Fort and palace, Netrokona
Susang Durgapur Rajbariসুসং দুর্গাপুর রাজবাড়ি
- Time needed
- Half an hour.
The seat of the Susang rajas, descendants of Someshwar Pathak who ruled this corner from 1280 until the end of the zamindari; rebuilt after the 1897 earthquake, now four decaying houses, one of them the magistrate's residence.
At a glance
- Dynasty
- Founded by Someshwar Pathak in 1280, by tradition; zamindari ended 1950
- Rebuilt
- After the 1897 earthquake, as four houses
- From Durgapur bazar
- About 2 km
About
Two kilometres from Durgapur bazar stand the houses of the Susang raj family. Their story begins, by tradition, in 1280, when a Brahmin from Kannauj named Someshwar Pathak stopped to rest under an ashoka tree here on his way to Kamrup, defeated the Garo king Baisya and founded a state he called Susang, good company. His descendants took the title Singha, made a treaty with Akbar, and held the estate through the Mughal and British centuries until the zamindari was abolished in 1950; the river is named for the founder.
The great earthquake of 1897 flattened the old palace, and what stands now was built afterwards: four houses for four branches of the family, the Bara Bari, Mejo Bari, Abu Bari and Dui Ani Bari, with columns, verandahs and ponds, now shabby and partly occupied, one of them the residence of the upazila's judicial magistrate. Beside it the Dashabhuja temple keeps the family's goddess and, it is said, the spot of the founder's ashoka tree.
It is a quiet half hour of columns, moss and a long story rather than a showpiece.
Getting there: A rickshaw or auto from Durgapur bazar, about 2 km.
Things to do
- Walk round the four houses and the Dashabhuja temple beside them.
Good to know
- Parts are lived in and one house is an official residence: stay outside unless invited, and do not climb the ruins.
