The built heritages of Rural Bengal are still not exactly reached by the regular tourist map of West Bengal. Many villages of Rural Bengal showcase beautiful mansions of yesteryear’s landlords as well as brick temples with terracotta art on their wall. Many of these landlords as well as local businessmen rose to fame during the British rule in India. The architecture and decorative elements of such mansions were heavily influenced by the building style of European mansions, and the temple art displayed scenes from Ramayana and Krishna Lila as well as social scenarios including European figurines.
Jhikira and Rautara are such two villages located in in Amta-II Block under Howrah district of West Bengal. The local landlords and rich businessman of these twin villages located on either side of the main road had built beautiful mansions and brick temples studded with terracotta art.
The virtual tour starts with a visit to Rautara. Here we take a look at the local Roy family’s mansions. The participants will also get to see the two brick temples – Damodar Jiu and Sitaram Jiu temples with their terracotta panels being explained. There are many small Samadhi temples here which were dedicated to individual members of many families. The virtual walk of these two villages showcasing the temples and mansions will be through the scenic landscape of the locality.
This is an online-guided tour.
