Temple And Legends Of Bengal

PREFACE:

An attempt to cover comprehensively the temples of highly developed and cultured area like Bengal demands some knowledge of the cultures of the different populations groups in Bengal along with those of the neighbouring regions, the trends of historical and social development, the routes and channels by which different religious thoughts became diffused, the invisible links that exist between the different parts of India particularly through temples and legends, the influences which they exert upon one another and various other factors. There is common affinity between the temples and legends of one region with another, at a time when communication routes were not well developed, it were the pilgrim centers that brought the different parts of India together in spite of the differences in languages, social customs and cultures. The temples and legends have always had a tremendous integrating influence on the different regions that make up India. They still continue this great mission unchanged despite the various regional peculiarities and the different metamorphosis that they have undergone. The temples and legends of any one region express an inner homogeneity of different religious creeds and thoughts and that could be traced in the temples and legends of other areas.

This book which is extremely modest in scope does not aspire to meet the demands of a specialist. It is only an introduction and is meant for the interested layman. The reader is recommended to the various books that have been mentioned in the texts if he wants to know more about the factors that have sponsored the temples in Bengal and the temples themselves. Only very few of the temples have been covered in this book.

About the Author:

Graduating, with Honours in English and topping the list in History, in the M.A. examination, P. C. Ray Choudhury, M.A., B.L. (born February 10, 1903, at Cuttack, Orissa), has served in various Government posts of trust and responsibility. Specially selected (1952) to re-write the District Gazetteers of Bihar, he continues, though superannuated (1957), to function as the State editor of the District Gazetteers. Trained, as he was, in research by the late Sir Jadunath Sarkar, Shri Roy Choudhury has by now re-written fifteen District Gazetteers and very ably too. It is a measure of his flair for administrative work, comprehensive research, tours, personal contacts, and collation of data, not to speak of drafting. He had occasion to visit kathmandu, Jaipur and Bhubaneshwar, being officially invited by the Governments concerned for advising them on Gazetteer work. Shri Roy Choudhury has also compiled digests of old English Correspondence and other records in Saran, Hazaribagh, Gaya and Muzaffarpur and a research work, as well, on the 1857 movement in Chotanagpur and Santal Parganas, all of which have been published by the Bihar Government. His other Published books are Jainism in Bihar, Inside Bihar and Gandhiji's First Struggle in India. He is also a scholarly free-lance writer in English as well as in Bengali.