The Myth of Masan Baba
Masan Baba is a folk deity of benevolent and/or malevolent nature worshipped mainly by the Rajbanshi community in North Bengal, especially in the Dinhata subdivision of Cooch Behar district. Every year on the first day of the Bengali month Jaishto (May-June) a fair is organized centering the annual worship of Masan Baba in the village named Alokjhari at Gosanimari under this very subdivision. The God, worshipped in this very temple by the name Garkata Masan as well as Alokjhari Masan, is the most primordial and popular one among its other equivalents forming one hundred twenty six in total while in the district itself only twenty eight of its equivalents are found to be worshipped. The Rajbanshi community believe that the different forms of Masan Baba can cause different harm to the people of different ages such as spreading several diseases and bringing about natural calamities and in a bid to get rid of these diseases and calamities they started to worship Masan Baba. As mytholo...