Photo: Amitabha Gupta, CC BY 4.0
Temple ruins
Early medieval brick temple towers among trees beside the Kangsabati.
Overview
Temple ruins
Deulghata, near Boram village in Arsha block, is a cluster of temple ruins on the bank of the Kangsabati (Kansai). Two tall brick rekha deuls, worked in finely moulded brick and stucco, rise among trees at the edge of paddy fields, with fallen stone shrines and old sculptures around them. A rewarding stop for anyone interested in early temple architecture.
The place takes its name from its deuls, or temple towers. It lies a few kilometres south of Jaipur (Joypur), off the Ranchi-Purulia road, where the Kangsabati runs past Boram. The district administration counts the ruins of some 15 temples. Of the three brick temples recorded in the 1860s, two stand; the third collapsed in 2002, and its overgrown base lies to the north-west near the river.
Both surviving towers are east-facing rekha deuls on raised plinths, each with a tall curved spire over a small sanctum entered through a triangular corbelled doorway. Their walls are decorated almost entirely in moulded brick, with stucco in places: rows of miniature temple towers, scrollwork, geese and, over the southern temple's entrance, a kirtimukha, a fanged mythical face. The tops of both towers have worn away.
Around them are the stumps of stone temples, a modern Shiva temple built on an old base, and small rooms and trees sheltering carved stone images. Quiet for most of the year, the site fills with people at the Tusu and Dol festivals.
Past & present
History & stories
Dating is uncertain. Wikipedia and Outlook Traveller place the temples around the 9th-10th centuries, partly on the evidence of an inscribed slab noted by J. D. Beglar of the Archaeological Survey; LiveHistoryIndia prefers the 11th-12th centuries, when Jainism flourished in the region. The historian David McCutchion grouped Deulghata with Bahulara and Satdeula among western Bengal's brick deuls with remarkably fine stucco work.
The first written account is by Colonel E. T. Dalton, Commissioner of Chotanagpur, who toured Manbhum in 1864-65. He described 'three very imposing looking brick temples' near Boram on the right bank of the river, estimated that the largest had stood about 60 ft high, and noted that the bricks were so precisely made and laid that they looked machine-made.
Beglar, who surveyed the site in 1872-73, also recorded three brick temples and two ruined stone ones. The images he found were all Hindu, among them a large eight-armed Durga slaying Mahishasura, and he concluded that a large and wealthy Shaiva community had once lived here. Since then the site has decayed further, and several sculptures once kept here, including a Shiva-Durga pair and a Rama with his bow, have been stolen.
When you're there
See & do
Walk round both towers to see the moulded-brick ornament: tiers of miniature deuls, scrollwork, geese and the kirtimukha over the southern doorway. On the southern temple, a stone channel through the sanctum wall ends in a carved spout that drained away the deity's bathing water.
Chlorite-stone images, thought to date from about the 11th century, are kept in small cells and lie under trees: the eight-armed Durga, a four-armed goddess on a lotus often taken for Saraswati, a three-foot Ganesha with his mouse, and a lion-riding Singhavahini.
Among the stones is a Shiva linga carved in three tiers. According to the Bengali Wikipedia, drawing on Subhas Roy, each tier turns separately when the stone is gently twisted.
Beside the southern brick deul are the doorposts and part of the sanctum of a stone temple, with the yoni of a Shiva linga still in place. A modern temple on the eastern side, built on an old stone base, houses a large linga.
Gallery
Photos
Photos coming soon
We're putting together our own photographs of Deulghata Temple. Been there with us? We'd love to see yours.
Getting there
From Rangamati
Deulghata Temple is 44 km by road from the resort, to the north. A local guide, sightseeing cab or driver can be arranged on request.
Before you go
Through the year
Seasons & festivals
March – June
Dol Jatra, at Holi in spring, is one of the two times of year when the otherwise quiet site comes alive (Outlook Traveller, 2018).
October – February
The liveliest season: the Tusu harvest festival, ending at Makar Sankranti in mid-January, draws visitors every year.
Fairs & festivals
A river-centred folk harvest festival of south-western Bengal and neighbouring Jharkhand. It is the time of year when Deulghata draws the most visitors (LiveHistoryIndia, Outlook Traveller).
The spring festival of colours. Outlook Traveller names Dol Jatra, alongside Tusu, as the time when this usually desolate site fills with people.
Good to know
Questions
About 44 km by road. The temples stand on the Kangsabati near Boram, a few kilometres south of Jaipur (Joypur). The resort can arrange a guide, sightseeing cab or driver on request.
No inscription dates them firmly. Estimates range from the 9th-10th centuries (Wikipedia, Outlook Traveller) to the 11th-12th centuries (LiveHistoryIndia).
The brick sanctums are empty, but the site is not abandoned: a modern temple houses a large Shiva linga, and the vermilion that has worn away the Durga's face shows that the old images are still worshipped.
Yes. Both lie north of the Ajodhya Hills, and Outlook Traveller's writer stopped at Deulghata on the way to Murguma.
Make a day of it
Close by
Other places close to this one, so you can see a few in a single trip.
On our suggested itineraries
From our travel journal
Culture & heritage
Culture & heritageSeasons & festivalsSources: en.wikipedia.org · bn.wikipedia.org · purulia.gov.in · livehistoryindia.com · outlooktraveller.com · outlookindia.com · outlooktraveller.com · somensengupta.com · wbtourism.gov.in · en.wikipedia.org · tourism.jharkhand.gov.in · router.project-osrm.org
Rangamati is your base for the Ajodhya hills — tell us your dates and we'll plan the drive.
