Bishnupur Pulse

The name of Bishnupur is mentioned in the novel Durgesh Nandini written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. Earlier, this small hamlet was known as Van Bishnupur. Van Bishnupur was the capital of erstwhile state of Mallabhum that included parts of Bankura, Burdwan, Midnapur, Murshidabad of West Bengal as well as Chotonagpur of Bihar. The rulers of Bishnupur were called Mallaraj.
These rulers reigned from seventh century to nineteenth century. These rulers were part of the ups and downs of the Indian history. Sometimes they rose to the zenith and sometimes fell to the deepest gorge. Whoever ruled India, they tried to keep Bishnupur under their control; sometimes they succeeded, sometimes not. Sometimes the rulers of Bishnupur revolted against the central rulers, fought with them and even defeated them.
All these are not history; some are myths and some are folklores. Yet local people still cherish these and love to share with pride.

Jayanagar was a small princely state near Vrindavan. The king of Jayanagar started for a religious trip to Puri. On the way at Laugram his wife gave birth to a son. The king left his wife and the new born to a local priest and continued his journey. The boy grew up at the brahmin’s place and he was taking care of his herd of cows. One day he took the cows for grazing and fell asleep. To protect the boy’s face from the ray of the sun a snake shaded the face of the boy with his hood. Seeing this, the Brahmin realized that this boy is not an ordinary one. He arranged for his studies. This boy did not excel only in studies but also in wrestling or Mallayudh. Later he became a local king and settled his capital at Pradymnapur. He was the founder king of Bishnupur and was known as Adi-Malla alias Raghunath.

Raghunath’s decendant Jagat Malla shifted his capital to Bishnupur. The palace and the temple of goddess Mrinmoyee was made by him.

The fame and glory of Bishnupur rose to its peak under the rule of Bir Hambir, the 49th king of Mallabhum. He was contemporary with Akbar. He is known to defeat the pathan rulers like Daud Khan, thereby befriended the Mughals. Bir Hambir was deeply influenced by Sri Nibas Acharya, a deciple of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Thus he became a Vaishnav – worshipper of Lord Vishnu. May be Bishnupur got its name from Lord Vishnu.

With time, a number of Vishnu temples were built at Bishnupur by different kings. Rasmancha, Jorbangla, Radhashyam are a few of them. Seven large water bodies called Bunds were also dug by them.

Renowned musician of Seni Gharana, Ustad Bahadur Khan came to Bishnupur during the reign of Raghunath the 2nd . This started another important cultural heritage, the Bishnupur Gharana of music. This gharana is still an important part of Indian classical music.
Temples of Bishnupur I
The small sub-divisional town of Bankura district of West Bengal, Bishnupur, is known for its terra-cotta temples. There are more than ten noted temples in Bishnupur but all are not made of terra-cotta.
RASMANCHA
Rasmancha is the most renowned terra-cotta structure of Bishnupur. Constructed during the reign of Bir Hambir this square structure is 24.5 metres in dimension and 12.5 metres in height. The architectural design of Rasmancha is quite unique and is rarely found in India. The upper part is pyramidal in shape that comes down and takes the shape of Bengal hut. The lower portion has Islamic arches. The base of Rasmancha is made of stone but the upper portions are made of brick.
Ras yatra is a month long festival that is associated with the love story of Lord Krishna with Sri Radhika during his tenure at Vrindavan. From 1600 AD to 1932 AD Rasmancha was the centre of Ras festival of Bishnupur. Now a days Ras festival is celebrated in the Krishnaganj & Madhabganj area of Bishnupur.
MADAN MOHAN TEMPLE
Madan Mohan Temple is a live temple. The deity of Madan Mohan is still worshipped here. This temple was built by Malla King Durjan Singh in 1694.The temple is based on a square plinth. The dimension of the temple is 12.2 metres and the height is 10.7 metres. On the top of the flat square roof there is a lofty tower. Such style is called EkRatna style. The walls of the temple contains some of the best terra-cotta sculptures depicting scenes from the life of Lord Krishna, Ramayana, Mahabharat, motifs of birds and animals etc.