Photo: TDM
The 200 years old historical Nilkuthi (blue barrack) of Jamalpur's Motherganj Upazila is getting destroyed due to lack of preservation. This ancient model is destroyed but no one is there to see it.
Due to the lack of supervision of this nearly 200-year-old Nilkuthi, the Nilkuthi's nearly 4 acres of land and other assets worth millions of taka have become desolate. Now there are only traces of broken lime brick buildings and terracotta walls built by the English.
A few days ago, there were ruins of large iron cauldrons and furnaces of the blue barrack. It was the building of the English. Some people of the area demolished the historical structure to grab land. Now the last part of this kuthi survives among some ancient trees and forest.
It is known from the locals and other sources that the English merchants established this Nilkuthi in 1861 in Katlamari village of Gunaritala Union of Upazila. NilKuthi was famous in the Jamuna River estuary in the business prosperous area as the ships of the British could easily be anchored on the banks of Jamuna River.
As this waterway between India and Assam was open, merchants would have benefited greatly from Motherganj's indigo cultivation. By explaining to the simple farmers here, the English merchants used to grow indigo, the indigo farmers would give 2 to 2.50 share to the farmers and the rest would go to their hands. Even though the farmers suffered huge losses and they could not protest.
Due to the oppression of the English farmers, many farmers left their ancestral lands and moved to different districts of North Bengal including Assam in India in the dark of night.
A writer named Ashley Eden, an English worker, recounted the story of brutal atrocities committed by the blue collar workers, saying, "There is no atrocities that they did not commit, including murders, kidnappings, riots, arson and abuse of women." In this sequence, English merchants used to torture women in this Kuthi of Motherganj. The beautiful women of the village were captured and tortured in the hut.
Many women are reported to have committed suicide by hanging themselves from trees adjacent to the kuthi, losing their dignity. People still believe that on the full moon night, the broken bricks of Kuthi buildings and the cries of tortured women can be heard from the deep forest.
TDM/SD
