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A relatively new immaculate red-and-white temple stands beside the ruins of a 1000-year-old shrine overtaken by nature. Muslims take lively half in Hindu puja rituals. A temple roof is made combining Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu architectural kinds. Welcome to Kiriteshwari village in Murshidabad district of West Bengal, which has just lately been chosen by the Centre’s Ministry of Tourism because the Greatest Tourism Village of India.
The village was named after the Kiriteshwari temple, one of many ‘Shakti peeths’. Legend has it that the higher a part of goddess Sati’s cranium had fallen right here. A number of different new temples and ruins of older shrines co-exist right here. The village, also referred to as Kiritkona, positioned round 20 km from district headquarters Berhampur, is a sleepy hamlet with just a bit greater than 1,200 voters, whose important occupation is farming.
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The place is a basic instance of communal concord. Right here, the temple committee has members from the Muslim neighborhood, they usually take part actively in varied rituals associated to the Hindu faith and tradition. The Muslims have additionally given a chunk of land to the Hindus since a portion of a temple was there.
“My grandfather needed to donate a chunk of land for the temple and that was given based on his want. The paperwork was accomplished round two years in the past,” mentioned Sirajul Islam, a member of the Kiriteshwari Temple Committee.
A grand feast is organised on the day of Ashtami through the Durga Puja pageant yearly and seven,000 to eight,000 individuals together with many Muslim households take part in it, mentioned 62-year-old Islam who has been collaborating in temple rituals since he was in his early 20s.
Based on Dilip Kumar Bhattacharya, a priest of the Kiriteshwari temple, the shrine was constructed by Rani Bhavani of Natore, round 300 years in the past, and pujas are carried out daily. Later, Maharaja of Lalgola, Yogendra Narayan Roy, repaired it round a century again, he mentioned.
“However little or no is understood concerning the different temple which is 900-1000 years previous. It’s now in ruins. We additionally don’t know a lot concerning the different historical temples across the village. Some say these have been Shiva temples,” Bhattacharya mentioned.
The speciality of the 300-year-old Kiriteshwari temple lies in its construction as its roof has the affect of Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu structure, the priest mentioned. The design of the ‘garbha griha’ (sanctum sanctorum) the place a black stone is worshipped because the goddess, additionally displays Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim structure, he mentioned.
After the village acquired the honour final week, vacationers from different areas have began coming. A vacationer from Kolkata, Madan Mohan Mitra, mentioned, “I’ve heard concerning the temple earlier. However the zeal to go to the place elevated after it bagged the Centre’s award a number of days in the past. I favored the place.”
Villagers Hemanta Mondal, Paban Das and Uttam Das who run small retailers promoting puja gadgets close to the temple really feel their lives are about to vary within the coming future because the award will carry extra vacationers. “We’re blissful to listen to concerning the award however quite a lot of infrastructure improvement is required to spice up tourism. We are going to want lodges, a hospital and a police station,” the priest mentioned.
The village now has a small lodge that may accommodate only some pilgrims. Murshidabad District Justice of the Peace Rajarshi Mitra mentioned that the award has been given contemplating the immense potential of the place to develop right into a tourism hub. “The temple right here may be very previous but useful. The state authorities has sanctioned funds for restoration of the ruins,” Mitra mentioned.
This story has been printed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content. Solely the headline has been modified.
