Garh Panchkot

Location: Purulia, West Bengal, India

Garh Panchkot is found in the Purulia district of West Bengal which is in eastern part of the country. It is situated in Panchkot’s foothills where the Panchkot Palace lays in ruins since the Bargi attack held in the 18th century.

The Sanskrit meaning of the word “Garh” is a fort. The most amazing fact about the construction of the Palace was the combination of manmade and natural resources which were used to build the palace. It is still unknown that the palace was built by mankind or it was built on its own.

History

The history of the palace lies in the fact that at the duration of 1740 AD in the month of April, Alivardi Khan became the Nawab of Bengal after killing and defeating Sarfiraz Khan. Sarfiraz Khan’s brother-in-law, Rustam Jung failed in his challenge made to Alivardi khan. Due to his failure, he was being invaded to take the help of Raghoji Bhonsle, the Maratha ruler of Nagpur.

Bhonsle sent a Maratha army cavalry who came in Bengal city through the panchet and it started capturing the countryside. Later on, these Maratha people were known by the name “Bargi’s”. The entire region was known by the name “Maan-Bhum”. For a continuous period of 10 years, Bengal was being plundered and robbed by them. In 1751, it all came to an end after a settlement made between the Maratha King and the Nawab of Bengal. In the duration of such encounters, Bargi attacked the Garh Panchkot by attacking first upon the guards of the king and when they were being killed they entered the palace to loot and plunder the palace. It was also said that in those days the king had 17 wives and all of them killed themselves by jumping into the well nearby at the time of these attacks. After this, the palace was ruined.

Architecture

The structure of the Palace is such that the entrance has a moat which is semicircular starting from one end and finishing on the other end. There was only one way to enter the palace and that was by using the boat and crossing the moat which was at the center of the entrance semicircle. The rest of the area of the palace was occupied by the bamboo trees which were of special type as the growth of the trees were thick which interrupted the entrance of intruders thereby making it difficult for them due to presence of high stonewalls as well.

It was 600 feet above the Panchkot hill’s centre where there were quarters of the guards which were similar to the palace’s architecture as it was built using stabs of stones. It has been observed that it was built 600-700 years ago. Now there are only huge blocks of stones found of its height. Grooves were made on its surface from top to bottom of stones which could have become fastened up using a leather belt along with the coir rope which could have been pulled by the workers. This method was used in early days by the workers to carry huge and heavy boulders.

The guard’s quarter was spread in an area of about 500 square meters which looks like a fort of miniature look. Solid rock wall surrounded the palace which had just one entry which was like a pyramid of hollow gate which could be seen from the entire palace.

After entering the fort, there are rooms both narrow and long on right as well as the left side of the fort with small vents. There was a temple of Lord Rama who was Ayodhya’s king in the center as the guards worshipped the God due to his courage and strength with which he had fought the wars.

How to Reach

It is not very difficult to reach Garh Panchkot in West Bengal by any means of transport, due to the popularity of the Palace, let’s discuss how to reach there by road, rail or air.

By Air

Netaji Subhash Chandra Airport and Dhanbad Airport are the nearest airports to reach Garh Panchkot. Both domestic and international flights board to and from the airports to various countries.

By Rail

Kumardubi, Adra, Asansol and Barakar are the railway stations near to Garh Panchkot. These railway stations are not only connected with each other but also with various cities in India.

By Road

It is very comfortable to travel by road and the bus stations which are near to the place are Raghunathpur, Adra and Asansol. The state buses along with the private buses are available.

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