Behula Lakshindar’s Bride Chamber in Bogura still enchants visitors


EMDADUL HAQUE | Published: September 08, 2019 21:25:34


Behula Lakshindar’s Bride Chamber

BOGURA, Sept 08: Behula Lakshindar's Bride Chamber or Gokul Medh at the village Gokul, 11 kilometres off Bogura town, still appears to be an archeological site of great importance to the visitors, with the mysterious hallmarks it has borne ever historically. 

The archeological structure was built around the 8th century to the 12th century when Lakshindar had married Behula and made the bride chamber.

He was cursed by goddess that he will die of snakebite on the first day of his marriage.

So he made bride chamber with concrete so that no insect could enter the room let alone snake.

The artiste who made the bride camber saw snakes everywhere in his room after completing the construction work.

Mahasthangarh

He had saw a dream that if he could not make the way of entering the bride chamber, he would die of snakebite. Later, he made the way of snakes entering way and snake bit Lakshindar.

Due to its attractive sight, tourists from both home and abroad are crowding there increasingly to see the historical place.

College student Bablu Ahmed who came from Bagherhat said he has heard the story of the Behula Lakshindar Bride Chamber from his grandfather.

So, he visits the place on Sunday to observe the exquisite beauty of the historical place, he added.

Shahanaj Parvin, a student of Rajshahi University, said she visits Gokul Medh on Sunday with her two friends as the place bears mythological features.

She also said, "Relics of the Buddhist Bihar don't attract me at all."

A tourist, Arun Kumar Chakraborty, said, "I have heard from my father that Lakshindar got married with Behula 1100 years back and made a bride chamber at the place. He was cursed by goddess that he will die of snakebite on the first day of his marriage."

According to the Department of Archeology, the structure was built around the 8th century to the 12th century during the regime of the Buddhist rulers.

The attribution is a Boudhomoth built by Devpal. They used to pray to the god and goddesses for getting rid of agony.

Later, the place was used as Shib temple in the eleventh century for the people of Hindu religion. They also used the place as their worship place for a longtime.

From 1934 to 1936, the British government discovered Behula Lakshindar's Bride Chamber on a 13 feet high place.

Some 172 rooms and a 3.88 square round well were also discovered after digging the place.

They discovered a gold leaf with a portrait of a bull with a small stone fragment of many holes.

An aged man, Amzad Hossain, at Gokul village said the monument the Buddhist relegation centre was discovered in the British period.

Before discovering the historical place, it was a relic bush and covered with extraordinary round the year.

The government is also earning huge revenue from the spot every year as average 500 tourists from different counties of the world including Bangladesh visit it every day.

The authorities earn Tk 10,000 from selling tickets every day.

They are also taking measures to attract tourists providing them with modern facilities.

The authorities have fixed Tk five for children, Tk 20 for males and females, Tk 100 for inhabitants of the sub-continents and Tk 200 for the rest of the country as entry fees.

Around 0.13 million people have visited the spot since 2017, some 0.15 million people have visited it since 2018 and an estimated 0.16 million people will visit it this year.

Booking manager Asaduzzaman said he joined here three years back and saw the condition of tourists' attendance was not noticeable but they were keeping busy providing tickets round the clock.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Foyez Ahmad said, "I have talked with the secretary of the cultural ministry to ensure easy movement of visits in Gokul Medh." "It is a establishment which brings revenue for the development of the country," he added.

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