| At Gourangapur,
a village in the Asansol subdivision, we find a very great impact of Vaishnavism. The very
name Gourangapur suggests that Gouranga is another name of Shri Chaitanya Deva. The
village contains a beautifully built brick temple, a landmark for miles far and wide,
still in fine preservation though deserted, and evidently more than a hundred and fifty
years old. The building is known as the temple of Ichhay Ghose, and tradition says that
Ichhay Ghose was a devout person who constructed the temple in honor of the goddess
Bhagabati. He is said to have been killed in the
battle by a Raja called Lau Sen who according to tradition, was a descendant of Ballal
Sen, the kind of Bengal. It is very probable, however, that this supposed Lau Sen is no
other than the Burdwan Raja Chitra Sen Rai, who conquered Gopbhum in the middle of the
18th century. Mention has to be made of the temples at Kalna, the administrative
headquarters town of a subdivision of the same name. The temples are not old and were
built and consecrated by the Maharaja Tej Chandra Bahadur in 1809.
"The temples, which are all dedicated to Siva, are
arranged in concentric circles the outer circle consisting of 66 temples containing black
and white lingams alternatively, while the inner circle has 42 temples containing white
lingams only. The temples touch one another except where spaces are not for entrance into
thecenter. Each temple is a circular domed cell with the lingam in the center. The worship
of a hundred and eight phallic emblems of Siva is mentioned in the Tantras as productive
of great religious merit. It is said to have special efficacy in averting certain dangers
such as social degradation, loss of caste, extinction of one's race, or fatal disease. The
number 108 have a great significance. |
