Trip to Puthia
Let me get you acquainted with the towering palace of Rani Bhuvan Mohini Devi, guarded by a tall lion gate, with the great Pancharatna Radha Govinda Temple inside, terracotta plaques engraved on the walls, obviously, those involved in adorning this temple, must have been real genius.
The caretaker, Mr. Bishwanath's, role in guiding me to the cluster of temples lying on other side of the pond, next to a madrasa must be praised as I have never seen a man, so strong in his fifties, speaking in broken English that I tried hard to stop but to no avail. I was not a foreigner there, was I ? Standing side by side, as if in a square shaped pattern stood the Anhik and Govinda temples with terracotta designs in various forms on all of the structures. And to my last destination, the Shiva temple surrounded by a wide dighi; protected inside, is the black basalt Shiva lingam, unharmed despite the futile efforts the Pakistani army carried out to break it, as they had done to the other statues in the temples, now Mr. Bishwanath and his family are the sentinels guarding the Shiva lingam at their own cost. With a little photo shooting, I was back to Rajshahi, in a 45-minute journey that had surely been rewarding.
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