Mallick Bari (Midnapore)
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| Mallick Bari | |
|---|---|
মল্লিক বাড়ি | |
 Durga Puja Dalan at Mallick Bari | |
 Interactive map of the Mallick Bari area | |
| General information | |
| Location | Midnapore |
| Coordinates | 22°13′30″N 87°11′42″E / 22.225°N 87.195°E |
The Mallick Bari is an erstwhile Zamindari palace or rajbari located in the district of Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal, India. At present, the rajbari is one of Midnapore's most prominent heritage sites. Constructions commenced under Midnapore's then Zamindar Janmenjay Mallick,[1] several hundred years ago. In 1922, estate administration was taken over by the Court of Wards.[2] Swapan Dasgupta has suggested that the estate's extent included areas of modern day Kharagpur, Debra, Moyna, Daspur, Midnapur, Narsingarh, Bhagwanpur, Patashpur, Dantan and Binpur.[3]
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| Zamindars of Bengal |
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Mallick Bari palace was the official residence of the Zamindars of Midnapore, among whom Chowdhury Zamindar Jamini Nath Mallick[4] was the most prominent. It is after the titular surname of the dynastic aristocrats and the palace that the location has been named Mallick Chowk.[1] Among the notable aspects is the family's historic Durga Puja, started almost three centuries back, to avert the Maratha invasion of Bengal[5] under the command of Raghuji Bhonsale, later King of Nagpur in today's Maharashtra. Among the traditions are the practices of firing a cannon at the commencement of the Sandhi Puja[5] to notify the other publicly organised pujas and pandals in the vicinity and Kobi-Ganer Lorai, a form of Bengali folk performance that entailed a verbal duel among opponent poets,[1] patronised by former aristocrats in the Bengal region. Apart from the familial Durga Puja, Jamini Mallick also patronised Chandi Puja in today's East Midnapore region.[6]
Independence Movement
Active in the political sphere, in 1865, Chowdhuri Babu Janmenjay Mallick Bahadur, along with other prominent individuals like Babu Rajnarayan Basu, Prasanna Chandra Bandyopadhyay and Maulavi Khairat Ali, founded the Midnapore Municipality, under the aegis of then District Magistrate and Collector.[7] Jamini Nath Mallick, later Zamindar and one of the district's wealthiest individuals,[8] was also reprimanded by the colonial government for his association with revolutionaries and funding several movements.[9] He was convicted, along with Raja Narendralal Khan[10] of the Narajole Raj Estate, in the Midnapore Bomb Conspiracy Case[11] in 1911.[8] In the case that followed, Jamini Mallick was defended by the barrister Byomkesh Chakraborty while the government prosecution was led by the Lord Satyendra Prasanna Sinha, 1st Baron Sinha.[12]
Over the years, the family built long-standing ties with the Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar Dal. In December, 1907, Khudiram Bose, Barindra Kumar Ghosh, and Satyendranath Basu stayed at the rajbari and Chaudhuri Jamini Mallick played a key role in the unsuccessful wrecking attempt on the Lieutenant Governor Andrew Henderson Leith Fraser's train near Narayangarh, Paschim Medinipur.[13]
