Let me start from where I had finished my previous post.
We (myself, my brother and Jobu) started on the 24th morning from my village in a Mahindra Bolero after a good sleep the previous night.
The trip had been planned something like this : We would first visit Kandi Kali Badi and then move on to Lalbagh, which is the main attraction of Murshidabad.
En-route our trip we visited Kandi first as planned.
Kandi is not amongst the major tourist attractions of Murshidabad and not many people are even aware of this place. The sole attraction of Kandi however is the Kandi Kali Badi. It is as old as the history of Murshidabad goes. Though today the Kali Badi is pretty much famous, at least among the local people, it was once infamous for it was the shelter of dacoits during the mughal reins. This was a place where the dacoits used to offer prayers to Goddess Kali.
After we came out this temple we were left with mixed feelings. I could say that this temple today was a veneer of the cultural manipulations that have occured in the era bygone, for I could hear song numbers from Don being played behind the temple amidst the chanting of the mantras inside the four walls.
Anyways with many more such thoughts skulking in my mind I got into my Bolero once again only to move towards Lalbagh, which remains the most important destination of tourists to Murshidabad.
It took about an hour odd to reach Lalbagh from Kandi. The road to Lalbagh already gave us a sense of great expectations as it moved in a slapdash fashion along the Ganges. The Ganges in this part isnt really the firecest or the widest but it definitely is amongst the purest.
Moving on this road we first landed at Motijheel.
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Motijheel (Murshidabad) Motijheel or Pearl lake is situated about one and a half kilometre south of Lalbagh and about three kilometres south-east of Hazarduari Palace at murshidabad, west bengal. The horse-shoe shaped lake, according to Rennell, was one of the meandering courses of the Bhagirathi that once flowed near this area. Within the bend of the lake were built a beautiful palace called 'Sang-i- dalan' (stone palace), a lofty gateway, a mosque and some other structures by nawazish muhammad khan alias Shahmat Jang, nephew and son-in-law of Nawab alivardi khan. The palace of Nawazish Khan was built using materials, especially the black basalt pillars brought from the ruins of Gaur and thus assumed the name Sang-i-dalan. After his death, his widow ghaseti begum lived here until sirajuddaula took over the palace and seized enormous amount of treasures in 1756 AD. It is heard that Sirajuddaula being jealous of this place,got another very beautiful palace- Heerajheel constructed on the opposite side of the Bhagirathi after incurring huge amount of money.
Today however Motijheel is more about a Museum where one could find artifacts of the articles used in those days, a lake where one can go for some boating and a park where one can go on a picnic party. We visited the museum first,did some boating too and moved ahead in our car without wasting much time.
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From Motijheel we proceeded for Hazarduari (Nabab Palace).
The Hazarduari Palace, or the palace with a thousand doors is the chief tourist attraction of Murshidabad.
The magnanimity of the structure was palpable from a far distance itself. The building is reminiscent of Gothic architecture. We reached there sometime around 11'o clock. On reaching the premises of the palace we found almost a quarter km long queue waiting for its turn to enter the palace. We 3 just couldnt believe that we had to stand behind this long a queue under the blazing sun for our turn. There were tourists from, I guess, every part of the state. Well there was no other go and we had to book our entry tickets and stand behind this queue.
While I waited behind this queue, Jobu and by Brother went to check if there was something more worth to be seen around this place.
There is a structure right opposite to this palace, more famously known as the Imambara, inside the same premise where the Hazarduari is located. It is said that the King would marry a virgin every night and keep her locked in this imambara after that. Anyways Jobu and bro came back after some time only to inform that the imambara was up for some repair work and hence would not be opened for visitors. They too joined me in the queue after that. What was good about this queue was that it was moving quite sppedily. Therefore i didnt have to wait for more than 30 in to reach the main gate of the palace from where we would actually be let inside.
There wasn't much security at the gates when I had visited this place last time. But thanks to the "Global terrorism" factor, there was quite a hard security cover at the entrance. Forget cameras not even mobile phones were allowed inside the palace. However, there was a cloak room at the entrance where one could keep his belongings.
After keeping our mobile phones I moved inside. Though the palace is such a lively example of exemplary human creation, and it would be really difficult for anyone to describe it in words I have tried to frame below what best I could possibly do.
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The Hazarduari Palace, or the palace with a thousand doors is the chief tourist attraction of Murshidabad. This three-storey palace was built in 1837 by Duncan McLeod for the Nawab Najim Humaun Jah, descendent of Mir Zafar. It has thousand doors (among which only 900 are real) and 114 rooms and 8 galleries, built in European architectural style. The total area of Hazarduari Palace is 41 acres. It is now a museum and has an exquisite collection of armoury, splendid paintings, exhaustive portraits of the Nawabs, various works of art including beautiful works of ivory (Murshidabad school) of China (European) and many other valuables. The Armoury has 2700 arms in its collections of which only few are displayed. Swords used by Shiraj-ud-Daulla and his grandfather, Nawab Alivardi Khan, can be seen here. The other attractions in this floor are Vintage Cars and Fittan Cars used by the Nawabs and their families.
However one would have to be lucky enough to be able to see these princely items as most of the time some or the other construction keeps going on and one or the other floor would be locked.
