A major cultural icon, the crown of Goddess Kali at the Jeshoreshwari Temple in Satkhira, Bangladesh, has been stolen. The theft took place on Thursday in the afternoon, when the temple priest had finished performing the day’s prayers. Subsequently, the cleaning personnel realised that the silver and gold-plated crown was absent on the head of the deity, much to the worry of the local administration and believers.
This crown was a special gift from the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Bangladesh visit in March 2021. During that time, Modi himself put the crown on the head of the goddess as a sign of friendly relations. The crown also has religious importance and has a cultural relation between India and Bangladesh, especially for Hindu people.
The High Commission of India in Bangladesh has said it is ‘deeply concerned’ over the incident. On social media platform X, they called on the Bangladesh government to investigate the theft and retrieve the crown to the letter. Shyamnagar police station Inspector Taizul Islam said that they are now scrutinising the surveillance camera footage of the temple to find out any culprit of this blatant act.
Jeshoreshwari Temple is one of the 51 Shakti Peeth, which according to Hindu mythology is the place where some body part of Goddess Sati has fallen on earth. Archival data show that the temple was built in the late 12th century by a Brahman named Anari and has since been reconstructed several times.
People of the local community, including one Jyoti Chattopadhyay, who is a descendant of the temple’s caretakers, also stressed the fact that the crown had a great cultural and religious significance. The temple is not only a religious but also a historical building that belongs to the local community.
While probes go on, authorities of both India and Bangladesh are eager to bring this issue to some kind of closure, as they do not wish to see generations of valuable cultural enterprises disappear.
