Agrasar Complex needs funds to survive

The Sudarshan Bihar, top, of Agrasar Complex at Huarapara in Raozan and bottom from left, Agrasar Balika Mahabidyalaya, Statue of Buddha, orphan girls at the Agrasar Orphanage and two orphan boys are busy in making handicraft at the Agrasar Complex. PHOTO: STAR

The Complex is situated at Huarapara village in East Guzra Union under Raozan upazilas, traditionally a Bouddha-dominated locality and 20kms away from the metropolis.

Agrasar Mohather, one of the top Buddhist religious leaders of the subcontinent and inhabitant of this village, established the 'Sudarshan Bihar' sometime in the eighteenth century. After his death in 1944, his successor Vishudhananda Mohather, another reverend Buddhist personality, turned the temple into the complex, named after his Guru Agrasar, with a view to spreading the light of education and culture among the people and serving the poor.

The institution has now sprawled on a 32-acre vast land with a primary school, a girl's high school, a girl's college, a Pali college, public library, boutique and block printing project, research and publication project, industrial project, relief and rehabilitation project and an orphanage project.

In 1944, the orphanage named Agrasar Mohather Anathalay was established to bring hope and meaning to life of the orphan children. About 400 orphans reside here, study free of cost and take technical training in the industrial and block-boutique projects at the complex.

"We spend Tk 1,000 to Tk1,300 for each orphan a month. The government gives us a monthly grant of Tk 400 only for 80 orphans," said the complex director Dr Sunithananda Mohather.

He said our prime object is to make the orphans self-reliant and till date about 30,000 children under this project have become self-reliant and now established in the society.

The Agrasar Pali College was established in 1944, Agrasar High School in 1967, Agrasar Girls College in 1985 and the Agrasar Technical Training Centre in 1974, said Dr Sunithananda to a group of journalists at the complex recently.

"The complex works for the welfare of the society and education alongside religious practice," he said. "It has in recent time been suffering from financial crisis," he added.

Due to financial crisis, the voluntary activities of the complex are gradually narrowing down and the authorities could not yet implement a 50-bed hospital project. The foundation for the hospital was laid in 1991.

Dr Sunithananda said "After the death of Vishudhananda Mohather, most of the foreign donors have suspended their financial cooperation to the complex."

"We used to get regular grants from Japan, Switzerland, Norway, Holland and a few other countries. Now only Switzerland and Norway provide us some grants, which is not sufficient to run overall activities of the complex successfully," he said.

He urged the affluent section of the society to extend their cooperation for the complex to enable it to continue its welfare services in future.