To Conserve a Sacred Place: An Investigation on Moha Tirtha Langalbandh

This paper proposes conservation of an ancient sacred place named Langalbandh. It is a well known pilgrimage area in Bangladesh which has a strong historical and religious significance. Every year, thousands of Hindu pilgrims from all over the world come here to take their holy bath at the Old Brahmaputra River with other ritual activities. To facilitate bathing for the devotees a number of bathing ghats have been built and several old temples and hermitages are established in this holy place. But this place has been in poor condition with lack of maintenance for a long time. In accordance with the minutes of some inter-ministerial meetings, this sacred place has been initiated to be developed as a tourist spot for its history, social and religious value. Comparing with other significant pilgrimage areas in and around this country, this 2-kilometer long sacred site of Langalbandh requires conservation with pursuing sensitive and analytic approaches. This paper aims to investigate existing physical and social aspects and focuses on establishing cultural and historic significance of Langalbandh. This paper also proposes some conservation oriented development strategies which could be helpful to develop a master plan for the total area so that the whole area could be developed as a sacred pilgrimage place as well as tourist spot while conserving the religious context.