01Bir Hambir and Srinivasa
The Gaudiya Vaishnava biographies tell that Bir Hambir’s men robbed a party carrying manuscripts of Gosvami texts from Vrindavan, thinking the chests held treasure. The scholar Srinivasa Acharya followed them to the court, read the Bhagavata to the king, and Bir Hambir took initiation from him. Bir Hambir then built the Rasmancha, around 1600, a stepped pyramid on a broad base ringed by arched galleries, where the images of Krishna from all the town’s temples were brought for the Ras festival.
02Brick and laterite
Bengal has little stone, so the Malla builders worked in brick and fired clay, and took the curved roof of the village hut into temple form. The Shyam Rai temple of 1643, built by Raghunath Singha, has five towers and walls crowded with Krishna’s ras-mandala. His Jor Bangla or Keshta Rai temple of 1655 joins two hut roofs side by side. The Madan Mohan temple of 1694 was built by Durjan Singha. The town still weaves Baluchari saris with scenes from the same epics.
The life of this place
- c. 1600Bir Hambir builds the Rasmancha.
- 1643Raghunath Singha builds the Shyam Rai temple.
- 1655The Jor Bangla (Keshta Rai) temple is built.
- 1694Durjan Singha builds the Madan Mohan temple.
About 140 km from Kolkata by rail or road; one ASI ticket covers the main temples. The Bishnupur Mela is held in late December.
