Ambika Kalna – The Temple Town
The debate is still going on. Which is Bengal's most important temple town, Bishnupur or Ambika Kalna? Bishnupur is more popular with tourists because it has connecting trains that provide the luxury of traveling in an AC Chair car and many standard lodging facilities. Unfortunately, the only way to get to Ambika Kalna by train is to take an unreserved local train. There is one Intercity Express with AC Chair Car service, but it only arrives in the afternoon and is not suitable for a day tour. There are only two or three lodging options. To this day, the best way to get to Ambika Kalna is by car. The journey takes approximately 2.5 to 3 hours, and you can easily cover the city in a day trip.
When it comes to terracotta art variety, Bishnupur is far ahead of any temple town. However, when it comes to the variety of temple structures, Ambika Kalna comes out on top. You name a Bengal temple structure style, and this town in the Burdwan district has it on display. Also, if you're looking for temples with terracotta panels, Bishnupur has only four of them. The temple rests in Bishnupur are made of laterite stones. In contrast, the number of "terracotta temples" in Ambika Kalna is more than double that of Bishnupur.
AMBIKA KALNA HISTORY
Ambika Kalna is an extremely old town. Ambika Kalna was known as 'Ambowa Muluk' between the 15th and 16th centuries, according to the 1495 Mangal Kavya (Bengali Hindu religious texts). Von den Brook's map of Bengal from 1660 mentions the town 'Ambowa'. In fact, two Bishnu idols were recovered from the Bhigarathi River, which runs alongside the town, about fifty years ago. Archaeologists believe these idols date from the 10th or 11th centuries. If this can be considered proof, the town dates back nearly 1000 years.
Historians believe that after Jafar Khan conquered Saptagram in 1298, Ambowa became an important military base for Muslim rulers. Several mosques were constructed here between 1490 and 1559, during the reign of the Hussein Shahi dynasty. The arrival of Shree Chaitanya Dev in Ambowa in the early 16th century resulted in the expansion of the Vaishnav Religious cult.
However, the famous temples of Ambika Kalna were not built until the arrival of the Burdwan kings in the area in the 18th and 19th centuries. The name of the town had been changed to "Ambikanagar" by then. It is widely assumed that the name is derived from "Ambika," one of the many names of Goddess Durga, who has been worshipped in the city for many years. It is also believed that the area's first settlers were Jains. The Goddess Ambika was originally a Jain deity who was later adapted into a Hindu deity.\
It should be noted that the name Kalna only came into prominence after the arrival of the British, and that only in 1790. In fact, Kalna (spelled Calna) and Ambowa (spelled Ambooah) are shown as separate locations on Rennel's 1776 map.
TEMPEL OF AMBIKA KALNA
I visited Ambika Kalna by taking a two-hour local train ride as well as driving through the scenic Boinchi Kalna road and the smooth NH2. After a short train ride, the Kalna lanes have little impact on you. However, after driving through the scenic roads (particularly the Boinchi Kalna Road), the chaotic lanes of Ambika Kalna are a culture shock. From State Highway 6, the bylanes appear narrower and more crowded as you approach the interior areas. A city with so much tourism potential has only a recently constructed designed gate as a tourism promotion effort.Fortunately, the Boinchi Kalna road has recently been renovated. Tourism in Ambika Kalna has only recently been promoted by a few private tour operators who offer a variety of services.Ambika Kalna has a large number of temples that cannot be visited in a single day. As a result, I've listed the temples of the temple town here. My preferred method of visiting the temples is to take the 5:38 Katowa local from Howrah station to Ambika Kalna by 07:30. This is followed by a rickshaw ride (in recent times, a Toto ride) to the temples. Hiring one of these vehicles is the best way to see the temples of Kalna. Even travel agents bringing tourists to Ambika Kalna must rely on Toto rides to visit certain parts of town.
