Brief
Carmichael College is a part of heritage and history of Uttar Bongo (northern Bangladesh). It is indeed one of the oldest colleges in the country.
Rangpur Carmichael College (রংপুর কারমাইকেল কলেজ) is one of the most prestigious colleges of northern Bangladesh. It has a campus of almost 300 acres and is possibly the largest in the country, in terms of its area. It was established in 1916, with the generous help of several landlords, including Gopal Lal Roy Bahadur, Mohima Ranjan Roy, Babu Monidra Chandra Roy, Radha Ballav Saha and others. It boasts a large lush green campus with several uniquely designed buildings.
The first three colleges of the country were named only after the district headquarters where they were located (Dhaka College, 1841, Chittagong College, 1869, & Rajshahi College, 1873). Similarly this new institution could have been named Rangpur College. However, several institutions that had been founded in the districts of Barisal (Brojo Mohan College, 1884), Sylhet (Murari Chand College, 1892), Pabna (Edward College, 1898), Comilla (Victoria College, 1899), Mymensingh (Ananda Mohan College, 1901) & Khulna (Braja Lal College, 1902) had taken names after their patrons. So when Lord Baron Thomas David Gibson-Carmichael of Skirling, the then First Governor of Bengal, formally inaugurated the institution, it naturally took up the name Rangpur Carmichael College.
From the outset, this was under the governance of Calcutta University, and was only permitted to teach Arts subjects, both at Higher Secondary and Graduation level. Lord Lytton, the Governor of Bengal visited the college in 1922. He was amazed at the beauty of the campus, the fascinating infrastructure, and the quality of education that was being offered here. He immediately permitted the college to begin teaching science subjects. The same year, Calcutta University also permitted the college to begin graduation courses in Bangla, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, English, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Economics & Mathematics. Bachelor of Science degrees were introduced in 1925.
The college currently offers graduation courses in 17 disciplines and post graduation courses in 15 subjects. From the 2011-12 academic year, the college reopened the Higher Secondary courses, having put that on hold for 14 years.
Rangpur Carmichael College was under the purview of Calcutta University till 1947, Dhaka University during 1947-1952, Rajshahi University during 1953-1992, and the National University thereafter.
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[name] => Shoshi Lodge ( Women Teachers Training College)
[post_id] => 22126
[post_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/places/shoshi-lodge/
[thumb_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Shoshi-Lodge-4-300x169.jpg
[post_content] =>
Shoshi Lodge (শশী লজ) is located at the center of Mymensingh city which is also known as the Residential Palace of Moharaja Shoshi Kanto Acharya (মহারাজা শশীকান্ত আচার্য). This palace is very close to the river Brahmaputra which is being used as Women Teachers Training College from the year 1952.
According to the history, most of the rulers from Zamindar family have adopted babies in different era and those adopted child ruled the area later. For example Gourikanta(গৌরীকান্ত) was adopted by Roghunondon(রঘুনন্দন). Son of Gourikanta was Shashikanta(শশীকান্ত) and his wife adopted Surjokanta (সূর্য্যকান্ত) as she was childless. Later, Surjokanto became the prominent Zamindar of Mymensingh district. People used to call him as Moharaja(মহারাজা).
Moharaja Surjokanto Acharya was the Zamindar in Mymensingh region for long 41 years. During the reign of his Zamindari he did so many work for social welfare and made a remarkable change in infrastructural development.
He started to build an unique two storied building on an area of nine acre at the end of nineteenth century. Childless Zamindar Surjokanto named after this building in the name of his adopted son Shoshi Kanto Acharya. After completion of construction this building was extensively damaged by a destructive earth quake on the year 1897. Zamindar Surjokanto was immensely worried at this great loss.
Later Zamindar Shoshi Kanto Acharya re-built this building with many additional features in the year 1905 and did more renovation work in 1911. This unique classical architecture and its surrounding will certainly attract a traveler to explore this place recurrently.
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[name] => Ulpur Zamindar Bari
[post_id] => 18413
[post_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/places/ulpur-zamindar-bari/
[thumb_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Ulpur-Jomidarbari-1-300x169.jpg
[post_content] =>
During 1850, the greater Gopalganj area was ruled by the Zamindar. At that time, they made hundreds of buildings for their residence and official purposes. The buildings were made in the traditional Zamindar Bari look and style. In the last 150 years, most of the houses were destroyed by erosion. After being taken by the government, the authority turned some of these houses into government buildings. Now, most of the houses are abandoned or occupied by local people.
There is a cluster of old buildings in the Ulpur Area which is situated in the Gopalgonj - Takerhat highway, not so far from the Gopalgonj main town. As soon as you cross the Ulpur bridge from Ulpur bazar, the buildings start to appear. The first one was used as the Union Land Office (Government) but is now abandoned. The local people over there are now using it to stock fodder.
The second was probably used as a duplex residential complex but now is being used as the Sub Post Office. The surrounding environment is good and the building is covered by bamboo stocks. In the main road, there is a large old building, which was probably the main building. Outside this building the words "Dinesh Dham" in Bengali is carved in a white slate. This building is currently occupied by some local inhabitants.
If we go farther, then we will see another broken house formerly used as the Upazilla Registry office, now almost completely in ruins. "Din-Dham" in Bengali is also carved outside he building in white stone.
The overall environment of this village is very good and peaceful. Walking for an hour in the silence of this area will be relaxing. The most attractive structure is the Temple. The walls of the temple is decorated with colorful glass & ceramics. The temple looks good but it is also abandoned so the temple has shifted into a newly constructed building.
