MYMENSINGH RAJBARI. LAST STEP IN A LONG PATH THROUGH HISTORY

 

The name of Maharajah Sashi Kanta Acharya Chaudhury is the penultimate in a 55 year history of the administration of Mymensingh, and a large swather of other lands in Bangladesh. It is also the name given originally to the Oriental Edwardian masterpiece, Sashi Lodge, now known as Mymensingh Rajbari.

In the case, Rajbari, which implies some royal connection, may be a more correct description than most for what are more properly known as Zaminderbari.

The history of this remarkable progression goes back to the early 16^th Century, when even Mughal domination of the area was tenuous , at best, in view if the resitance of the Afghan originated rulers of the area whose base was in Panam City, Sonargaon.

Known at that time as Nazirabad, the name deriving from Sultan Nusrat Shah, who won the territory from the Kamprup Kings, and ruled from 1519 to 1532, Mymensingh has along and distinguished history, much of which is associated with , first the Mughal Zaminders, who were area rulers with a tradition of nobility, and after 1757, when the East India Company took control of the lands of Bengal, the Zaminders who were more tax farmers than feudal lords.

This appear to be one of the families who made a smooth transition, presumably having disagreed with the succession of the last of the independent Nawabs, and either remained aloof from his assembly of forces to confront Colonel Clive and his allies at Plassey, or  perhaps even joining the British forces.

The original, Mughal period seat of the great family was Muktagacha Palace about 10 miles to the west of Mymensingh (of which more in another piece), but it is reasonable to suppose that, despite having at least 8 other palaces, many perhaps intended as resting places along the river journey to Calcutta or Dhaka, he saw the need for a residence closer to the railhead of Mymensingh, which had certainly become a major administrative centre under the Raj.

This residence on the river bank in Mymensingh is surrounded by evidence of the commitment to education and innovation that is equally in evidence at Muktagacha.

Apart from the ‘Iron House’, a garden pavilion (of which more in another blog piece), and various outbuildings, the palace itself is surrounded by academic buildings which were very evidently educational establishments, that they remain to this day.

Evidence of the commitment to education may also be found on the road from Mymensingh to Muktagacha, where a college built in 1897 is still in use as a school today.

Lavishly ornamented, the palace buildings themselves, secured behind an intact gateway, the wrought iron gates of which still have the Maharajah’s cipher, and a lengthy, well decorated wall, is in reasonably sound condition, and it is not hard to imagine the carriages, garries and even Rolls Royce motors that undoubtedly regularly rolled around the fine fountain in the approach.

Another touch of a lifestyle that vanished abruptly in 1947, when the last Maharajah’s adopted son fled his properties for an unidentified exile, leaving behind a wealth of architectural splendours.

VICTORIA COLLEGE, NARAIL

 

A decaying masterpiece of educational development, bearing testament to the endeavours of the Raj to match the ambitions of the young Bengalis, as well as their own need for clerks! And still in use.

The neoclassical centrepiece, which includes the remnants of a raked lecture theatre of which many more modern establishments would be proud, is probably in terminal decay. Experience tells us that when we hear of plans for restoration the finished work is unlikely to bear much resemblance to the original.

Curiously, the windows of one of the buildings are shaped in an unusual design similar to some seen in the palace at Puthia.

It appears there may be fruitful potential in a study to identify the architects and builders responsible for the large number of neoclassical buildings in Bangladesh..it would be unsurprising to find that there are many constructions of common origin.

Well worth a visit for any student of architecture in the mid to late 19th Century in Bangladesh.

MUKTAGACHA PALACE. MYMENSINGH. 500 YEARS OF CULTURE

Clues to longevity of the family tradition abound in Muktadgacha Palace, which lies 10 miles to the west of Mymensingh town.

From the , disappeared, magnetic ball that once toped a palace dome as a lightening conductor, through the Japanese designed ‘air conditioned’ accommodation in the courtyard, to the French built revolving stage in the small theatre (no prizes for guessing at which famous Parisian night club the inspiration for that came from!), the clues are all there.

