About Brick Monuments of West Bengal

A Statistical Account

Building edifices to worship God is an inherent trait in civilized society . Bengal was no exception and  temples, stupas and viharas testify this trend . In early 13th century, Muslim invadors came with their iconoclastic zeal, demolished religious edifices, which they thought, housed pagan Gods and built at such locations Mosques (Tribeni 1295) with demolished materials using local craftsmen.

To ensure security and to gain goodwill of the local people , the then Muslim rulers of Bengal became tolerant to Hindu religion and their rituals. About that time Sri Chaitannya (1484 –1533) was born.  This amazing vaishnava Saint preached Gaudiya Vaishnava Cult, which emphasised worshipping KRISHNA with dance and music as a personal God . Emergence of this idea caught imagination of the people and many temples were built . The result saw construction of innumerable edifices . This tide lasted up to the end of 18th  century. With the advent of English education this process slowed down and came to an end by 20th century.

These edifices were not monumental  in size, rather smaller in size and completely different in shape form such structures built earlier. Many of them were beautifully decorated with Terra-cotta on the outside faces, unique expression of art in baked clay.

An attempt to list these edifices was made by  P. W. D. in 1886 by publishing, List of ancient  Monuments in Bengal – revised up to 31st Aug 1895. Later on many scholars worked on individual temple and mosque. Mr. J. Mccutchion authored a monograph 'Late Mediaeval Temples of Bengal' 1972 , Calcutta – which for the first time classified and documented some 1500 edifices located in both West Bengal and present day Bangladesh.

Inspiration and guidance of Late Dr. Stella Kramarish (Hindu Temples), Late Prof. S. K. Saraswati (The Begunia group of Temples), Prof. Kalyan Kumar Ganguly (Design in traditional Art  of Bengal) , Dr. John Fritz – New York city , USA (Vijayanagara Project), my friend Dr. George Michell (Brick Temples of Bengal) and Late Raimonda Buitoni (World renowned photographer) is greatfully and lovingly remembered. An attempt is made here to list and document  the edifices standing , along with  relevant  statistics. I am indebted to many persons who made this digitalization project successful.

Shambhunath  Mitra