Occupied Mandirs Exhibit 24: Jadupur-Pratappur Masjid, Rangamati Chandpur

Image 1: New Islamic structure being built on a temple site, right ahead of Rakshasi Danga. 

Rakshasi Danga in Jadupur-Pratappur of Chandpara, Rangamati (Karnasubarna) is an ancient site which is a precedent of the Sanatan Bharatiya civilization, located about 300 meters away from to the legendary Rajbari Danga site which houses the famous Rakta-mrittikā Mahavihara. Three idol heads were excavated out of Rakshasi Danga by the Department of Archaeology, University of Calcutta. 

As you enter the site you’ll first come across a well kept, clean pond. On one side is the main road and on the other side of the pond there is a ghat with paved stairs. The stairs lead straight to the temple site. The ancient Hindu temple here, one of the 50 temples of Karnasubarna mentioned by Xuanzang (Hiuen-Tsang), was demolished completely some time during the 16th-17th century(assumably). 

Due to the callousness of the local rural Hindus, the demolished mandir did not get reerected and with time it became one with the dust. No Islamic monument was built on top of the site right away which is unlike the other instances of Islamic conversion of Hindu temples in Bharat. The site being deep inside the countryside, it was not well connected back in those days. Given the undisciplined and unstable nature of Islamic rule in those years, the destroyers probably didn’t care about building anything there as it would be hard to import the construction materials and find trained labor. The site remained vacant till most recently when the Muslims decided to reclaim their glory in West Bengal and began renewing old masjids and building new ones on top of Hindu temple sites. 

Image 2: The old temple site on the bank of the pond. The paved stairs lead to the now occupied mandir site. 

You can see in image 1, that a new Islamic structure is being built. If you look at image 2, you’ll see its position in the line of the pond.