Brief
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.
Where to Stay
There are more than 71 quality hotel in Dhaka. Some are listed below…
1. Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel, Dhaka
107 , Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Tel: +880 2 811 1005
Website : Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel, Dhaka
2. Ruposhi Bangla Hotel
1 Minto Road, Shahbagh, Dhaka,
Bangladesh.
Phone : 88-02-8330001
Fax : 88-02-8312975
Email : sales@ruposhibanglahotel.com
Website : Ruposhi Bangla Hotel
3. Radisson Water Garden Hotel, Dhaka
Airport Road, Dhaka Cantonment,
Dhaka 1206 Bangladesh.
Telephone: + 88 02 8754555
Fax: + 88 02 8754554 , + 88 02 8754504
Email : reservations.dhaka[at]radisson.com
Website : Radisson Water Garden Hotel
Dhaka Bangladesh
4. Dhaka Regency Hotel & Resort
Airport Road, Nikunja 2
Dhaka 1229, Bangladesh.
Phone : +88-02-8913912, +880 2 8900250-9
Fax : +88-02-8911479
Email : info@dhakaregency.com
Website : www.dhakaregency.com
5. Best Western La Vinci Hotel, Dhaka
54, Kawran Bazar,
Dhaka-1215, Bangladesh
Phone No : 880-2-9119352
Fax No : 880-2-9131218
E-mail : lavinci[at]bol-online.com ,
reservation[at]lavincihotel.com
Web : www.lavincihotel.com
6. The Westin Hotel
Main Gulshan Avenue,
Plot-01, Road 45, Gulshan-2
Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh
Phone : 88-02-9891988
7. Royal Park Residence Hotel
House no. 85, Road no. 25A
Block – A, Banani,
Dhaka 1213 Bangladesh.
Telephone: + 88 02 8815945/46
Fax: + 88 02 8815299
Email : hotelinfo[at]royalparkbd.com
Website : Royal Park Residence Hotel
8. Bengal Inn
House # 07, Road # 16,
Gulshan – 01
Dhaka 1212 Bangladesh.
Tel: +880 2 98880236, 9880610
Fax: +880 2 9880274
Email : info[at]bengalinn.com
Website : www.bengalinn.com
9. Hotel Sarina Dhaka
Plot #27, Road #17
Banani C/A,
Dhaka 1213 Bangladesh.
Tel: +880 2 8859604 -10, 8851040 -2, 8851011-4
Fax: +880 2 988-9989
Email : sales[at]sarinahotel.com, reservations[at]sarinahotel.com
Website : www.sarinahotel.com
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[name] => {:en}Temple of Sree Chaitannya Dev{:}{:bn}শ্রী চৈতন্ন দেবের মন্দির{:}
[post_id] => 4215
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Temple of Sree Chaitannya Dev is 500 years old. The temple is very famous and an attractive tourist spot for people residing in Golapganj. The place is admired for being the forefather’s home of the famous Vaishnava saint.
A fair is organized on full moon day of Falgun here. The fair is organized once every year and many Hindus from home and abroad gather here to attend the fair.
{:}{:bn}শ্রী চৈতন্ন দেবের মন্দির সিলেট জেলার গোলাপগঞ্জ উপজেলায় অবস্থিত। শ্রী চৈতন্ন দেবের মন্দিরটি ৫০০ শত বছর পুরানো। গোলাপগঞ্জের অধিবাসীদের জন্য এই মন্দিরটি একটি আকর্ষণীয় স্থান। প্রখ্যাত বিষ্ণুব সাধুর পূর্বপুরুষের ভিটা হবার কারনে এই মন্দিরটির রয়েছে বিশেষ কদর। প্রতিবছর ফাল্গুন মাসে এখানে মেলার আয়োজন করা হয়। বছরে একবারই আয়োজিত এই মেলায় অংশ নিতে দেশ বিদেশের হিন্দুধর্ম অবলম্বনকারিরা এখানে জড়ো হয়ে থাকেন।{:}
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[name] => Ramakrishna Mission and Moth
[post_id] => 10095
[post_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/bn/places/ramkrishno-mission-and-moth/
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Ramakrishna Mission and moth is a historically significant architectural monument situated at Gopibag in Motijheel, Dhaka. The temple Ramakrishna Mission is an architecture which was founded by Swami Vivekananda in 13 February 1916 and the Ramakrishna Moth was founded by Swami Brakkhanananda.In 1916 Swami Brahmananda and Swami Premananda paid their kind visit to Dhaka. On the 13 Feb. 1916, after the proper rituals Puja and Homa, Swami Brahamananda and Swami Permananda laid foundation of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission respectively.
