Why in news? An ancient terracotta temple jatar deul  in West Bengal’s Sundarbans, that  survived  from millennia, is now facing a sea winds threat.

Highlights:

• The impact of climate change, especially the increase in air salinity, is gradually eroding the outer wall of temple, located at Raidighi, only a few kilometres from the sea.
• It is said that an early brick temple at Mandirtala in Sagar Island not far from Jatar Deul had been completely destroyed from hostile climate
• To prevent corrosion of the 11th century terracotta temple, the ASI plans to replace damaged bricks and plant trees as a protective barrier
• The ASI website states that Jatar Deul is traditionally connected to an inscription, no longer traceable, by one Raja Jayantachandra, purported to have been issued in 975 AD.

About Jatar Deul

• This shiva temple is also called tower temple (rekha-deul)
• It is located in the numerous rivers criss-crossed by stone-free alluvial and bush landscape of the southern Sundarbans settlements on the bank of the river Moni.
• Jatra duel belongs to a small sub-group of Bengal temples, that has a curvilinear tower similar to temple architecture of the Nagara order of Odisha temples