Joy Kalibari Temple

The place is famous for the annual fair held in the month of Phalgun according to the Bengali Calendar. The fair takes place at the foot of the Mainak Hill and lasts for 13 days. Thousands of Hindus participate here from all over Bangladesh.

Adinath Temple is located on the summit of the Mainak Hill on Maheshkhali Island off the coast of Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, is dedicated to the Hindu God, Shiva, who is worshiped as Adinath.

The Adinath temple clearly shows in its construction the association of the Natha community. The temple is 6 m high and measures 10.5 m × 9.75 m; the inner walls are 1.05 m thick, while outer walls are 0.60 m thick. There are three parts; the northern part, which is older, contains two square rooms (3.35 m each side) for worship – the eastern one has the image of Adinatha Banalinga Shiva and the western one has the image of eight-armed Durga (Idol).

There is no authentic proof to connect Gorakhghata or the temple with Goraksanatha, the guru of the Natha community. It may be that one of the disciples of Goraksanatha may have named the ghat at Maheshkhali after the guru. Natha philosophy evolved out of the long association of the Saivites with the Buddhists and in the 10th-11th centuries emerged Tantric Shastras. Adinatha (variants Matsyendranatha or Minanatha) emerged through this process of evolution. Nathism represents the folk religion of Bengal based on mantra-tantra and asceticism.

The entrance is bow-shaped, while the entrances on the northern and southern sides have been closed with brickwork. There are two windows, one on the east and the other on the west side. The two rooms are covered with domes on pendentives. The finials on top are decorated with lotus, kalasa and chakra. The tops of the octagonal pillars have kalasa and twined scrolls. The top of the arch on the western side has floral and the eastern one has trixul decoration. There are two niches on the southern wall. The second and third parts of the temple are recent additions.

Author: Muhammad Abdul Baten

আদিনাথ মন্দির কক্সবাজার জেলার মহেশখালী উপজেলায় অবস্থিত। আদিনাথ মন্দিরটি কক্সবাজার জেলার মহেশখালী দ্বীপের মাইনাক পাহাড়ের উপরে অবস্থিত। এই মন্দিরে হিন্দু দেবতা শিবকে আদিনাথ হিসেবে পূজা করা হয়।

প্রতিবছর বাংলা ফাল্গুন মাসে এখানে মাইনাক পাহাড়ের পাদদেশে ১৩ দিনব্যাপি মেলা অনুষ্ঠিত হয়। বাংলাদেশের বিভিন্ন স্থান থেকে আগত হিন্দু পুন্যারথীরা মেলায় অংশ নিয়ে থাকেন।

Ramu Temple is located at Ramu Upazila, in a typical Buddhist village located 16 kilometers away from Cox's Bazar. It is accessible from the main highway leading to Chittagong. The village accommodates monasteries, khyangs and pagodas. It has images of Buddha in gold, bronze and other metals inlaid with precious stones inside the pagodas.

Temple on the Bagh Khali River houses relics along with a 13 feet high bronze statue of Buddha rested on a six feet high pedestal. Wood carvings here is rare and refined. In the village weavers ply their trade in open workshops and craftsmen make handmade cigars.

চট্রগ্রাম-কক্সবাজার মহাসড়কে চলার পথেই রামুতে যাওয়া যায়। এখানকার বৌদ্ধ পল্লীতে মূলত রয়েছে মন্দির, খিয়াং এবং প্যাগোডা। প্যগোডাগুলোর অভ্যন্তরে রয়েছে স্বর্ণ, তামা এবং অন্যান্য ধাতুতে নির্মিত বুদ্ধের মূর্তি যেগুলো দামী পাথরে মোড়ানো হয়েছে। বাঘখালী নদীর উপর অবস্থিত বৌদ্ধ মন্দিরে রয়েছে ছয় ফুট উঁচু মঞ্চের উপর স্থাপিত  তামা দিয়ে তৈরি  ১৩ ফুট লম্বা বুদ্ধ মূর্তি। এখানকার কাঠের মূর্তিগুলো আধুনিক এবং দুর্লভ। এখানকার গ্রামবাসীরা হাতে বোনা কাজ এবং হাতে তৈরি সিগার বিক্রি করে জীবিকা নির্বাহ করে।

