15. Bengali Temples and their General Characteristics. 
By Monmonan CuakraAvartl, M.A., B.L., M.R.A.S. 
‘Bengali temples ead more or less familiar to us. They lie 
ttered in the great metropolis ; with 
oh? eo and orchards they line the river 
banks ; and in the interior away from the rivers they mark the 
sites of various old places. Not so big and massive as the 
Orissan towers, not so lavishly and elaborately carved as the 
vimanas of the south, they still attract attention from their 
fine carvirgs and peculiar roofs; and no history of Indian ret 
Introductory. 
brick of the Bengali masons. The following notes, scanty a 
imperfect as they are, have been jotted down, in the hope that 
they may draw attention to an regi subject and indicate 
how rich the field is in this direc 
The temples are called Betgal, belds they are found almost 
exclusively in the Bengali-speaking area. 
ut a few can be traced, outside this 
area, in localities where the influence of Bengalis had pene- 
Extent. 
a hut of this type has been carved out of a boulder with an 
inscription dated 5th Margasirsa 1643 Saka (Nov. 1721 A.D. abe 
and further north-east in Sibsagar town, a temple of Kal 
Leecher type can still be seen. Southwards in Puri ib 
a Bengali temple rises on the south bank of the Markanda 
under orders of the Bardwan Raja Kirtticandra. Westwards, 
in Bilhari, the old capital of the Cedi Kings, “ae Jabbalpur, 
C.P., a Bengali Aseria temple has been lately discovered * ; 
and further westward, in the tomb of Raja Baktawar at Alwar, 
fee ea additions with Bengali curved cornices have been 
The temples are passe Se in brick, the main building material 
Material. ailable thoughout the greater part of 
ia The bricks in the older tem- 
ples are thin and well-baked ; ‘occasionally reddish as in the 
amecandra temple of Guptipara. The carvings are on thin 
brick tiles panelled. On the western border, where laterite and 
to some extent sandstone can be quarried, these materials are 
ae A ch. Sur, Bong S Circle, Annual Report for 1902-3, p. 22, para. 
p. 20, para. 
2 Arch Sur. “East Oir., 1907-8, pp. 20-1; para. 23. 
3 Hist. Ind. and East. Arch., Fergusson, ’p. 474, woodcut 267. 
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