Most Zaminders in the Bangladesh of the ‘British time’, were new rich; grocers, salt merchants, agricultural traders or farmers, who acquired the tax farming rights to some district, and in the time honoured tradition of such people in Britain before Commonwealth, acquired with those rights, a lavish lifestyle, reflected particularly in their residences. Their tenure, however, rarely lasted more than three generations, and aristocratic development in Britain has suggested that any family that  survives the tradition of ‘rags to rags in three generations’, become a family of culture and learning, great patrons of arts and sciences. Such influences often suggest a longevity of wealth and substance.

I suppose at least you can say for such new rich in India, they owed their position to money, rather than becoming favourites at court, as was often the case in Britain.

Muktagacha was probably originally built in the first half of the 16th Century, and there are clear signs of Mughal period influence in some of the older structures.

A complex, but apparently continuous link runs through subsequent holders of office and rank, to 1947, when the adopted son of the last of the great Zaminders, Maharajah Sashi Kanta Acharya Chaudhury, left in a hurry, following partition.

From the cells, said by a guide with, perhaps, as much imagination as history, to be used to imprison the parents of about to be wed girls who failed to recognise a custom known in Europe as ‘Droit de Seigneur’ as a right of the Zaminder, to the ’99 Elephant Court’, which now houses rather more armed police, and from the remains of the foot lit revolving stage for dancing girls to the curious ‘air conditioned’ structure that dominates the middle court, there is much to intrigue and fascinate.

Architecturally, it is not hard to identify the period of influences, and in at least one case, the date of construction, since a steel girder bears the name of Frodingham, also note at Narail Landing Place.

Earthquake damage, almost certainly from 1897, is also in evidence, although it appears that the greater part of the structure survived intact.

And in the environs outside, and equal wealth of attractions. 5, maybe 6, temples, including the 16th centre originated Shiva Temple, with no less than three intact Shiva Lingams in black marble, of three different sizes.

Few historic sites in Bangladesh, except perhaps, the extraordinary Natore Rajbari..interestingly, the home of another aristocratic survivor from Mughal to Raj period... have as much to excite and inform as this outstanding attraction.

THE SCOTTISH CONNECTION IN BANGLADESH

The earliest Scots to reach the lands of Bangladesh may have arrived as early as the 16th Century. Across the Indian subcontinent European mercenaries played a great part in local wars between various autonomous states.
Not the least of the reasons that Scots were early travellers, selling their unquestionable courage and skills were not only the poverty of the country, but the almost unending civil wars, most with religious origins, in which so many accomplished soldiers found themselves on the losing side and forced into exile.
That became even more so following the 1745 rebellion, which devastated the Highland region and made fugitives of so many.
It is , therefore, unsurprising that so many of the servants of the East India Company, who, following the Battle of Plassey in 1757, acquired the control of Bengal, which included the lands that are now Bangladesh, and developed the basis of two hundred years of Empire in India.

A lasting monument to the Scottish connection can be found in the name of the most popular seaside resort in Bangladesh. Captain Hiram Cox, whose name is immortalised in Cox’s Bazar, was almost certainly a Scot, probably from Inverness, ‘the Capital of the Highlands’

What is certain is that he married there, and his wife was probably the Great Grand daughter of the 8th Lord Lovat, the last man executed, for his part in that rebellion, on Tower Green in the Tower of London, the scene of so many famous, and infamous executions throughout its history.

But the evidence of the Scottish connections is far greater than that. In both of the great industries of Tea, and of Jute, the Scottish connections are very close, and the mortal remains of , perhaps, hundreds of exiled Scots fill the burial grounds of Sylhet, and the great cities of the Raj. Even the burial grounds near the great railway junctions have many monuments that bear the names that are distinctively Scots.

IRON HOUSE: ALEXANDER’S CASTLE, MYMENSINGH

In the grounds of Mymensingh Rajbari, constructed by the last Maharajah, Sashi Kanta Acharya Chaudhury, whose adopted son proved to be the last of the great Zaminders of a long line, stands an extraordinary piece of iron construction, known by some as Alexander’s Castle. Named for one of its early visitors, Grand Duke Boris, of the, Romanov, Russian Royal household, it also hosted visits from such distinguished guests as Lord Curzon, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi and Subhas Chandra Bose (the latter two visitors might suggest that the Zaminders played a part in their own demise!).

 

A simple wooden bungalow, that seems to owe a great deal to the classic design of Tea Garden bungalows,constructed on a large masonry plinth, and built of wood on an interesting frame work of steel.

