Re-posted from Bangladesh Unlocked (bangladeshunlocked.blogspot.com)
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| Entrance Ahsan Manjil, - The Pink Palace |
This
neo classical building, with some distinctly oriental influences,
stands on the banks of the much abused Buriganga River in Old Dhaka,
painted a rather lurid pink, is a living testament to the lack of a
traditional aristocracy in Bangladesh.
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| The Amazing Ahsan Manjil, - The Pink Palace |
Reconstructed
after 1888 by Sir Khwaja Salimullah Bahadur, the fourth ‘Nawab of
Dhaka’, following a disastrous cyclone that ravaged earlier building
work, it shares much of its distinctively Bengali Anglo Oriental
appearance with many of the Zaminderbari of Bangladesh.
Titles
such as raja, maharajah and nawab abound in the Zamindari of
Bangladesh, having been awarded, honorifically, by the British, in
recognition of loyalty. In most of the Indian sub continent, most rulers
have long histories and heritage, claiming, in some cases to support
their authority, descent from Hindu deities.
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| Terracotta Ahsan Manjil, - The Pink Palace |
The
last of the Mughal aristocrats, although actually descended from
earlier Afghan invaders, was the last Nawab of Bengal who was defeated
at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 by Robert Clive of the East India
Company. This victory rapidly established the Company, a commercial
company of merchant adventurers, as the new rulers of Bengal.
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| Corridor Ahsan Manjil, - Thi Pink Palace |
This
commercial administration was carried out by the East India Company’s
own version of traditional Zaminders. Under the Mughal rulers, these
were more like the feudal lords of Europe, tasked with military as well
as fiscal responsibities, the former by far the most important. After
1757, the priorities were reversed. The investors in the Company
required a good return on their investment, and securing that return
became the responsibility of the Zaminders. Unsurprisingly,, the
military responsibility of ensuring the security of the
territory, was held in the hands of the army of the Company, with its
British and Mercenary officers and specialists.
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| Side Wall - Ahsan Manjil, - The Pink Palace |
A
number of the Mughal period Zaminders had thrown in their lot with the
British at the time of Plassey, or had at least remained absent from the
Nawab’s forces.. an impetuous young man, with a contested claim to the
role of Nawab, he was not popular.
However,
whilst confirming those who remained, and explaining to them the new
focus of their responsibilities, where territories were forfeit, the tax
gathering rights were put up to auction. The result was a rise of anew
‘aristocracy’ who were usually business men, many of them Hindu traders.
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| Wooden Bridge, Ahsan Manjil, - The Pink Palace |
The ‘Nawab’ of Dhaka was, of course, one of the most powerful and significant of these ‘New Men’.
The
ancestors of the man that the British installed as Zaminder in Dhaka,
the great grandfather of Sir Khwaja, Khwaja Alimullah, in 1843, was
descended from Kashmiri traders in gold dust and skins. It is reasonable
to suppose that he was the highest bidder when the tax gathering rights
for Dhaka, at that time a small town, were auctioned.
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| Walk way - Ahsan Manjil, - The Pink Palace |
Not
unnaturally, the palace became a centre for the social and political
life of Dhaka, hosting Governor Generals and Viceroys after the British
Government took over the administration of British territories in India.
At
Independence and partition, like other Muslim Zaminders, the Nawab’s
found their position at first secured, then, when the new state of
Pakistan enacted government possession of such properties, unsecured.
At
the heart of Old City, the building is certainly one of the few
Zaminderbaris in good repair in Bangladesh. It is, perhaps, just a pity
they couldn’t have found a less lurid pink wash for the walls!
Within, is a museum of social life, although, like most museums in Bangladesh, poorly curetted, but probably worth a visit.
