R N Saha House

Pakutia Zamindar Bari resides under the administration of Nagarpur of Tangail district. This Zamindar Bari complex comprises of three main buildings. Out of these three, one is much larger compared to other two’s. The larger one is using as a Degree college these days and also the college authority holds the ownership of other two edifices as well. But they have rented Pakutia Zamindar Bari to other organization.

Initially the Zamindari was established by the hand of Ramkrishna Shaha Mondol at the early of 19th century. He has two sons named Radha Gobinda and Brindaban Chandra. Radha Gobinda didn't have any children but Brindaban Chandra had three. They are Brojendro Mohon, Upendra Mohon and Jogendra Mohon. Childless Radha Gobinda adopted the second son of his brother and later gave his whole property to him.

These three brothers later built three separate buildings for them in 1915 (almost 100 years from now). Each of the buildings are having extreme artwork & design, stylish columns, and small statues. Each inches of the building is having a delicate design that impresses everyone even these days. Top of the building is having a lovely sculpture type architecture that is rich in design, concept, and artwork (more if I consider the building period) in this modern days. Apart from these, there are several large ponds located at the backyard of the building.

This Zamindar family was friendly towards the villagers. They have established a school during 1916 named as Brindaban Chandra Radha Gobinda School (in short B.C.R.G. School) for their father and uncle. They have left this country during the 1947 separation. Later in 1967, the government established B.C.R.G Degree College on these buildings to commemorate the friendly Zamindar family. Apart from the Zamindar Bari, the premise now has a temple which probably used by the families who lived here. Also there is an open theater available that was used to arrange the local play or drama known as Jatra/Pala (যাত্রা/পালা).

In different location of Narsingdi district there are a number of Archaeological sites which attract traveler and explorer to visit these places recurrently. Balapur Zamindar House (বালাপুর জমিদার বাড়ি) is one of the old palatial buildings in this district. If someone interested to visit the oldest buried civilization area in Bangladesh named as Wari-Bateshwar, then it would be better to take a glance at Balapur Zamindar House while moving there. It’s situated at Balapur village, Madhabdi Upazila of Narsingdi district.

This Zamindar House was built by local Zamindar named 'Nobin Chandra Saha' in 1906. It is also known as Zamindar Kali Babur Bari (কালী বাবুর বাড়ি). It’s a complex of buildings scattered in a particular zone. Basically, most of the buildings are three storied and some are one or two storied. Dept. of Archaeology in Bangladesh doesn’t announced it as a protected site yet. So like many others old houses in Bangladesh it is on the way of ruining.

No matter how decorative and ornamented this house is, it’s almost abandoned and some people who living in this house are so called ancestor of Zamindari estate at Balapur. Some local people are selling all the floor tiles made by white stone desperately.

But, Still today this beautiful palace standing with its own identity and spreading the essence of colonial palatial architecture in Bengal. If proper steps being taken this structure can be preserved & conserved for the future exhibiotion.

Balia Zamindar House or Palace is once known as a symbol of dignity in this region. Still some of the ancestors of this zamindari estate living in Kolkata. Interviewing local folks ORB team came to about its identity and partial history, which could be possibly will help to rebuild its actual history in near future.

So far we came to know from different sources that, this zamindari was founded by man named Zamindar Malik Muhammad Box (জমিদার মালিক মুহাম্মদ বক্স) who came to this region from Multan. His son Hazi Malik Karim Box (হাজি মালিক করিম বক্স) was chronologically the second successful famous zamindar of this estate who donated a big amount of money from ‘Kashmir & Kyed-E-Azam relief fund’.

According to the old people of Balia this building is more than 400 Years old. There is a little difference between this Zamindar house with others. It’s one of the few Zamindari estate in Bangladesh which was being founded by Muslim zamindars where as rest of others being established by Hindu zamindars.

This old house is on the way to ruin, most of its building material is being removed. Except its tall dome and a triangular pediment rest others element is lost in course of time.There is a three domed Mosque in front this old House which could be possibly built in some later time.

Sonakanda Fort (সোনাকান্দা দুর্গ) a Mughal river-fort located on the eastern bank of the Shitalakshya (শীতলক্ষ্যা) at port area. A group of river forts, constructed by the Mughals, guarded the water routes to Dhaka and other places of strategic importance and the Sonakanda Fort is one of them. The fort, under the protection of the Department of Archaeology and Museums, has been restored and repaired several times. The defensive walls and the massive artillery platform are still in existence. It is quadrangular in plan,measuring 86.56 m × 57.0 m and surrounded by a 1.06 m thick brick-wall, 3.05 meter in height, with inner and intermediate bastions.

The wall is built solid at the bottom. There is a circular artillery platform with a staircase on the west side, which leads up to the raised artillery platform to be entered by a five-foil arched gateway. The artillery platform, meant for a big calibre cannon aiming at the attackers coming up the river, is a new feature of the Mughal river forts in Bengal.

The platform has two circles of which the inner is 15.70m and the outer is 19.35m in diameter respectively. It is 6.09m in height and surrounded by walls. The corner bastions on both sides of the western wing are wider than those of the eastern wing, which are 4.26m, while the two on the western wing are 6.85m in diameter. The fort has two main parts; one is a fortified rampart wall of enormous dimension, which has numerous wide and narrow loopholes. And the other part, the most important one, is a raised outwork on the western face. Excepting the artillery platform, there is no trace of any permanent structure within the fortification walls. All round, the walls are crowned by machicolated merlons, which are on average one metre high.

The fort is provided with a single entrance gate on the north. The arched gateway is placed within a rectangular frame and both the sides are decorated with several plastered panels. The lofty arch of the entrance gateway is of the four-centred variety. There are four corner bastions. Unlike the bastions of the forts at Hajiganj and Idrakpur the bastions of this fort are octagonal in plan.

The fort is not dated by any inscription. Though the construction of this fort is attributed to Mir Jumla, there is no evidence for this. On stylistic similarities with other Mughal river-forts in and around Dhaka it is datable to the mid-17th century.