Architectural marvel needs preservation
The year is 1899: the Second Boer War rages in South Africa; Guglielmo Marconi succeeds in transmitting the first radio signal across the English Channel; Spanish rule ends in Cuba... In the Subcontinent that same year, designated as 1305 on the Bengali calendar, Lord Curzon arrives to be Viceroy of India and national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam is born.
Meanwhile in Barisal, Kanai Mitra, the zamindar landlord of Mehendiganj, having experienced the recent death of his father, organises the construction of the iconic Baroda Kanta Math, a memorial structure of Hindu tradition with twin 80-foot towers watching over three acres of grounds. The site, near Kawria Bazar in modern-day Guarekha union of Hizla upazila, every day still now attracts many visitors, wishing to experience firsthand its architectural grandeur.
“When I first got here, I was astonished to see its height,” says one visitor, Tapankar Chakraborty. “The building is not dissimilar to other 'maths' but it's so tall! This beautiful architecture should be properly preserved. Many people will want to visit this place.”
“With its double towers the Baroda Kanta Math is really first class, especially for its ornamentation and eight turrets,” says Sahin Anam, custodian of the Barisal Divisional Museum. “It has archaeological significance. Three months ago an official visit was made to the site and a proposal sent to the culture ministry seeking its protection. We are waiting for instructions from the archaeology department concerning its preservation.”
For locals such as Ashoke Kumar Bhattacharjee, the president of the Baroda Kanta Math preservation committee, efforts to protect the monument can't come too soon. “In 2001 the building was damaged. Thieves stole the metal apex covers from the towers along with doors and window fittings. The math is already in a reasonably dilapidated condition; if the archaeology department does not take steps for its preservation in the very near future, the whole structure may face demolition. I fear the math may be lost.”
Indeed the preservation committee sent a letter to the department two years ago requesting the site's protection. No discernible initiative to do so has thus far been undertaken, Bhattacharjee says. “To the contrary, the upazila administration has leased the site to six people for their own use. Five years ago we did manage some repair work, with funds allocated by the Prime Minister's Office, but further repairs and upkeep are needed.”
Still without official recognition as a site under the Antiquities Act 1968 locals can only watch as brickwork cracks deepen and rain leaks through the structure's roofs.
“I went there recently,” says Hizla upazila's nirbahi officer Abu Zafor Rashed. “Previously I was unaware that the land had been leased. I intend to take the initiative to address that situation.”
Comments