Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Gava, Bangladesh: Home of Ghosh Dastidar Family


Gava, Bangladesh: Home of the Ghosh Dastidar Family

by

Sabyasachi Ghosh Dastidar



Pancha-Ratna (Five Steepled) Hindu Temple

(now an Islamic mosque resides in its courtyard after the Hindu deity was destroyed, and temple unusable)



Centuries-old Memorial of a Ghosh-Dastidar Ancestor



A Ghosh Dastidar Family Shrine -- Puja Bari:

Ma Manasha (Goddess of Snake) Puja Festival Conducted by Ghosh-Dastidar family and Local Hindu Women



A Centuries-old Traditional Bengali Hindu Memorial of a Ghosh-Dastidar:

Gava, Home of 40 Generations of Bangladeshi Indigenous Ghosh-Dastidar Family



Pancha-Ratna Hindu Temple; the Tin-shed Mosque on Right built on the Hindu Temple Property





The Canal built in the Middle Ages by Ghosh-Dastidar Family


A Gava Ghosh-Dastidar Family with Guests





The Gava High School (1889), Alma Mater of many Noted Indians



Lohar Pool (Iron Bridge): A Famous Landmark of the 19Th Century





A Ghosh-Dastidar Family Memorial



A Gava Street Scene



A Bamboo Shanko (Foot Bridge)





Harvest of a Gava Family

A Gava, Barisal, Bangladesh, Harvest





A Home of a Hindu Family, now Refugee in India


The ancestral home of 40 generations of Ghosh-Dastidar Family of Bengal, Bangladesh and India.


A Family Chart of Ghosh & Ghosh-Dastidar of about 40 Generations in East Bengal/


Banglar BrahmanKayastha O GhoshDastidar Bangsha (Bengal's Bramin-Kayastha and Ghosh Dastidar Family) by SriDskshinaRanjan GhoshDastidar, printed by SriSudhanghuRanjan Sengupta, Truth Press, 3 Nandan Road, Bhabanipur; Baisakh 1351 (April-May 1945). Price only 2 takas. 

Monday, February 25, 2008

LakhsmanKathi, Barisal, Bangladesh


LakhsmanKathi, Barisal, Bangladesh:
Home of one of the Ghosh Dastidar Families since 1500s

by Sabyasachi Ghosh Dastidar


Pictures from 1980s, 1990s and 2019



LakhsmanKathi Village Path



15th Century Sri Bishnu (Vishnu) Temple; Restored 1987

Sri Bishnu Deity

"Welcome: Model Self-Sufficient Village"


The Granite Statue of Lord Bishnu (Vishnu)
Path to the Old School Established by Ghosh-Dastidar Family

Mahilara College Founder (near Lakhsmankathi) and Professors 
Welcoming and Honoring Sabyasachi Ghosh Dastidar

Old Ghosh-Dastidar Home Courtyard (as they fled to India)


Family Pond of Ghosh-Dastidar Family


Remains of 500-year old Sri Bishnu (Vishnu) Hindu Temple; 1982, while the 1700s KaliBari Temple of Black Goddess, Ma Kali, was destroyed during 1950s pogrom


LakhsmanKathi Villager's Welcome; 1982


Home of Bibhuti Bhusan & Nihar Kana Ghosh-Dastidar since 1500's,
Taken Over by a Muslim Family after an anti-Hindu Pogrom


Home of Ghosh-Dastidar Extended Family


Mrs. Pratima (Ghosh-Dastidar) Roy Choudhury at the Pond (in 2008) where she almost

Drowned as a Toddler 60 Years Back, rescued by a slightly older Hindu girl, a playmate, of the washerwoman's family


2019 Pictures from LakshmanKathi

Rev. Swami Satyapriyananda of Madaripur, Mrs. Das (indoor), Pratima RoyChoudhury, Sabyasachi Ghosh Dastidar, and Namita Bose


Walking to the Redone Sri Bishnu Mandir Temple

Village Road

Village Pond


Sri Bishnu Murti (Deity)

MahaBishnu Mandir Temple
Rebuilt in late 1980s by Sri Amitabha Ghosh Dastidar, a native of LakshmanKathi Village, 
later of Hungerford Street, Kolkata, India


Darshan with Pujari (Priestess) Mrs. Das

Former Ghosh Dastidar Homestead

At the MahaBishnu Mandir


LakhsmanKathi Village Walk


A New Building by the Muslim Family at Ghosh Dastidar Homestead
who Welcomed the travelers as "Come to your home of ancestors!"


A New Ghat (steps to the water) to the Pond


Ancestral Home of a Branch of Ghosh Dastidar Family @ 1500s

Family Chart of Ghosh-Dasstidar Family since Establishment of the Village (c) late 1400s /          early 1500s


Banglar BrahmanKayastha O GhoshDastidar Bangsha (Bengal's Bramin-Kayastha and Ghosh Dastidar Family) by SriDskshinaRanjan GhoshDastidar, printed by SriSudhanghuRanjan Sengupta, Truth Press, 3 Nandan Road, Bhabanipur; Baisakh 1351 (April-May 1945). Price only 2 takas. 

