Hansesvari & Vasudeva Temples

About this monument

The two temples are in the same precinct surrounded by a moat. The Hamsesvari temple is made partly of stone and partly of brick. The stone was brought from the queries near Varanasi. The architect masons also came from Varanasi. Though the temple is of the ratna type having thirteen ratnas arranged around on its five storeyes, the masons, unable to understand the local tradition, could not endow it with grace and dignified look. The ratnas were conical and relieved by lotus petal design instead of the usual ridges. The temple is designed to symbolize esoteric Tantric metaphysics. In the sanctum chamber is installed a wooden image of Hamsesvari. The goddess sits on a lotus whose stalk comes out of the navel of a lying figure. Raja Nrisimha Deva started the construction of the temple in 1799 but died in 1802 leaving the monument unfinished. His widowed wife, Rani Samkari, completed the construction of the temple in 1814. The Vasudeva temple is one of the very few ekaratna temples of the 17th century outside Bankura District. On the humped roof of the temple rises an octagonal pinnacle which has arched openings on all its sides. The east and south of the temple are provided with triple-arched façade each. These faces are replete with terracotta plaques executed in the best tradition of burnt clay sculptural style. These terracotta plaques depict social and war scenes, soldiers in ships, life of Krishna, gods and goddesses representing cult deities, monks and mendicants, wild animals, fight between Rama and Ravana etc. The temple was built by the landlord Ramesvara Datta in 1679 A.D.

Site plan

Site plan from the ASI Inventory of Monuments and Sites of National Importance, Vol. VII Part IV, Kolkata Circle (2015).

Photographs