United News of Bangladesh
RAJSHAHI, BANGLADESH, June 8, 2005: Few Bangladeshis know that Durga puja, the greatest Hindu religious festival, started off from a famous king’s place in Bangladesh’s Rajshahi district. In the present-day perspective, the venue of incarnation of Goddess Durga and the start of Her ceremonious worship at Taherpur holds a prospect of transforming the spiritual values into material gains through developing it to a tourist spot, tourism experts said. An official of the Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation said he had visited the site and gathered information about the origin of Durga puja from elderly brahmin priests and annals. “But it’s under the jurisdiction of Cultural Affairs Ministry, they are to preserve such historic sites,” he said. According to the Hindu history, Goddess Durga appeared in the midst of the commons following the prayer of King Kansa Narayan in the Bengali year 887 (1480 ce). Myriad heads bowed down before the Deity, and the first Durga worship was held at Taherpur king’s palace in the Bengali month of Aswin.
Ever since, Hindu devotees hold Durga puja across the subcontinent in Aswin. As the story goes, Raj Pundit Ramesh Shastri was the first priest to conduct Durga puja, introduced by King Kansa Narayan, at Taherpur in the Bengali year 887. “Since it is the site of origin of the holiest occasion of over a billion people belonging to Hindu faith, Taherpur can be turned into a pilgrim place that can attract millions of visitors, especially during the autumn festival,” Kartik Saha, a trader of Taherpur municipal area, told UNB correspondent MA Razzak. He is among a number of locals who made a strong plea for developing the historic religious site to a good spot of tourist attraction. What is needed is to build a well-furnished festival auditorium and low-cost resorts for the visitors. The next task is media projection. “India makes a good economic use of famous Muslim heritages like Tajmahal and Ajmeer Sharif by maintaining the sites as religious tourist spots. Why not we benefit from one of the most important sites cited in Hindu myths?” asked Khairul Kabir Khan, a college teacher and BNP leader of Taherpur. In good old days, there had been great festivities during Durga puja at Taherpur and in surrounding areas. People of all religious faiths used to enjoy local operas, dramas and funfairs on the occasion, marked by a trading bonanza. Sunil Das is among one of those who still organize the autumnal festival true to the tradition, but on a lower scale of funfair though.