Pathra - Terracotta Temple Village of Bengal | The Story of a Pathan in Restoration of Temples

#templesitepathra #pathra #pathanofpathra #terracottatemplesofbengal
The temple village of Pathra, located on the bank of River Kangsabati, has a history of 250-300 years attached with it. The terracotta temples are the heritage of the Bengal's history and are found in many places in Southern parts of Bengal. But the small village in West Midnapore district, Pathra, is quite unique among those for many reasons. Firstly, the history of building the temples at Pathra is unique. Secondly, the terracotta temples here have an influence of Muslim art on them. Thirdly, and most importantly, the real life story of a Muslim man behind the restoration of the old era Hindu temples. If Mohd. Yeasin Pathan didn't stand up for the preservation and restoration movement of the temples since 1972, all of the hundreds of old era temples would have been in ruins today. It is because of his struggle and later assistance from the Central Govt run Archeological Survey of India, the 34 nos. temples have been restored and preserved today at Pathra. But the job is only half done. There are still many temples in ruins or buried in the ground, as ASI couldn't yet complete the full restoration of the site because of land issues.
Mr Pathan, for his life long sacrifice, has been awarded Kabir award for Communal harmony, by the Honorable President of India.

Pathra is located just 10 km away from Midnapore town in West Midnapore district. Its distance from Kolkata is 136 km. It takes approx. 3 hrs to reach Pathra by car from Kolkata.
By local train one can reach Midnapore from Howrah and then hire an auto to visit Pathra on a half day tour.

The video provides an overview of the temple of Pathra and its history. Also it gives opportunity to the viewers to listen from the great man Mr Pathan, on his life long struggle and present problems of Pathra. We interviewed him at his residence at Hatihalka village, which is 2km away from Pathra.
Mr Pathan's interview was recorded on his full verbal consent and being published in the video based on that.
The Pathan family have opened a Home Stay on request from the local administration, to help the visitors at Pathra. One can stay at a very reasonable cost at their homestay. We had our lunch which was really homely and served very cordially to us.
The Homestay is located at Mr Pathan's residence at Hatihalka village, which is 2km away from the temple site of Pathra. One can stay there and have homely food at reasonable cost. Contact for advance booking: Badshah Pathan - 9932468742.

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The video is made purely for entertainment purpose and serves as a travel guide for tourists planning to visit Pathra and viewers interested to know the struggle of Mr Pathan. We don't have any intention for commercial promotion and it is not for any business purpose.
All the Photographs, Videography, Script used in this video are sole proprietary of creator of the video and Travholic. Only few photographs are taken rom Google, which is mentioned in caption in the video.
The background music used in some parts of the video, are taken from free youtube library.