"Kachari House of Tripura Monarch at Srimangal in Bangladesh"

 

 

 

By Sangram Datta:

The nearly a century-old structure is the Kachari Bari of the then Tripura Monarch situated at Srimangal town in Moulvibazar of the then Srihatt ( Presently Sylhet).  

After the Partition of 1947, The Pakistan government acquired the house.  In continuation of that, This house located at Habiganj Road in Srimangal upazilla town is used as Upazila Land Office.  

In the late 19th century, Soon after the Dauki fault catastrophic earthquake, The house was built by the then Monarch of Tripura in order to collect rent from the affected subjects on about two quarter acres of land in the middle of the city.  

The house was built during the time of Monarch Birchandra Manikya Devavarman Bahadur, the architect of modern Tripura.  Later, during the time of Monarch Birendra Kishore Manikya Bahadur, He controlled the collection of taxes and administrative activities in this area from this Kachari house.

What we understand by the state of Tripura today is basically hilly Tripura.  

Kamalganj, Bhanugach, Shamshernagar, Srimangal, adjacent to Kamalpur in present day Tripura were in the possession of Manikya Devavarman royal family of Tripura.  

The truth of this can be found in the history book of Srihatt by Mr. Achutcharan Chowdhury Tatvanidhi.  Srihatt's Kulaura and the adjoining Dharmanagar, Kailashahar were mentioned in the book 'Rajmala', a history of the Tripura royal family written by the late Kailash Chandra Singh.

This unique building is a one-storied building with a width of thirty feet and length of twenty feet.  There are three rooms, eight doors and nine windows.  Each of whose walls is one foot wide and built of ancient lime mortar.  Already, some parts of this establishment are standing on the verge of complete destruction.  There are big cracks in the walls and ceiling.  Algae has accumulated throughout the structure.

Tripura is now part of India, no one comes to the dilapidated buildings.  But once this building was crowded with people.  The era of royalty of rajbari ( Royal family ) ended a long time ago.  The building of Tripura Monarch stands silently in a broken state, holding the memory of Manikya family's rent.  Still the multi-dimensional craftsmanship of the construction style is worth seeing.  Due to lack of maintenance and renovation, This historical monument is currently getting lost in the depths of time.