On the same day as above Swami Premananda Laid the foundation stone of an indoor hospital with twenty beds as its service activities. In this year i.e. 1916 the Mission work was transferred to its permanent place from the rented house. After 8 months,first Governor of the East Bengal, Lord Carmichael inaugurated the opening ceremony of this medical service centre. In March of this year Dhaka Ramakrishna Mission received the affiliation of the Headquarters at Belur. The Ramakrishna Mission Authority of Belur appointed the local executive committee to manage the work. After 85 years crossing the temple had reached its dilapidated condition. The main construction work began in 2000.
24 February 2005 is a memorable day for Dhaka centre, as well as for the devotees, admirers and well-wishers, for, the newly built temple at Ramakrishna Moth, Dhaka, after 5 years work, consecrated in a glorious ceremony performed by Srimat Swami Gahananandaji Maharaj, then Senior Vice-President of the Ramakrishna Order in presence of so many senior monks and brahmacharins and a large number of devotees from home and abroad. 24 February 2005 is a memorable day for Dhaka centre, as well as for the devotees, admirers and well-wishers, for, the newly built temple at Ramakrishna Math, Dhaka, after 5 years work, consecrated in a glorious ceremony performed by Srimat Swami Gahananandaji Maharaj, then Senior Vice-President of the Ramakrishna Order in presence of so many senior monks and brahmacharins and a large number of devotees from home and abroad.
Architectural significance: The temple has a capacity of sitting for about 600 persons, while the height of the temple, say, 80 ft from the ground level, with a completely new and pleasing out looking both inside and outside differ from any other temple of Ramakrishna Order. It has 5 entrances. The shrine room with hexagonal view has been made in such a way that devotees can see the shrine from every side of the temple except back. The main dome is surrounding by 6 small domes with the symbols of 6 religions in their pinnacles, presenting the universality of Ramakrishna Order on the basis of Sri Ramakrishna's realization “as many faiths so many paths." The basement with an area of 5500 sft will be utilized for the purpose of a museum, casual exhibition, discourses and seminars on religions and cultures of different faiths and on topics of learning.
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[2] => Array
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[name] => Temple of Joya Ram
[post_id] => 17675
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Temple of Joya Ram is located in Jowari (জোয়ারী) villege. Promothonath Bishi, The prominent literary of the then Indian Sub-continent, was born in this village. This temple is just beside the House of Jowari Bishi. This temple was built with this house at the same time. So, the both was considered to be the oldest buildings in that area, built around 150 years ago as the local said.
Now a days, this temple almost became a ruin. Trees and bushes are everywhere surrounding the temple. Although recently, the local people cleared the whole mess and started functioning the temple. This temple is known as Shiv Temple, for the worshipping of Lord Shiva. There is a Mandir recently the local villagers made for performing their rituals, both often and by occasion.
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[3] => Array
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[name] => Jagannath Dev Mandir
[post_id] => 1380
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[post_content] =>
Jagannath Dev Mandir is one of the ancient temples in Comilla district. King of Tripura built it. It was named 'Moharaja Radha Kishor Manikuo Bahadur' during the 16th century. The gods Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra were worshiped here. Initially, the statue of gods were at Tripura temple but later it was been shifted here. Wikipedia mentioned this as Saptratna Mandir, where as the travel book writer Mustafiz Mamun has introduced this as Sotero Rotno Mandir (সতের রত্নের মন্দির). There might be a state of confusion regarding the name, but this temple is unique considering the other temples from Bangladesh.
The deities of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra were originally installed in a temple in Tripura from where they were subsequently shifted to this temple. The terracotta brick work of the temple is in the typical Bengal style of temple architecture. Jagannath Temple is one of the oldest temples of Comilla district. It is located two km East from Comilla town, on East Bibirbazar Road, Comilla. (5km east from Comilla dist.)
This four storied, conical shaped temple is a brick built structure, constructed on a concrete octagonal base-stone. This is the only octagonal based and shaped temple of Bangladesh, and one of its type. External wall of every floor looks like octagons and were ascended like inverted Cone. It is a single spire Temple. I believe there were so many artistic terracotta all over this Mandir , from Top to bottom. I find some of the traditional Bengal design on the outside wall of third floor- a terracotta of flower, leaves and petals. Department of Archaeology renovated outside portions of Ground and first floor. Terracotta of these two floors was ruined.
There is a rumor about this ordinary looking spiritual place. Some believes there are two more floors underground, which is filled by sedimentation from Gumti River over the years. I feel this is a weak and bogus point.
This 16th Century edifice is almost 60 feet tall. There is a tank to the West of Temple premises. That Tank could be as old as the temple. The tank is also sketched in 1863 drawing [a British Library Collecton].
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