The Shyamsundar Temple of Jhikira

Kinjal Bose

Jhikira and Rautara are two villages located next to each other in Amta II block of Howrah district. These two villages are famous for temples – some even have terracotta work on the exterior. The oldest among them is the Shyamsundar Temple of Madhyapara located in Jhikira.

Built in 1691 (1613 Sakabda) by the Mallick family, this grand aatchala (or eight roofed) temple is more than 330 years old. The foundation date appears in Sakabda on the pratisthalipi or the foundation plaque. In fact, this practice is seen in most of the temples, though in some cases, one will observe the foundation date mentioned in Bangabda (as per the Bengali calendar).

This south-facing temple is placed on a high platform with a flight of stairs at the centre. Like most of the aatchala temples, it features a triple-arched entrance with a porch. It is worthy to note that the temple is devoid of any archway panels. The archways are decorated with floral motifs including full-bloom lotus. At the centre of the arch there is an idol of Lord Ganesh.

The presiding deity of the temple is Shyamsundar and Radhika along with a salagramsila called Damodar. Several deities are worshipped in the temples of this area including the adjacent villages which houses a salagramsila.

An interesting thing to observe is the presence of a number of memorial slabs – all belonging to a same family – arranged in a row at the entrance to the courtyard of this temple. These nine slabs belonged to the earlier generations of the family. Although memorial slabs of different shapes and sizes are predominant here but the slabs here are pretty old; so much so that they have not yet received any fresh coat of paint.

A number of coconut trees along with these memorial slabs in the backdrop of this temple added a new dimension to it. A close look at the top right corner of the temple just below the lower chala will reveal a thick growth of vegetation which should be removed at the earliest to protect this old heritage mandir. That apart general restoration work needs to be done quickly to preserve this grand structure.

The temple has a number of terracotta panels mainly at the lower base which depicts scenes of swans & boats and also that of hunting & processional scenes. The panels also portray the advent of early Europeans with their ships.