Brief
Nawab Faizunnesa Choudhurani (1834–1903) was Zamindar of Homnabad-Pashchimgaon Estate in present-day Comilla District, Bangladesh. She is most famous for her campaign for female education and other social issues. In appreciation of her social work, in 1889 Queen Victoria awarded Faizunnesa the title of “Nawab”, making her the first female Nawab in South Asia.
Early life and background: Nawab Faizunnesa Chowdhurani was born in 1834 in the village of Pashchimgaon under Laksham in the district of Comilla. Her father was Ahmed Ali Chowdhury, a descendent of the Mughal emperors and zamindar of Homnabad-Pashchimgaon estate. Faizunnessa was raised in a conservative Muslim family, where the women would maintain a strict purdah system. She received no formal education but she educated herself in her library during leisure time. She was proficient in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit and Bengali language. In 1860, Faizunnesa was married to a distant cousin and neighboring Zamindar, Muhammad Gazi, becoming his second wife. But the couple became separated for an unknown reason and Faizunnesa began to live with her paternal family.
Career and philanthropy: After her mother’s death in 1883, Faizunnesa inherited her property and became Zamindar of Pashchimgaon. She became increasingly involved in social work after becoming Zamindar. In 1873, Faizunnesa Choudhurani established a high school for girls in Comilla, which is one of the earliest female schools privately established in Indian subcontinent, which is now called Nawab Faizunnesa Government Girls’ High School. She also founded a school at Pashchimgaon that was later upgraded to a college and now named as Nawab Faizunnesa Degree College.
In 1893, Faizunnesa established a charitable dispensary in her village for women in purdah, particularly destitute women. She also built a hospital for women, Faizunnesa Zenana Hospital in Comilla. In addition, she built mosques and contributed towards the development of roads and ponds. Faizunnesa patronized different newspapers and periodicals, including Bandhab, Dhaka Prakash, Musalman Bandhu, Sudhakar, and Islam Pracharak. Before her death in 1903 she donated her entire property to the nation.
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The Old House at Gokorno Gram is a small building located beside a village pond and local say this as Barrister Bari (ব্যারিস্টার বাড়ী). You may not find much information about this old building from the internet. With the help of the local people beside the house, you can enter inside the house. Right now, no one lives there. Few of the rooms are still firm these days, but others are very risky in condition. This old house located at the Gokorno village (গোকর্ণ গ্রাম) of Nasirnagar Upazila of Brahmanbaria District.
[We need more detail information of this spot. If you have more information and photos, please be advised to add and share in our website. Your name will be published as a Content Contributor]
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পুকুরের পাশেই অবস্থিত এই ছোট বাড়িটিকে স্থানীয়রা ব্যারিস্টারবাড়িও বলে থাকে। বাড়িটির আশেপাশে বসবাসকারী স্থানীয়দের সহায়তায় আপনি এর অভ্যন্তরে ঢুকতে পারবেন। বর্তমানে এই বাড়িতে কেউ বসবাস করে না। বাড়িটির কয়েকটি কক্ষও এখনও মজবুত অবস্থায় থাকলেও বাদবাকি কক্ষগুলো খুবই ঝুঁকিপূর্ণ অবস্থায় রয়েছে।
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Around 300 years ago, a landlord family established this Zamindar bari by their name. Parliament, ball-room, guest house and many Hindu temples were constructed near that landlord house. The number of places were amounting to almost 200. Among them, 40-50 were large. In 1658, Kaali (Hindu God) Mandir or temples were established here and The biggest Shiva Linga is also located here, weight is around 1000 kg.
Though this is a Zamindar Bari, but these days there is nothing left behind. Only few temples around (or probably there were few remnants). These are old temples which are in ruin, probably carrying the mark of 300 years or more. As per the reference, it should have the largest phallus of lord Shiva. There is a newly temple built beside the old ones and few people go there for the prayer. As per their information, it is an Iskon Temple (ইস্কন মন্দির).
