MVR Sastry

Prof. Samar Guha, originally from Dhaka, Bangladesh, but migrated to West Bengal, India, was a Prof. of Chemistry in Jadavpur University, Calcutta, India, and a freedom fighter, a leader of a political party in India writes, “Dacca (Dhaka) was especially famous for its temple and Hindu festivals. To Vaishnavas , Dacca was second “Vrindavan” . A small city like Dacca contained as many as 700 Vaishnava Temples, along with many “Kali Temples” and some Gurudwaras. Some of these temples were established during the days of the Pathans and Mughals. Many of these temples have been destroyed, defiled or looted during February of 1950. Some 26 important temples, including well know Tokani Pal’s temple, Madan Gopalji, Hayagaribaji, Shamrajji, Gopinathji, Kalachandji, Balaramji and other temples were still under Muslim occupation. People of East Bengal were overwhelmingly Vaishnavas . They could pursue their religious life, various Vaishnava rituals, ceremonies and festivals, unhindered even during the days of Pathan and Mughals rules. But tree years of Pakistan have made them so much terrorized, that while migrating to the Indian Union they have taken away with them 90 p.c. Of their “Vigrahas” and deities. Innumerable Hindu temples are still lying empty and vacant in the city of Dhaka. Janmastami michil (procession), Ratha Yatra were some of the very old religious festivals of Vaishnavas of Dhaka. Janmastami michil was nearly 300 years old in its origin. Every year, on the occasion the michil, consisting of two grand religious processions of Hindus, several lakhs of people were seen assembling in Dacca from various parts of East Bengal. But his Janmashtami micchil had to be abandoned in the very first year of Pak-rule in East Bengal. In older days large number of Muslims of the city used to cooperate and participate actively in this micchil but the hostile attitude of the Muslims today compelled the Hindus to give up their century’s old religious custom. Every year, Hindu localities of Dacca would have been humming in music, Yatras (local operas depicting stories from Hindu epics and Puranas, or myths), dances, Kirtans along with spectacular display of illumination during Jhulan Yatra festivals but this year Jhulan Yatra passes off almost without any notice at all. Rathayatra as another special festival of Dacca Hindus. Nearly 45 Rathas or chariots used to come out in the streets of the city. But this year no Rathyatra was observed except in the village of Dhamrai situated 20 miles away from Dacca. This in a nutshell is the factual position of non-Muslims in Dacca a city which contained 58.5 p.c. Hindu population and whose predominance was manifest in every aspect of the city life before partition”(Non Muslims Behind the Curtain of East Pakistan, Prof. Samar Guha, archive.org/stream/dli.benga…). In 1949 the famous Dhamrai Rathyatra and Janmastami procession was banned by the Government of Pakistan. In 1949 the entire Dhaka area the Hindus were told that they cannot celebrate the Durga Puja , the biggest festival of the Bengali Hindus. As a result, the celebrations and number of Durga Puja were curtailed. During the Vijaya Dasham, the last day of the Durga Puja, when women smear each other with vermilion, give sweets, and greet each other and then the idol is immersed. Athis time, hundreds of Hindu homes were set on fire by the Muslims. As a result, at least 750 Hindu families were homeless. On November 25, 1949, Santosh Kumar Chattopadhyaya, a Hindu, of the Press Trust of India, who was traveling to East Pakistan with valid documents to report was apprehended by the Pakistani police without warrant and kept imprisoned for a month.