King Nrisingha Deb Dutta Zaminder Bari Ruins: The History of Bansberia

Situated about 45 kms away from the West Bengal capital Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), Bansberia is a city and municipality of Hooghly district in India. This place is famous among the tourists for three historical monuments namely, Hangseshwari Temple, Ananta Basudev Temple and Zafar Khan Ghazi Masjid. However very few knows about the Deb Dutta Zamindars who were gifted and then redesigned the present Bansberia; as well as their abode (the Zamindar Bari) which is now in ruins just opposite to the glorious Hangseshwari temple.

The history of this place and the Deb Dutta family dates back to the year 1656, when the then Mughal ruler Shah Jahan appointed Raghab Deb Datta of Patuli as the zamindar of Bansberia area. The legend about the name of this place goes by this that, Raghab’s son Rameshwar Deb Dutta had to clear out a large area of bamboo (Bans in local term) thicket before building up their fort here, therefore inspiring the name Bansberia. This place not only thrived, but also prospered under the Deb Duttas’ and gradually grew up to an important port town in medieval Bengal. However the Deb Dutta family continued staying in Patuli and came to Bansberia only when in 1673, Patuli came on the verge of obliteration into the Ganges due to severe land erosion. Then Mughal emperor Aurangzeb gifted this 400 Bigha (250 Acres) land and its Zamindari to Rameshwar Deb Dutta along with the prestigious title of King – Raja Mahashaya. Bengal was ruled by Nawab Shayesta Khan (1664-78 & 1679-88) at that time. The Hangseshwari Temple and the Ananta Basudeb Temple are the two invincible works of art by Raja Nrisingha Deb Dutta (Graet grandson of Rameshwar Deb Dutta) and his wife Sankari. Later Roy was the title given to them by the British rulers. The temple is now taken over as a heritage site by the Archaeological Survey of India; However, the remains of Deb Datta palace are now in ruins, and all that can be seen are the fragments of arches and broken walls. I think Archeological Survey of India should take some initiative to protect this historical landmark. What do you think?

Link to Google Map:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/King+Nrisingha+Deb+Dutta+Zaminder+Bari+Ruins/@22.9637513,88.3977382,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m12!1m5!8m4!1e4!2s102133696770646532240!3m1!1e1!3m5!1s0x39f89352d19fe639:0x71433459eecda72d!8m2!3d22.9637513!4d88.3999269!16s%2Fg%2F11mq6rbb7b?hl=en-IN

4 Likes

Hello @Adi_Explore ,

It seems that part of your text is taken from an external source. Keep in mind that this is something against our program rules. As we deeply care about originality, you might as well want to read the following article How do I follow the original content guidelines on Connect?.

In order to avoid your post being moved to the off-topic posts archive, I kindly suggest you edit your post using your own words and photos. You can edit your publication following the helpful instructions that you will find here: Edit your post - Why and How To.

1 Like

Thanks a lot @TsekoV sir for your most valuable feedback. As you have mentioned some parts of my post are taken from some external source from where I came to know about the history of the above mentioned place. However this being only my 3rd post after joining in LGC community on 28th-29th May, 2021, I was not aware about how to cite the references. With your most helpful guidance I would definitely take care of the plagiarism protocol of LGC community and will refrain from any future plagiarism protocol breach.

1 Like

@TsekoV sir, I have edited my post and resubmitted it. Hope this time I have avoided the Plagiarism breach.

1 Like