old Shiva temple in Bhagalpur

when I visited an old  Shiva temple in Bhagalpur, popularly known as Budhanath Mandir, I was impressed a lot to see its location as the temple is located near a tributary of Ganga and the main river Ganga is also seen from there. Though I visited Bhagalpur several times but never got an opportunity to visit there. Unfortunately, I could not offer prayer there due to religious restrictions (chutka). I was there to assign a Karmkandhi Brahmin for performing 'Terahi' of my father-in-law. I had heard that great Bangla novelist Sarat Chand Chattapadhyay, eminent Bollywood actor Ashok Kumar and many other famous personalities belonged to this silk city of Bihar, which itself was known during mythological time of Mahabharata as Anga state and for Vikramshila University during ancient period. Everyone knows about 'Devdas' and his beloved sweetheart Chandramukhi, who belongs to Bhagalpur, but only a few know that when Sarat Chandra was in Bhagalpur, he spent a good time in premises of Budhanath temple imagining plot of his stories. Due to poverty, Sarat Chandra passed his early life in Bhagalpur at the house of his Mama (maternal uncle) along with mother. It was due to poverty Sarat Chand could not continue his education despite passing entrance examinations for admission in TN Collegiate College in 1894. Bhagalpur is not only mentioned in his famous novel Devdas, but also in many others.During his 20 years staying in Bhagalpur, Sarat Chandra created some endearing characters which were  based on his friend Rajendranath  Majumdar or Raju of Bhagalpur including Indranath of  Srikanta or Lalu of Chhelebelar Galpa, published three months after his death in 1938.

@Ramesh singh special correspondent The pioneer varanasi