Chandranath Temple

The Joy kali Temple of Dhaka, is situated in a place between Thathari (ঠাটারি) Bazar and Wari. The road was named after this temple itself. Now, literally it is 24 Joy Kali Temple street. Joy Kali Temple is a Hindu temple devoted to Goddess Kali Ma for worshipping. People of Hindu religion of every age come to this temple to worship Goddess Kali. The statue of Goddess Kali is of great significance to the Hindus. The visitors and committee members of this temple gather money for occasions, where sweets are later distributed among them which is called 'Prasad'.

History:

This temple is about 400 years old, established in the Bengali year 1001. During the reign of the Nawabs, Dewan of Nawabs Tulsi Narayan Ghosh and Nabh Narayan Ghosh established this temple with the inspection of Bancharam Saint. At that time they established twenty-one statues of Shiva, Kali, Lakshmi narayan, three Shalgram Chakra, Bandurga etc. A few beautiful monuments like Pancharatna, Nabratna, temple of Shiva, guest house, were built in the house of Joy Kali. Even market named Nawabpur Joy Kali bazar, and a market situated at the south of Kaliganj hut was dedicated to Joy Kali Devi.

Present condition:

The first caretaker of this Joy Kali Devi was Bancharam Saint, the third caretaker was Panachenand, who suffered a decline, so the responsibility to serve the Devi got into the hands of Bhraman Tanyar. Later the landlords of that time seized some of the land of this temple. Starting from that time the temple started to erode, due to lack of maintenance and shortage of money. This temple was damaged during the strike of 1990’s. The temple was renovated later on by Goddess Kali’s followers. Now the temple is much smaller than it was when it was first established. The temple was burgled and valuables looted by thieves in 2010.

Architectural significance:

Inside the boundary of this temple there is basically two temples. One of the temples is of Kali Devi, the other one, which has a dome, is of Shiv. The dome was made out of plaster and is visible from outside. Locals of that area refer to this dome as the Joy Kali Temple. The front of the temple complex is a busy stop for human haulers that go into old Dhaka. The temple has tiles on the walls all around, and the floor is made out of mosaic. There are pictures of Hindu Gods and Goddesses printed on the tiled walls of the temple. The entrance to the temple is welcomed by a logo made of stainless steel saying 'Om'- which is a Hindu divine symbol. In front of the Kali Devi statue is a bell hanging from above, it is a ritual to ring the bell after entering the temple and before leaving.

The navaratna style of temple architecture (Sanskrit: नवरत्न, meaning "nine gems") incorporates two main levels, each with four spired corner pavilions, and a central pavilion above, for a total of nine spires. The style arose in Bengal during the eighteenth century as an elaboration of the pancharatna style that had five pavilions (four at the corners and one above).

Many other temples are located close to it. During the reign of Nawab Murshid Khan(1704-1720) estimated a guy named Nayeb Dewan Ramnath Vaduri built it. The main temple is three storied. It is said that during construction of the temple each brick was fried with ghee. This temple was taken by Archaeology department of Government for reformation.

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.