Located just 48 km from Howrah, in
Howrah-Bandel-Katwa line, there is a station called Bansberia in Hooghly
district of West Bengal. Bansberia is a municipal town. The town’s
importance is religious owing to its proximity to Tribeni, or the
confluence of three rivers - Ganga, Jamuna and Saraswati. Bansberia is
famous for two temples - Hanseswari Temple and Ananata Basudev Temple.
Both of them are situated in the same temple complex.
Ananta
Basudev Temple was built by Rameswar Datta in 1679 A.D. Datta was an
ardent follower of Vaishnavism. The presiding deity of the temple is
Lord Krishna. Ananta Basudev Temple was built on typical ekaratna style
of Bengal Temple Architecture. It has a curved cornice. The temple has a
single pinnacle which is octagonal in shape. The temple is rich in
terracotta and is similar to the terracotta temples of Bishnupur. The
terracotta panels of the temple not only depict figures of gods and
goddesses, but also scenes from everyday life. It also portrays stories
from Ramayana and Mahabharata.
The
great poet Rabindranath Tagore visited this temple and he was so much
moved by its beauty asked Nandalal Bose who came here and took drawings
of each and every terracotta pictures of the panels.
The trip to Bansberia remains incomplete without a visit to this temple.
--Kinjal Bose
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