 

The height of the plinth presumably reflected the risk from flooding of the Brahmaputra River that flows about 500 yards in front, and which it overlooked, probably across lawns that ran to the river bank.

Its high, sloping roof, is of corrugated iron, which in monsoon rains must have been rather noisy!

At each corner is a furnace and chimney; winter weather can be cool thereabouts, and guest probably enjoyed hot water from them. And either side the long veranda at the front, stand Greek statue reproductions of the Graces; from the Muktagacha Palace’s revolving stage it isn’t hard to imagine the Maharajah’s interest in such decoration!

A disused and overgrown walled garden stands behind the building, with arches and gateways which suggest past glories.

The use of iron in construction was clearly much favoured by the Maharajah, an honorific Royal title that was unusually high status under the Raj, as is evidenced by construction work in the palace at Muktagacha, where girders from North East UK are visible. But its use in this extraordinary construction, now used as a library by the college in whose grounds it now stands is to an unusual degree, and with a rare level of visibility.
An interesting, and  rare insight into technological, cultural, social and even political life of the late nineteenth and early part of the twentieth century that this building represents.

$380 MILLION PLEDGED TO SAVE TIGER

The St Petersburg Summit on the Tiger, hosted by Premier Vladimir Putin, and attended, amongst others, by Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, Bangladesh Premier, Sheikh Hasina, Hollywood heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio and top model, Naomi Campbell, has ended with a pledge from a number of funding sources of $380 million.

The funds will be used to support the strengthening of tiger reserves, such as Sundarban Mangrove Forest in Bangladesh, to crack down on poachers, and provide financial incentives for ‘good neighbour practices’, such as those already becoming established in the Sundarban to support alternative income flows for human populations of reserve areas.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Forest Department has continued its work in the area, supported by Sundarban Tiger Project, which is financed, amongst others, by US Field and Wildlife Services, and Disney Wildlife Conservation, with a programme of training in Tiger capture and immobilisation in order to remove over close wild beasts from the human communities as an alternative to beating the beasts to death.

LUNCH IN THE COUNTRY. MYMENSINGH

Bangladesh has a great tradition of hospitality. And ,in a nation whose economy is still agrarian based, that hospitality it is still most lavish in the villages that cover the farmlands of the country.
Driving, recently, to visit some prospective sites of historic interest, when I explained where I wanted to go to my driver, he shyly told me that we would pass near his home, and would I visit his family?
Would I?! Such visits, usually accompanied by much, near royal treatment that one just has to get over, are always fascinating. We planned to small diversion into the travel.

Beside a narrow country road, stood a range of thick, traditional, mud walled single storey buildings around a family compound. Jakfruit trees, coconut palms and some others shaded pumpkin gardens where grew the vegetables from with bathroom loofahs are made, and the flesh of which is a superb vegetable.

Hens and chicks flustered around the packed earth of the compound, and a on a fire pit stood a large cauldron being used, not as I thought, to prepare our lunch, but to boil rice husks as a means of collecting rice.
The tranquillity was a simply remarkable contrast to Dhaka, and if the view didn’t quite measure up to that from my own front garden, of river, sea, islands and mountains, at home in UK, it was one of fields and trees as far as the eye could see. Rice, jade green, grew everywhere in view, though the drying tresses of water soaked Jute revealed a wider agricultural base of existence.
The lunch, predictably, whilst moderating the chilli content for my benefit, was the traditional Bangladeshi rice and curry; two types of rice, with vegetable side dishes of Morning Glory and a kind of spinach, finely chopped. Vegetarian food is the heritage of this largely agrarian nation, but both grilled river fish, and beef, the more recent additions to the tradition, were on the table too.
I know of no restaurant, either here, or in the so called Indian restaurant tradition at home ( where most are actually run by Bangladeshis, and most of those from Sylhet!), who can serve food of such delicacy and flavour.
That my driver’s mother was a superb cook was unquestionable, but then , so are so many of the housewives of rural Bangladesh.

Mother’s readiness to meet me and be present at the meal told me of greater ‘modernity’, or less tradition, in the household, and the continuing presence of aunts , sisters and children added to the warmth of the hospitality.
The experience gave me an idea for the catering on the River Cruiser we are launching next summer to cruise the riverine splendours of Bangladesh in the comfort of clean, modern accommodation, a/c, and with attached h/c bathrooms, a complete innovation in this, the waterland of the world.

