Nimtali Deuri
OK - time for the answer to my quiz and to begin the Colonial period segment of this thread. The oldest Colonial period structure in Dhaka is the Nimtali Deuri (pic below), built in 1766. This was the gateway to Nimtali Palace, which no longer survives.
Not long after the death of Emperor Alamgir in 1707, the Mughal Empire began to desintigrate rather quickly. The Nawab of Bengal, although still nominally under authority of the Emperor, for all intents and purposes became an independent ruler. Around 1717, the capital was moved from Dhaka to Murshidabad (in present day West Bengal). Although the Nawab left for Murshidabad, a deputy nawab (Naib Nazim) remained in Dhaka.
The power vacuum left by the Mughals also enabled Europeans, who had established outposts called "factories" (chiefly concentrated in the Hooghly River area), to expand their influence. When Nawab Siraj ud Doula, wary of this growing threat, decided to attack the chief British factory at Calcutta, he ordered Naib Nazim of Dhaka, Jasarat Khan, to kill the British residents of his city. Jasarat Khan was unwilling to do this, and instead later arranged safe passage for the Europeans to Calcutta. For this he was subsequently arrested and imprisoned in Bihar. Siraj ud Doula, having alienated most of his own noblemen with his arrogant behavior, including his general Mir Jafar (who had the loyalty of most of his troops), was defeated by the British at Plassey in 1757 and killed not long thereafter. Mir Jafar, who had helped the British by withholding most of the nawab's troops, ascended to the throne thereafter but found that real power had shifted to the Europeans. He was also an inefficient ruler, and the British replaced him with his son-in-law, Mir Qasim, in 1760. Mir Qasim, not content to serve the Europeans, tried to assert his independence, but was defeated at the battle of Buxar in 1764. After that, in 1765, British East India Company was granted the dewan of Bengal by the Mughal Emperor, formalizing their rule in the province.
The British, not having forgotten Jasarat Khan, released him from prison and built a new palace for him at Nimtali in Dhaka in 1766. Although built on orders of the British, the architecture still followed an essentially Mughal idiom. This palace was an important landmark in Dhaka for the better part of a century. For one thing, Jasarat Khan, being of Iranian descent, claimed to be direct descendant of Hazrat Ali (
), and as such became leader of the local Shia community. For another, on important occasions such as Eid, a grand procession would originate from the Nimtali Deuri. If you go to the National Museum today, you will find pictures from the early 19th century, of the Eid processions coming from the Deuri.However, under the East India Company the "Naib Nazim" had no real authority, and the descendants of Jasarat Khan gradually became impoverished and had to abandon the palace. As atrocities committed by the East India Company mounted, particularly in the early years of British rule, the family was also scorned by locals for their association with the Europeans. The palace fell into disrepair and eventually disappeared aside from its gate. Today this gateway is preserved as part of the complex of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
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