Hours: Dawn to dusk; usually closed between 1-4pm
Entry: Nominal fee (typically Rs 20-50); ASI-protected site
This is the first thing every visitor to Kalna sees and its geometry rewards a moment of stillness before you move. One hundred and eight aatchala (eight-roofed) terracotta shrines, each housing a Shiva linga, are arranged in two concentric geometric circles on a perfectly maintained lawn. In the outer circle of 74 temples, the Shiva lingas alternate between white marble (representing Sadasiva, the serene) and black stone (representing Rudra, the fierce). In the inner circle of 34 temples, all lingas are white marble. Due to the ingenious layout, every one of the 108 lingas can be seen simultaneously from the exact centre of the complex, a feature that is both architecturally deliberate and spiritually meaningful, the omnipresence of Shiva made spatial.
The Architecture
All 108 shrines are built in the aat-chala style: eight sloping roofs converging upward, supported by eight columns. Each shrine stands approximately 6 metres tall and 3 metres wide. They are built of atchala bricks, plain on the exterior, their simplicity contrasting with the ornate temples of the Rajbari across the road. The one exception is the temple on the western side of the outer circle, built in the larger pancha-ratna style with an eight-stepped porch and rising to 11 metres; this is the Jaleswar Mandir. A well at the centre of both circles provides water for daily puja. The outer circle has a circumference of approximately 220 metres; the inner, 102 metres.
History
The complex was completed in 1809 by Maharaja Teja Chandra Bahadur, who commissioned it to celebrate the transfer of ownership of the Bishnupur royal estate. The initiative, according to tradition, began with a divine dream received by Rani Bishnukumari (Teja Chandra’s mother), the same Maharani who had already built the prototype 108-Shiva complex at Nawabhat in Bardhaman town twenty-one years earlier in 1788. The Kalna complex is the grander realisation of that vision. The walls carry carved scenes from the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and hunting episodes, all in terracotta. The complex is an Archaeological Survey of India-protected monument.
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