Tajhat Jamidar Bari at Rangpur, Bangladesh

If you are first time in Bangladesh just disembarked from the plane, planning for some tour to make or even you are just sitting in your room, browsing the internet for some place with historic beauty in Bangladesh, well then you are lucky to come by this article as I’m going to give an idea of a place in Bangladesh that surely will catch your eye.  

Tajhat Jamidar Bari at Rangpur, Bangladesh

It is known by the name Tajhat Jamidar Bari, a palace having the majestic appearance that most of the 20th century royal palaces have. This imperial palace is situated three kilometer south-east of the city of Rangpur, on the outskirts of town. You can easily move from Dhaka city to Rangpur district by train, a 318 km journey of six hours, and there are alternative bus routes that can save some of your time.

If we look try to focus on its historical background the palace was built by Maharaja Kumar Gopal Lal Roy in the beginning of the 20th century, a descendent of a Hindu khatari who emigrated from the Punjab to Rangpur for some business purposes and then built this enormous palace. He was a jeweller by profession. There is a heresy that from the blatant appearance of his Taj or jeweled crown, his estate educed the name of Tajhat.

From 1984 to 1991 the palace was used as a Rangpur High Court Branch of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. Department of Archaeology declared the place as a protected monument. Realizing its salient architectural value the  Bangladesh Government shifted the Rangpur Museum to the second floor of the palace in 2005.  The hall room at the top of the marble stairs have a number of display cases which is an aesthetic display 10th-11th century terracotta artifacts. There are a number of Sanskrit and Arabic manuscripts, some copies of the Mahabharat, Ramayan, and a Quran whose provenience is credited to Mughal Aurangzeb. It has several examples of black stone Hindu carvings in its back rooms, mainly of the deity Vishnu. Beauty here can ony be viewed by your bare eyes but with the lens of your cameras. Pretty sad to not to have the opportunity to frame these beauty in photographs because photography is not allowed inside the museum.

The east facing palace, with about 76 meter frontage, rises two storeys, an imposing broad staircase in the centre, paved with imported white marble, leads directly above the porch to the upper storey. Two broad wooden staircases provide access to the upper floor. There are about 22 apartments on two floors. 

There are more to see by your own self. So what are you waiting for? Come Bangladesh to feed your soul that has the ever ending appetite of discovering the worlds beauty.