The Road Not Taken: An Alternative Understanding of Archival Data on Late Medieval Terracotta Temples of Bengal (original) (raw)

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.