We shall see if we can assemble a network of such local culinary excellence to board the boat and serve evening meal at our overnight halts!

 Then, there are the rice snacks of which Mother is such a mistress! I winder if she could be persuaded...
Hospitality is, truly, one of the greatest attractions of this country, which if you simply took notice of international media, you would assume to be constantly disaster hit and teeming with the poor, the disadvantaged victims of extreme natural disasters.
A lunch, in the country, to remember with relish!

DHAMRAI GOVINDA BHAVAN. BANGLADESH

Built in 1853, following the acquisition of tax collection rights by Govinda Roy Chowdhury, a grocer, Govinda Bhavan is one of the earliest of the remaining Zaminderbari of Bangladesh.

Presumeably acquiring the office, that would have been sold at auction by the Honourable East India Company, who , at the time, still controlled the administration of what was then Bengal... though 5 years later, following the ‘Indian Mutiny’, now more often referred to as the First Indian War of Independence, or the Sepoys rebellion... with either the profits from his business, or with loans that also financed the building of such a suitably impressive residence before the tax revenues began to flow, since he had six sons the palace was constructed with six pavilions.

Stylistically, Govinda Bhavan seems to have most in common with Teota Palace on the banks of the Padma River in Manikganj, which was roughly contemporary, and another survivor of the 1897 Great India Earthquake that necessitated the reconstruction of so many of the great buildings of the region.

This residence, still occupied by the family of Zaminders, offers something of a picture of life in such great houses, with different branches of the family occupying different parts.

Here, you can begin to understand the lives lived by these factors of the Company, and later the Raj, who, unlike most of India, were men of business rather than hereditary royalty.

In the 1930s, a great wedding took place..well, two weddings in fact, on the same day, on the same river. Two sons of the last Zaminder married. The elder, the daughter of the Zaminder of Balliatti Palace, a mere 9km away by river. A younger, the daughter of the last Zaminder of Kutcheri Bhavan, in Tangail. Each Zaminder too proud to concede to another the hosting of the marriages, they were held on a boat on the river!

The glimpse of a world that once was in Bangladesh is sometimes hard to reconcile with the life of this country today. The conspicuous wealth of those times was more lavish, even, than that of today’s businessmen of the country, apparently with more in common with country house life in the UK, with which they were undoubtedly familiar from the visits and university stays made in Britain by the scions of these, then, great families.

A fascinating place so close to Dhaka, for such a glimpse of the past.

60 DOME MOSQUE. BAGERHAT

The, so called, 60 dome mosque in Bagerhat, has, in fact, rather more than 60 domes, but since few of them are visible from the exterior, the name scarcely does justice to the real splendour of the brick built, mid 15th century construction.

It is the many pillared interior that constitutes the real charm. Reminiscent of the great Mughal palaces of the period, and even of some of the great religious buildings of Europe, the magnificent pillars and the light they admit and the shadows they cast create the atmosphere of sanctity and durability.

On my first visit, many years ago, I was refused admittance on the grounds I am a Christian.. a surprise since I had never encountered such refusal at any other of the 40 or 50 I have visited around the world. Worse still, when I approached the mosque a few weeks ago, I was in the company of a lady, and a Bangladeshi academic had told me that she, too, had previously been refused admittance on the grounds of her gender. However, this time, we were both admitted so perhaps things are slowly changing in Bangladesh in attitudes to tourism!

A pilgrimage well worth making to this, one of the great, ancient, intact buildings of Bangladesh.
(Perhaps the custodians have been put through a training course in hospitality that the staff at Bangladeshi Embassies and High Commissions around the world would greatly benefit from when processing visa applications for tourists!)

BANDARBAN DISCOVERY OF NEW INSECT SPECIES

Sanaa Imperialis is a colourful member of the cricket species, recently discovered for the first time in the world, in Bandarban, the hill tracts of eastern Bangladesh.
Brilliantly coloured to deter predators, with a false, leaf like appearance, news of the discovery has been circulated on the web, in wildlife extra.com
Bangladesh seems to be uncovering  a number of new and rare species, and , no doubt, despite the threat that hangs over so many of its very diverse species of wildlife, there are many more yet to be found.

Source: Daily Star, 15th Oct, pg 16