Coated in a gorgeous combination of red and golden amid the greenery of its surroundings, the one-storey structure with tiled floors, huge columns and a large throne for the founder Bhadanta Sharanangkar Thero in one corner is a sight to behold.
But the hilltop monastery, some 65 kilometres away from the port city, in the Falaharia village in Padua is shrouded in mystery and controversy. A horde of allegations has been levelled at its founder, ranging from dubious funds, to stoking religious tension by threatening locals and using the statues of Lord Buddha to occupy public land.
Anyone can visit the village and see the statues scattered across the hill after travelling by road for around two and a half hours from the city, but the monastery is off-limits to the public, with trained German Shepherd dogs guarding its premises.
Established less than eight years ago, the monastery currently sprawls on 50 acres, with an air-conditioned chamber underground for “meditation and safety”.
Some statues of the Buddha are also being erected across the hill.
Born in Hathazari as Rony Barua, the monastery’s founder Sharanangkar grew up in Rangunia. Said to be 36 years old, he belonged to a low-income family and spent his childhood in extreme poverty, according to local media reports. He had worked as a driver before becoming a monk in 2004.
But Sharanangkar refused to share details of his life prior to monkhood. "I was active in politics and chanted slogans in processions," he said.
Fearing repercussion, Sharanangkar has moved to Dhaka from Gyansharan Maharanya, which has residential rooms and other structures on a hill, which is restricted to the general public.
The monastery has installed water tanks and supply lines at different places, but in such a way that a newcomer would easily miss it.
A structure made of tin and tarpaulin appears to be a garage capable of housing multiple vehicles. The bdnews24.com correspondent saw one car inside.
The establishment also has a kennel and tube-wells. Two dogs were in the kennel when the correspondent visited the area while its air-conditioners were covered with dirty clothes.
The monastery had 20 power connections but most of them have been cut off.
LAND GRABBING CHARGES
Sharanangkar moved to Falaharia in 2004 and began the construction of the monastery in 2012, starting with a room made of corrugated tin sheets.
The department had filed a case against Sharanangkar but to no avail. It also failed to remove the illegal structures he had built. Rather, the monks uprooted trees and saplings planted by the department, said Ashraful.
The Forest Department prevented Sharanangkar from constructing a structure in the Gyansharan Maharanya monastery and hung up a signboard in the area he grabbed in October last year. This was the first formal intervention to thwart his work, stoking tensions between different communities in the process.
“When we tried to obstruct him from constructing the structures during the inspection, he hurled abusive language at us and assaulted us,” Ashraful alleged.
In a case that followed, the Forest Department accused the monastery of destroying around 78,000 saplings.
The monk admitted to grabbing public land for the construction of the monastery. “But I didn’t take it away. Many mosques, madrasas and Hindu temples are also constructed on government lands. I’ll return everything if the government wants me to. I have the ability to establish a similar monastery in five years,” he said.
Asked why he was confident about establishing another monastery in such a short space of time, he had a quick answer -- money from Bangladesh and abroad.
Sharanangkar claimed he owns 160 decimals of land there and the monastery has dug some ponds on his land.
At one stage of the conversation, he vowed to continue the legal battle over the land on which the monastery has been built.
CONTROVERSIES
Sharanangkar said he walked 7,500 km from 2012 to 2020 after becoming a monk. He claims to have walked to Bodh Gaya, a Buddhist pilgrimage site, in India’s Bihar, from Cox's Bazar.
The monk sees nothing wrong in riding the cars “provided by his followers”.
Asked how he secured the funds to construct the monastery, he said, “We have a large network of followers at home and abroad for funding. Also, we get funds from Buddhist-majority countries."
The monastery's overseers have different bank accounts and also accept cash from donors, he said.
“They have made an underground room on top of the hill. We believe they hold some mischievous meetings there. They don’t allow anyone to go to the hill. All monks are aged between 30 and 35 years. All of these are indicative of ill intentions,” he said.
