Gaudeshwara

Published on 24th April, 2022, in Mid-day. Terracotta Bankura horses serve as decoration today. But for many centuries, these were offerings made in rural Bengal to the god Dharma who is formless and all-powerful. Stories about Dharma Thakur were written in the 17th and 18th century, in the Mangal Kavya tradition of Bengal where specific deities are invoked through stories. These folk ballads of gods and their devotees reveal a lot about life in Bengal when it was ruled by Muslim Sultans, known locally as Gaudeshwara. In Dharma Mangal Kavya, we sense the feudal tensions between various castes and communities, the influence of Islam, Tantra ..