::: Star Insight :::

Journey through Bangladesh

From Pabna

The Zorbangla Temple from the 16th Century

Ahmed Humayun Kabir Topu

THE early 16th century Zorbangla temple that is situated at the village of Kalachandpara of the municipality of Pabna is losing its beauty and value due to the negligence of the authorities and lack of maintenance, the Department of Archeology sources informed.

Structurally the Zorbangla temple is a beautiful brick building. The outer walls and doors of the Zorbangla temple are full of the carvings and statues of the ancient goddess. There are engravings in the bricks of the buildings.

The outstanding antique beauty of the structure of Zorbangla has been attracting visitors for some time now. The number of visitors, however, has been going down. Now there are hardly any visitors at the site because of poor maintenance and lack of security.

The Department of Archeology had hired a caretaker to maintain the Zorbangla temple but he simply hasn't been showing up. Meanwhile locals seem to be using the site as a place for playing cards, informed Md. Amirul Islam, a resident of the Zorbangla area.

The beautiful structure is losing its value as the engravings from five centuries ago on the outer part of the sculpture, are slowly decaying. During the survey of the temple recently I found that the engravings and statues of the goddesses were in bad need of preservation.

Department of Archeology officials said that they could not maintain the temple for their operational limitations. “The Archeology Department had hired a caretaker to look after the place. But something happened and the caretaker was redistributed. So, the temple remain abandoned,” said Md Badrul Alam, Field Officer of the Department of Archeology Regional Office, Bogra.

Due to the fund crisis the Department of Archeology cannot repair the temple. “We had estimated Tk. 5 lakh was needed to repair the temple. But the fund later got diverted to another project. So, it is not possible to repair the temple anytime soon. But we hope the repair work will be started next year.” Badrul said while he was talking to this correspondent over the phone.

Meanwhile, the conscious people and the cultural activists urged to maintain the Zorbangla temple. Zorbangla is on the verge of ruin due to the negligence and the lack of maintenance by the authorities. We urge the Department of Archeology to keep trying to preserve this priceless piece of our history. “The Department of Archeology should take immediate steps to repair the temple and to maintain it,” said Gopal Sannal, joint convener of Shammilito Shangshkritik Jote, Pabna.