Overview
On the bank of the Dhepa River north of Dinajpur. Widely regarded as the finest surviving example of Bengal terracotta temple architecture, a late-Mughal-era navaratna, or nine-spired, temple built by the Dinajpur Raj family.
History
Begun by Maharaja Pran Nath and completed under his son in 1752. Sources agree on the completion date and differ on the start, one giving 1702 and another 1704. A three-storey navaratna brick temple, now missing its original nine corner spires, which fell in the 1897 earthquake. Renowned for the exhaustive terracotta plaquework covering its surfaces.
Spiritual Significance
Kantajew is the high-water mark of a distinctly Bengali art: the entire exterior is faced with terracotta plaques, densely narrating the epics and scenes of contemporary life. It is a building that doubles as a picture book of eighteenth-century Bengal, and nothing else of its quality survives in the country.
Prayers at Kantajew Temple, Dinajpur
आरती कुंजबिहारी की
बंशी शोभित कर मधुर,नील जलद तन श्याम। अरुण अधर जनु बिम्बा फल,पिताम्बर शुभ साज॥
अधरं मधुरं वदनं मधुरं नयनं मधुरं हसितं मधुरम्।
श्री बाँकेबिहारी तेरी आरती गाऊँ
भज गोविन्दम् भज गोविन्दम्
ॐ जय लक्ष्मी माता
Pilgrimage Information
Confirm festival dates and local conditions close to the time of travel. Several of these sites hold gatherings of very large scale.
Preservation
Protection status. Declared a protected monument in 1960, maintained by the Department of Archaeology. The 1897 earthquake destroyed all nine spires. No damage from 1971 or from communal violence was found in the sources consulted.
Sources
- Kantajew Temple other
About this page
Researched and written by YatraBeyond from published sources, and not yet confirmed by the temple. Facts here are cross-checked against at least two independent sources, never written from memory, and every source is listed above.
Last reviewed by us: 2026-09-17. Timings, entry rules and access can change without notice; treat anything time-sensitive as a starting point and confirm before you travel.
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