A Historical Study of Temple Architecture and Sculptures of Early Medieval Bankura Region, Eastern India

Abstract

This article intends to focus on the unique and diverse temple architecture and sculptures of the early medieval Bankura region, Eastern India. These are the earliest medieval temples, mostly available with sculptures. All the surviving temples are meticulously documented according to their distinct styles, providing a comprehensive understanding of the architectural diversity. Notably, the deul temples are built with stone, while the panca-ratha temples are built with bricks. The numerous iconographical figurines found in the temples and their sanctums, often depicting deities and mythological scenes of significant religious and cultural importance. The temples showed the transitional aspect of how Jainism cultural practice was influenced by the Brahmanical culture. However, Dihar and Sonotapol temples remained in Brahmanical.