In the late morning light, the Lamar Para temple grounds seem exceptionally still. A large wooden building, painted black and adorned with ornate wooden carvings, hovers on stilts above the temple grounds. The sun illuminates a path to two other buildings, each a large wooden structure with complex cupolas and detailed wooden carvings. (One contains a placid-faced golden Buddha statue over three meters in height.) In the courtyard, a monk in maroon robes greets visitors with a bemused look. Lamar Para Buddho Bihar, a small temple and monastery in Ramu, Chittagong Division, has been on this spot since the year 1800. Walking through the placid grounds, it is possible to feel as though these 213 years have not elapsed at all.
The same is not true elsewhere in Ramu. In the past year, new temples have popped up to replace the ones destroyed in 2012’s arson attack. These reconstructions have bolstered a traumatised community and made a statement about religious coexistence in Bangladesh. But the support comes at a cost of historicity. The community values traditions so much that in the Ramu Shima Kendriyo Bihar they have piled burned begging bowls and spiritual texts on a special spot on the altar. Yet the new buildings reflect little of that love of tradition. They are built in concrete, a material that resists fire but cannot replicate the fine details of the old wooden structures. They reflect the skills of architects in Bangladesh today, who know little of the classic Raikhine style. The new mondirs and bihars feel ahistorical and anonymous, like a mid-range hotel just off the highway in no particular town. They capture little of placid atmosphere that Lamar Para offers.
Lamar Para had the fortune not to burn on September 30, 2012. (Its luck hinged on its isolated location outside of town. A high wall surrounding the grounds also may have helped.) Before the fire, the bihar was an excellent example of traditional Burmese architecture. After the fire, it may be the best one Bangladesh has left. The unique buildings deserve preservation now more than ever.
But while many temples in Ramu received an outpouring of attention from international donors, the Awami League and the local community, Lamar Para has received nothing. (Lamar Para’s head bhikku, U Nyanuttara Thero, says of the local Buddhist committees, “They collected money and put it in their own pockets.”) Its three buildings have the kind of faults old buildings get: there are leaks between the wall’s narrow wooden slats, slow decay of the wooden poles that hold up the roof. Some small problems require a trained eye to fix, like repainting a carved Burmese-language sign. But many others are simple, like fixing the cracks in the plain concrete floors and putting new sheet metal on the roof of the temple bell’s gazebo. To keep up the temple is not only necessary, but entirely possible.
To repair Lamar Para is also a service to the entire community. U Nyanuttara Thero is not only the temple’s abbot, but also a healer. He sits in the shadow of five golden Buddha statues in the main temple building and gives advice to a steady stream of local people complaining of chinta rog, loss of appetite, and lovesick hearts. It’s not uncommon to find a dozen people arrayed before him, waiting for help they are too impoverished to obtain elsewhere. The crowd is similar to the ones who decried the arson: not only Bengali and Raikhine Buddhists, but also Bengali Muslims. (Some come at the temple in Punjabis or burkas.) Their presence suggests that people in Ramu support religious coexistence not because of an abstract principle, but because it makes their lives healthier.
In this election year, the Awami League has done much to support the Buddhists of Ramu. Enormous plaques announce Sheikh Hasina’s name at each new temple. The local people say they are genuinely grateful. Now the government should extend its contributions past the rebuilt temples to quietly maintain this traditional bihar. There is no need for new construction, but rather simple upkeep.
There is, however, one small thing the government might construct. Just beyond the temple gate, there is an empty spot. It’s the perfect size for one more plaque, if the Prime Minister wants to claim it.
Source: Bd news24
