SRI SRI BHUBANESHWAR SADHUTHAKUR SEWASHRAM, Karimganj By Prabhas Kanti Sinha

SRI SRI BHUBANESHWAR SADHUTHAKUR SEWASHRAM

 A crucial property of Bishnupriya Manipuri Community at the heart of Karimganj Town

INTRODUCTION:

Existence of a land and property at the heart of a town is very significant for practicing religious and cultural activities of any linguistic minority community. It is known that in the year 1985, the then Deputy Commissioner of Karimganj, Mr. D.N Bhattacharjee IAS alloted about six kathas of land for the Bishnupriya Manipuri community at Sibbari Road which is extented upto Karimganj College campus in the south.

LEADING MEN:

The leading men towards owning the property were Gopendra Kumar Sinha ACS, the then settlement officer, Karimganj and Rajendra Kumar Sinha, the then Kanungo (Land record holder). They by virtue of their official capacity persuaded the Deputy Commissioner to make the allotment of land in favor of Bishnupriya Manipuri Community.

OTHER PERSONS INVOLVED:

Bhupendra Kumar Sinha (Maniraj) being in the high ups of political power of the district also contributed a lot. Other persons are Nanda Kumar Sinha, Nandeshwar Mukherjee, Gita Mukherjee, Nilmoni Sinha, Rajkumar Sinha, Kartik Sinha, Gokul Sinha, Gurudas Sinha are also among others in the Karimganj town behind the establishment and development of the Sewashram.

INITIAL INSTALLATION:

After the allotment of the land done, Bishnupriya Manipuri families living in Karimganj town managed to construct a "Mandir" and cast a slab for "Malthep". People of Hingala and Pratapgarh loya also contributed for the construction. No further progress could have been done due to lack of resources. No daily Sewapuja could have been started in absence of  Deities in the incomplete construction scenario till 2001.

FEAR OF ANNEXATION OF THE PROPERTY BY GOVT.

The property was left unused for about sixteen years, construction started to go damaged, no religious and cultural activities were initiated. The neighboring people got jealous and approached the District Administration to annex and takeover the land and property of the Sewashram in the year 2000. The news created a fear psychosis among the community, then the managing committee led by President Niren Sinha and Secretary Nandeshwar Mukherjee called on Prabhas Kanti Sinha, the then Supt. of Taxes, Karimganj for sorting out a solution. They suggested to take up steps to start daily Sewapuja to save the property of the community from annexation by the Govt.

Considering the gravity of the situation Prabhas Kanti Sinha decided to take over the responsibility to renovate the existing construction, and undertook new construction viz. construction of the priest's quarter with sanitary toilet. Having an official link with the business circle/market at that time, he extracted a great help from the market in executing the constructions. He also spent a lot of his own for this purpose. Thus Prabhas Kanti Sinha contributed a noble job by protecting the property of the Bishnupriya Manipuri Community from  Govt. annexation and involved himself in the history of the development of the Karimganj Sewashram. The Bishnupriya Manipuri residents of Karimganj also contributed generously for the cause.

SEWASHRAM READY FOR SEWAPUJA

Deities were installed, a priest was appointed for doing the Sewapuja and for looking after the property. The then Deputy Commissioner Sri. J.C Goswami IAS formally inaugurated the Sewashram on 6th Nov. 2002. The "Jivanyas" Ceremony of the Deities was performed on 17th Nov. 2002 through "Jagna" and "Namkirtan" followed by "Gopal Raas" at daytime and "Gopi Raas" at night in presence of the respectable people of the community in Barak Valley. Thus daily Sewapuja started and fear of losing the property vanished.

Now a managing committee is managing the affairs of the Sewashram with further development in infrastructure and other activities.