State works towards getting heritage tag for Bishnupur

The West Bengal Heritage Commission has taken a move to get the historically important Bishnupur declared as UNESCO World Heritage site.

Bishnupur is well-known worldwide for temples with terracotta works on their walls. The place in Bankura district is also famous for music.

Already a set of reports containing research works on Bishnupur has been submitted to get Bishnupur declared as UNESCO World Heritage site.

A team comprising conservation architects and experts had undertaken a research work on the old town of Bishnupur. They had prepared the report and submitted the same to UNESCO. Now, the West Bengal Heritage Commission is taking necessary steps so that the historically important Bishnupur gets a position among other UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Partha Ranjan Das, a member of the West Bengal Heritage Commission, said: "The reports have already been submitted by the organisations who had undertaken the research work. We will now be putting in effort so that Bishnupur is declared as UNESCO World Heritage site."

The West Bengal Heritage Commission expects that the move to get Bishnupur declared as UNESCO World Heritage site will become successful and the day is not too far for the good news for Bengal.

It may be mentioned that earlier an attempt was made to get UNESCO World Heritage site tag for Santiniketan. But for some reason, it had not materialised.

Temples in Bishnupur with terracotta works are world famous. Just as social life has been depicted on the walls of Konarak Temple through stone carvings, in Bishnupur, burnt bricks have been used to depict the life and works of Lord Krishna. Architects from all over the world visit the temple town to have a glimpse of the great terracotta works which was done in the medieval period.

Bishnupur is also famous for music. It played an important role in the Indian classical music. Jadu Bhatta, an eminent exponent of Dhrupad in Bengali, hailed from the area.

Incidentally, he was the music teacher of Rabindranath Tagore. Two great vocalists Radhika Prasad Goswami and Gyanendra Prasad Goswami also hailed from Bishnupur. There are schools imparting music to young boys and girls in Bishnupur. There is a museum too where musical instruments used by great exponents have been preserved.

At present, lakhs of people from different parts of the state, country and even from abroad visit Bishnupur every year to have a look at the temples. The state Tourism department had also taken a series of steps to attract more tourists to the temple town in Bankura. It is expected that the flow of tourists will go up once Bishnupur is declared as a UNESCO World Heritage site.