BHUBANESWAR: The weathered wooden mandapa of the Charchika temple at Banki in Cuttack district has been given a new lease of life.Damaged over the years due to extreme weather conditions and lack of restoration, the entire structure known as ‘Sunyavahini Mandapa’ has been reconstructed by Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). The Culture department had handed over the temple to INTACH in 2019 for restoration.
Managed by the Endowments department, the intricately carved canopy of the mandapa (also known as mukhashala) is the biggest draw of the temple. While the canopy of the ancient mandapa was made entirely of Sal wood, the pillars are in stone.
The temple is considered one of the oldest Shakti shrines of Odisha. Director of INTACH, Odisha, Mallika Mitra said the wooden ceiling of the mandapa had episodes from Bhagavata Purana, flower motifs, lotus medallions, scrolls and jali work, gaja-vidalas, makaramukha, mithuna and maithuna images, among other carvings.
“When we started the work, we found out that the entire canopy including the central dome was severely damaged by insects and only the outer surface of the carvings survived. So the restoration work required recreation of the entire canopy by imitating the designs. We could only restore 10 pc of the entire canopy and the rest by recreated after an extensive study of the carvings,” she said.
The mandapa has 12 pillars on which large wooden carved beams are resting. Conically, the structure has six layers and each layer is supported by carved cross beams. The damaged beams, too, were restored. Similarly, instead of screws and nails, traditional Salabinda method (joining by groves) has been used to join the wooden planks.
“Seasoned Sal wood for the purpose was procured from government timber forests and treated with insect repellents,” she said. While an amount of `79 lakh was spent on the project, a team of 15 wood craftsmen from Banki, Nayagarh and Khurda worked on it.