Nawabganj Ansar Camp (Painna Bari & Teli Bari)

Panam Nagar (পানাম নগর), ancient Painam, a locality now in Sonargaon upazila of Narayanganj district. It is about 2.5 kilometre to the north of Dhaka-Chittagong highway at Mograpara point. It is said to have been the site of Hindu capital city of Sonargaon emerging in the seventh decade of the thirteenth century. The Panam area formed part of the Muslim metropolis developed on the south of the old city, and perhaps constituted the place of residence of the early Muslim governors'. After the Mughal conquest of Sonargaon (1611) the Panam area was connected with the ruling metropolis by construction of highways and bridges. Panam still possesses three brick bridges belonging to the Mughal period: Panam Bridge, Dalalpur Bridge and Panamnagar Bridge.

The existence of these bridges, and the canals enclosing the site on three sides is indicative of its being a suburban area of the medieval city. The pucca road which leads from the Mograpara crossing on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway in the direction of Panam extending up to the Neel-Kuthi looks like a dividing line between medieval Sonargaon and the present Panamnagar, the only surviving relics of the Panam area. The Panam township stands on the east of this road opposite Aminpur, and a one-arched humped bridge leads from the same road over a narrow canal to the main street of Panamnagar.

In all probability the present Panamnagar grew as a by-product of the commercial activities of the english east india company and of the Permanent Settlement. The East India Company established their factory in Panam for the purchase of muslin and other cotton fabrics. The Company, for the purchase of muslin, used to distribute annually to the weavers from their factory in Panam as much as a lakh of rupees as dadni (dadni system advance), and it is estimated that there were then 1400 families of Hindu and Muslim weavers in and around Panam.

Sonargaon developed into a center of trade in cotton fabrics, chiefly English piece goods, during the colonial period, and thereby grew the new township of Panamnagar. A group of Hindu talukdars, who came into being from among the traders in the nineteenth century, chose this site for their residence. The existing brick buildings of Panamnagar, obviously the residence of the Hindu merchant-talukdars, can be dated back to early nineteenth, and the later ones to late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Panamnagar which developed in the nineteenth century, continued to flourish till the end of the Second World War.

Panamnagar, a unique township, stretched in a single street 5 meter wide on the average and 600 meter in length. All the buildings have the character of urban street front houses and are lined up on either side of this street which ends up at the Panam bazar. Fifty-two houses exist in dilapidated and disused condition having 31 in the north side of the street and 21 on the south. Panamnagar appears to be well protected by artificial canals all around. Two fairly wide canals run parallel to the street on its either side and joined by a narrow canal on the western side over which is the entrance bridge (Panamnagar Bridge). On the eastern side, the canal on the south swerves rightward and goes eastward crossing the north-south road that passes through the Panam bazar. The northern canal, the Pankhiraj Khal, runs eastward to meet the Meghna-Menikhali stream.

Traveling Nawabganj without paying a visit to Judge Bari and Ukil Bari (জজ বাড়ি এবং উকিল বাড়ি) (formerly known as Brojo Kutir) is nearly incomplete trip. Originally it was built as the residence of a Zamindar over a century ago, the Brojo Niketan was acquired by a judge in 1984, and henceforth became known locally as the judge bari, the residence of the judge.

Next door to the judge bari, on a corner of a sprawling playground made famous by the sheer attendance of Mahatma Gandhi in 1940, is another Zamindar’s house, which has been acquired by a lawyer, and thus taken the new name Ukil Bari.

In a small shrine between these two old palatial houses, one will come across a statue whose head has been knocked down, allegedly by the Pakistan Army during our Liberation War in 1971, supposedly of Gautama Buddha. A little inside the Ansar controlled areas, one would come across the Brojo Kutir - the older palace of the Zamindar, and yet another palatial house of Kokil Peyari. It has now turned into a local picnic spot.

Pailgaon Zamindar Bari is one of the remarkable old structures of Jagannathpur in Sunamganj. This 300 years old palace was established on 5.5 acres of land.

The last person of this Zamindar family was Brajendra Narayan Chowdhury. He was a famous politician at that time and a member of the congress of Sylhet too at that time.

The place is situated near the bank of Kushiara river in Sunamganj District. It is at Pailgaon Union under Jagannathpur Upazila.

History of this place: Thousand years ago, decedents of Pal Dynasty lived here. As time goes, "Das" family took their place. Pir Mohammad Badsha (Muslim Rulers) gave them the title - "Chowdhury". Ram and Sreeram were two descendants of this bloodline. One of their descendants Madhab Ram gained much popularity in his locality at that time. He did a lot of social welfare.

Their descendants Brojnath had two sons. Their named were Roshomoy Chowdhury and Sukhumoy Chowdhury. The place is locally known by the name after of Zamindar Roshomoy Chowdhury. The last ruler of the family was famous Brajendra Narayan Chowdhury.

Alexander Castle is one of the most amazing and renowned structure in Mymensingh District. It was built by Maharaja Suryo Kanta Acharya Chowdhury(মহারাজ সুর্যকান্ত আচার্য চৌধুরী) in 1879 in the memory of the 1st zilla magistrate of Mymensingh Mr. N .S Alexander at the time of Jubili festival. It covers an area of 27.155 acres.

It is a nice small archaic building having two Greek statue at both sides of the front gate. Though the arms of those statues are currently broken, but still those looks great. The whole building is placed over a high plinth, probably to avoid the flood from the nearness river.

It cost 45000 taka at that time. Alexander Castle is a two storied building made by metals and woods in a high concrete base. This building was used as a rest house for the guests of Maharaja Maharaja Soshi Kanta Acharya Chowdhury. Many great personalities of the world stayed at this castle when visiting Mymensingh city. Nobel Laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore arrived in Mymensingh around the midday of 15 February 1926. He stayed in the Alexander Castle as a guest for 4days. Mahatma Gandhi also stayed in this castle in 1926.

Lord carzon, Chittaranjan Das, Nawab Sir Salimullah, Kamal Pasha also visited Alexander Castle. This house was decorated by royal furnitures and items at that time. There is a big field in front of this house. You can see two fascinating silver statue which makes the place more beautiful. There is also a big garden and a pond still remains behind the castle. It is said that Maharaja used to keep big cats in his garden so he surrounded the garden with big still cages.At present this house is being used as library of teachers training college(male) in Mymensingh.