Object Number: VRM1330

Dimensions: 36.0 x 25.0 cm

Material: Terracotta

Find Location: Bagerhat, Khulna District, Bangladesh

Date: c.16th-18th Century CE

The tradition of decorating sacred places with terracotta art has a long history in Bangladesh and terracotta objects have been recovered from Mahasthangarh and other sites of the Early Historic period. The earliest surviving examples of plaques attached to a structure are found at the 8th-9th century CE Buddhist monastic complex of Paharpur (as described in Object 8). This architectural style continued to the 18th Century CE, when many local rulers, including zamindars, commissioned the construction of places of worship, including mosques and temples, adorned with plaques.

Temples were often decorated with narratives drawn from popular epics, such as the Ramayana, but also reflected scenes of daily life. This example from Bagerhat depicts a noble person holding a hookah pipe sitting under a canopy and being rowed in a boat along a river, whilst local fish species swim below. Such scenes are common on temples of this period, and similar examples can be found at Kantanagar temple in Dinajpur District.

The plaque shows the importance of rivers for transport, communication and subsistence to past communities, and illuminates the wealth of the temple’s patrons. On other temples, depictions of boats remind us of the changing social and political environment of the 17th and 18th Century. The depiction of foreign sailors and soldiers at Kantanagar, for example, foreshadow the growing influence of acquisitive European trading companies within the Bay of Bengal and across the Indian Ocean.