Architectural Heritage of Narail : Literary Dr. Nihar Ranjan Gupta’s House
Location: Literary Dr. Nihar Ranjan Gupta’s house, architectural heritage, is located at Itna village of Lohagara upazila under Narail district. Itna village is about 5.5 km south-east from Lohagara upazila headquarters. Itna Girls’ High School road is going to the south side from the West of Itna Bazar adjacent to Lohagara-Itna road. After the road is gone to 800 meters more, it turns towards the west. After going 200 meters more, this ancient house is seen. At present, there is a two-storeyed building and a temple in the house. The temple is situated on the west side of the entrance in front of this house and the two-storeyed building is on the southern side of the temple.
Map: Location of Literary Dr. Nihar Ranjan Gupta’s home.
Historical Background: Nihar Ranjan Gupta was born on June 6, 1911 in Calcutta of West Bengal, India. His father- Satyaranjan Gupta and mother- Labangalata Devi. Nihar Ranjan Gupta’s ancestral house is located in Lohagara upazila under the Narail district of Bangladesh. He spent much of his life in Calcutta.
Along with Medical practice, he became famous as a literary. He died in Calcutta on 20 January 1986. Ranjan Gupta’s ancestral house was built in approximately 60s-70s during the 19th century ACE. It is known by talking with local people that the last one namely Monoranjan Gupta, his uncle, lived in this house and was engaged in charitable health care.
His uncle died in this house. This house with a two-story building and a temple is declared as a protected archaeological heritage by the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Now It is supervised by the Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh.
Two-storeyed Building of Nihar Ranjan Gupta’s House: Brick and lime-concretes are used to build the two-storeyed building of Nihar Ranjan Gupta’s house. Wood joist is used to make the roof of the building. Cornice adjacent to the roof of the ground floor and the first floor is seen. The multi-foil design on the walls below the cornice is visible.
There are 7 rooms with a narrow front porch on the ground floor of the building. There are several entrances to enter into the inner rooms from the front porch. There are segmental arched columns in front of the porch. There is a stairway in the northeast corner of this building to go up the first floor. There is no southern part of the first floor. There are 3 rooms with long porches in the north part which remains on the first floor. There are segmental arched columns in front of the porch of the first floor.
The rooms on the ground floor and the second floor have niches and wall cabinets. The use of wood with the floral design is seen in the windows, entrances, and wall cabinets., ‘Ananda Annada Kuthir’ in Bengali words is inscribed on the wall of the ground floor. It is a common two-storeyed building built in Oriental construction style.
Temple of Nihar Ranjan Gupta’s House: The temple located in the house of Nihar Ranjan Gupta is built in rectangular land planning. The south-facing temple is 8.30 meters in length and 7.15 meters in width. Bricks and lime concretes are used to build the temple. There is only one porch in front of this temple and one room behind it. It is situated on a podium of about 50 cm high. There is a two-step stairway in front of this temple.
Through this stairway, it can be entered into the front porch. On the front wall of the porch, there is an arcade with 3 entrances. These entrances are semi-circular arched. The entrances of the arcade are standing on the Tuscan columns. There is an arcade built the same as on the front porch to enter into the back room from the porch. The spandrels of the arcade’s arch have portraits of the cow. The walls of this temple are 37.5 cm thick. A statue chamber is seen in the middle of the northern wall of the temple.
There is an entrance and a window on the left side of the statue chamber and one more window on the right side. There is also a niche in the middle of the west wall a window on the left side and an entrance on the right side. There is a window in the middle of the eastern wall a niche on the left side of the wall and a wall cabinet on the right side. Iron joists, wood joists, and tile are used to build the roof of this temple. Oriental and occidental construction styles are observed in the temple. [Md. Shahin Alam]
Literary Dr. Nihar Ranjan Gupta’s House
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