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Tujhse Door. Shanti Chai. Amar Sehmbi. Naa Chalda. Crowds at the Bichali Ghat market today. The name was a tribute to the area of Calcutta, where he had stayed. Although they were called bungalows, these were very large, often three-storeyed buildings, Palladian in style which stood amidst substantial lawns since there was no space crunch here like there was in the city.
Such houses often sold for as much as 35, rupees which was an astronomical sum back in the day. There were thirteen bungalows in all, and Sir Lawrence had stayed in Bungalow No. BNR House from across the river. Inside the cruciform building, a central staircase rises to the upper floor.
The high ceilings and tall doors had been specifically designed to allow the cool breeze from the river to travel through the entire house. The house even had its own ghat, or landing stage, offering the residents the option of road or river transport. There were four wide verandas on all sides, which was another Indian improvisation on classical architecture, to tackle the humid climate.
At the time, Bungalow No. The house was initially taken on a monthly rent of rupees, but it was eventually purchased, along with two surrounding houses, for a sum of , rupees. But Bungalow No. Wajid Ali Shah, therefore, made several alterations, including converting a room into an Imambara.
From , Bungalow No. An expansion of the hospital was planned and for this, 8 southern columns of the house were demolished to create space and 4 pillars were later added as a saving grace. With one stroke of his pen, the Chief Medical Officer of the railways forever destroyed the symmetry of the house! An illuminated BNR House at night.
Bungalow No. Entry to the building is naturally restricted, but permission may be granted by the South Eastern Railway headquarters and periodic tours of the building are organized. In a map of Bengal drawn in , the Portuguese historian J. Barros notes the presence of two forts on opposite banks of the Bhagirathi, which we know today as the Hooghly River. So, Metiabruz should be spelled Matiyaburj, meaning mud tower, or earthen tower.
Since the medieval age in Bengal, it was a common practice to build small, temporary mud forts to house a garrison of soldiers to protect a particular area. It is precisely because they were made of mud that no trace of any such fort can be found anymore, although they do appear on old maps. Between and C.
The sovereign in Bengal at the time was the most prominent of the Baro-Bhuiya, or twelve brothers, who had held the Mughal Empire at bay — Pratapaditya. Pratapaditya had a Portuguese general in his army by the name of Rodda and it was he who had ordered these two forts to be raised, to guard a bend in the river and protect ships from piracy. When the fort on the opposite bank of Betor had to be built, the chosen location appears to have had a very large mound.
Where had the mound come from? It was probably the result of excavations that the Portuguese themselves had undertaken to create a navigable canal from Kidderpore to Rajgunj. Some of the earth from the mound was used to the build the new fort. Shia graveyard in Metiabruz. On the 29 th of March, , an Indian sepoy of the 34 th Bengal Native Infantry by the name of Mangal Pandey tried to kill his superior officers in Barrackpore and urged his comrades to rebel against their colonial masters.
He was apprehended, tried and hanged, but the mutiny could not be controlled. It spread like wildfire in the Bengal army and ultimately consumed half the country.
Many of the sepoys came from the Oudh region, once governed by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and his family and while they did have other grudges, the most infamous among them being the greased cartridges, the unceremonious removal of their sovereign was also a strong one. Rebellious sepoys united under her leadership and that of her son, Birjis Qadr and Lucknow became one of the most fiercely fought battles in the history of the Mutiny read more about the mutiny in Lucknow here.
On the 15 th of June, , Wajid Ali Shah was woken up by a great commotion in his estate. His servants informed him that the estate was completely surrounded by British police who demanded that the Nawab come with them. Her efforts would ultimately fail, and she would die at the age of 55 in Paris on 25 th January Her grave may still be seen today in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. It had been three years and all his attempts at getting justice, getting his kingdom back from the East India Company, had failed.
According to the terms of the new treaty, the East India Company wanted him to sign, he would receive a generous annual pension. It is not unreasonable to guess that the pressure to sign the agreement with the company was now mounting. The Nawab resigned himself to his fate and signed the agreement. The British considered it too risky to permit him to return to Lucknow and thus granted him an estate, and 3 buildings in the Garden Reach and Metiabruz area.
The British had taken his dear Lucknow from him, he would now create another. A lamp reflects the interiors of the Sibtainabad Imambara. Author and poet Abdul Halim Sharar spent his childhood in Metiabruz. For about a mile along the municipal high road, there were some fine shops. Among the many buildings that Sharar describes, was one called Qasrul Baiza, which was apparently shaped like an egg!
Wajid Ali Shah had a fondness for exotic animals and with his private zoo in Calcutta, he pulled out all the stops.
But apart from that, the zoo contained exotic birds of every description, exotic animals from all over the world, fish, monkeys, a rhinoceros and even tigers, but the highlight was the snake enclosure. Sharar writes about a large tank in front of Shainshah Manzil. As much as rupees a month was being spent at one point to buy food for the animals. And yet, descriptions of Metiabruz vary widely depending on the source. The British reports are scathing. Metiabruz is described as being unsanitary and lawless, many of its inhabitants are said to have criminal tendencies and the general atmosphere is described as being chaotic and noisy.
The truth must be somewhere in the middle. He had stayed at Metiabruz between the ages of 9 and 19 and was writing about it 30 years later.
British descriptions were no doubt prejudiced and unlikely to portray anything Oriental in a positive light. As we shall see, it is primarily the religious structures which have survived. Domeless wonder! The unpretentious frontage of the Shahi Masjid.
This was probably the first structure to be constructed by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and was meant for his personal use. Legend says that before the foundations of the mosque could be laid, Wajid Ali Shah made a proclamation, inviting anyone who had not missed even one of the five daily prayers since he became an adult to lay its foundation. When no one came forward even after a month, the King laid the foundation himself.
The Shahi Masjid is devoid of any domes or minarets. To the north of the mosque is a small garden but the whole thing was once part of a much larger compound.
One unusual feature of the mosque is its Mihrab. Shahi Masjid's marble mihrab. Shahi Masjid remains active and has a modest congregation consisting mostly of Shia Muslims.
The caretaker of the mosque serves also as its Imam and muezzin, reciting the call to prayer five times a day. The mosque is in good shape and is regularly painted, but the garden is unkempt and could use some attention. The modernised Begum Masjid. At the time of his death, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was said to have had wives, which shocked contemporary British commentators. His descendants provide an explanation for that astounding figure.
In a strange twist, Wajid Ali Shah extended this to the women who were serving him.
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