History of Dinajpur (Part-6) Raja Radhanath (1778 A. D.- 1800 A. D.) Raja Singh, the Rani Saraswati.

Raja Baidyanath died in 1780 whitout an heir. His widow Rani Saraswati adopted a young boy named Radhanath. Radhanath obtained a sanad from the british declaring him successor to Baidayanath, on payment of a succession fee of 730 mohars. Warren Hastings signed the sanad where lands of the estate were given. Since Raja Radhanath was minor, the management of the estate was looked after first by Raja Devi Singh of Dilwarput, Murshidabad and later by one Janaki Ram Singh, brother of the Rani Sawaswati,Janaki Ram Singh was not efficient in running the estate. He failed to understand the strictness os the British revenue system and had arrears on his payment. Therefore, the Board of Revenue removed hem for the post of manager, Ram Kanta Ray, a relative of the Raj family was appointed as a new manager in 17877. he was doing his duty well. But young Radhanath and Rani Sarswati did nit like him and British because of the removal of Janaki Ram Singh for his simple fault of arrears in Payments.

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History of Dinajpur (Part-5) Raja Baidyanath (1763 A. D.-1778 A. D.)

Raja Baidyanath was third among Ramnath's four sons namely: Kishnanath, Roopnath, Baidyanath and Kantanath. A manuscript signed by Muhammad Jafir Khan, Subadar of Bengal, in which Baidyanath declred the rightful heir of his father. The character of Baidyanath was modest, gentle and weak-minder. He had given a lot of privilege to the Brahmins and due to that they became more powerful during his reign.

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History of Dinajpur (Part-4) Moharaja Ramnath (1722 A. D. -1763 A. D.)

Having no son no daughter, Prannath adopted a young relative named Ramanath, who took over the responsibility of the estate after him and paid a succession fee of 4.21.450 take to the Subadar of Bengal. Ramnath was very powerful and honest. F. W. Strong (Dinajpur Gazetteer 1912.P.24) stated that he seems further to have been a persona grate with the Subahdar of Bengal who granted him three sanads, conferring on  him additional estates in thanas Patiram,patnital and Gangarampur. Ramnath conquered and dispossessed  the Zamindar of Gobindanagar, near the present village of Thakurgoan, employing a Brahmin to steal his  protecting deity or family idol Gobinda, and this causing his own downfall, the conqueror subsequently constructed a canal connecting Gobindanagar on the Tangan with prannagar near the Punarbhaba for the purpose of taking the idol backwards and forwards between the two places. This canal is still in existence and is called the Ramdara.

There is legend that Saiyid Mohammad Khan or Saiyed Ahmed, the Nazim of Rangpur, stormed and plundered the Rajbari of Dinajpur in the reign of Ramanath. But whether Ramanath drove him out or came to  terms with him is not known. Quoting from Stewart's History of Bengal (1813) F. W.Strong (1912:24) described the incident that-

"About this period Sayid Ahmed,the second son of Haji Ahmed, who upon the succession of Shujaa Adeen Khan had been appointed Foujadar of Rangpur, and who is accused of having ruled that district with great oppression, having procured from Moorshudabad (Musshidabad) a considerable army, invaded Dinagepore and Couch Beygar (Bihar), and after compelling the Rajas to take refuge in the woods and mountains, got possession of those countries, together with the immense treasures which the Rajas and their ancestors had amassed.

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History of Dinajpur (Part-3) Maharaja Prannath(1682 A. D.- 1722 A. D)

Raja Sukhdev had two wives. Ramdev and Joydev were bron by his fast wife and the second wife delivered Prannath. Raja Sukhdav's eldest son Ramdev dide very young, the second Joydev reigned for five years froms 1677 A. D. and was succeeded by the youngest Prannath. During the reign of Mughal Emperor Alamgir, Azim-ud-din Mahamud had granted a Sanad, dated 1679, in which the succession of someone to Sukhdav's  property is recorded. Unfortunately the name of the successor is wiped out. F. W. strong (Dinajpur Gazetter 1912 P.23) has given an account on Mughal policy towards Dinajpur Raj which is as follows, the ousting of the Afghans from Bengal appears to have brought that province little closer to the throne of Delhi than it was under its former Governers.The rule of the Mughals viceroys was a repetition of that of their predecessors, so far as their relations with the emperor were concerned. The constant bickering that went on with the central power distracted their attention from their Hindu subjects, and the Raja of Dinajpur was permitted to rule undisturbed over some three quarters of a million people. on condition of paying a certain portion of his revenues to the Subadar of Bengle.

