Archaeological site, Shariatpur
Fatehjangpur Fort and Kedar Rai's Moatফতেজঙ্গপুর দুর্গ ও কেদার রায়ের বেড়
- Time needed
- About an hour and a half.
- best months
- Nov–Feb
Where Man Singh's Mughals defeated Kedar Rai and renamed Srinagar 'Fatehjangpur', and the unfinished moat of the city Kedar Rai meant to build at Kedarpur.
At a glance
- Battle
- Man Singh's Mughals against Kedar Rai, who died in 1603
- Old name
- Srinagar
About
Kedar Rai (1561–1603) was the raja of Bikrampur and one of the Baro-Bhuyans who held out against the Mughals. When Man Singh attacked Bikrampur, some of his allies, beaten by Kedar Rai, took shelter at Srinagar here, and Man Singh sent his army to rescue them. The fierce battle that followed left Kedar Rai wounded, and he died. To mark the victory Man Singh built a fort and renamed Srinagar Fatehjangpur, the 'city of war victory'. A stone image of Vasudeva with a broken nose, the naak-kata Basudeb, is kept here.
Nearby, at Kedarpur, Kedar Rai had begun a new home and city but died before it was done. The remains of the moat he was digging around it are still there, and people call it Kedar Rai's ber, the fence. Little else is left of either, so this is a trip for those who want to stand where the Baro-Bhuyans made their last stand.
Getting there: By bus from Shariatpur to Naria, then by rickshaw to Fatehjangpur; Kedarpur is in Naria too.
Things to do
- See the stone image of the naak-kata Basudeb.
- Ask in Kedarpur for the remains of Kedar Rai's moat.
Good to know
- Little is signposted: ask locally, and go with time to spare.
