Bishnupur: Beyond the Terracotta Curtain

The town of Bishnupur, 140 km from Kolkata, gets top billing on tourist itineraries if you’re willing to venture out of the city limits to take in the terracotta marvels that define the town. These burnished, earthy temples, made of brick and embellished with intricately carved and moulded panels, are truly an extraordinary sight.

But the showpieces of Bishnupur are a double-edged sword. Interestingly, only four of Bishnupur’s temples are made of terracotta. An overwhelming majority of them are made out of laterite stone, a marvel in itself.