Kishoreganj: Kobi Chondraboti Shib Mondir

Saturday, 07 June 2013

Poet Chandrabati(চন্দ্রাবতী) is considered to be the first Female poet in Bengali literature. She was born in 1550. Her father’s name was Bangshidas Bhattacharya(বংশীদাস ভট্টাচার্য) who is considered as one of the composers of Monoshamongol(মনসা মঙ্গল). She along with her father composed the Monosha Debir Bhashan(মনসা দেবীর ভাসান) during 1575. Poet Chondraboti(কবি চন্দ্রাবতী) started narrating the Ramayana(রামায়ন) from the Sita’s(সীতা) point of view by criticizing Rama(রাম). But unfortunately, she couldn’t finish her work.

There are two Shib Mondir(শিব মন্দির) available near the village Chandrabati(চন্দ্রাবতী) that is around 6 kilometer apart from the Kishoreganj(কিশোরগঞ্জ) town. One of those are shorter in size. These temples are related with many stories of Chandrabati(চন্দ্রাবতী) and her life. It is believed that the temples were built during the 16th century, contemporary to the poet’s birth.

It was around 3:00 at the afternoon when I have reached there. So I was the only traveler or tourist there that time. There are few sitting places available near the temple. Authority built those for the visitors. Probably during the holidays or at afternoon lot of visitors use to gather here.

How to Go:

Basically most of the literate person from Kishoreganj(কিশোরগঞ্জ) town use to know about this temple and Poet Chondraboti(চন্দ্রাবতী). But unfortunately I had a slight difficulties to locate it as I was asking to the wrong guys. Finally an ‘easy-bike’ driver from the Shohidi Mosque stand(শহিদী মসজিদ স্ট্যান্ড) of the town came to rescue me. He dropped me at the road side near the village Chandraboti(চন্দ্রাবতী) and from there I had to cross the bridge over river Narasunda(নরসুন্দা) and had to walk around 7/8 minutes to reach near the temples. You can follow the below directions to locate the temple.

1) Ride on an easy bike from the Shohidi Mosque(শহিদী মসজিদ) Stand. Ask the driver to drop you near the Chandraboti(চন্দ্রাবতী) village. This will be just after(2-3 minutes) the Jalalganj(জালালগঞ্জ) Station. GPS coordinate of the dropping point is (24°29’46.85″N, 90°47’42.61″E). You have to count 15 taka for the ride.

2) From there, cross the bridge over the river and keep walking. It is not far from there.

For your assistance, here is the GPS coordinate of the Chondrabati(চন্দ্রাবতী) Temple (24°29’44.16″N, 90°48’3.59″E).

The villages of Bangladesh are always beautiful regardless the season. So while walking on the typical village road, you’ll find lot of scenic beauties around. Also, walking on the Metho Poth(মেঠো পথ) of village is always feeling like a charm to me.

Kobi Chandrabati Shib Mondir,
Viillage Chandrabati,
Kishoreganj District,
Bangladesh

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Traveling Bangladesh…

Reference:
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandravati_%28poet%29