Autshahi Moth (আউটশাহী মঠ) is a spiritually very prominent Hindu Religious structure among the local community. Local Hindu people has a strong belief and they always practice some rituals centering two temple, built at the base of Moth. Two temples containing distinguished deities. One is occupied by Devi Durga and another one is a fusion between Lord Shiva and Devi Parvati.

It is About 300 Years Old an island stylistic Moth,Beside Autshahi Radha Nath High School at Chander Bazar, Autshahee, Tongibari, Munshiganj. If someone wants to reach there at the temple, then there is no other options except the subway of wooden bridge which connects this feature with the highway.

In the early 18th century Bijoyram Kor built this temple covering his mother's tomb. Struck by different natural calamities, this temple lost its surrounding parts, even it gets curve leaving shape on its exterior.

Dhakeshwari National Temple is a Hindu temple in Dhaka city. It is state-owned, giving it the distinction of being Bangladesh's 'National Temple'. The name "Dhakeshwari" means "Goddess of Dhaka". Since the destruction of Ramna Kali Mandir in 1971 by the Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War, the Dhakeshwari Temple has assumed status as the most important Hindu place of worship in Bangladesh.

The Dhakeshwari temple was built in the 12th century by Ballal Sen, a king of the Sena dynasty, and many say the city was named after this temple. The current architectural style of the temple cannot be dated to that period because of the numerous repairs, renovations and rebuilding which have taken place over time. It is considered an essential part of Dhaka's cultural heritage. Many researchers said that the temple is also one of the Shakti Peethas, where the jewel from the crown of the Goddess Satihad fallen. Although there is not enough historical context to establish this as a fact, researchers were directed to this site while trying to locate the particular Shakti Peetha. Since ages, the temple has been held in great importance. The original 800-year old statue was taken to Kumartuli, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. There remains the replica of original idol in Dhaka. The temple was further damaged during the Muslim mob attacks of 1989–90.

It is widely believed that the Queen, wife of King Bijoy Sen, went to Langolbond for bathing. While coming back, she gave birth to a son, known to historians as Ballal Sen. After ascending to the throne, Ballal Sen built this temple to glorify his birthplace. Legends say that Ballal Sen once dreamt of the deity covered under the jungle. Ballal Sen uncovered the deity from there and built a temple, named for Dhakeswari. Whatever the legends describe, Hindu religious consider Dhakeswari to be the presiding deity of Dhaka, which is an incarnation or form of Goddess Durga the Adi Shakti . The idol of Durga is called Dhakeswari.

Within the premises of the Dhakeswari there are temples of two types of architecture. The ancient one is of the Poncharotna Goddess Durga’s which lost its actual look after the renovation work. Bradly Bird wrote this at the beginning of this century. The present temple is two hundred years old which was built by an agent of East India Company. Most probably he had renovated the temple. Other than this there are four Shib Temples. According to hearsay, in the 16th century King Mansing built these temples by laying four Shib Lingas there. But this information seems to be unreliable. The fusion of Bangla chowchala and shikor temple is notice in the architecture of Dhakeshawri. Ratan Lal Chakraborti in an article mentioned that “ the structure and architecture of it is like a BuddhistPagoda”. He opined that it was probably a Boddist pagoda which was turned into a Hindu temple later. From this, he assumed that the temple was probably built in the 10th century.

How did Dhakeshari temple look like in the 19th century? Ridoynath Majumder described about the temple. At that time the temple was covered by jungle and in its north the Urdu road went westward towards Pilkhana and at its south west was Mirpur road. At its south there was a wood and Urdu bazaar was at the east.