Ruplal House: A lost heritage of glory

ABHIJEET DAS
 
The year: 1888. Lord Dufferin, the Viceroy of India, had come to Dhaka on an official tour. The local British people were eager to arrange a ball in his honour and needed a venue fit for such an occasion. Two locations were considered suitable—Ahsan Manzil and Ruplal House. At a meeting at a European club, Ruplal House, known for its exquisite appearance and excellent facilities, was selected as the venue for the ball in honour of the Viceroy.
The two-storied building, with its majestic colonial architecture, stands on a 400-metre-long riverfront and has a ballroom overlooking the Buriganga river. That might also have been the reason it was selected for honouring Lord Dufferin.
Today, the mansion has been encroached by some 400 spice and vegetable vendors in and around the ground floor, while the upper floor has turned into a colony of unauthorized squatters. A major part the top floor of Jamal House accommodates 28 families of junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and non-commissioned officers (NCOs) of the army. Thanks to a lack of maintenance, trees and creepers have grown unbridled along and near the walls of the heritage building.
Ruplal House appears in several books by famous Bengali writers. Stories about the Das family, owners of the building, can be found in files preserved in the archaeological department.  The house, situated on the northern bank of the Buriganga in Farashgonj in Old Dhaka, was bought and rebuilt by two Hindu merchants—Ruplal Das and his brother Raghunath Das—from an Armenian zamindar named Aratun in 1835.
In 1840, the house was renovated in accordance with the design of an architect of the Martin Company of Kolkata. It cost around Tk. 45,000 at that time to restore the whole building in the neoclassical style that was so popular then. The edifice was divided into two unequal blocks. The north side of the mansion was built to resemble the letter ‘E,’ with three wings of unequal length extending towards the city. There was a garden on the eastern side of the house, named 'Raghubabur Bagaan’. The eastern part of the structure was called Raghunath House.
It was then named Ruplal House. The house, standing on cylindrical columns, has 50 rooms. Each room, legend claims, cost Tk. 200 to stay back in those days, but guests still thronged to experience the house.
Ruplal House gradually became the centre of art and culture in Dhaka. Ruplal Das was a well-known promoter of classical music. He invited famous maestros of Indian classical music like Ustad Alauddin Khan, Wali Ullah Khan, and Lakshmi Devi to perform at Ruplal House. Distinguished guests from the country and abroad regularly visited the house.
But today, if you go to the area in search of Ruplal House, the local people will point out some old buildings. Ruplal House is no longer recognized by that name; it is now called Jamal House or Nurjahan House.
The glory of Ruplal House started fading after the house was damaged in parts by the 1897 earthquake and the Das family moved to another house. For 50 years, the house remained abandoned. After the family left the country, the house and the garden lost their former beauty due to the lack of maintenance. A marketplace known as Shyam Bazar gradually started here.
The Das family left Dhaka after Partition in 1947 and the golden age of Ruplal House came to an end. In 1962, the Jamal family purchased Ruplal House after shifting to Dhaka from Kolkata and renamed it Jamal House. However, members of the Jamal family gradually left for India, the UK, and other parts of the world in the 1970s. In 1974, the government requisitioned the house to accommodate the Rakkhi Bahini. After the Rakkhi Bahini was dissolved in 1976, the house was declared abandoned, and handed over to the ministry of public works for maintenance.
Since then, a lady named Nurjahan and her family, who claim they had bought Raghunath Das’s share of the house, have been living in that part of the house, now called Nurjahan House. Their claim of ownership is still pending in court.
“The government can easily move the army personnel from the house. They should not be living here,” said Taimur Islam, chief executive officer (CEO) of Urban Study Group, while talking to The Independent.
“The vendors operating on the ground floor can also continue their business elsewhere if the government makes arrangements to relocate them,” he said. “People from Raghunath’s portion can also be evacuated through proper negotiations with the Nurjahan family,” Taimur Islam said.
He also said that the government should allocate a separate budget to protect the heritage sites of the country.
In 1989, Ruplal House was declared an antiquity. Now the house is under the aegis of the archaeological department.
Sources in the archaeological department said they have not got complete jurisdiction over the house.
“There are cases pending with regard to the ownership of the building. Until they are resolved and we attain complete control over the building, we alone can do very little,” Nasima Shahin, a field officer of the archaeological department, told The Independent.
Commercial structures have been erected around Ruplal House in defiance of the Antiquities Act’s stipulation that a 250-metre buffer zone has to be maintained around an archaeological site. “Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakhkhya (RAJUK) often hands out permits for building without consulting us,” Nasima Shahin said.
“Co-ordination among the ministries and government organisations would be the key to restore the glory of Ruplal House,” she said. “We must all have love for the house. This is the duty of the culture ministry, the city corporation, the public works ministry and the ordinary people, too,” she added.