[This spot needs more detail. If you have more information and photos, please be advised to add in our website. Your name will be published as a Content Contributor]
{:}{:bn}৩৫০ বছর পূর্বে এখানে একটি জমিদার পরিবার বাস করত। এখানে আইনসভা, বলরুম, অতিথিশালা, বেশকিছু হিন্দু মন্দিরসহ প্রায় দুইশর অধিক স্থাপনা নির্মাণ করা হয়েছিল। যেগুলোর মধ্যে চল্লিশ থেকে পঞ্চাশটি স্থাপনা ছিল বিশালাকৃতির। ১৬৫৮ সালে এখানে কালী মন্দির নির্মাণ করা হয়। দেশের সবচেয়ে বৃহৎ শিবলিঙ্গটি এখানেই অবস্থিত, যার ওজন প্রায় ১০০০ কেজি।{:}
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[name] => Horipur Boro Bari
[post_id] => 6569
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[thumb_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Horipur-Boro-Bari-Brahmanbaria-011-300x225.jpg
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Horipur Boro Bari, also known as Horipur Zamindar Bari is a mammoth mansion that is located at the Horipur village of Nasirnagar Upazila of Brahmanbaria district. This is exactly adjacent to the bank of the river Titash. From outside it’s hard to get any essence of its antiquity and beauty. This is a capacious mansion having plenty of rooms at the both floor.
From the inscription from a Moth near the area it is found that the owner was Zamindar Krishna Prasad Ray Choudhury (জমিদার কৃষ্ণ প্রসাদ রায় চৌধুরী) who built that around 1343 of Bengali Calendar. At the front side it has a Ghat for taking bath (also may be for taking part in a family gossip during after noon).
Right now, the situation of the building is not good. This is now occupied by lot of poor families (Hindu people from their dress up and religious practice). Due to lack of care, most of the walls are decaying. It’s a two stored building and few portion of the second floor is risky. But still people are living at the ground floor.
The mammoth size, stylish architecture, etc simply implies that how sumptuous the owner was. Though most of the parts are diminished but still there is a portion of a Pasha Ghor exists at the second floor. Probably the owner used to play Pasha with his mates. May be it was a dance floor where the rich Baijee (Dictionary: Dancer) used to perform every night.
Since this is exactly beside the river Titash, lot of people use to visit here with a boat as a part of their picnic. As per the local, this type of picnic party uses to visit frequently during the weekends. And still people from Dhaka know very little about this place. You can explore the river after visiting this old Zamindar Bari. But you may not find any boat for hiring around there. Most of those are the private boats. May be you can request them to use for a while. Just about few hundreds meter apart from the building you'll find a cremation place which was built by the same owner.
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[name] => Bardhan Kuthi
[post_id] => 4413
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Bardhan Kuthi (বর্ধন কুঠি) is one of the historical places of Gaibandha district. It is situated near the Gobindaganj Upazila of Gaibandha. During the reign of British East-India company Raja Harinath (রাজা হরিনাথ) ruled the Bardhan Kuthi. During the separation of Indian subcontinent the last Ruler of Bardhan kuthi Raja Shoilesh Chandra (রাজা শৈলেশ চন্দ্র) Migrated to India from Bangladesh.
Due to the establishment of Gobindaganj college in this place, We can only observe the relics of Bardhan Kuthi. But it demands more research and discussion, By which we can discover the continuation of distinguish dynasty in Bardhan Kuthi. We may also reveal the valuable information of contemporary Zamindar’s and their lifestyle as well.
Sanjib Roy, grandson of Raja Shoilesh Chandra (রাজা শৈলেশ চন্দ্র), and his family are residing in the following address:
32-Keota Latbagan
Post Office:- Sahaganj
District :-Hooghly
West Bengal
India-712104
To know the original historical Scripture of Bardhan Kuthi,
Click Here
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