Fix a date to explore old Dhaka
Dhaka! Some say the city of magic, some say the city of the heart. The name Dhaka started from 'Dhakka’. Some say that Dhaka is four hundred years old. Although more than that. As a city, Dhaka is not as old as Cairo or Athens, but its history, heritage, and abundance are not less than those cities. In this burned city of dust how much affection, how many stories in the chest, how many colors are stored, most of us do not know.
Several rivers have flowed around this city- Buriganga, Turag, Balu, and Shitholokkha. Because of being surrounded by so many rivers and suitable place for business, several nations and foreign merchants have come to the river and set foot in the city. Someone came only to govern and exploit. They have built gardens, pools, buildings, mosques, temples, and churches for their own needs. There are also residential buildings. And amusement parks couldn’t be excluded.
In the Modhur canteen, that we use to visit, there was an aquarium of Nabab. The Dhaka Gate, which established the boundary of the city of Mir Jumla. Four hundred years later, we can’t consider it as a city boundary. A Greek merchant came to trade and died along with family. Their cemetery remains at TSC. Just Greek! So many foreign merchants including Armenian, Dutch, Turkish was tied to the fondness of this city.
From the distance, there are no ways to know that unknown stories and no way to find those colors. So, to realize the history, glory, and diversity of Old Dhaka, fix a date and go out. Today I’m trying to give you an idea and a tour plan of different architectures of the British era to the Sultanate rule, signs of old Dhaka’s landlords, and way of Old Dhaka’s people lifestyle. I’m describing below successively. Let’s start with Wari’s Bolda garden.
Balda Garden is one of the oldest Botanical Gardens in Bangladesh. The garden is enriched by almost 800 rare plant species collected from different parts of the world. Narendra Narayan Roy Chaudhury, the landlord of the Estate of Balda, began creating it in 1909 and continued to add to it until his death in 1943. He simultaneously built up a museum collection, which was known as the Balda Museum. Then walk a few minutes in the front there have Dhaka Christian Cemetery.
The Dhaka Christian Cemetery is situated at Wari, an area of Old Town in Dhaka. It was developed mainly for the European traders and their families, thus most members of the East India Company and the many nations like English, Dutch, Grease is lie buried there. In this cemetery, the oldest grave there belongs to Reverend Joseph Paget, minister of Calcutta, who died there in 1724 at the age of 26. There is the grave of Armenian merchant and zamindar Nicholas Pogose. He founded the Pogose school and built the Weis House which is currently the headquarters of Bulbul Lalitakala Academy. His epitaph reads "Till the daybreak and shadows flee away" After crossing the Wari police station on Tipu Sultan Road, you will see the Centennial Shankhanidhi House.
Shankhanidhi House is a 100-year-old building located on Tipu Sultan Road, Old Dhaka. At the beginning of the 20th century, merchant Lalmohan Saha, merchant Bhojhari Saha and merchant Gaura Nitai Saha had improved in their business. After becoming wealthy, they renounced the title 'merchant' and took the title 'Shankhanidhi' (the carrier of the conch). The conch is also used as a sign of their business. Between 1920 and 1926, they owned several land properties in Dhaka. And in these lands, a number of the building were erected. All the buildings were aesthetic.
A little further from Narinda Road is the Sri Sri Madhwa Gaudiya math. It was built in 1921. This temple is one of the oldest temples in Dhaka. After walking for a few minutes in the front, you will see Binat Bibi Mosque.
Binat Bibi Mosque is the earliest surviving mosque in Dhaka built-in 1454 by Bakht Binat, the daughter of Marhamat. It was during the rule of the Sultan of Bengal, Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah (r. 1435–1459). The mosque is located beside the Hayat Bepari’s Bridge in Narinda area. Along with the mosque, there are the Binat Bibi and the Arcan Ali shrine.
After crossing Lalmohan Saha Street and steps on the Hrishikesh Das Road, hundreds of years of old memory will surround you. You will see the numerous establishments of the British period on both sides of the road. In these homes, you will see the seemorical arcade, colorful window glass, spinach’s design parapet, wonderful balcony made by the metallic or wooden pillar, etc. Seeing the outside, the whole beauty of these buildings can not be understood. Seeing the outside, the whole beauty of these buildings cannot be understood. There is an open yard inside the house, which is only possible to see inside by entering through the narrow entrance.
The next closest distension is Jagannath University. The university has a history that started in 1858 when Dhaka Brahma School was founded by Dinanath Sen, Prabhaticharan Roy, Anathbandhu Mallik, and Brajasundar Kaitra. The name Jagannath School was given by Kishorilal Chowdhury, the Zamindar of Baliati in Manikganj, who took over the school in 1872 and renamed it after his father. It was transformed into Jagannath University in 2005 by the passage in the national parliament of the Jagannath University Act-2005.
Besides the Jagannath University, they have another historical place is Fathaghanj’s Shaheed Shamsul Alam Hostel. Origen name of this hostel was Mangalabas. Some say mangal nibas. This aesthetic house was built in the late nineteenth century. After walking for 2 minutes, you can reach the beauty boarding at Banglabazar.
Beauty Boarding
The building was originally a zamindar house and belonged to a zamindar named Shudheer Das. Before Partition of India in 1947, the building was the office of the daily newspaper Shonar Bangla. By 1951, the newspaper moved its office to Kolkata. When the newspaper left, the building was rented by a local neighbour Nalini Mohon Saha and he started a restaurant and boarding house there. The boarding house was named after his eldest daughter, Beauty. Soon Beauty Boarding became a popular place to book traders from all over the country used to come to Banglabazar, the centre of book publishing, printing and stationery wholesale market in Dhaka.
