Bangladesh is a country rich in archaeological wealth from different periods. One of such places of archaeological interest is the Jorbangla Temple in Pabna district. It is also known as the Gopinath Jorbangla Temple. Among the 10 Jorbangla temples in Bangladesh this is the only one declared as a protected monument by the department of Archaeology of Bangladesh.
The Gopinath Jorbangla Temple is located in the south-eastern part of Pabna city in kala chand para. The exact age of the temple is not known. However according to the pundits, it is about 220-270 years old which indicates the late medieval period in Bengal. It is a Hindu temple but no deity is worshipped here and it is not confirmed whether a deity was ever worshipped here or not. [1]
Another …show more content…
However, we can reach some conclusions that the temple was constructed by some wealthy patron from the Vaishnavite community and the deity worshipped in the temple was most likely Radha-krishna.
Now, coming to the architectural part, the Jorbangla temple belongs to the ‘Chala’ variety of architecture which is actually a replication of the local domestic huts. It stands on a slightly curved platform and has two ‘Do-Chala’ structures joined together in an ‘M’ shape.[1] One of these served as a ‘Mandapa’ and the other as a ‘Garbha Griha’. The temple contains a lot of terracotta plaques, some of which are merely for decoration whereas some contains depictions of stories from the ‘Ramayan’. However due to lack of preservation and adverse climatic conditions, many of the terracotta plaques are lost or damaged. Starting from the corner elements, there are several floral patterned bricks along with plane brick layers and at the top of it are terracotta plaques showing an elephant with a raised trunk but, the plaque containing the face of the elephant is a replaced and much newer piece. So it doesn’t quite match the style of the
The Gopinath Jorbangla Temple is located in the south-eastern part of Pabna city in kala chand para. The exact age of the temple is not known. However according to the pundits, it is about 220-270 years old which indicates the late medieval period in Bengal. It is a Hindu temple but no deity is worshipped here and it is not confirmed whether a deity was ever worshipped here or not. [1]
Another …show more content…
However, we can reach some conclusions that the temple was constructed by some wealthy patron from the Vaishnavite community and the deity worshipped in the temple was most likely Radha-krishna.
Now, coming to the architectural part, the Jorbangla temple belongs to the ‘Chala’ variety of architecture which is actually a replication of the local domestic huts. It stands on a slightly curved platform and has two ‘Do-Chala’ structures joined together in an ‘M’ shape.[1] One of these served as a ‘Mandapa’ and the other as a ‘Garbha Griha’. The temple contains a lot of terracotta plaques, some of which are merely for decoration whereas some contains depictions of stories from the ‘Ramayan’. However due to lack of preservation and adverse climatic conditions, many of the terracotta plaques are lost or damaged. Starting from the corner elements, there are several floral patterned bricks along with plane brick layers and at the top of it are terracotta plaques showing an elephant with a raised trunk but, the plaque containing the face of the elephant is a replaced and much newer piece. So it doesn’t quite match the style of the