Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[name] => Gouri Moth
[post_id] => 18737
[post_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/places/gouri-moth/
[thumb_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/IMG_20150906_105800133.jpg
[post_content] =>
Gouri Moth (a sacred place dedicated to the culture of Krishna lifestyle) was established in 1943 in Barodia, Kalia, Narail. After a couple of renovations, it is still there to welcome the devotees of Lord Srikrishno. There are some other Gourio moths in entire Bangladesh too. The most prominent one is in Dhaka at Narinda/Wari area.
In 1943, Turyaswami established the original temple after which he put the idol of Radha-Krishno in it. In 1971, during the liberation war of Bangladesh, Pakistani Army destroyed almost everywhere temple in Bangladesh but luckily the Narail area was a base of Bangladeshi Freedom Fighters so that they did not manage to destroy the temple. However, the temple needed renovation, so another Guru (religious preacher) Santo Goswami made a reconstruction of the temple complex.
25 years ago, from Rajstan (India), a White Shiv Lingam has bought in here. Now it is a Shiv Temple too and people come to worship the lingam. It is made of White Marble which is only one of the tenth of its entire criterion in Bangladesh. To see another marble made white Shiv lingam, you need to visit the Rajshahi Barenda Museum or Khulna Divisional Museum.
Few years back, idol of new Radha-Krishno was brought into this temple as well. So, now the temple looks almost as a new structure but many people did not know that it is a historical place and also a heritage sight of Bangladesh especially for the hindu religious people. It is basically a Krishna Temple that means they worship Krishna mainly. In every year during the eve of Krishna's Birthday (Jonmastomi) they arrange a three days program to celebrate it. About 1000 local Hindu people attends the dinner (bhog/prosad) and they sings the holy krishna songs for the entire night.
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[1] => Array
(
[name] => Kantaji Temple
[post_id] => 4671
[post_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/places/kantaji-temple/
[thumb_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/kantaji-temple21-300x186.jpg
[post_content] =>
Kantaji Temple, also known as the Kantanagar Temple, is located in the graceful heart of gorgeous countryside of Dinajpur. This is a stunning block of religious artwork, and is surely one of the most impressive Hindu monuments in Bangladesh.
Built in 1704-1752 A.D. by Pran Nath, a renowned maharaja from Dinajpur, and his adopted son Ram Nath, it is the country’s finest example of brick and terracotta style. Its most remarkable feature, typical of late Mughal-era temples, is its superb surface decoration, with infinite panels of sculpted terracotta plaques.
This 15-sq-meter, three-story edifice was originally crowned with nine ornamental two-story towers, which collapsed during the great earthquake of 1897 and were never replaced. The temple is built on a high platform. This is a Nava-ratna temple. The roof of the ground floor and first floor each contains four sikharas or ratnas at their corners while the roof of second floor in its middle contains the ruins of the central sikhara.
The entire outer surface of the temple is exquisitely established with terracotta plaques which depict flora and fauna, geometric motifs, mythological scenes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and the contemporary social scenes and favorite pastime. The idol of Kantaji is kept in the garvagriha of the temple in its ground floor.
The department of Archaeology has been performing the necessary conservation and restoration works of Kantaji Temple since it was declared a protected monument by the Government in 1960. This is a UNESCO world heritage site.
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[2] => Array
(
[name] => Ashram of Loknath Baba
[post_id] => 22280
[post_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/places/ashram-of-loknath-baba/
[thumb_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/P_20151013_204336_1_p-300x169.jpg
[post_content] => Ashram of Loknath Baba is a holy place for Bengali Hindu pilgrimages and religious people in Mymensingh. Everywhere in our country a pilgrim from Hindu religion will find a Ashram devoted for the worshiping. In Mymensingh city ORB team experienced couple of Ashrams on the edge and nearby Brahmaputra river. All around the year people worship here but in the month of June of every year this Mymensingh Loknath Babar Ashram becomes more festive at the event of Tirodhan Dibos (on Tithi) of Baba Loknath.
Great quotation of Baba Loknath to his devotees: “Whenever you are in danger, whether in war, forest, ocean or jungle, remember me. I shall save you.”
Baba Loknath was born on 31 August 1730 (Bengali calendar 18th Bhadra, 1137) on the sacred day of Krishna Janmashtami in in the village of Chaurasi Chakla, named as Kochua, few miles far from Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, now in West Bengal, India. He is from a Brahmin family. His father name was Sri Ramnarayan Ghoshal and mother name was Shrimatee Kamaladevi. He has lot of followers and devotees around the world. He has traveled many pilgrimages on foot of Persia, Arabia, Israel and Mecca. They believe at the age of 160, on June 1, 1890 C.E. Baba Loknath took his Samadhi (Left his life means died). There is only one photograph is available at present of Baba.
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[3] => Array
(
[name] => Dhakeshwari National Temple
[post_id] => 1455
[post_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/places/dhakeshwari-national-temple/
[thumb_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Dhakeshwari-National-Temple-3-300x225.jpg
[post_content] =>
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.
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