Saint Anthony of Padua (1195-1231), the patron saint of lost articles who was born in Lisbon and died in Padua, has been refashioned and re-imagined as Sādhu Āntani in Bangladesh among the Catholic residents of four villages of northern Dhaka administrative district, Nagori, Tumulia, Rangamatia, and Mathbari, located some thirty-five kilometres northeast from Dhaka city. The saint ‘arrived’ in this region in the 17th century, by means of a native prince, the son of a feudatory Hindu king in Faridpur region in Bangladesh. In 1663, Portuguese pirates kidnapped the prince and carried him off to Arakan. There, a Portuguese priest named Manoel de Rozario bought him and tried to convert him into Christianity. The priest’s effort failed, it is said, till Saint Anthony appeared to the…
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Citation: Ahmed, Syed Jamil. "Sādhu Āntanir Gān". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 August 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=39341, accessed 22 December 2024.]