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It took us almost 2.5 hrs to be able to see 90% of what lay inside the museum of a size of 130mtrs x 60 mtrs. After this we were tired enough and didnt have any sort of energy left and we could easily sense that lunch came calling.
We came outside the museum and sat for sometime on the grand stair case on the front side. From there we moved to take lunch on the roadside hotels outside the palace premises. The food this time again was as bad as it can get. But still it looked great. After finishing our lunch we moved ahead for other places that remained to be visited.
We moved to NashiPur Akhra after lunch.
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Nashipur Akhra is situated near Nashipur Rajbati on the eastern side of the Bhagirathi. The Mahanta of the Akhra is to remain bachelor for good. Here, every year, Jhulan Yatra is performed when a large number of people from far off villages assemble here to witness the dramas held on this occassion. There are a good number of deities who are worshipped every day by the priests.
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In the Nashipur Akhra a very old Austin is kept in the Garage and free for public analysis. Even we tried to see the remains of the car. We opened the bonnet to see what remained of the motor. Though not much remained in it, it still gave a chilling feel to us. Just imagine handling an almost 150 yrs old car.
From Nashipur Akhra we moved on to KathGola Bagan.
Enroute Kathgola Bagan we came across the Jafargunj cementry. We didnt get down at this place since we felt not much was there to be seen as it was in a delapidated state. All the descendants of Nawab Nazims (except Miran and Feradun Jah) had been cremated here.
Moving Onwards we came across the Tomb of Azimunnisa Begum.
We agreed to get down here. Local people told that the place was maintained by young kids who stayed nearby. Each of us agreed to pay those kids Rs2/- each. The kids act as guides for visitors and narrate history in a poetic fashion. Their historical poetry amused one and all present there. Not much is there to be seen at this place however. Behind this tomb lies vast cultivable pieces of land.
The history of this tomb goes like this.
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Tomb of Azimunnisa Begum
Azimunnisa Begum was the Daughter of Murshid Kuli Khan(after whom Murshidabad was named). It is heard that once she fell seriously ill and as per the advice of a Hakim, she recovered from illness after having medicine prepared from the liver of an infant secretly. But after recovery, she became accustomed with having the liver of an infant secretly. But the Nawab coming to know of the fact, instructed his men to cremate her alive.
People visiting this tomb are told to walk on the top of this tomb so that her soul may find peace. *************************************************************
From this place we moved ahead for Kathgola Bagan.
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The above three thubnails are snapshots of what lies inside the Kathgola Bagan.Inside the Kathgola Bagan we took a guide to take us through the premises. Kathgola Bagan or Kathgola Garden is a big garden house on the North Eastern side. Katgola, the palace garden of Raja Dhanpat Singh Dugar and Lakshmipat Singh Dugar and their famous Adinath Temple were built in 1873, by Harreck Chand. Inside is situated the Paresh Nath Temple made of white marble stone.Within the temple, there is the statue of Paresh Nath made of Marble Stone.Lamchi Prasad is its founder.In this garden, there stands a beautiful palace in which there can be seen valuable paintings, mirrors and priceless furniture. A good many statues on horse backs are also worth seeing.
One can also find a dance floor which used to covered with original belgian glass on all sides, which only allowed one way view from inside. The belgian glasses dont exist today but the floor does. Its beleived that the Dugars used to pay Rs5000/- for a 30 min dance by 2 famous bais(female dancers) from Lucknow.
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From Kathgola we moved ahead for Katra Mosque and probably the last place for that day's trip.. We were infact on our way back.While coming back we saw Jagat Seth's house by the roadside. The house today remains in a deteriorated condition, with no maintenance altogether. Probably the punishment of his wrong doings during the British rule when he colluded with the Britishers and betrayed the Indian Kings.
Katra Mosque was the last place that we could visit during this trip. The place was almost closed when we reached. Thanks to the caretaker that he allowed us inside taking into consideration the crowd that day. We didn't find many guides even there. Hence had to satisfy ourselves by asking the locals about the place. Below is whatever info we could gather about the place.
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The tomb of Murshid Kuli Khan is also known as Katra Mqsque.
It is known from the written account that Murshid Kuli Khan, on attaining old age, expressed his desire to construct his tomb adjacent to the mosque. The responsibility for the construction was given to Farash Khan. Farash Khan is reported to have been very envious of Hindus. He completed the construction of the mosque by demolishing many Hindu temples.
Once Murshid Kuli Khan died Farash became repentant for his deeds. With a view to get foot prints of noble men on the stairs, he got Murshid's tomb constructed below the stairs and the body was laid to rest in the tomb.
At the two ends of the mosque, two domes measuring 70ft in height, are still existing today in a delapidated condition. On getting at the top of the domes its said that a major portion of the City of Murshidabad is visible.
However we were not lucky enough to get on to the top as the domes are locked from public access.
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Well the day was over for us with this magnificient sight. We came out of the Mosque. It was already 5:30p.m and getting dark.
I bought a couple of local made handicraft items for people back home, boarded my Bolero and was on my way back .
There were quite a few places in and around Murshidabad that we couldn't cover that day and hope to cover some time else.
Main among these are :- Kosh Bagh(Siraj Samadhi), Palassey Monuments,Heera Jheel(on the other side of Bhagirathi) , Kriteshwar temple, Vatabati Temple, Maharaj a Nanda Kumar House( Bhadra Pur).
