A Historical Tour in NATORE

 

Natore, in spite of being one of the historically enriched cities of Bangladesh, mostly gets exposure only when talks are about Uttara Gonobhaban. But the reality is there is a huge chunk of fascinating history lying in Natore. Let’s start our today’s historical tour in Natore from Natore Rajbari.

Natore Rajbari, a ten-fifteen-minute walk from the hub of Natore ‘Madrasa Mor’ has a vast memory of the Natore dynasty, which was built during the nineteenth century.

History says that in the first phase of the nineteenth century, the previous Jamindars failing to produce rent, the then Dewan Raghunandar handed over the Zamindari to his brother Ramjiban and with this the enriched era of Natore dynasty initiated. After the death of Ramjiban, his son Ramkanto at first and later Ramkanto's wife Rani Bhabani came into power who also is considered as the most prolific ruler of the Natore dynasty. After her came two persons named Bishwanath and Shibnath who were popular as 'Boro Torof' and 'Choto Torof' respectively.

Two of the biggest attractions of Natore Rajbari are the two palaces of these two Zamindars- 'Boro Torof Rajprasad' and 'Choto Torof Rajprasad'. The structure of the Rajbari in fact divided on the basis of these two palaces- from the entrance, at first comes Boro Torof Rajprasad and then on the inner side comes Choto Torof Rajprasad. Having eye-catching color grading and design of these two palaces, the rajbari has two beautiful ponds named Joltungi and Tarokeshwar on the two sides of the entrance road turn up to cordially welcome. It also has beautiful temples, open stage, kachari bari, rani mahal, stables etc. All these you can see only for buying a ten taka ticket before entering the Rajbari.

After a quite long historical journey, it's time for some sweets. And talking about sweets, probably no other sweets of Natore can compete with Kachagolla in name and fame. Joykalibari Mistanno Bhandar, located beside Joykalibari Mandir and only a fifteen taka rickshaw ride from the Rajbari, is the most famous place for kachagolla in Natore. Made with kacha chhana along with sugar and cardamom, this delicious sweet is a good one for sweetening anyone’s mind. 

However, history isn't leaving us on this sweet journey in Natore. The history behind Kachagolla is as wonderful as its taste. Rani Bhabani used to order sweets from a nearby store of a man named Madhusudan Pal. Madhusudan was doing his job accordingly. One day a problem came for him as all the employees who would make the sweets for Rajbari were sick. As there was no other way, Madhusudan damped all the chhana in sugar syrup to save those from spoiling. Astonishingly, this moist chhana was so fantastic in taste that Rani Bhabani admired it really well. Because it was made from Kacha Chhana, Madhusudan named it Kachagolla.

Finally comes the biggest attraction of Natore, Uttara Gonobhaban. It is a fine example of Dighapatia dynasty founded by Dayaram Roy in 1734. At the time of Promodanath Roy, the sixth king of the dynasty Promodanath Roy, a massive earthquake dilapidated this palace in 1897 though later it was refurbished. After the departure of the kings of this dynasty during partition of 1947, this place was introduced as Governor House and afterwards 1971, it is being used as the only living place of prime ministers outside of Dhaka. 

Uttara Gonobhaban offers a variety of beauty. While entering in after buying tickets for twenty taka, a huge clocktower on the majestic entrance will welcome you. Then one by one will come Kachari Bari, main palace, Kumar palace, museum, flower garden, lakes etc. But if you ask me what fascinated me when I visited there? Well, the background music playing in the whole area. On the branches of the trees, speakers were knotted and off the speakers were coming music in a delicate tone. This simply created a peaceful environment all over the area of Uttara Gonobhaban. After enjoying it, what I can only say about Natore is, it is important historically, gives us a huge learning about the old eras of our country, the delicious taste of sweet and some pure natural beauty!