About six hundred years old Dhanuka Manasha Bari is known as Mayur Bhatt’s Bari to the elders of Shariatpur district. Dhanuka Mansa houses 5 buildings built in the architectural style of the Sultanate and Mughal periods. Among them are Durga temple, Mansa temple, Kali temple, Nahvatkhana and residential buildings.
At that time many people used to come to Mayur Bhatt’s house from different parts of India to worship Mansa Devi. Since then the name of the house as Mansa house started spreading around. However, there is another story of naming Mansa Bari. A teenager from Mayur Bhatt’s house was picking flowers in the garden for three consecutive days when he saw a huge snake. On Chartuth day the snake starts dancing in the courtyard. That night Mansa Devi appeared in a dream to the people of Bhattabari and instructed them to set up the Mansa temple and organize puja. And since then Mayur Bhatta Bari became Mansa Bari and as the house was located in Dhanuka village, the word Dhanuka was associated with Mansa Bari and came to be known as Dhanuka Mansa Bari.
Dhanuka Mansa houses a brass idol. which was once lost and after several years was recovered by fishermen from Kirtinasha river. It is better to say Kirtinasha is another name of Padma river. In 1973, a book written on a wooden block of the history researcher Master Jalal Uddin Ahmed was recovered from Mansa house in Dhanuka. Which is currently preserved in the private public library of Shariatpur district.
How to go
To visit the Mansa house you must come to Shariatpur district. This traditional Dhanuka Mansa house is located in Dhanuka Village of Ward No. 7 of Shariatpur Municipality. From Dhaka Gabtali Bus Stand, Glory Express, Shariatpur Super Service, Hanif Enterprise, Sagarika Paribahan buses ply through Padma Bridge to Shariatpur. The bus fare will cost 400-500 taka depending on the standard. You can go to Mansa’s house by rickshaw from anywhere in Shariatpur city