Bishnupur

A Malla capital built in brick

Bishnupur, in Bankura district of West Bengal, was the seat of the Malla kings of Mallabhum for close to a thousand years. Its fame rests on what they built in the 1600s and 1700s: Krishna temples of brick and laterite, their walls covered in panels of fired clay. The western Bengal plain had little good building stone, so builders turned brick and terracotta into an art of their own. The temples went onto UNESCO's tentative list for World Heritage status in the late 1990s.

The temples, and how to see them

The monuments are spread across town rather than gathered in one compound. Start at Rasmancha, the pyramid-roofed pavilion of 1600, where the ASI ticket counter sits. One ticket covers the protected temples, and it can also be booked online. From there it is a short ride to Jor Bangla, the twin-hut temple of 1655 with the town's best-known panels, and to the five-towered Shyam Rai of 1643. Madan Mohan, built in 1694, is still a working temple. Most visitors hire a cycle-rickshaw or a toto (battery rickshaw) for a few hours and let the driver link the sites. The monuments usually open from sunrise to sunset.

Beyond the big four

Smaller temples fill the gaps: Lalji, Radha Shyam, Madan Gopal, the Jor Mandir group and the laterite Malleswar Shiva temple. The Mrinmoyee temple keeps a Durga Puja that local tradition dates back more than a thousand years. The stone gateways of the old fort, the Pathar Darwaja, still stand, and the great iron Dalmadal cannon rests on a platform beside the Chhinnamasta temple. Lalbandh, one of the reservoirs dug under the Malla kings, is a quiet place at dusk.

Crafts to look for

Bishnupur is where the Baluchari silk saree is woven today, its pallu filled with scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata. The town also sells terracotta horses in the Bankura style, bell-metal ware and dashavatar playing cards painted with the ten avatars of Vishnu. The Bishnupur gharana, a school of Hindustani classical music, grew up under the Malla court. The what to wear page explains how to buy a Baluchari.

Getting there and when to come

Bishnupur has its own railway station on the line through Kharagpur and Bankura, with trains from Howrah and Santragachi. The nearest major airport is Kolkata's, a little over 200 km away. October to March is the comfortable window. April to June is fiercely hot, and the brick and laterite hold the heat well into the evening. The Bishnupur Mela, a crafts and music fair, usually runs in the last week of December. Read the best time to visit and what to eat before you plan.