A stylised clay horse, made in a small Bengal village, became India’s official handicraft symbol in 1952. The Bankura Horse still represents that entire national board today. It’s the most famous single object to come out of Bishnupur’s centuries-old terracotta tradition.
MCQ QuestionsARTNCULTURE0121
1952
The year the Bankura Horse became India’s national handicraft symbol
Bengal’s terracotta tradition, from Malla-era temples to a single iconic clay horse.
Peak era
17th–18th century
Malla dynasty kings built Bishnupur’s great terracotta temples.
Surviving temples
~20 of ~450
Most of Bishnupur’s original terracotta temples no longer stand.
Icon
Bankura Horse
Made in Panchmura village, now India’s handicraft emblem.
GI status
GI-tagged
Bankura/Bishnupur terracotta craft objects hold GI protection.
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Must Know
- Bishnupur, in West Bengal’s Bankura district, is famous for its terracotta (fired-clay) temples. Malla dynasty kings built most of them in the 17th and 18th centuries.
- Bengal’s builders turned to fired clay brick because stone was scarce in the region. This shortage, not just artistic preference, drove terracotta’s rise as the main building material.
- Two notable surviving temples are the Rasmancha, a large terracotta platform built by King Raghunath Singh in 1650, and the Jor Bangla Temple, a double-roofed shrine built by King Bir Singh II in 1655.
- Historical British records describe as many as 450 terracotta and laterite temples once standing in Bishnupur. Only around 20 survive today.
- Beyond temples, Bishnupur and nearby Bankura villages also produce terracotta craft objects. These include the famous Bankura Horse, along with elephants, bulls, and owls.
- The Bankura Horse, made mainly in Panchmura village, became the official symbol of the All India Handicrafts Board in 1952. Bankura/Bishnupur terracotta crafts hold Geographical Indication (GI) protection.
Good to Know
- Bishnupur’s temple architecture follows distinct styles. Chala-style temples have flat, sloped roofs, while Ratna-style temples have curved roofs topped with towers or pinnacles.
- Temple surfaces are covered in detailed terracotta relief panels. These typically depict scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata, alongside courtly and everyday life.
- King Hambir Malla Dev (Bir Hambir), the Malla dynasty’s 49th ruler, is credited with drawing significant political and cultural attention to Bishnupur in the 16th-17th centuries, setting up the conditions for the temple-building boom that followed.
- Bishnupur’s terracotta tradition sits alongside this batch’s other GI-tagged crafts as a case of material scarcity shaping an entire artistic identity. See ArtnCulture0116 — Dhokra Art for another craft rooted in a specific regional material constraint.
Test Yourself
Great to Know
- Bishnupur is unusual in this batch for covering two different craft categories under one regional identity. Architectural terracotta (the temples) and portable craft terracotta (the Bankura Horse and figurines) share a material and a place, but serve completely different purposes.
- Only about one in twenty of the original Bishnupur temples has survived to the present. This makes the region’s terracotta legacy as much a story of loss and documentation as of ongoing living craft.
- The Bankura Horse’s journey from a village folk object to a national symbol illustrates how a single well-designed craft item can outgrow its local origin. It now represents Indian handicrafts as a whole, not just Bengal’s own tradition.
This craft is one of many now sold directly to buyers through India’s digital marketplace for handloom and handicrafts. See ArtnCulture0134 — Indiahandmade for how the platform works.
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