Shahjahan alleged that some Myanmar nationals visited the monastery recently, while a large number of firearms were removed from there after Sharanangkar left. “Some of the arms have remained there,” he said.
The monk’s main intention is to grab land, according to Md Badiuzzaman, a member of the Union Parishad. Sharanangkar patronises musclemen and tortures people if they climb the hill to graze their cattle, Badiuzzaman claimed.
The Union Parishad member alleged that the monk assisted criminals from the Chittagong Hill Tracts to come to Rangunia.
Sharanangkar also brought monks from Myanmar to construct the structures, Badiuzzaman alleged. He demanded that the authorities bring Sharanangkar to justice soon.
“I have shunned a regular life. I practise asceticism. Why would I indulge in arms?”
Among the 45 monks in the monastery, around 35 are children. “Many a time, Buddhist monks are attacked. We made the [underground] room to keep the children safe in case they are attacked,” Sharanangkar said.
Rahul Ankur, who is in charge of the monastery now, said they had come to the monastery to meditate in the jungle, but now do the task in the underground room.
Monk Rahul said they brought the workers from Raujan.
Speaking about the dogs, Sharanangkar said they were his pets as he loves animals.
COMMUNAL TENSION
The monk spoke about his affection for crematoriums and graveyards. He said he had meditated at 18 places of burial and cremation in total.
“We have been cremating bodies on that ground since 2000. But last year they stopped us and held up the cremation of the dead body for four hours,” said Priyotosh Kanti Dey, a resident of the area.
The monk even made the members of the Hindu community sign a written statement promising not to cremate bodies there anymore while burning down a tin-roofed structure on the grounds, Priyotosh said.
Sharanangkar initially refuted the allegation, saying that the cremation ground is situated on a 70-feet high hill where they have set up a statue of a reclining Buddha beside a school.
On Oct 12, gunshots were fired on a convoy of the Hindu community on their way back to Rangunia after protests in Dhaka against the eviction of the crematorium. No-one was injured in the incident, but a case was filed, Priyotosh said.
Amid the chaos, Sharanangkar and his followers began complaining of torture on Buddhists in some Facebook posts and tried to put a political slant on it.
People from different religious communities have been living here peacefully for a long time but that peace is now being threatened by Sharanangkar’s “misdeeds”, said Hakim Uddin, a resident.
“The monastery people use loudspeakers with a high volume whenever it is time for Namaz [prayers]. They post videos to Facebook demeaning Muslims,” he alleged.
The administration and local political leaders stepped in and prevented any violence, although people began to stage protests against the monk and his disciples. They also filed cases.
The Buddhist leader, on the other hand, began to spread video messages on Facebook, claiming the Buddhists were being tortured. This further aggravated the situation.
Sharanangkar, called Bhante by his followers, once again denied any wrongdoing. He said the monks have not set up loudspeakers outside the monastery premises, while the mosques are quite far away. He insisted that the derogatory messages on Facebook were posted from fake accounts made in the names of his disciples.
“People are staging protests [against Sharanangkar] in Rangunia every week. But the situation is completely normal otherwise,” he said.
BUDDHIST LEADERS DISTANCE THEMSELVES
Leaders of top Buddhist organisations issued a statement on Oct 18, condemning Sharanangkar's activities.
“‘Kindness is the best religion' – this is the essence of the Great Buddha's teachings. Therefore, the Buddhist community never supports illegal grabbing of the forest, prayer halls, crematorium or hurting religious sentiments of other communities. These activities demean Buddha's teachings of peace, love and affection," the statement said.
"Some people tried to change the course of the situation and give it a political tinge. The top Buddhist leaders visited the scene and urged everyone to maintain peace," it said.
At least 2,585 Buddhist monasteries across the country are registered with the Buddhist Welfare Trust, according to Supta Barua.
Gyansharan Maharanya is not registered with the Trust and never applied for financial support, Supta Barua said.
[The story is written by Sabrina Karim Murshed and Osham-ul-Sufian Talukder. Edited by Turaj Ahmad.]