Vanga Down the Ages : Cults, Icons and Temples

Contents: Preface. Introduction. Abbreviation. Authors. Transliteration chart. 1. Land and people. 2. The Brahmanical Religion, Buddhism and Jainism. 3. The popular cult. 4. The icons. 5. The deities. 6. The festivals. 7. The tradition of temples. 8. All about the temples. 9. Conclusion. 10. Bibliography. Glossary. For further reading.

"Cults, Icons and Temples of 24 Parganas by Gourisankar De gives the fullest documentation any part of India has ever received with regard to its creative life. Nothing is committed, no shrine neglected, no diminutive clay image overlooked, no festival left unrecorded. The book is an encyclopaedia whose facts cohere not only by their regional propinquity but also by the almost breathless zest by which the author of the book has co-ordinated them in clear cut chapters from the earliest time to the present. In this most valuable conspectus the chapters on the popular cults and the one on the festivals provide local colour while those on the Brahmanical Religion, Buddhism and Jainism link the 24 Parganas, the largest district of West Bengal, with the rest of India and prove the important part this region played. While open to the current movements over nearly two thousand years they were given the stamps of the local genius.

Particularly valuable are the chapters treating of the temples, the brick temples forming a crowning glory of this region and the author has not neglected the craftsman and patrons of these uniquely interesting monuments.

Cults, Icons and Temples of 24 Parganas is a substantial addition to the art and culture of this district not only but also of the whole of India." (jacket)