Radha-Shyam Temple,
Kolkata
Deities: Radha-Krishna
Location: Bishnupur, Kolkata
Built in: 1758
Built by: Chaitanya Singha
Heart is the symbol of
Love.
Love is Truth. Love is Power.
Love is God. To love God is to love man
and to love man is to worship God.
-Sri Swami Sivananda
Radha-Shyam
Temple is one of the famous terracotta temples at Bishnupur in Bankura
District of West Bengal. The temple was built by King Chaitanya
Singha in 1758 and is dedicated to Lord Krishna. The temple architecture
consists of a square building with a curved roof and is crowned by a single
tower. Located about 150 km northwest of Kolkata, Bishnupur is a city with a
glorious past. The rich architecture of terracotta carved temples here is a
striking legacy from the past. Bishnupur has over thirty brick and stone
temples, dating from 17th to 18th centuries, dedicated to Radha and Lord
Krishna.
Apart from temples, there
are eight large tanks, locally known as bandhs, worth visiting.
Lalbandh, Krishnabandh, and Pokabandh were built by the Malla kings. The
Dhrupad school of Indian classical music was established here during 16th /
17th century.Lord
Krishna, the eighth incarnation (avatar) of Lord Vishnu is said to
have born to Devaki and Vasudeva in imprisonment, on the midnight of the 8th
day of the dark half of the month of Shravan. The objective of the
birth was to kill Kamsa, the cruel ruler of Mathura and Devaki’s brother. To
protect the baby from the king, Krishna was taken into the cowherd family of
Yashodha and Nandagopan, where he grew up with his brother Balarama as the
legendary naughty boy.
Krishna’s youth, like his
childhood, is immensely popular with devotees, and is spiritually
significant. The Rasalila, or the dance of love, that he enjoyed with the
gopikas, or cowherds, has been subject to much literary and philosophical
interpretation. The
Mahabharata
describes the War of Kurukshetra in which Lord Krishna favored the Pandavas
against the evil that their cousins Kauravas embodied. Krishna drove
Arjuna’s chariot in the war, and delivered the philosophical text Bhagavad
Gita to the diffident Arjuna in the battlefield.
Krishna is usually
represented as playing the flute, the music of love. He is dark (blue) in
color, and wears yellow silk and flower garlands. The birthday of the lord,
known as Janmashtami or Sri Krishna Jayanti, is celebrated all over
the country.
How to reach:
Kolkata is very well
connected to the major Indian cities by air, rail and road. |