The five-hundred years old historical ‘Manasa Temple ‘, popularly known as ‘Bijoy Gupter Manasa Mandir’, opened at Goila in Agoiljhara of Barisal after completing reconstruction and renovation on Friday.Bijoy Gupta was the great poet of popular ‘Padma Puran’ (1484-5), the tales of ‘Padma’ (Devi Manasa) in ‘Mangal Kavya’ trend, one of the most important composed forms of then mediaeval Bengali literature dedicated to deities of rural and low-caste. Poet Bijoy Gupta established the first Manasa Devi Murti (idol) at his birth place of Goila under Agoiljhara upazila of Barisal in 1494 that attracted people for hundreds of years and the Hindus pay worship to the snake deity Goddess Manasa there. The local worshippers built there a beautiful Manasa Devi Murti with brass in early twentieth century. However the Mandir and Murti was looted and destroyed by Pakistan occupation army and associates during liberation war of 1971. The devotees, most of who were refugees during the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971, built a makeshift Devi Murti with sand and cement in post-libration period. At last, in 2003, the local people united and formed the “Manasa Devi Murti Reconstruction Committee” to rebuild the Manasa Devi Murti in its original form along with reconstruct and renovate the Mandir on about 2 acres of land at the cost of about Tk 10 million. Under that project a 27-maund brass-metal idol of Manasa was made by Ramgopal Kangsa Banik of Dhaka Shakhari Patty and placed in the Mandir on early this year. Other works of reconstruction and renovation with the unique dome-shaped architecture of the Mandir were completed and opened to mass people on Friday by lighting MangalProdip (light of welfare) with socio-religious festivals. Among others Advocate Talukdar Md. Yunus, local AL lawmaker, Abu Alam Shaheed Khan, secretary local government ministry, Dr. Khandokar Shawkat Hossain, secretary public works ministry, Dr. Ranjit Kumar Biswas, secretary cultural ministry, Prodip Kumar Chakraborty, chief of the priest Dakeshswari National Temple, Swami Bijit Atmaananda, chief Ramakrishna Ashram Barisal, Atulananda Bhrhamachari, chief Ganesh Pagal Ashram Madraipur, attended and addressed the programme. Indigenous life style and struggle for livelihood could not be understood without the knowledge of aboriginal attachment with ‘nature’ and ‘natural forces’. Lower caste and out caste people of the community always had to fight against natural calamities, epidemics and famine, the speakers told. They knew the ultimate truth that the ‘nature’ is the source of all energy for survival. So they started worship the nature and later worshiped the forces of nature and now we explaining that the climate or environment, they said. In spite of the religious dignity for centuries together, the Manasa Devi Mutri and Mandirb has the great importance equally in respect to historical, cultural and hereditary perspectives in Bangladesh, the speakers told. The temple is known for being the holy abode of Manasa, a form of Shakti and is said to have emerged from the mind (Manas) of the sage Kashyapa. Manasa is regarded as the sister of the Nāga (serpent) Vasuki. The term Mansa means wish and it is believed that the goddess fulfils all the wishes of a sincere devotee, the religious leaders said. – Our Correspondent
