Cooch Behar, Nov. 23: The nahabatkhana or music hall that crowns the entrance to the famous Madan Mohan temple has been silent for almost a year with shehnai player Harishankar Bindubanshi passing away in December.
Since then, the hall has been shut down.
But with the Ras Utsav scheduled to begin from Wednesday, the district administration has called upon Harishakar's son to fill his shoes.
Till about a year ago, the temple complex on the banks of the Sagardighi used to wake up to the strains of raag Bhairavi at 4.30am everyday when Harishankar played the instrument. He would take up the shehnai once more at 8.30pm daily. Besides raag Bhairavi, he also played ragas like Ashavari, Puravi and Todi.
The temple complex and other places of religious interest built by the erstwhile Cooch Behar princes are managed by the Cooch Behar Debottar Trust Board. District magistrate P. Ulaganathan is the chairman of the trust.
Harishankar, who had been hired by the trust, passed away at the age of 55 years. After him, the trust has not hired anyone.
"We are making arrangements so that we can have a shehnai player who will start playing from November 25, the day of the inauguration of the Ras Mela," Ulaganathan said.
Amiya Kumar Deb Bakshi, who is over 90 years old, said his family had been arranging for the Ras Utsav for generations. He said the Madan Mohan temple was built by Maharaja Nripendra Narayan in 1890 and the Ras Utsav and the fair are more than 200 years old. "The Utsav that starts on the first full moon after Kali Puja was started by Maharaja Harendra Narayan at Bhetaguri (in Dinahata), from where the kings ruled. It is a celebration of Lord Krishna's Ras Leela. It shifted here in 1828. The Ras Utsav is organised by the trust and the mela held near the MJN Stadium is organised by the municipality," he said.
He added: "It is sad that the nahabatkhana has fallen silent. It was a habit to start the day to the tunes of the shehnai and the beats of the nakara. This was part of the heritage of Cooch Behar and old timers like me miss it."
Harishankar's son Ajoykumar Bindubanshi, who used to play the nakara at the nahabatkhana along with the shehnai, said: "My younger brother Pradip is a shehnai player. He got a phone call from the board office and they asked him to play at the nahabatkhana during the Ras Utsav that goes on for two weeks. He is in our ancestral home at Varanasi and he is on his way here."
He added that Harishankar had played at the temple for around 25 years. Ajoykumar, a rickshaw-puller, said his grandfather Gopinath was a friend of musician Ustad Bismillah Khan. "Our family was very close to the Ustad and my father had learnt the skills from him when he was young," he said.
Subdivisional officer (headquarters) Arundhati Dey, who is a member of the board, said: "The musicians are employed under the board. It takes some time to hire a new musician. The process is on and soon, we will have a permanent shehnai player for the temple," she said.
