Situated 60km north-west of Kolkata, the recorded history of Dasghara goes back more than 700 years. Trade and commerce once flourished here under the rule of the Baraduari Raja, who established an important trading center on the banks of the Kananadi and Bimala rivers, both tributaries of the Damodar river. Their success was short-lived as the Damodar changed course and the tributaries silted and dried up, resulting in the ruler relocating to Midnapore. The name Dasghara is derived from the cluster of ten neighbouring villages; Aglapur, Dighara, Gangeshnagar, Gopinagar, Ichhapur, Jargram, Nalthoba, Parambo, Srikrishnapur and Srirampur – as ‘Das’ in Bengali means “ten”.
Dasghara fell into obscurity until the early 18th century when it became a prominent settlement once again, developed by local merchants and zamindars. The most prominent of these was the Biswas family, who amassed great wealth and built their mansion here by the side of Gopisagar Lake. Kachhari Bari, the administrative building of the Biswas family, still stands today alongside an octagonal Rasmancha, square Dolmancha, and a small atchala temple.
The jewel of the Biswas estate, and indeed the oldest structure here, is tucked away behind the mansion.
Built by Sadananda Biswas in 1729, the spectacular pancharatna (five-pinnacled) Gopinath Temple showcases some of the finest terracotta work to be found anywhere in West Bengal.
The temple houses an idol of the Biswas family’s presiding deity, Sri Radha-Gopinath Jiu, and is known for its beautiful panels featuring scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata as well as scenes from daily life.
Above the triple-arched entrance of the west-facing temple are three heavily decorated panels. Above the left arch are scenes from Ramayana, including the mythical bird Suprasha attacking Ravana’s chariot.
The central arch panel is in better condition and depicts in detail the battle scene between Rama and Ravana, a common theme for terracotta temples of Bengal.
The right arch panel also depicts scenes from the Ramayana, most notably where Kumbhakarna is devouring monkeys.
Most of the other exquisite terracotta motifs also reside on the temple’s front elevation, there is hardly anywhere that could be considered not decorated.
The panels also depict rare sequences from the Mahabharata. One panel shows Arjuna sitting near the feet of a sleeping Krishna while Durjodhan sits above. Another panel depicts Krishna as a child pulling apart the beak of Bakasur as he tries to swallow Krishna.
Middle – Vaishnava movement led by Shri Chaitanya
Bottom – Slaughter of Trinavarta Sura
Right – Krishna Gosthalila
Elsewhere we have Gopinis crying as Krishna and Balaram leave for Mathura in Akrur’s chariot, Lord Shiva playing tanpura seated on a tiger skin, Mohisasuramardini Devi Durga, scenes from Krishnalila, Goddess Saraswati with veena, numerous musicians, hunting scenes, glimpses of regular life, scenes from the royal court European soldiers, and various floral motifs.
The only noticeable absence from this plethora of imagery is any depiction of boats or ships, perhaps not surprising as the Biswas family fortune was not quite so heavily linked to the rivers that had long since shifted away from Dasghara.
In 1937-38 there was a huge renovation project undertaken at the Gopinath temple. Potters from Kumartuli (Kolkata) under the supervision of Tarapada Pal (a potter of Kumartuli) suggested a grand idea to the owners that they could make the genuine replicas of the panels that had almost completely weathered away. This was of course a common practice at many terracotta temples in Bengal, but here we have actual records of the event taking place.
Without any guidance from authorities such as the Archaeological Survey of India, Tarapada Pal created and replaced around 50 damaged tiles on the south and west elevations. I have to say they did a great job, and while some of the panels obviously appear fresher, the style and quality to me appears consistent with their much older counterparts.
The most obvious place were these renovations took place are the mrityulata panels, where the fabric of the terracotta appears to be slightly different. A mrityulata is a vertical terracotta panel containing a vertical series of human and animal figures, each poised to attack the figure below. This panel is then repeated running vertically and is usually seen at the corners of a temple.
Scholars believe these vertical rows of figures have their origins in the architecture of wooden chariots constructed in Bengal. Chariots were constructed with vertical panels at the outer corner of the main body of chariots consisting of vertical rows of human and animal figures, which is called a “Barsha” panel. As the builders of chariots and temples were from the same Sutradhar (or carpenter) community, the pattern in the chariots was later assimilated in Bengal temple architecture.
There is much more to see in Dasghara beyond the architectural wonders built by the Biswas family, but my time here was unfortunately too limited. There’s a clock tower, arched gateway and mansion with landscaped gardens built by Bipin Krishna Roy, a successful businessman of Calcutta who made this fortune in the second half of the 19th century loading and unloading ships.
So perhaps that is a good excuse to return one way and conclude my tour around this little-known but intriguing corner of West Bengal.
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Categories: Dasghara Gopinath Temple - Srikrishnapur, India, West Bengal
Kevin Standage 
Amazing relief sculpture on terracotta. Thanks for sharing. Looking ahead to see more.
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