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Lalbagh Fort or Fort Aurangabad, an incomplete Mughal palace fortress at Dhaka on the river Buriganga in the
southwestern part of the old city. The river has now gone further south and flows at quite a distance from the fort. D'Oily's painting (1809-11) shows that more than half of this
east-west oblong fortress touched the water of the river on its south and southwestern sides.
The construction of the fort was commenced in 1678 AD
by prince muhammad
azam during his 15 month long vice-royalty of Bengal, but before
he could complete the work he was recalled by aurangzeb.
His successor, shaista
khan did not continue the work, though he stayed in Dhaka up
to 1688. His daughter bibi
pari (Lady Fairy) died here in 1684 and this led him to consider
the fort to be ominous.
For long the fort was considered to be a combination
of three buildings (the mosque, the tomb of Bibi Pari and the Diwan-i-Aam),
two gateways and a portion of the partly damaged fortification wall. But
recent excavations carried out by the Department of Archaeology of Bangladesh
have revealed the existence of other structures and it is now possible
to guess a more or less complete picture of the fort. (see Site Plan).
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Site plan of Lalbagh Fort |
In the present fort area of 18 acres, excavations have
revealed remains of 26/27 structures with elaborate arrangements for water
supply, sewerage, roof gardens, and fountains. Renovation work by the
Archaeology Department has now put Lalbagh Fort in a much-improved shape
and has now become an interesting spot for tourists and visitors.
Of the three surviving gateways, the southern one is
the most imposing. Seen from the front it is a three storeyed structure
with a fronton, bordered with slender minarets. From inside it gives the
impression of a two storeyed structure. The gateway on the northeast is
a much smaller and simpler structure. It is gathered from structural evidence
that the fort extended to the eastern side beyond the present Shaista
Khan Road. The third gate, now in the centre of the northern boundary
wall, was left incomplete. The present one is a recent construction.
The southern fortification
wall, running westward from the South Gateway went up to the huge
bastion in the southwestern corner of the fort. Then the fortification
ran northward for a distance and then it is lost. The boundary wall
on the eastern side connecting the southern and northern gateways
is a modern wall and it is now assumed that the fort originally
embraced areas further east beyond the present Shaista Khan Road. |
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South gateway of Lalbagh Fort (Inside view) |
On the northern side of the southern fortification were
placed utility buildings, such as the stable, the administrative block,
and its western part accommodated a beautiful roof-garden with arrangements
for fountains and a water reservoir. The residential part was located
on the eastern side of the western fortification, mainly to the south-west
of the mosque, where the remains of a sewerage line have been found. The
southern fortification is a twin wall, the outer one is about 6.10m high
and 1.37m thick, while the inner one is 13.72m high with same thickness.
The two are solid up to the height of 6.10m and there are regular openings
in the upper part of the inner wall.
The original fortification wall on the south had 5 bastions
at regular intervals and the western wall had 2 bastions. Among the 7
bastions the biggest one is near the main southern gate at the back of
the stable, which occupies the area to the west of the gateway. The bastion
had an underground tunnel. Among the five bastions of the southern fortification
the central one was single storeyed, the rest are double storeyed structures.
The central one contains an underground room with veranda on three sides,
and it can be approached either from the riverside or from its roof. The
double-storeyed bastion at the southwestern corner of the fort was possibly
a Hawakhana, with a water reservoir on its roof. Two lines of terracotta
pipes have been found, which connected all establishments of the fort
with this reservoir. An extra-strong terracotta pipe line made with double
pipes, one inside the other, have been uncovered in the area between the
Hammam and the tomb of Bibi Pari.
The area westwards from the stable parallel to the southern
fortification once had a beautiful roof garden with fountain, rose and
star designs marking the flowerbeds, and a water reservoir. The buildings
underneath contained the administrative blocks and the residential part
on the western side.
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Partial view of the Fort showing Diwani-i-Aam,
Tomb and the Mosque
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The central area of the fort is occupied by three buildings
- the Diwan-i-Aam and the Hammam on its east, the mosque on the west and
the tomb of Bibi Pari in between the two - in one line, but not at equal
distance. A water channel with fountains at regular interval connect the
three buildings from east to west and two similar channels run from south
to north, one through the middle of the ground in between the Diwan-i-Aam
and the tomb forming a square tank with fountains at the intersection
with the east-west channel, and the other from the water reservoir passing
through the bottom of the tomb.
The water channels and the fountains, a very common
feature of Mughal architecture, set an atmosphere not very unlike north
Indian Mughal forts. A big square water tank (71.63m each side), placed
in front (to the east) of the Diwan-i-Aam and in between the southern
and northern gateways, adds to the beauty of the building. There are four
corner stairs to descent into the tank.
The double
storeyed Diwan-i-Aam attached with a single storeyed Hammam on its west is an imposing building. The Hmmam complex includes an open platform, a small kitchen, an oven, water storage area, a masonry brick bath-tub, a toilet, a dressing room and an extra room. The Hammam portion has an underground room for boiling water and a passage for sweepers. A long partition wall runs north-south along the western facade of the Hammam dividing the whole fort area into two divisions. The building in the middle, the tomb of Bibi Pari, is the most impressive of the surviving buildings of the fort. Eight rooms surround a central square room, containing the mortal remains of Bibi Pari, which is covered by a false dome, octagonal in shape, and wrapped by brass plate. The entire inner wall of the central room was covered with white marble, while the four side central rooms had stone skirting up to a height of one metre. The wall in the four corner rooms was skirted with beautiful glazed floral tiles. The tiles have recently been restored; two of the original tiles have been retained. The southeastern corner room contains a small grave, popularly known to be of Shamsad Begum, possibly a relative of Bibi Pari. The Lalbagh Fort Mosque is a three-domed mosque with a water tank in front (on the eastern side) for ablution.
The archaeological excavations have revealed strata of
the Sultanate as well as of the pre-Muslim periods, from where terracotta
heads and plaques have been found. Thus it is now justified to say that
though the Mughals founded Dhaka, it was definitely inhabited long before
the Muslims came to Bengal. [Habibur Rahman] |
