KALNA RAJBARI (অম্বিকা কালনা), WEST BENGAL, INDIA. скачать в хорошем качестве

KALNA RAJBARI (অম্বিকা কালনা), WEST BENGAL, INDIA.

The debate continues till date. Which is the ultimate temple town of Bengal – Bishnupur or Ambika Kalna? Bishnupur is indeed more popular among tourists as it has connecting trains providing the luxury of travelling in AC Chair car and many standard accommodation facilities. Sadly till date, for travelling to Ambika Kalna by train you have mostly unreserved local trains. There is one Intercity express with AC Chair car facility but in reaches it the afternoon and is not ideal for day tour. Lodging facilities are just two or three at the most. Till date, the best way to reach Ambika Kalna is by road. The journey takes about 2.5 to 3 hours and you can cover the city easily in a day trip. Bishnupur is way ahead that any temple town when it comes to variety in terracotta art. However, if you consider the variety of temple structures, Ambika Kalna is way ahead. You name a style in Bengal temple structure and this town in the Burdwan district has it to showcase. Also if you are strictly talking about temples with terracotta panels, Bishnupur has only four such temples. Rests of the temples at Bishnupur are made of laterite stones. Whereas in Ambika Kalna the number of “terracotta temples” are more than double than that of Bishnupur. HISTORY OF AMBIKA KALNA The town of Ambika Kalna is a very ancient one. Ambika Kalna was known as ‘Ambowa Muluk’ between 15th to 16th centuries as evident from Mangal Kavya (Bengali Hindu religious texts) of 1495. A map of Bengal made by Von den Brook in 1660 mentions the town ‘Ambowa’. In fact, some fifty years ago two Bishnu idols were recovered from Bhigarathi River flowing beside the town. In the opinion of archaeologists, these idols date to 10th or 11th century. If this can be considered as some sort of proof, the age of the town dates to almost 1000 years. Historians opine that Ambowa was an important Military base of the Muslim Rulers after Jafar Khan conquered Saptagram in 1298. Several Mosques were built here from 1490 – 1559 during the rule of Hussein Shahi dynasty. During early 16th century at Ambowa, arrival of Shree Chaitanya Dev resulted in expansion of Vaishnav Religious cult at Ambowa. However, the famous temples of Ambika Kalna were not built till the arrival of the kings of Burdwan in the area during 18th to 19th century. By then the name of the place has been changed to “Ambikanagar”. Popularly it is believed that the name is derived from “Ambika” – one of the many names of Goddess Durga who is being worshipped for several years by people in the city. It is also believed that early settlers of the area were Jains. The Goddess Ambika was earlier a Jain deity, who later was adapted into a Hindu deity. Just opposite to Nava Kailash is the Rajbari Complex. Both are ASI protected. The Rajbari premises is the star attraction of the Ambika Kalna and is very well maintained. It even has toilets in the premises which come as a rare scenario in heritage tourist spots of West Bengal. Also the temples are lighted with colourful lights in the night. However, I never saw the temples in lights since I always have made day tours to Ambika Kalna. The Rajbari complex temples have been built at different periods by Kings of Burdwan and their family members. After their family premises and temples at Dainhat got destroyed due to Bargi attack, Burdwan kings chose this town for building a Thakurbari or Rajbari complex. Similiar Thakurbari was constructed at Chandrakona town of West Medinipur. That Thakurbari was known as Raghunathbari. I have a plan to write a separate blogpost on Raghunathbari. #gharchara