SHILLONG: The Flowing Sanctity – a documentary film by Bangladesh based researcher and filmmaker, Niranjan Dey, featuring the cultural diversity and socio-religious harmony of the people of Bangladesh premiered screened at Asian Confluence on Saturday.
The film is about a pilgrimage site ‘Pana Teertha’, a holy place situated at the northeast part of Bangladesh near Bangladesh-India border at Tahirpur Upazila of Sunamganj district.
It is a pilgrimage for the Vaishnava sect of Hindus. Pana Teertha came from the Bengali word Pon meaning promise which refers to a promise made and fulfilled by Sree Advaitacharya to his mother by bringing the seven holy rivers to that place so that she can perform Ganga Snan (holy ablution in river Ganga) without travelling too far.
Chandrabati Roy Burman, renowned folksinger from Bangladesh, presents an opening acknowledgment in the film singing the glorious experience of spiritual influence.
For many who may not be aware, this film also speaks about the Khasis and their lives that revolve around rivers, the attack of Laur Kingdom by the Khasis besides the roots of Jaintiapur in Bangladesh of which Jaintia Hills in present day Meghalaya is a part.
Every year in the Bengali month of Chaitra (March-April), a religious festival Baruni Snan takes place at Pana Teertha – where a sufi saint Pir Shah Arefin also lived and preached Islam, who was very popular in the area. Some hilly areas in that region still have marks that bear his memories.
Pana Teertha also reminisces the ancient kingdom of Laur. Its capital Nabagram was also located at the very place where the pilgrimage takes pace. The kingdom bearing marks of civilization for thousands of years is almost forgotten now. A number of famous personalities were born in this kingdom. During the early 15th Century, King Divya Singha ruled the Kingdom of Laur. Till 1947, the ancient Kamrup (now in Assam) encompassed Sreehatta (present Sylhet). The whole area was under the territory of the huge kingdom named Pragjyotishpur, which finds mention in the Mahabharata. The other two kingdoms of ancient Sylhet were known as Gour and Jaintya. The Kingdom of Laur had to go through many ups and downs.
Dey has been involved with documentary filmmaking for a long time. His documentary film Nivritocharini, based on patriotic activist and social worker Suhashini Das, was scree-ned at the 4th International Docufilm Festival organized by the Liberation War Museum, Dacca, 2010, and received appreciation.