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Ulpur, Gopalganj (Faridpur) District, Bangladesh


Ulpur, Gopalganj (Faridpur) District, Bangladesh


by
Sabyasachi Ghosh Dastidar

This is my maternal home of 30+ generations of written history. Their home was in Ulpur village. My grandpa Dadu was Girindra Nath Roy Chowdhury and grandma Didima, Mrs. Nirada Sundari . He was lawyer practicing in Madaripur City, where he also built a boys' dorm. (When I interviewed Prof. Dr. Amalendu De https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoPiFEKQfSw and his wife Boudi [Sistee-in-law] Nasima Banu for ISPaD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT_SX-y-rfs - see YouTube's ispad1947 channel – Prof De said he lived at my Dadu's hostel as a young man. Both were from Faridpur district. That was news to me. De-Banu had to flee to India after marriage in 1950s in Faridpur district of East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, for India as they came under attack.) Dadu was a political activist for India's independence struggle. He was awarded Rai Bahadur title by the British after WW I, but later Graandpa Dadu returned the award. In the end Dadu, Didima, MejoMama (Middle Maternal Uncle) and BarroMama (Older Maternal Uncle) spent 17 years in British oppressor's prison. Didima used to say “we just said Vande Mataram (Glory to the Motherland) and we were sent to jail." At times Didima and others were given singara and other food by jailers that they didn't consume. Once a jailer's wife brought then singara and jilebi/jeeleepee sweet by jailers wife saying "I am with you but not with the colonizing oppressors," that too the independence-fighting ladies didn't touch. One Mama Uncle passed his I.A., B. A., M.A., Journalism from behind the British bar. Attack on them after partition made them flee to a refugee hut in Naktala in South Kolkata. When I visited Ulpur first time in 2008 with my older sister Didi or Pratima, and a Hindu monk-guide from Madaripur, formerly a part of Faridpur District, now a separate district, a local Muslim man, a stranger, at the bus stop welcoming us said, "Go visit your home that we call '19 Judges' Home' or ‘unishta judger baari’ as there were 19 judges from that family during British Raj." Ma went to school in Faridpur/Madaripur, Dhaka and Barisal. In Madaripur City Probini Foundation of New York has built two boys hostel (dorm), and completing a third one, and a girls’ dorm in nearby Rajoir. Probini has also built a girls’ dorm at Turhamandra Sarajubala Girls’ School in Gopalganj, formerly a part of Faridpur District. https://empireslastcasualty.blogspot.com/2019/01/bangladeshgopalganj-tutamandra.html All are welcome to join and any help is appreciated. See www.Probini.org or www.ispad1947.org.

            I believe Baba, Dad, Bhibhuti Bhusan, was a graduate of the first batch of Dacca (Dhaka) University. Ma, Nihar Kana, wanted to join Dacca but could not. She got the highest mark at Chatrabritti, while attending Donovan School of Madaripur City in 1910s of then Faridpur District receiving a gold medal in the name of a famous Hindu family that she gave to her grandson Shuvo and a congratulatory letter from British Governor General, both of which we kept at Partition Museum of New York City. She married as a teenager and after having 2 kids she went back to school receiving curses from many families, bur cheers from others. At the final exam she got highest mark in Bangla in the entire board receiving a silver medal that she gave to her grandson Raja. When she came to New York in 1986 in her 80s I tried to fulfill her dream of going to college by asking her to join our university. That didn’t happen. But now there is a community center called Nihar Kana Bhaktabash O Bidyaloi in Mahilara, Barisal, and a shrine in honor of her. See https://empireslastcasualty.blogspot.com/2019/06/sample-pictures-partition-documentation.html




Basu-Roy-Chowdhury Hindu Family Home of 40 Generations, Ulpur, Bangladesh



Basu-Roy-Chowdhury Home
 

One of the Extended Basu-Roy-Chowdhury Family Home;
fled to India after 1947 Partition and anti-Hindu Pogroms
One of the Hindu Basu-Roy-Chowdhury Family Home; now Occupied by Others

Pond of Poplu (Basu) Roy-Chowdhury of Ulpur


Sunset at Ulpur

A Section of One of the Home of Extended Basu-Roy-Chowdhury Family



One of the Homes of Extended Basu-Roy-Chowdhury Family;
now Occupied by Others
 
A Memorial to Basu-Roy-Chowdhury Ancestor

Welcoming Mrs. Pratima Roy Chowdhury (c) by Ulpur Residents.
When asked for direction at the bus stop, one well dressed Muslim resident with long beard wearing blue checkered lungi (sarong) welcomed the visitors by saying, "Go visit your home that we call '19 Judges Home' as there were 19 judges from that family during British Raj era."



                               Remains of Hindu Basu-Roy-Chowdnury Home; Family Fled to India



19th Century Building Design


19th Century Building Design
 
Welcoming Visitors, former Residents, 2008
                                             Ancestral Home of Basu Roy Chowdhury Family


Sample page of 30+ generation written history of Basu-Roy-Choudhury Family of Ulpur, Bangladesh. Almost all the families became homeless refugee in India after India/Bengal Partition in 1947


Sample page of 30 generational of history of Basu-Roy-Choudhury Family of Ulpur, Bangladesh. All most all the families became homeless refugee in India after India/Bengal Partition in 1947


Book on Basu-Roy-Choudhury Family
Parichoy: Ulpur Basu-Roy-Chowdhury-r Bangsa Parochoy
(First Published in 1938)

Old Village Map