Maluti Temples

Getting there

• By train

  Rampurhat in Birbhum, West Bengal, is the nearest railway station, 16 km away.

• By road

  Buses run from Rampurhat and Dumka, and Highway 122A links the two towns through Shikaripara. Dumka, the district headquarters, is 55 km from Maluti.

Why devotees come here

Maluti is a village in Dumka district, Jharkhand, close to the West Bengal border. Its 72 surviving terracotta temples stand in four groups, from an original 108. They were built between the 17th and 19th centuries.

Legend says a Brahmin named Basanta was granted a kingdom by the Muslim ruler Alauddin Husain Shah of Gaura, for saving the ruler's hawk, called a baj, and returning it. The Baj Basanta dynasty built these temples in Maluti, their capital, inspired by Mowlakshi, their family deity. Devotees still visit the Mauliskha temple all through the year.

The temples were built between the 17th and 19th centuries, according to the Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development. Basanta's family split into four clans, and they kept building in clusters in Maluti. The site was not known to the outside world until A. K. Sinha, Director of Archaeology for the government of Bihar, publicized it in 1979. The Global Heritage Fund has declared it one of the world's 12 most endangered cultural heritage sites.

The 72 temples stand in four groups in Maluti, near the border between Jharkhand and West Bengal. A river called the Chila runs through the village, and it meets the Dwarka close to Tarapith. Maluti village falls under Shikaripara police station in Dumka district.

Tips for your visit

• The area is reported to have no touts or beggars.
• Crowds visit Maluti Mandir during the month of Sawan.

Questions people ask