Arambagh, a subdivisional town located about 80 kilometres from Kolkata can be reached both by road and rail. The best way is to take the morning Howrah-Goghat local and get down at Arambagh station at about 9:30 am. A little away from the station is a place called Parul within the Arambagh municipality which can be reached either by a toto or an auto. This place has two aatchala temples with terracotta decorations – Raghunandan Temple and Bishalakshi Temple.
Raghunandan Temple built by the local Chakraborty family in 1695 Sakabada (1773 A.D) is placed on a higher platform. This east-facing aatchala temple has a triple arched entrance and the front is decorated with terracotta work. The terracotta decorations are more or less intact though at places it got damaged. But whatever remains is quite good. The unique thing I noticed here is the the staircase on both sides leading to the temple.
The front panel depicts stories from the Ramayana including the battle of Rama and Ravana. It also has stories from Krishnalila, stories from the royal court and floral decorations. Some of the base panels have got damaged. People on boat is beautifully reflected in one of the base panels of the temple. At places there are vegetation. I was told that inside the temple sanctum the narayan sila of Raghunandan was worshipped on a daily basis. At the time of my visit I could not see the deity as it was afternoon.
A little away from Raghunandan Temple, is another aatchala temple dedicated to Bishalakshi at a place called Bikrampur. This temple like the other one is also placed on a higher platform. This temple is comparatively new compared to the other one. There is a foundation plaque on the temple wall. Bishalakshi Temple was built in 1781 Sakabda which one converted to Gregorian calendar comes to 1859.
The temple has a triple arched entrance and the frontal view show terracotta decorations ranging from the battle of Rama and Ravana, Anantasayen Vishnu, Samura Manthan and other decorations. There are two statues of dwarpal inside the entrance to the temple sanctum. Maa Bishalakshi is worshipped inside the temple on a regular basis.
Reference: Hooghly Jelar Purakirti – Narendranath Bhattacharjee
Date of posting: 15th September, 2023.
Blog of Kinjal Bose 