3 min readAgartalaOct 3, 2022 11:04 PM IST
First published on: Oct 3, 2022 at 11:04 PM IST
A makeshift Christian prayer hall was dismantled and removed Sunday from Kamlai village in Tripura’s Gomati district by local people who said it was built inside the ‘holy boundary’ demarcated during Ker Puja in August and was against the Hindu traditions to have the structure inside that space.
The police said a peace meeting was held in the village, where members of both communities participated and mutually agreed to remove the structure.
Meanwhile, the issue went viral on social media that showed videos of some people beating a drum and singing Christian prayers in local language, while a group of people were tearing apart the temporary structure made of bamboo and tarpaulin housing the faithful.
Jyotish Jamatia, who is a secretary of Jamatia Hoda – the apex body of Tripura’s ethnic Jamatia community, told IE.com that the structure was pulled down after a mutual understanding between the local Christian and Hindu communities at a meeting attended by government officials, including the local Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) and officer-in-charge of the local police station.
“Both sides held a peace meeting in the area. The Christians, us, elders from both communities and government officials, including the SDPO, were present. They agreed and the structure was accordingly removed,” Jamatia said.
He explained that the local villagers had earlier agreed to not allow Christian prayer houses inside the village, especially since the village housed the community’s traditional Garia deity till this year. The Baba Garia deity, which is worshipped during Garia Puja (a major tribal harvest festival associated with peace, wealth, and harmony), was shifted to a nearby village this year.
However, since the Ker Puja in August, a ceremonial boundary was demarcated in the village as per tradition, in reverence to the ‘Vastu devata’ or the guardian deity.
The makeshift Christian structure came within that ‘holy boundary’, something which would hurt the religious sentiments of villagers, explained Jyotish Jamatia. The Ker Puja is first observed at the royal palace at Agartala and across the state afterwards, and the ceremonial boundary is believed to protect the residents who fell within the space.
A senior officer of Tripura Police, who did not wish to be named, told IE.com that the Christian prayer house in question had popped up 20 days ago, all of a sudden, and was a tent-kind of structure made of bamboo and tarpaulin.
“The villagers said that it came inside the ceremonial boundary of Ker Puja held in August this year and wanted it to be removed. A peace meeting was held yesterday in the village with the participation of elders of both Christian and Hindu communities and police officials. Both communities mutually agreed and removed the structure. This is not at all a serious issue. The situation is absolutely peaceful there,” the officer said.
The police said a peace meeting was held in the village, where members of both communities participated and mutually agreed to remove the structure.
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