Visiting old heritage and the history attached to it always fascinates me, and this time I went to a place called Kalikapur Rajbari situated in Purba Bardhaman district in West Bengal, India.
A brief history of the Kalikapur Rajbari
Kalikapur Rajbari was commissioned to build by Paramanad Roy who was a minister of the then King of Bardhaman and established himself as the landlord of the area. Initially he stayed in Maukhira, a village situated near the basins of river Ajay. But the Maukhira being a flood prone area he decided to build his palatial abode in the middle of the elevated grounds of the Kalikapur Jungle.
There, he built his dream home. A house with seven sections for his seven sons, along with a Durgadalan (temple dedicated to goddess Durga) and a Natmandir (dance hall).
The current situation of the Kalikapur Rajbari
As we entered the Rajbari what first attracted us were some shabby pillars. These were the pillars of the Natmandir. The caretaker of Kalikapur Rajbari told us that the roof of the Natmandir collapsed long ago and only the pillars of which remained. He added, in earlier days during Durga Puja, women used the Natmandir to stand and watch the rituals of the Durga Puja.
We then crossed the pillars and took the stairs to go the upper story of the building and the top view of the pillars from there was mesmerizing. From there, we spotted another abandoned building, which is a part of the Rajbari itself and decided to take a look.
It was the ruins of a once gorgeous building, but what most attracted us is the Batyanbartini (The lady at window). Batyanbartini is a very decorative element of temples and mansions in rural Bengal. This particular one is life-sized sculpture of a woman looking outside from a fake window. Some describes the Batyanabartini represents the waiting of the women for their loved ones.
On the same place we saw a few dolls made up of jute and coloured in black hanging from a tree. The first thought that came to everyone was, some kind of black magic was practiced.
We asked the caretaker about it he answered, these are some of the pops that the shooting team left. We got to know that this Rajbari is shown in many Bengali movies and shooting movies is a regular practice here. However you’ll need permission for the same.