who made up its readership. Unforgetting Chaitanya is well written and researched, and it is a significant contribution to scholarship on religion in Bengal and the reception history of bhakti figures. Because of its pointed focus, it is in-class use might be limited, but it would be extremely useful in graduate courses on religion and colonialism in India, modern Bengali history, or bhakti.
Terracotta to Terraces: Tracing the Unique Temple Architecture of Bengal
MAT Journals, 2024
This paper explores the diverse architectural styles of temple construction in Bengal from the 9th to the 19th centuries. Through a detailed examination of structural variations and decorations, the study highlights how the intermingling of Hindu, Islamic, and later European influences shaped the distinctive temple architecture in this region. The research uses architectural analysis and historical texts to identify key styles, such as the 'do-chala' and 'char-chala' huts, alongside the more ornate 'Ratna' and 'naba-ratna' structures. These styles reflect the religious and cultural synthesis and the geographical and material constraints influencing temple architecture in Bengal. The findings underscore the role of Gaudiya Vaishnavism and regional patronage in fostering a unique architectural heritage characterized by its terracotta embellishments and innovative structural forms. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of South Asian architectural diversity and its socio-religious contexts, offering insights into the region's broader patterns of cultural interchange.
Ways of Seeing: Late Medieval Bengal Temples
2014
The aim of this article is to present the different canons that have developed since the 20 th century CE for the study of late medieval Bengal temples. The prime focus is also to present the different notions of past which governed and constructed the present understanding of the terracotta temples by the scholars. It also presents how apart from an exception, all the dominant and 'popular' art-historical canons were unwilling to transgress their boundaries of culture based interpretation of the temples. The article concludes with the idea of development of that possible canon which would not study the society through the temples, rather study the society to understand the temples.
• “Old Tool for New Times: The Discovery of an Ancient Holy Site in Contemporary India”
Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religions, v. 20, 2018
This paper aims to show how different typologies of narration can be involved in the place-making process of a religious centre in India based on the claim of a yogi to have discovered in a jungle an ancient holy place, Garh Dhām, through his powers. As recorded by a devotee-run website, it was claimed to be the same place where King Surath met the sage Medha – as narrated in the Devī Māhātmya, a famous section of the Markaṇḍeya Purāṇa – and where the first ever Durgā Pūjā (worship) was ‘historically’ celebrated. The ‘discoverer’ is a yogi, Brahmānand Girī, who living in jungle was able to find hidden temples thanks to his austerity (tapasyā) and yogic powers (siddhis). The narration of his life story and of his powers recalls those appearing in Indian hagiographies and texts that describe siddhis. The discovery of a holy place by a yogi does not represent an isolated case since similar discoveries dot the history of Hindu religious orders. As in these latter cases, the place-making process of Garh Dhām aims to give authority and legitimacy to the foundation of a new religious centre and so to further spread the Durgā cult in the area and to attract pilgrims.
In the enchanted world of Braj, the primary pilgrimage center in north India for worshippers of Krishna, each stone, river, and tree is considered sacred. In Climate Change and the Art of Devotion, Sugata Ray shows how this place-centered theology emerged in the wake of the Little Ice Age (ca. 1550–1850), an epoch marked by climatic catastrophes across the globe. Using the frame of geoaesthetics, he compares early modern conceptions of the environment and current assumptions about nature and culture. A groundbreaking contribution to the emerging field of eco–art history, the book examines architecture, paintings, photography, and prints created in Braj alongside theological treatises and devotional poetry to foreground seepages between the natural ecosystem and cultural production. The paintings of deified rivers, temples that emulate fragrant groves, and talismanic bleeding rocks that Ray discusses will captivate readers interested in environmental humanities and South Asian art history. 'A wonderfully imaginative addition to the growing body of literature on the Little Ice Age. Sugata Ray traces the influence of climatic variations on South Asian art, architecture, and devotional practices with extraordinary interpretive skill.'―Amitav Ghosh, Author, The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable 'The rocks, rivers, forests, plants, animals, and even the skies of the Mathura-Vrindavan region in north India come alive as historical agents acting alongside humans in Ray's pioneering and imaginative attempt to develop a geoaesthetic approach to the study of Hindu religious art and architecture over a period ranging from the sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. His impressive ability to connect events in the realm of aesthetics and religious devotion with the climatic impact of the Little Ice Age in South Asia, is bound to influence debates in art history in South Asia and beyond. A brilliant achievement.'―Dipesh Chakrabarty, Lawrence A. Kimpton Distinguished Professor of History, South Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago 'Sugata Ray's Climate Change and the Art of Devotion draws an unexpected and strikingly original connection between the catastrophic consequences of the Little Ice Age (c. 1550-1850) and the rise of a site-specific theology at the pilgrim centre of Braj in India. This scholarly, elegantly written art historical monograph that skillfully combines archival scholarship with theoretical sophistication, makes a powerful contribution to recent debates on the environmental crisis in the present Anthropocene epoch.'―Partha Mitter, author of The Triumph of Modernism: India's Artists and the Avant-Garde – 1922-1947 'Sugata Ray’s important book represents a bold attempt to frame a new ecology of art and to engage with local ways of thinking that have not been previously been incorporated into scholarship. It should gain a wide audience.'—Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, Frederick Marquand Professor, Department of Art & Archaeology, Princeton University 'A bold and ambitious project that takes on a sweeping range of issues across both the humanities and social sciences. Ray brings core Indian material into dialogue with current conversations about the relationship between the human and nonhuman, between materiality and immateriality, and climate change and visual culture. The book serves as a challenge to future scholars to expand the range of their own conversations.'―Tamara Sears, author of Worldly Gurus and Spiritual Kings: Architecture and Asceticism in Medieval India https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295745374/climate-change-and-the-art-of-devotion/
A Formal and Contextual understanding of the Jor-Bangla Gangeshwar Shiva Temple, Murshidabad
The paper attempts to study and examine the late medieval Bengal temples, particularly in reference to the Jor-Bangla Gangeshwar Shiva temple at Murshidabad. It looks at the social context within which the patron, builder and the recipient of this temple acted in relation to each other, and how did the complex relationships shared between them shape the temple building activity during this period. As a part of understanding this temple, a study of the carefully presented terracotta narratives and spatial schema is also initiated. Finally, the paper concludes that late medieval temples acted not only as some mere religious structures, but additionally, were embodiment of the changing complex power relations between the ruler and the ruled. Apart from this observation, a few questions are raised about the relationship that was shared between the 'foreigners' and the 'natives'. The question also is about how a shared terrain with complex articulation of power shaped and transformed the temple building activity. The propositions and questions might result into newer revelations on temple building activity of the late medieval Bengal.