Buckland Bund ( bn, বাকল্যান্ড বাঁধ) is a historically significant architectural creation situated by the
Buriganga
The Buriganga River ( bn, বুড়িগঙ্গা, ''Buŗigônga'', ) is a river in Bangladesh which flows past the southwest outskirts of the capital city, Dhaka. Its average depth is and its maximum depth is . It ranks among the most p ...
river bank of
Old Dhaka
Old Dhaka ( bn, পুরান ঢাকা, Puran Dhaka) is a term used to refer to the historic old city of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It was founded in 1608 as Jahangirabad or Jahangirnagar ( bn, জাহাঙ্গীরনগ ...
,
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
. It was constructed by Charles Thomas Buckland in 1864 who was the commissioner of
Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...
during that period.
History
![Forashgong_Old_Dhaka47](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Forashgong_Old_Dhaka47.jpg)
Charles Thomas Buckland was appointed the commissioner of Dhaka 1864 and he had a very successful tenure at this post for 5 years. Azimush-Shan built a palace for himself in Posht on the bank of Buriganga which was situated about 400 yards away from
Lalbagh Fort
Lalbagh Fort ( bn, লালবাগ কেল্লা) is a fort in the old city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Its name is derived from its neighborhood Lalbagh, which means Red Garden. The term Lalbagh refers to reddish and pinkish architecture from ...
. The palace is now washed up by the river, but the embankment was visible for a long time. This embankment goes right eastward and terminates at Babubazar Khal. It is clearly visible when passing by boats. According to Rennel, this bund in 1765 extended four miles northeast to southwest. Even though there was already a bund by the Buriganga river bank from the
Mughal period, it was Buckland who took the initiative to build a metaled road over it. That is how the road by the riverbank came to be known as the Buckland Bund which is almost one mile long, from
Farashganj
Farashganj ( bn, ফরাশগঞ্জ) is a neighborhood in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The name comes from the Bengali word for French which is ''Forashi'' and ''ganj'', meaning market-town.
History
Farashganj literally means French town, it takes i ...
(French Town) to Babu Bazaar.
Initially Buckland collected the funds to build the bund from Dhaka's well established and rich people amongst whom were
Khwaja Abdul Ghani
Nawab Bahadur Sir Khwaja Abdul Ghani (30 July 1813 – 24 August 1896) was the second Nawab of Dhaka and the first to assume the title of Nawab as hereditary, recognized by the British Raj.
He introduced the panchayat system, gaslights, wat ...
, the zamindar of Bhawal Kali Narayan Rai, Jagannath Rai Chowdhury and Mohinimohon Dash. In Nazir Hossain's Book ''Kingbodontir Dhakai'' he mentioned Bhutto Hazi as well as one of the financial contributors. Buckland started the construction work with the collection of tk.65, 000 but unfortunately he could not finish the work during his reign of 5 years as the commissioner as he had to leave Dhaka and as believe by many, it was probably Simson the next commissioner finished the work of Buckland Bund. It is said that the fund collected by Mr. Buckland was not enough to finish the construction work, hence his successor Simson arranged more tk.10,000 from the local fund and borrowed tk.8,000 from Khwaja Abdul Gani Miyah to continue the work even though there was still a little financial shortage. Seeing this,
Khwaja Abdul Ghani
Nawab Bahadur Sir Khwaja Abdul Ghani (30 July 1813 – 24 August 1896) was the second Nawab of Dhaka and the first to assume the title of Nawab as hereditary, recognized by the British Raj.
He introduced the panchayat system, gaslights, wat ...
donated Tk.2,000 more to help the cause and tk.2, 000 more was collected as tax from Mohini Mohon Dash to arrange the rest of the fund.
A few more information was collected from the autobiography of Hridoynath Mojumder.
According to him, during the first year of construction the road was built from
Northbrook Hall
Northbrook Hall (also known as Lalkuthi) was originally built as a town hall during the British period. It is situated at Farashgonj road in Old Dhaka, Bangladesh, on the north bank of the Buriganga River.
History
In 1874, Indian Governor Th ...
to Owaiz Ghat and in the next year it was built from
Ruplal House to Badamtoli Ghat. The east side was completed with the donation of Ruplal Dash and the west side was completed with the donation of
Nawab Abdul Gani whereas the middle part was built with the donation of the government.
Architectural significance
Buckland Bund was a place for recreation and passing time for local people not only in the 19th century but also in the beginning decades of the 20th century. It was a very attractive place to visit for the middle class local people of that time.
During C. T. Buckland's period, under government initiative a lot of buildings and significant architectural creations took place in Dhaka. In fact, during the time of his leaving he was offered an “Appreciation Certificate” from the communities of
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
s,
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
s,
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
ns and
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
which unfortunately he could not accept due to not having such permission from the government. Buckland Bund was a new gathering place for the people of Dhaka as the view of the river was an amazing piece of recreation for them. According to the autobiography of Ridoai Nath Mojhumder, 12 steel
benches were provided there at first which were not sufficient so 8 more benches were added. The crowd visiting the Buckland Bund at that time proved that it was a very refreshing place and even today after almost 300 years the place is still used as a social gathering place by the local people.
The construction of the bund quickly transformed the area into a very posh place and a lot of
zamindar
A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...
s started to erect their mansions on and around this bund.
Present condition
Buckland Bund was a very elegant
riverfront
A riverfront is a region along a river. Often in larger cities that are traversed or bordered by one or more rivers, the riverfront is lined with marinas, docks, cafes, museums, parks, or minor attractions. Today many riverfronts are a staple o ...
of Dhaka in the early 1900s but has since deteriorated. Academic
Partha Chatterjee describes it, in 2002, as "one of the most congested streets of the city. As one trudges through the slush and garbage, negotiating the fruit and vegetable vendors and endless stream of rickshaws, one's view of the river blocked off by an ugly wall and with no trees in sight, it is hard to imagine that the road had been built as an attractive riverfront boulevard." During the reign of
Ayub Khan
Ayub Khan is a compound masculine name; Ayub is the Arabic version of the name of the Biblical figure Job, while Khan or Khaan is taken from the title used first by the Mongol rulers and then, in particular, their Islamic and Persian-influenced s ...
, the rights of the bund was transferred to the government from the public in 1963, the bund's maintenance and beauty started to deteriorate.
References
{{coord, 23, 41, 13.1, N, 90, 23, 49.1, E, type:landmark, display=title
Old Dhaka
Buildings and structures in Dhaka
Dams in Bangladesh
Dams completed in 1864
History of Dhaka