Abhishek Bosu

Eleven Shiva Temple (Agaro Shiv Mondir) is located in the village Abhaynagar in Abhaynagar Upazila under Jashore district. Th temple was built in 1745 and its construction was completed in 1764. The 256 years old temple came into view of the archaeological department of Bangladesh in 2014 and after completion of some reformation work it got back its fr’esh look. However, the temple reveals an exciting history.

Once Protapaditto, the inf’luential king of Jashore kingdom, was defe’ated and captu’red by the Mughal. As a result, the members of the royal family scat’tered around in search of good fortune, and among the royal members one took sh’elter in ‘Chanchra’ Jashore and his descendant king ‘Nilkantha Roy’ who could turn the whe’el of his fortune by hard la’bour and gained immense name and fame because of his wealth, po’wer and capability.

The 256 years old temple came into view of the archaeological department of Bangladesh in 2014 and after completion of some reformation work it got back its fr’esh look.

Oneday a g’irl child was born to Nilkantha Roy illumin’ating his house, and the king named the girl Abhaya. At that time, a cr’ucial period was going on in Bengal. Thousands of rivers and canals outsp’read in this region; and to the more south there is impenetrable ‘Sundarbans’. Taking this opportunity, invin’cible ‘Harmad pir’ates’ would expl’oit cru’elly the people of Jashore region, and beside lo’oting their properties, they would ca’ptivate wom’en and children to sell them as sl’aves. In order to re’strain them, king Nilkantha took initiatives. He built a castle on the bank of the river ‘Bhairav’ near ‘Bhatpara’, a holy and ancient place for the Hindus, and shifted there with his family from the capital Chanchra.

Here the royal dau’ghter Abaya started growing up and after being ma’tured her mar’riage was settled with ‘ Nilamber Roy’, the then inf’luential landlo’rd of Narail. But, unfortunately, after some days of their marriage, Nilamber Roy died of an incurable dise’ase making Abhaya a wi’dow. Abhaya was an ardent wor’shiper of God “Shiva” (shiv), and she requested to her father to pass the rest of her life by wor’shiping of God Shiva.

According to the w’ish of his daughter, Nilkantha built ‘ Eleven Shiva Temple’ on 60 acres of land. He named the area ‘Abhaynagar’ after the name of his daughter. The temple still stands on the bank of the river Bhairav. It is not merely a beautiful shr’ine, so many Shiva temples are found nowhere in Bangladesh at the same place.

In bu’ilding of the temple rectangular thin bricks, teracotta, lime etc were used which were conventional during British re’gime. To the east and south row there are four temples in each and in total 8 temples. At the entrance to the south there are two temples at both sides. The main temple is to the west and its length is 24:4 inch ; width is 22:3 inch. The wall of the temple is 3:4 inch wide. The archaeological department of Bangladesh finished its first reformation work of the temple in 2017.

Thanks to the archaeological department that it has brought the age old temple in the light and helped the people of Bangladesh to know the history of Abhaynagar. But, the second phase of ref’ormation work of the temple is stopped now due to some financial problem. If careful observation from the part of the present government continues, the Eleven Shiva Temple can be an at’tractive ey’ecatching historical sight in Bangladesh.

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