Fort and palace, Bagerhat
Morrelganj Kuthibariমোড়েলগঞ্জ কুঠিবাড়ি
- Time needed
- Fifteen minutes.
- Cost
- Free.
The ruined indigo planter's house of 1849 that gave Morrelganj its name, and the memory of Rahimullah, the peasant leader killed in the revolt against it.
Plan your visit
- Opening
- Open ground.
At a glance
- Built
- 1849, by the Morrel indigo planters
- Rahimullah
- Peasant leader of Baraikhali, killed 25 November 1861
About
Morrelganj is one of the few towns in Bangladesh named after an Englishman, and not a kindly one. The Morrel brothers set up an indigo concern on the Panguchi river in the 1840s, built their kuthi, the planter's house and factory, in 1849, and ran the surrounding villages by forced labour and the lash, as indigo planters did across Bengal. The peasants rose against them under Rahimullah of Baraikhali, and on 25 November 1861 he was killed; his name is remembered in the district as one of the first to stand up to the planters, a decade before the great indigo revolts ended the trade.
What remains of the kuthi is a brick shell on the riverbank in the town, roofless, with trees in its rooms: a ruin rather than a monument, with no ticket, no signboard and no caretaker. Come for the history and the river, and for the town's Thursday hat. Morrelganj is also the road to Sharankhola and the eastern Sundarbans; the kuthi is a quarter-hour stop on the way.
Getting there: In Morrelganj town on the Panguchi, about 30 km south-east of Bagerhat by bus toward Sharankhola.
Things to do
- Walk the riverbank by the ruin at the hour the Panguchi boats come in.
Good to know
- Ask locally for "nil kuthi"; there are no signs.
- The walls are unstable; look from outside.
