ZCZC
BSS-16
MOSQUE-TEMPLE (with picture)
Mosque-temple on same yard glittering communal harmony
RANGPUR, Oct 18, 2018 (BSS) – Peaceful coexistence of a mosque and a temple on the same courtyard has set up a glittering example of communal harmony and brotherhood in village Dolgram of Kaliganj upazila in Lalmonirhat district.
The Sanaton community people are celebrating their greatest religious festival of Durga Puja amid ‘Ulludhoni’ and music in one part and Muslims conducting religious rituals in the aroma of ‘Ator’ on the other part of the courtyard.
When the ‘Muajjin’ announce ‘Azan’, the time for prayers, by calling the Muslims, the Sanaton community people stop all activities of worship in their Puja mandap.
In this way, the two religious establishments on the same yard have been continuing to shine religious freedom of the people for one and a half decades there to shine communal harmony.
Anybody can see the ‘unique’ activities of prayers and worship of the Muslims and Sanaton community people in Dolgram village located around 30 kilometers away from Lalmonirhat district town.
Talking to BSS, local elderly people and religious leaders said the Puran Bazar Jam-e-Mosque and Kalibari Central Temple were built on the same courtyard there some 150 years back.
The people of both religions are performing religious rituals as per their own choice. Some are offering munajats in one side while ‘Sharodiyo’ Durga Puja is being celebrated in the other side.
Treasurer of Central Kalibari Temple Committee Sanad Chandra Saha said the temple was established in Dolgram village about 150 years ago as a Kali Mandir.
Accordingly, the temple area of Dolgram village was named as Kalibari. A market was also formed there when local traders and devout Muslims established the mosque beside the temple for their religious purposes in consultation with the Sanaton community people.
“Since then, religious activities of the people are going on peacefully at two religious establishments on one courtyard there setting up a unique example of communal harmony,” Saha said. General Secretary of the Dolgram Central Durga Mandir Committee Kamal Kanti Roy said the main goals of establishing the temple and mosque are offering prayers and worships.
“We perform our religious rituals after consultations among the leaders of two religions without any problem. We all celebrate religious festivals together.
No religion here is different from us,” Roy said. Elderly person Mohammad Abbas Ali of Dolgram village said the people of both religions never witnessed any religion-based problem, misunderstanding, chaos or disagreement in the area.
The religious people of the village have been performing their own religious rituals and celebrating festivals through mutual cooperation in this way.
“The mosque and temple committees sit together and take decisions before the Puja worship begins. Accordingly, all sounds, including loudspeakers of the temple and drums remain closed from the time of ‘Azan’ to the Jamaat prayer,” he said.
During the time of prayers, the Purohits conduct worship silently without drumming of the drums. After the prayers, the normal temple activities again resume. “I never observed even a slightest chaos here from the time of my birth,” Abbas Ali mentioned.
President of the Managing Committee of Puran Bazar Jam-e-Mosque Mohammad Fazal Mian said the mosque and temple on the same yard in village Dolgram it is a dazzling proof of religious harmony. Prayers and Puja worships are happening in the same courtyard for ages.
When the prayer is over, the temple becomes full of worship. ‘Azan’ and prayers do not take too long. “Both the Muslims and Santan community people have been performing their own religious festivals without any chaos for decades after decades here setting up a unique example of communal harmony,” Mian added.
Deputy Commissioner of Lalmonirhat Md Shafiul Arif said the common people of the district are closely bonded with religious harmony and brotherhood for time immemorial.
“The local people firmly believe in the doctrine of Religion is Personal, Festival is Universal,” he said. The Central Kalibari Temple and the Puran Bazar Jam-e-Mosque on the same yard is a unique example of communal harmony, he added.
BSS/SPL/MI/OF/1550HRS