Shree Bansidhar Festival | 04 May 2023

Why in News?

On 03 May 2023, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren inaugurated the two-day State Shri Bansidhar Festival at Bansidhar Nagar in the Garhwa district of the state.

Key Points:

• It is worth mentioning that in the Bansidhar temple, a very attractive statue of Radha & Krishna made four and a half feet high, weighing 1280 kg gold is seated. This wonderful statue is seated on a huge lotus with twenty-four petals made on the hood of Sheshnag buried in the ground.
• Under the patronage of the royal family of Bansidhar Nagar, this Bansidhar temple has been the centre of attraction for tourists from India & abroad, for several decades, an attractive and huge fair has been held here every year in the month of Phalgun.
• According to the stone inscription of the temple and its priest, in Samvat 1885, Rani Shivmani Kunwar, the widow of Maharaja Bhawani Singh of Bansidhar Nagar, came to know about this Krishna idol buried in the Shiv Pahari hill about 20 kilometers away, in her dream.
• Some historians speculate that this statue must have been made by the Marathas, who propagated Vaishnavism a lot and made idols, to protect it from the invasion of the Mughals, the Marathas hid it in the caves of Shiv Pahari hill.
• This year Shri Bansidhar Mahotsav has got the status of a state festival.
• It is worth mentioning that in the decade of 1960-70, the Birla Group renovated this temple. Even at present, the statue of Banshidhar is beautiful and unique from the point of view of art & without the use of any chemical or other polish, the shine of the statue is undone.
• Garhwa district is in the northwest of Jharkhand state and borders Rohtas of Bihar, Sonbhadra of Uttar Pradesh & Surguja districts of Chhattisgarh. That's why it was once called the Gateway of Chotanagpur.
• On this occasion, the Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of 60 schemes for Rs 739 crore 22 lakh 64 thousand 792. At the same time, inaugurated 14 schemes for Rs 57 crore 55 lakh 22 thousand 933. Among the important schemes that were inaugurated, the development of Bhandariya, Ranka, Dhurki, Chiniyan, Ramkanda and Nagar Untari block office complex including newly constructed residences of BDO, CO & other officers/employees, newly constructed guest houses at Nagar Untari and 5 bridges constructed on various rivers are included.