 

Ruplal House: A lost heritage of glory

ABHIJEET DAS The year: 1888. Lord Dufferin, the Viceroy of India, had come to Dhaka on an official tour. The local British people were eager to arrange a ball in his honour and needed a venue fit for such an occasion. Two locations were considered suitableAhsan Manzil and Ruplal House. At a meeting at a European club, Ruplal House, known for its exquisite appearance and excellent facilities, was selected as the venue for the ball in honour of the Viceroy. The two-storied building, with its majestic colonial architecture, stands on a 400-metre-long riverfront and has a ballroom overlooking the Buriganga river. That might also have been the reason it was selected for honouring Lord Dufferin. Today, the mansion has been encroached by some 400 spice and vegetable vendors in and around the ground floor, while the upper floor has turned into a colony of unauthorized squatters. A major part the top floor of Jamal House accommodates 28 families of junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and non-commissioned officers (NCOs) of the army. Thanks to a lack of maintenance, trees and creepers have grown unbridled along and near the walls of the heritage building. Ruplal House appears in several books by famous Bengali writers. Stories about the Das family, owners of the building, can be found in files preserved in the archaeological department. The house, situated on the northern bank of the Buriganga in Farashgonj in Old Dhaka, was bought and rebuilt by two Hindu merchantsRuplal Das and his brother Raghunath Dasfrom an Armenian zamindar named Aratun in 1835. In 1840, the house was renovated in accordance with the design of an architect of the Martin Company of Kolkata. It cost around Tk. 45,000 at that time to restore the whole building in the neoclassical style that was so popular then. The edifice was divided into two unequal blocks. The north side of the mansion was built to resemble the letter E, with three wings of unequal length extending towards the city. There was a garden on the eastern side of the house, named Raghubabur Bagaan. The eastern part of the structure was called Raghunath House. It was then named Ruplal House. The house, standing on cylindrical columns, has 50 rooms. Each room, legend claims, cost Tk. 200 to stay back in those days, but guests still thronged to experience the house. Ruplal House gradually became the centre of art and culture in Dhaka. Ruplal Das was a well-known promoter of classical music. He invited famous maestros of Indian classical music like Ustad Alauddin Khan, Wali Ullah Khan, and Lakshmi Devi to perform at Ruplal House. Distinguished guests from the country and abroad regularly visited the house. But today, if you go to the area in search of Ruplal House, the local people will point out some old buildings. Ruplal House is no longer recognized by that name; it is now called Jamal House or Nurjahan House. The glory of Ruplal House started fading after the house was damaged in parts by the 1897 earthquake and the Das family moved to another house. For 50 years, the house remained abandoned. After the family left the country, the house and the garden lost their former beauty due to the lack of maintenance. A marketplace known as Shyam Bazar gradually started here. The Das family left Dhaka after Partition in 1947 and the golden age of Ruplal House came to an end. In 1962, the Jamal family purchased Ruplal House after shifting to Dhaka from Kolkata and renamed it Jamal House. However, members of the Jamal family gradually left for India, the UK, and other parts of the world in the 1970s. In 1974, the government requisitioned the house to accommodate the Rakkhi Bahini. After the Rakkhi Bahini was dissolved in 1976, the house was declared abandoned, and handed over to the ministry of public works for maintenance. Since then, a lady named Nurjahan and her family, who claim they had bought Raghunath Dass share of the house, have been living in that part of the house, now called Nurjahan House. Their claim of ownership is still pending in court. The government can easily move the army personnel from the house. They should not be living here, said Taimur Islam, chief executive officer (CEO) of Urban Study Group, while talking to The Independent. The vendors operating on the ground floor can also continue their business elsewhere if the government makes arrangements to relocate them, he said. People from Raghunaths portion can also be evacuated through proper negotiations with the Nurjahan family, Taimur Islam said. He also said that the government should allocate a separate budget to protect the heritage sites of the country. In 1989, Ruplal House was declared an antiquity. Now the house is under the aegis of the archaeological department. Sources in the archaeological department said they have not got complete jurisdiction over the house. There are cases pending with regard to the ownership of the building. Until they are resolved and we attain complete control over the building, we alone can do very little, Nasima Shahin, a field officer of the archaeological department, told The Independent. Commercial structures have been erected around Ruplal House in defiance of the Antiquities Acts stipulation that a 250-metre buffer zone has to be maintained around an archaeological site. Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakhkhya (RAJUK) often hands out permits for building without consulting us, Nasima Shahin said. Co-ordination among the ministries and government organisations would be the key to restore the glory of Ruplal House, she said. We must all have love for the house. This is the duty of the culture ministry, the city corporation, the public works ministry and the ordinary people, too, she added.