Assam: Dhubri's fort, a symbol of heritage, stood silhouetted against a waiting, fiery horizon

A decade ago in 2014, an impractical Dhubri Fort Memorial Construction Committee of 25 members headed by then Dhubri deputy commissioner was formed to preserve remnants of an old fort and inspected the relics of the fort built by 'Koch King Parikshit Narayan' remains shining in the dreams of the inhabitants.

As of today's date, the broken pieces of the fort remnants that are dotted and getting faded in some old bundle of papers lying on a shelf, and recently a few pieces of the stone fragments were put away in the Dhubri Municipal Board's garbage dumping site. There are numbers of Geological samples scattered around the region, but the Department of Archeological Survey of India has never unconditionally conducted any XRF and XRD, analytical technique or any other methods for carbon dating and to preserve the heritage.

In a revenge, Lakshmi Narayan son of Nara Narayan approached Mughal Emperor Jahangir for help to attack and capture the territory of Koch-Hajo Kingdom of Parikshit Narayan. Thus Mughal Emperor Jahangir sent Mukarram Khan with twenty two Omraos (high ranking officials) to capture Parikshit Narayan alive if possible and pull him to Delhi.

When Mukarram Khan's Koch Hajo Kingdom was the target of the campaign. Parikshit Narayan, for the defense, advanced to the fort situated in Dhubri to entrenched himself there to fight the Mughal's. On arrival at Dhubri, he found the enemies besieging the fort, and he was later defeated at Dhubri in 1612 AD, the foremost of all the forts in the Koch territory. 

Parikshit Narayan built the fort for his generals and infantry in Dhubri. The then Dhubri Fort Memorial Construction Committee observed that the glorious history of Dhubri district (part of the erstwhile Goalpara district) should be preserved, or else these history would be lost in the passage of time, which is till now stuck between pen and paper, shattering its door to reopen and recollect. 

 

The younger generation is unaware that history will be lost in an instant if the Dhubri district administration does not act decisively to gather all of the fort's remnants—broken stone fragments—that are scattered throughout the towns of Dhubri, Gauripur, and a few in the Brahmaputra river bank where the fort was supposed to be, fronting the banglow of now Superintendent of Police, Dhubri in western Assam.

An unintentional scene have been took place recently where centuries-old valuables were thrown away into solid waste, two pieces of shattered stone fragments that had been abundant on the roadside in the town's Ward No. 5 for a long time were departed to the Daobhangi dumping ground administered by the Dhubri Municipal Board.

Evidence of carving stones of a secular nature is found in the town, which is yet to be explored fully. Once assembling the remnants and installing them into a memorial park, will be a place of tourist interest as well as a special place of research and study for students of history and culture in particular,” said by an eminent scholar Bidhayak Chakraborty.

In the year 2014, then Dhubri MP Badruddin Ajmal sanctioned ₹10 lakh to build a memorial for 'Koch King Parikshit Narayan.' The memorial will include a welcome gate, an Ashoka pillar, and a Buddhist stupa. The fort memorial committee, which needs ₹20 lakh in total, agreed to use Ajmal's contribution for the first phase of construction. 

Later, Ajmal promised another Rs 10 lakh for the next phase. The then Dhubri's Additional Deputy Commissioner stated that the foundation stones will be laid soon and supported by locals and aim to preserve the district's history, which remains twisted and toasted in between the dust of papers.

The community and historians alike are hopeful that under the leadership of the chairman of Dhubri Municipal Board, Dr. Debamoy Sanyal, the ongoing transformation of the Dhubri town will not only look to the future but also embrace and protect its profound and layered past.

The initiative to preserve the lost history of the region is not just about safeguarding artifacts; it is about honoring the legacy of the people who shaped this riverine gateway to the North East India, said Binoy Bhattacharjee, Director of the North East Crafts and Rural Development Organization (NECARDO).