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Question 114 of 136 · Monuments & Religious Places
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The famous terracotta (brick) temples of the Malla kings are located at:

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Answer: Option B — Bishnupur, West Bengal

Detailed Solution

Bishnupur, in the Bankura district of West Bengal, is famous for its terracotta (baked clay) brick temples, built mainly by the Malla kings in the 17th and 18th centuries.

About the Bishnupur temples:

  • They were built by the Malla rulers, who were devotees of Lord Krishna (Vaishnavas).
  • They are made of local red laterite stone and bricks, and are decorated with richly carved terracotta tiles showing scenes from the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Krishna's life, as well as hunting, war and daily life.

They follow Bengal's unique temple styles, which copy the shapes of local village huts:

  • "Chala" style: with curved, sloping roofs like thatched huts, such as "do-chala" (two roofs), "char-chala" (four roofs) and "at-chala" (eight roofs).
  • "Jor-Bangla" style: two hut-shaped structures joined together.
  • "Ratna" style: a flat-roofed temple with one ("eka-ratna") or more towers ("pancha-ratna", five towers).

Famous temples:

  • Rasmancha (1600): built by King Bir Hambir; a pyramid-shaped structure where the idols of Krishna were displayed during the "Ras" festival.
  • Shyam Rai Temple (1643): built by King Raghunath Singha; a pancha-ratna temple with very rich terracotta carvings.
  • Jor-Bangla Temple (Keshta Rai Temple, 1655): in the jor-bangla style.
  • Lalji Temple and Madan Gopal Temple.
  • The "Dalmadal Kaman", a large cannon (about 3.8 metres long), is also at Bishnupur.
  • The temples of Bishnupur are on UNESCO's tentative list of World Heritage Sites.

Other crafts of Bishnupur:

  • "Bankura horse": a famous terracotta horse, a symbol of Indian folk craft (with a GI tag).
  • "Baluchari sarees": silk sarees with scenes from the epics woven into the border (GI tag).
  • "Dashavatar playing cards" (round, hand-painted cards).
  • Bishnupur is also known for the "Bishnupur Gharana" of Hindustani classical music.

Other famous terracotta temples:

  • Kalna (Purba Bardhaman, West Bengal): the "108 Shiva temples" (Nava Kailash).
  • Maluti (Jharkhand): a cluster of terracotta temples.

Why not the other options?

  • ✗Bhubaneswar has stone temples in the Odishan style.
  • ✗Kanchipuram has stone temples in the Dravidian style.
  • ✗Khajuraho has sandstone temples of the Chandelas.

Quick tip

Remember: Bishnupur (Bankura, West Bengal) = terracotta temples of the Malla kings (Rasmancha, Shyam Rai, Jor-Bangla; chala and ratna styles); Bankura horse; Baluchari sarees; Kalna = 108 Shiva temples.

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Monuments & Religious Places — Preparation

This question tests your understanding of Monuments & Religious Places, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.

This topic covers India's important monuments, temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras and pilgrimage sites, who built them and when, their architectural styles, and India's UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Questions ask who built a monument, where it is located, or which dynasty or style it belongs to. For example, the Qutub Minar was begun by Qutbuddin Aibak, and the Sun Temple at Konark was built by the Eastern Ganga king Narasimhadeva I. Revise the UNESCO World Heritage Sites as a list, noting the most recent additions. Practise the monuments and religious places questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.

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