Kishoreganj, Oct 27 (bdnews24.com) – As per tradition, the largest Eid-ul-Azha congregation in the country was held in Sholakia Eidgah ground in Kishoreganj district town on Saturday.
Tens of thousands of devotees from home and abroad joined the congregation and prayed for peace, progress and prosperity of all.
Maulana Farid Uddin Masud conducted the Eid prayer held at 9am.
People started gathering in the Eidgah ground located on the bank of the Narosunda River since early morning to say the special Eid prayer. Many people from different parts of the country reached Kishoreganj district headquarters on Friday night to attend the prayer there.
There are about 265 rows, each of which can accommodate 500 people, at the Eidgah ground, thus the entire ground accommodating some 132,500 devotees.
But over 300,000 devotees said their prayers here, including those standing in the nearby streets, open spaces and courtyards of surrounding houses.
Two special train services left Mymensingh and Bhairab for Sholakia at dawn for easy journey of the devotees to join the Eid congregation.
Tight security arrangements were in place in the ground and surrounding areas.
The huge ground on the bank of the Narosunda River was originally donated by Dewan Hazrat Khan Bahadur, the sixth descendent of Isha Khan, the ruler of Bengal of the Baro-Bhuiyan stock.
The first Eid assembly in Sholakia was held in 1828 where 125,000 devotees were said to have said their prayers. The name Sholakia has been probably been derived from the first gathering which in Bengali sounds like 'shoa-lakhia' or one-and-a-quarter lakhs.
This year's Eid gathering in the historic ground is the 185th congregation.
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