Architectural Heritage of Narail: Gobindadeb’s Jorbangla Temple

One of the architectural heritages of Narail district in Bangladesh is Govinda Dev’s Jorbangla Temple. It is known from History and Myths that approximately in the 18th century CE, a Sarkar Zamindar, the dewan of King Sitaram Roy of Magura, built this Jorbangla Temple. The temple is built in the style of a traditional Bengali Dochala house. This temple is also known as the Kotakol Jorbangla Temple to many.

Map: Location of Govindadeb’s Jorbanga temple.

The traditional Jorbangla Temple is located in the village of Kotakol in Lohagara Upazila under Narail district. Kotakol village is located about 7.5 kilometers south of the Lohagara Upazila headquarters. This architectural heritage Jorbangla Temple is about 65 meters north of the Dighalia Itna road of this village and on the west bank of the Madhumoti River.

The temple, built in a rectangular plan, is 9 meters long and 8.5 meters wide. The temple is located on a platform about one meter high from the ground. Thin bricks and lime mortar were used in the construction of this temple. This structure of a dochala house has two rooms. There is a roofless veranda in front of the temple. Three entrances can be seen from the front veranda to enter the temple. These entrances of the Gothic arch have many designs and various types of flowers, leaves and animals are painted on terracotta panels.

The back room of the temple is the sanctum. There is an entrance to this sanctum from the front room. This entrance looks like the front entrances. In the middle of the north wall of the sanctum, there is a chamber for keeping an idol. A niche is noticed on both sides of the chamber. There is another entrance on the east wall of the sanctum. The front and inner walls of the temple are decorated with many terracotta panels with leaves, flowers and animals. In addition, there is a decorated finial above the temple.

This temple in Narail district is a protected monument declared by the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. It is currently listed and under the supervision of the Department of Archaeology. [Md. Shahin Alam]

Architectural Heritage of Narail

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