Matua Mahasangha ( bn, মতুয়া মহাসংঘ) is a religious reformation movement that originated, around 1860 AD, in modern-day

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, with a considerable number of adherents both in Bangladesh and in

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

of India. Matua is a sect of depressed class

AVARNA ''Varṇa'' ( sa, वर्ण, varṇa), in the context of Hinduism, refers to a social class within a hierarchical caste system. The ideology is epitomized in texts like ''Manusmriti'', which describes and ranks four varnas, and prescribes t ...

Hindus who are

Namasudra Namasudra, also known as Namassej, is an ''Avarna'' community originating from eastern and central Bengal. The community was earlier known as ''Chandala'' or ''Chandal'', a term usually considered as a slur. They were traditionally engaged in fis ...

s, a Scheduled Caste group. The movement was launched as a reformation by the followers of

Harichand Thakur Harichand Thakur (হরিচাঁদ ঠাকুর) (30 March 1812 – 5 March 1878), worked among the untouchable people of Bengal Presidency. He formed the Matua sect of Hindus. Life Harichand Thakur was born in a Namashudra (or avarn ...

. Thakur attained ''atmadarshan'' at an early age and would subsequently preach his Darshan in Twelve Commandments. The teachings of Thakur establish education as preeminently important for the adherent and the upliftment of the population the adherent's duty, while also providing a formula for ending social conflict. Matua-mahasangha believe in ''Swayam-Dikshiti'' ("Self-Realisation") through the chanting of Harinaam, i.e., chanting the Holy name of God

Hari Hari ( sa, हरि) is among the primary epithets of the Hindu preserver deity Vishnu, meaning 'the one who takes away' (sins). It refers to the one who removes darkness and illusion, the one who removes all obstacles to spiritual progress ...

Harichand Harichand is a town and union council in the Charsadda District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. It is located at 34°23'2"N 71°48'18"E and has an altitude of 381 meters (1253 feet). A historical location called Harichand has the name of Harichand Singh ...

stressed the congressional chanting of Lord's name

kirtan Kirtana ( sa, कीर्तन; ), also rendered as Kirtan, is a Sanskrit word that means "narrating, reciting, telling, describing" of an idea or story, specifically in Indian religions. It also refers to a genre of religious performance arts ...

as the sole means to Mukti. His followers in 19th century were enchanted by congregational chanting of Lord

, which in Bengali called 'hariname matuara' giving the sect current name 'Matua'. So anyone who has faith in the ''Darshan'' or ''Philosophy of God Harichand'' belongs to the Matua-mahasangha.

History

was born to a peasant family belonging to the

community. According to historian

Sekhar Bandyopadhyay Sekhar Bandyopadhyay (born 7 July 1952) is an Indian historian and a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi. Bandyopadhyay is known for his research on the Dalit caste of Bengal. Life Bandyopadhyay was born to Nanigopal Bandyopadhyay, a profe ...

, Thakur "experienced ''atma darshan'' or self revelation, through which he realized that he was the incarnation of God himself, born in this world to bring salvation to the downtrodden". Reforming

Vaishnava Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...

devotionalism, he established the Matua sect of Hinduism. The sect was centered in Thakur's ancestral village, Orakandi, Faridpur,

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

(now in Bangladesh). Their most sacred shrines are located there. A ''Matua Mahasangha'' (Matua Federation) was formed by an adherenet before 1915 to organize devotees. In the early 1930s,

Pramatha Ranjan Thakur Pramatha Ranjan Thakur (1902 – 28 Decembder 1990) was an Indian politician elected as a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from the Hanskhali constituency in the 1962 elections as a candidate of the Indian National Congress. The ...

, great-grandson of Harichand Thakur, rejuvenated the organization. It started an

ashram An ashram ( sa, आश्रम, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or a ...

in the Labanchora neighborhood of

Khulna Khulna ( bn, খুলনা, ) is the third-largest city in Bangladesh, after Dhaka and Chittagong. It is the administrative centre of Khulna District and Khulna Division. Khulna's economy is the third-largest in Bangladesh, contributing $53 b ...

. After

Partition Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...

in 1947, large numbers of Matua migrants settled in

, India. Pramatha Ranjan Thakur was among them. He founded the town of

Thakurnagar Thakurnagar is a town in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is close to the border with Bangladesh. It is situated on the east side of the Jessore Road. Thakurnagar is famous for "Baruni Mela". History Thakurnagar was actually a vast jungl ...

, which became the new headquarters of the Matua Mahasangha.

Notes and references

Notes

References

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External links

* Bengal Presidency Hindu denominations Hindu new religious movements {{Hinduism-stub