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History of Dinajpur Rajbari(part-2) Raja Sukhdhev Roy (1642 A.D-1677 A.D)

District Magistrate E. V Wesmacott (1872) has given as account of Sukhdev's estate, which suggests that during his period, he inchuded and extended his estate upto present Dinajpur and Thakurgoan district as, a considerable area consisting of greater West Dinajpur, Rangpur, Bogura and Maldesh district. In addition to that, at the time of Sukhdev or of his father, the zaminder family of khetal came to an end and the property was divided up.Seven out of sixteen parts went to Sukhdev Roy, whose father and grand father may have inherited the office of Dewan from their acestor and the remaining nine parts out of sixteen went to another officer, who founded the zamindar at Baradhan kuti or ldrakpur. In this way, Sukhdev expanded his assests to Ghoraghat and Nawabganj thanas of Dinajpur district. Adamdighi and Shibganj thanas of  Bogura Drstrict.Khetlal and Panchbibi thanas of Jaypurhat districts and Badalgachi thana of Naogaon districts. Regarding the distribution of Khetlal zamindari there is a different opinion that Khatta area of Bangladesh that was conquered and divided by by the Rajas of Nator and Dinajpur in Ramnath's time and Khangir area of Panchbibi thana was a joint accquistion with the Jahangirpur family during the period of Ramnath (Hamilton 1833). However, the zamindars of Dinajpur and ldrakpur divided their estate is which a way that each retained a share in every village, which eas inconvenient and generated conflict between the two families in later times. Sukhdev Roy obtanied the title  'Raja' from the Mughal emperor because he possessed a large territory in the north Bengal region.He died in 1677 and very little is known regarding his personal character and achievements to write his history. The "Sukh Sagar" or the sea of Pleasure is the only mere remnant, which he had excavated for the benefit of his subject and is a testament of his benebolent policy. Sukhdev had three sons i e Ramdev, Joydev and prannath.

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History of Dinajpur Rajbari (part- 1)

The great zaminder family of  Dinajpur, who ruled the district for two centuries. could be traced back to the reign of Akbar. in 1600 AD, for administrative  reason , Akbar divided this empire into 15 subas and appointed his son prince as Subadar of Bengal. The suba was further subdivided into 19 sarkars and parts of four of those sarkars namely sarkar Ghoraghat , sarkar Tejpur sarkar Panjara, and sarkar Barbakabad fell within the limits of Dinajpur District. According to calcutta Review vol.55. 1872,"About the time of Akbar's settlement there was at Dinagepoor, at the place from which Gonesh , less than two centuries before, derived  his title, a man, possibly of the blood of Gonesh, in possession of a considerable part of what are  now the district of  Dinagepoor and Maldah. Buchanan calls him Kasi, but whether he is correct or not, the name is now utterly forgotten. His grave is shown at the door of the mondeer in the Rajbari."and clothes, curd, rice etc. are still given as offerings on his grave. He is identified by the local people as a holy man and he is spoken as a Shannavashi, Brahmachariand Mohanta or Gosain. There is a local tale which denotes that he built a temple on his estate where he installed kali or kalika image and later, in addition to this image, he also installed another image called  kaliyamardana, which is one of the forms of krishna avatarea(incarnation). He endowed the the whole sarkar or Havele of Panjara for the maintenance of the temple. Tje Dinajpur estate was repeatedly mentioned in the old records as Havele of Panjara. He (Kashi) then left his estate to one of his disciple named Sremanta Datta Chowdhury (1608-1642).who belonged to Kayastha caste and migrated in this area from the east.He had two children, a son and a daughter. The son died without having any issue but the daughter had a son named Sukdhev Roy.

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Barapukuria Coal Mine,Dinajpur

One of the spectacular modern infrastructure has been built in Dinajpur.is the coal mine base Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Ltd along with the Thermal plant, locate at chowhati under Prabatipur Police station, also very near to Phulbari proper.Unearthed on 1985 by the Geological servey of Bangladesh, the coal is deposited to be 300 million metric ton for extraction from under 118-500 meter depth. This coal is largely fueling the adjacent 250 megawatt power plant, which products the electricity and supplies to the National power Grid of Bangladesh.

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Ramsagor Tank,Dinajpur

There are several large man made tanks available in Dinajpur region.The largest one is Mahipal Dighi,which is at khusumandi police station under north Dinajpur dristric, india.Pransagar is Gangarampur is also very large, made by Maharaja prannath of Dinajpur.Ramsagar tank is not far from pransagar or Mahipal dighi, located 8 km south of Dinajpur town towards in india border, which we also call "Ramsagar National park". This lake is very popular among picnickers, nature lovers among dinajpur people and outsiders/travelars.This spot has a Rest house, having a good condition for staying.The background of it's excavation was to supply save drinking water to locals and was initiated by Maharaja Ramanath in and around 1750-1755.

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