The Prabartak Sangha in
Boraichanditala, Chandannagar, Hooghly, a Hindu religious institution known for
its social work, founded by Sri Motilal Roy (Born: 5th January 1883;
Died: 10th April, 1959), an
eminent freedom fighter and social reformer in 1920. Sri Motilal Roy was
greatly influenced by the spiritual path of Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, the famous
Indian philosopher, yogi, guru, poet and nationalist. This philanthropic
organisation was initiated with the aim of nation building which it sought to
achieve through the social and economic upliftment of the masses. This organisation played a nationalistic role
in British India through its social reforms. The Prabartak Sangha ventured into
business, ran educational institutions and established cultural centres to
spread the message of its founder.
As the town of Chandannagar on
the banks of the Hooghly River was under French governance at that time, the
Prabartak Sangha acted as a popular shelter for freedom fighters who dedicated
their life for the Independence of India from the hands of the British with
active support of Sri Motilal Roy. Many eminent freedom fighters and
dignitaries like Charu Chandra Roy, Srish Chandra Ghosh, Rashbehari Basu,
Aurobindo Ghosh, Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Shyamaprasad
Mukhopadhyay, Kaji Najrul Islam and others visited this place. An annual Fair
adjacent to the premises of the Yoga & Brahma Vidya Mandir of Prabartak Sangha
in Goswami Ghat Chandannagar during Akshaya Tritiya was organised every year
and Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagore visited the place in the year 1927 accepting
the invitation of its founder. Sri Motilal Roy primarily participated in the
fight for Indian Independence with his involvement in the Partition of Bengal
Movement (Bango Bhango Andolon) in 1905. He was also involved in transporting
arms to jailed freedom fighter Sri Kanailal Dutta for carrying out their fight
for Independence. His Guru, Sri Aurbindo Ghosh, stayed here in Chandannagar for
forty two days in confinement before proceeding to Pondicherry by boat sailing
through the river Hooghly that flowed beside the town.
This temple was built 200 years
ago much earlier than the Dakshineswar Temple and was completed in the year
1819 by a lady Srimati Gourmoni Devi, after the death of her husband Biswanath
Sarkar who happened to be the descendant of Debi Charan Sarkar. Surrounding
this temple, two other Pancharatna style temples along with ten Shiva temples
were also built however six of such temples have been completely destroyed by
now and cease to exist. Located right next to a cremation ground of the Hindus
on the banks of the Ganga, an idol of
Goddess Kali was placed and worshipped in this temple, however instances of
theft of jewellery of the Goddess and subsequent physical damage led to
stoppage of its daily worship and it was later immersed in the adjacent river.
A saint named Ram ji Abadhut, also known as Nrisingha Das Babaji later came to
stay in this temple and worked on its restoration. After Sri Motilal Roy took control of this
temple much later, he decided against worshipping of any deity inside it
however accepting the advice of Sri Abanindranath Tagore, placed an Omkar on
top of a silver Kalash on a raised platform. This temple thus was transpired
into a universal place of worship of all faiths and came to be known as Yoga
& Brahma Vidya Mandir. The Prabartak Apanalay, a shelter for destitute boys
function even today in the building adjacent to this temple at the Prabartak Sangha.
The temple of Prabartak Sangha is a mute testimony to the days of Indian freedom struggle against British colonization.
Comments
Post a Comment