“Kheturi Festival”: A tradition spanning over four centuries

-

Vaishnavs of ISKCON render "Naam Sangkirtan" at the festival. Photo: STAR
“Some render 'kirtan', some are immersed in 'puja', what links them all is their devotion to Lord Gaurango,” said Ramesh Chandra Das at Kheturi Dham.
A Krishna devotee, Ramesh recounted his pilgrimage from Narayanganj to Kheturi Dham at Premtali -- some 20 kilometers off to the west of Rajshahi city. He was humming a 'kirtan' of Nazrul, “Hey Gobinda rakho choroney.”
Like him, thousands of Vaishnavs and Hindus from different areas gathered at the three-day Kheturi Vaishnav Festival recently.
Many of the Vaishnavs arrived from far-flung districts like Chittagong. Joining them were foreign delegates from India, Italy, Australia and Canada who are members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) joined in.
This festival has been observed for 436 years. The festival marks the death anniversary of the renowned Vaishnav saint Sri Narottam Das Thakur (on the fifth day of Bengali month of Kartik).
The festival organisers say there has been a decline in the number of devotees due to the lack of facilities offered at the festival premises.
The historic site, they point out, needs urgent conservation efforts by the government. One version of the origins of the festival goes back to Narottom Das Thakur, known for his devotional verses on Radha and Krishna.
The son of King Krishnananda Dutta and Narayani Devi of the then Goura Pargana in Rajsahi, he renounced his royal claims at a very young age to immerse himself in spiritual leanings in Vrindavan.
Narottam was the initiator of the Kheturi Festival -- celebrating 'Goura Purnima,' the birth of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
Legend has it that some 50 years after the death of Mahaprabhu, many devotees had a vision of him.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Smugglers-BDR Affair on Barendra Express

-
Monday, December 7, 2009 Passengers halted an intercity train for three hours at Panchbibi station in Joypurhat yesterday protesting carrying of smuggled goods in trains and alleged harassment by border troops in the name of raids. Hundreds of passengers got down from Barendra Express that runs between Nilphamari and Rajshahi when it arrived at Panchbibi station at around 10:00am and staged demonstration for three hours until 1:00pm. They sat on the rail track just in front of the locomotive of the express train and held a rally, said sources in the headquarters of Bangladesh Railway's west zone in Rajshahi. The agitators said the smugglers were carrying Indian fertiliser at different compartments of Barendra Express since it started from Nilphamari. Half an hour before the train reached Panchbibi, some members of Bangladesh Rifles challenged the smugglers, they said. At this stage, the smugglers spread the fertiliser inside the compartments by cutting sacks and t
Read more

JMB Patron Aminul Jailed; Dulu given 8 yrs RI for arson, looting; Justice delivered to Fazlu; JMB ruled supreme with their blessings; Extortion charges against Minu

-
Image
  http://thedailystar.net/2007/07/27/d7072701011.htm     JMB patron Aminul jailed 24 others also handed 31 years behind bars for helping militants   Anwar Ali, Rajshahi Former post and telecommunications minister barrister Aminul Haque and 24 others were yesterday sentenced to 31 years and six months' imprisonment in the first-ever judgment of a case for patronising Islamist militants. The convicts also include Rajshahi district BNP Secretary Shish Muhammad. The Second Additional Sessions Judge's Court, Rajshahi convicted them for aiding and abetting the militants of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in extorting and torturing people in Bagmara upazila of the district in 2004. The convicts were also fined Tk 25,000 each and in default they will have to suffer three years more in jail. Two accused union council chairmen--Besharatullah and Rafiqul Islam--were acquitted in the case. Judge Rezaul Islam delivered the judgment amid tight security
Read more