Posted on: 23 November 2012

The Nizamat Kila or Palace of Murshidabad, seen from the opposite bank of the Bhagirathi river with the Nawab's barge in the foreground - 1840

Watercolour painting of the Nizamat Kila in Murshidabad, West Bengal by William Prinsep (1794-1874), c. 1830-1840.

The Nizamat Kila, also called the Hazarduari or the Palace of a Thousand Doors, is a palace that was built in the classical style for the Nawabs of Murshidabad by Colonel Duncan Macleod (1780-1856), Bengal Engineers. It was built between 1829 and 1837. Murshidabad is situated on the banks of the Bhagirathi River, north of Calcutta in West Bengal. In 1704, the Nawab of Bengal transferred his capital here from Dacca; in 1757 a series of military disputes between the Nawab and the English East India Company resulted in the rise of English supremacy in Bengal. Although the town of Murshidabad continued to house the residence of the Nawab, it was no longer a place of political power. The Palace is seen from the opposite bank of the river in this drawing, with the Nawab's barge in the foreground.

Copyright © The British Library Board


 View Post on Facebook

Comments from Facebook

Wow! Just beautiful ....

' Colonel ' Duncan Macleod, the architect who designed the wonderful neo-classical Nizamat Kila for the Nawabs of Murshidabad, would eventually attain the lofty rank of Lieutenant-General. A scion of the McLeod clan of Assynt in the Scottish Highlands, he first joined the Bengal Engineers as little more than a boy in 1795 and retired from active service forty-six years later in 1841. Amongst many other civic projects, he was notably responsible for the construction (1815) of the first iron bridge on the subcontinent -spanning the Gumti River at Lucknow - cast in 2,607 individual pieces by the ' Butterley Company, Ripley, Derbyshire' the bridge was then transported by ship to India. Mcleod's wife, Henrietta Caroline Lestock Friell (d.1830), was descended on her mother's side from a famous Huguenot family, the Boileaus of Castelnau, and his son - Sir Donald Friell Mcleod (1810 - 1872) - was the Governor of Punjab between 1865 and 1870 (after whom Mcleod Ganj, near Dharamshala is named). According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography : " On 28 November 1872 [ Sir Donald] McLeod slipped between the platform and a train at Gloucester Road underground station in London. He died from his injuries later the same day, at St George's Hospital, and was buried on 5 December at Kensal Green cemetery."

Murshidabad ! Oh, I love this place. This palace is also known as hazaduari ( 1000 doors). About hundred of them are false. It was in the reign of Humayun Jah, a descendent of Mir Jaffer, the betrayer of Sirajud-Daulah at Plassey, that Duncan McLeod designed and executed the construction of the Hazarduari Palace in 1837.

There is a huge cannon placed on high altar near the palace and has an interesting tale attached. When used, the cannon was so loud, that it forced pregnant women to give premature birth. Hence the name, Bachchawali Tope.

That is a bonkers story. I love it!! and shall always remember the name! And if McLeod came from Assynt - then he couldn't have been more removed from his native place - topography-wise and every other way - but he would have imbibed natural beauty from the word go - it is a stunning place - so his ability to create beauty is a nice closing of the circle.

Philippa ~ Never having visited Assynt ( which is certainly a rather remote Highland spot !) or indeed, Murshidabad, I shall have to defer to your very well-travelled opinion on the comparative ' beauty' of the two locations ...