Jinjira Palace and palace tragedy

Mitford

Jinjira - other side of river

Swarighat (minaret of Shahi Chawk bazaar masjid seen)

Badamtali - paddled steamer 'ostrich' anchored

Jinjira main road towards bazaar

Municipal pond and main masjid, Jinjira

Jinjira graveyard

Palace wall, surrounded by habitation

Dilapidated walls and entrance

Narrow alley to the site

Monument for the Martyrs of the war of liberation

Jinjira Palace, situated on the southern bank of the Buriganga river opposite to the ‘Bara Katra’, Dhaka was built by the Mughal subahdar Ibrahim Khan II (1689-1697) as recreation resort. It is now in total ruins.

The palace site, once surrounded by rivers had the natural characteristics of an island, and hence the palace was named Qasr-i-Jazirah, meaning 'palace of the island'. The palace is said to have been connected with Dhaka city by a wooden bridge across the river at ‘Bara Katra’ point (see pic of Swarighat). The palace remains are dilapidated walls of octagonal side towers, the gateway (dewri) on the south and the remains of its broad foundation with the surrounding moat. The site of the palace indicated as howli (corruption of the word haveli) by the local people is encircled by dense habitation and commercial establishments making it almost inaccessible.

The palace became the residence of Murshid Quli Khan on his getting the Diwani of Bengal. Later, it had been the family residence of Husain Quli Khan, a deputy to Nawazish Mohammad Khan, absentia Naib Nazim of Dhaka.

The palace had played a tragic role during the closing years of the Murshidabad nizamat. After the fall of Nawab Sarfaraz Khan (1739-1740), his mother, wife, sister and children along with some women of his ‘harem’ were kept confined in the palace. On the murder of Husain Quli Khan (1754) in Murshidabad, his family members in Jinjira palace suffered similar fate.

The Battle of Plassey was fought on June 23 in 1757 between the forces of Nawab Sirajuddaula and the British forces of East India Company, in which the Nawab suffered defeat and Bengal its independence. Sirajuddaula’s wife Lutfunnesa Begum and daughter Qudsia Begum alias Umme Zohra and Alivardi Khan’s daughters Ghaseti Begum and Amena Begum were sent to the Jinjira Palace and kept under strict surveillance. Tradition goes that they were taken out in a barge and drowned into the Dhaleswari (June 1760) at the instance of Mir Sadeq Ali Khan alias Miran, son of Mir Jafar whom the British made the tituliar ruler (Ref: Banglapedia).