DHAKA CITY UNDER THE MUGHALS (1608-1764)

Administrative Areas. The old Afghan Fort, reconstructed by Islam Khan, became the administrative headquarters of the Mughals. Here was housed the Civil Secretariat and to its north lay the Military Headquarters.

Business Areas. The Chauk, which was to the immediate south of the Fort, served as the central business district and was, called Badshahi Bazar (Royal Market). This was rich in merchandise and colourful in appearance. The Chauk was well located to serve both the upper class and the lower class residential areas. It was also close to the Burhiganga River, which served as the principal means of communication. Another commercial centre was located at Bangla Bazar. This was the main shopping centre before the Mughals, but yielded its supremacy to Chauk in the Mughal period. It however, continued to cater to the needs of people living around it and also the European factories situated close by.

Location Pattern. The old Fort formed the nucleus around which the high officials lived. Thus Bakshi Bazar housed the residences of provincial ministers and secretaries (Taifoor 1952, p. 41). The Fort itself housed a palace (Dani 1962, p. 48). Rich but comparatively ordinary citizens who often could be identified with the Mughal nobilities and who owned large palatial buildings, used to live close to the ministers quarters. Such areas were in close proximity to the low class residences and thus they formed a barrier between the Mughal nobilities and the poor artisans and labourers. These areas include Becharam Dewri, Aga Sadeq Dewri, Ali Naqi Dewri and Amanat Khan Dewri. The term ‘Dewri’ means a gateway to palatial buildings and the localities were known after the names of the owners of such buildings.

The most prized residential area was the riverfront. The Burhiganga River, at that time, had a more northerly course through Lalbagh and Nawabganj. The Princes, Nawabs and Ameers (wealthy aristocrats) all coveted to have a house near the riverside and had built palaces along the river front about six miles westward from Chotakatra (Tavernier 1905, p. 100). Then there was the Jinjira Place built on the southern bank of the Burhiganga River opposite the Bara Katra. There was probably an wooden bridge across the Burhiganga at this point (Dani, 1962, p. 48). The location of the palaces to the western part of the city was a precaution from the attack of the river pirates who always came from the east.

Other than the palaces, the Mughal noble’s also maintained garden houses beyond the heavily populated part of the city. These spacious houses built within large gardens were primarily meant for recreation, festivity and reception (Mirza Nathan 1936). Mahalla Shujatpur and Mahalla Chishtian in the present Ramna area had a number of two or three storeyed mansions with spacious reception halls. Besides these, there were other garden areas and some of them still retain their names. Among such gardens were those of Hazaribagh, Qazirbagh, Lalbagh, Bagh Chand Khan, Bagh hosainuddin, Bagh Musa Khan, Arambagh, Rajarbagh, Malibagh and finally the Bagh-i-Badshahi (Dani 1962, p. 76) It is interesting to note that most of these garden houses have later become the choice sites for higher class residential areas of the city.

The European settlement in Dhaka City started with the Portuguese who established their mission here as early as 1616. After them Dutch, English, French, Armenians and the Greeks came. Of them the English, French, and Dutch traders had factories at the riverside for ease of transport. The low paid workers lived in the factories or close by and carried their business. The entrepreneurs however, lived in spacious bungalows in Tejgoan. Here is still surviving a church built by the Portuguese in 1668. The Europeans preferred to live in brick-built structures mainly as a measure of protection than of ease. It is said that the Armenians had been living in quite large numbers near the present Victoria Park. Here was located their clubhouse or the ‘Anta Ghar’ (Dani 1962 p. 229). On the ruins of these old buildings the present Victoria Park was laid out in the first half of the 19th century.

Road Pattern. During Mughal days, there was no well-developed system of roads in Dhaka City. The city was divided into a number of mohallas (neighborhoods) which was a cluster of houses webbed with intricate narrow lanes. The mohallas were interconnected with dirt roads, which were paved with bricks in 1677-79 (Dani 1962, p. 75). There were two principal roads: one running parallel to the river from Victoria Park to the western fringe of the city and the other ran from the Park to Tejgaon. The roads had no name but the mohallas had names. The roads were named after the establishment of Dhaka Municipality in 1864.

During the Mughal days, there was very little of vehicular traffic in Dhaka City. This accounts for the absence of any well-developed road system. The traffic mainly consisted of pedestrians. Horses formed the chief means of conveyance. On festive and ceremonial occasions elephant-ride was preferred by the nobles. Sukhpals (palanquins) were also in vogue. Larakacha, a palanquin made of green bamboo, and carried by men on shoulders, was used mainly by the ladies (Mirza Nathan 1936, pp. 271-277).

The Burhiganga River and the Dulai Khal served as communication lines. Country boats used to ply on them with goods and passengers.

House Types. During the Mughal times in Dhaka, the nobles used to live in bungalows built with bamboo and grass and decorated with elegant designs (Sarkar 1948 p. 388). Due to heavy rainfall and high temperature, these bungalows required repair every year and had a maximum life span of about 15 years. Therefore, we have no knowledge of their architectural design or lay out. Islam Khan, the founder of Mughal Dhaka, lived in a barge (called Chandni) moored near the Chandni Ghat (Ruddock 1964, p. 76). The permanent buildings of Mughal Times were the mosques, katras, palaces and the fort, which were built of bricks.

The Katras were built as the resting-place (inn) for the caravan (Dani 1962, pp. 198-200). There are two Katras in Dhaka. Bara Katra was built in 1644 by Abul Qasim and Chota Katra was built in 1663 by Nawab Shaista Khan. They were located at the bank of the Burhiganga River near Chauk. The river since then has shifted further southward. The two Katras are identical in architectural design and layout but Chota Katra is smaller in size than Bara Katra. The Katras enclose a quadrangular courtyard with living rooms all around. Impressive gateways were built in Mughal style on the northern and southern entrances. The southern wing of the Katra facing the river was double storeyed with two projecting octagonal towers at its two ends. The riverside wing of the building was well decorated and was meant for the nobles and persons of high rank.

The forts were meant either to house the soldiers or were used as palaces for the Viceroy or the nobles. Some remnants of Lalbagh Fort in the form of gateways and southern boundary walls remain to speak of its Mughal architecture with minarets, domes and arches. The construction of Lalbagh Fort was taken up by Prince Muhammad Azam in 1678 and was left incomplete. Viceroy Shaista Khan used to live in that fort.