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[name] => Khelaram Datar Kotha
[post_id] => 10252
[post_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/places/andharkotha-khelaram-datar-kotha/
[thumb_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/18-225x300.jpg
[post_content] =>
Previously, the actual color of Khelaram Datar Kotha (খেলারাম দাতার কোঠা) was reddish (first three photographs added). But after a renovation done by the Department of archaeology, it is colored white now.
Possibly the most intriguing, interesting and uniquely confusing archeological structures of Nawabganj is the Khelaram Daata’r Kotha, which has recently been renovated. Yet they have not put up a sign board describing the building.
It is confusing, who was Khelaram? What was he known for? What is this building all about? What is the story behind it? When was it built? One could come up with several such questions, but apparently there isn’t much available documentation. It’s hardly possibly to rely on local folklore, as that is far more fiction than facts. To start with some confusion, some say the name of the founder of this structure was Khelaram Dutta, Banglapedia mentions him as Khelaram Dada, while the locals say he was known as Khelaram Daata.
According to Banglapedia he was a Zamindar, but the locals claim he was a dacoit. Since Banglapedia mentions nothing about him apart from naming him as Zamindar Khelaram Dada. So, there isn’t any other way except relating oral history along with the information of Banglapedia.
Some 200 years ago, there lived a ferocious dacoit named Khelaram, who was dreaded by the rich, but loved by the poor, because similar to Robin Hood, he generously donated much of his spoils from each mission amongst the poor people. Hence he was known as “Daata” the beneficent. But he still retained quite a bit and needed to store the loot. So he built this structure consisting of many rooms just overnight (within a short time). The building had five floors (it now has only two) and the roof had a large tank. There still is a large pond nearby. Poor people had to come to this pond to bathe, and anything they asked for was granted.
Oral History Or Myth :
Khelaram was extremely obedient to his mother. She once wanted to drink some milk and eat some ripened bananas, so Khelaram arranged the rooftop tank to be filled to the brim with ripened bananas and pure milk, so she could swim there and eat and drink to her heart’s content. But one day something Khelaram did severely angered his mother. She sternly rebuked and cursed him and then left for a bath in the pond. But as soon as she left the building, three floors of the building simply sank into the ground, leaving only the top two floors to be seen over the surface. Khelaram was not seen any more from then. Some believe he got trapped in one of the lower floors. Some believe he drowned in the pond, trying to save his mother. Within a short time, all his belongings got stolen, leaving behind just an empty house.
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[name] => Bhai Girish Chandra Sen's Old House
[post_id] => 23726
[post_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/places/bhai-girish-chandra-sens-old-house/
[thumb_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Old-House-of-Bhai-Girish-Chandra-Sen-9-200x300.jpg
[post_content] => Girish Chandra Sen also known as Bhai Girish Chandra Sen ( ভাই গিরিশ চন্দ্র সেন), a Brahmo Samaj missionary, was the first person to complete the translation of the Qur'an into Bengali in 1886. It was his finest contribution to Bengali literature. Born in the village of Panchdona of Narsingdi in 1835 in the famed Dewan Baidya clan, he learnt Persian and Sanskrit in early life and started working as a copywriter in the court of the deputy magistrate in Mymensingh. He also taught for a short while at the Mymensingh Zilla School before engaging wholeheartedly in journalism and literary activities. He was attracted to the Brahmo Samaj under the influence of Keshub Chunder Sen and Bijoy Krishna Goswami and joined it as a missionary in 1871. He traveled through India and Burma to propagate his new faith.
The plasters on the walls of this two floor house have almost completely fallen off, baring the brick work, which is covered in a thick moss. The ceilings on both the floors have entirely caved in. Trees have grown all over the walls, thereby creating large cracks. The wood work from doors and windows is completely stolen. To overcome those destruction and deterioration of this old House owned by this famous Scholar, Government has taken necessary steps to renovate the building immediately.
In the year of 1869, Keshub Sen chose four persons amongst his missionaries and ordained them as professors of four old religions of the world. Girish Chandra was selected to study Islam. The others selected to study different religions were Gour Govinda Ray for Hinduism, Protap Chandra Mazoomdar for Christianity, and Aghore Nath Gupta for Buddhism.
This was a time, when even translating religious scripts from Islam was considered as desecration of the sanctity of the scripts. The Holy Qur’an was considered too sacred for translation, as such most of the Muslim scholars refrained from even trying.
A firm believer in the basic unity of all religions, Girish immersed himself in his studies and later went to Lucknow in 1876 to study Arabic, Islamic literature and the Islamic religious texts. He was involved in intense studies for about five years. His keen interest in different religions and his liberal outlook earned him the respect of followers of other religions.
On completion of his studies, he returned to Kolkata and engaged in translation of Islamic scriptures. After hard labor of six years from 1881-1886, he produced an annotated Bengali version of the Qur’an via Persian.
Girish Chandra wrote and published a total of 42 books in Bengali. His books were greatly appreciated by the Muslim community which referred to him as 'Bhai Girish Chandra'. The Muslim society, in his days, respected him enormously and gave him the title of a Maulavi.
Girish Chandra Sen spoke fluently in Bengali, Urdu & Persian. A simple soft-spoken person, he endeared himself to all those who came in contact with him. His autobiography, 'Atmajivani' (আত্মজীবনী), was published in 1906. He passed away in 1910.
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