In the course of time, the zamindars and zamindari customs have long since disappeared from the soil of Bengal, but their history and traditions have not been erased. The houses and various structures built by the landlords are still standing today. One such zamindar bari is Jahapur Zamindar Bari of Muradnagar in Comilla. 

It is called Jahapur Zamindar Bari because this zamindar bari is located in Jahapur near Gomti. Although the zamindar house is 400 years old, their zamindari is not that old. Originally, 1280 Bengali 7 Magh (1862 AD) zamindari was established. From Radhika Mohan Das, the zamindar of Saroji Mahal in Dhaka district, the zamindari of Sri Gauri Mohan Roy began. At the same time his brothers Ram Dayal and Kamalakanta Roy got the zamindari. They have been involved in business for a long time. They collected taxes from the subjects and submitted them to the Nawabs of Dhaka. 

There are two lion statues at the first gate of the zamindar house. There are a total of 10 palaces or buildings in this zamindar house. The first building is three storeyed and all are two storeyed. Two of these buildings were almost destroyed. And some are dilapidated by foliage. The rest are still pretty good. 

The last building of the zamindar house was built by zamindar Ashwini Kumar Roy, the grandfather of the current descendant Professor Anjan Kumar Roy. He also established Jagannath Dev's chariot and temple here. All the buildings have different types of floral design. Even the window grills have designs. It is known that craftsmen from Vikrampur of Dhaka were brought to design the houses. The designs of the buildings are made in Mughal style. The buildings are of English letter I and L type. 

Entering through the main gate you will see a temple. This is a nat temple. Devotees gather here during Durga Puja. There is an idol of Goddess Durga next to it. The statue is built permanently. 

From here you will go straight to Andar Mahal. The current descendants are living in this neighborhood. Here you will meet the 11th descendant Shri Ashish Kumar Roy, Samarendra Roy and Ajit Kumar Roy. Besides, there are Professor Anjan Kumar Roy, Principal Ranjan Kumar Roy and their families. They are currently looking after this huge house. 2 more families of Zamindars are living here. You may not meet any of them. 

You will see '1334 Bangabd' engraved above the door of the building in front of your eyes. It was created by Anjan Kumar Roy's grandfather Ashwini Kumar Roy. It is the last building of the Zamindar house. It has a spacious front porch. Floor to ceiling height is 14 feet. At the lower part of the roof you can see the elaborate ceiling made of wood and iron. You will see a narrow staircase to go up to the second floor. Go up a little and stand in the middle. 8 to 10 rooms on the second floor. If you want, you can see the entire zamindar house with an area of about 3 acres from the roof. 

You will see high walls in the outer part of the house. There is a barbed wire fence on one side. Explore all the buildings one by one. 

Now enter Rani Mahal. Going there will bring memories of Rani Nanda Rani, Mahamaya Roy, and Shyama Sundari Devi. There was a pond in front of Rani Mahal. The queens bathed in the water of that pond mixed with saffron. Besides, the queens used to carry out household chores by raising water on the 3rd floor through a hand-operated pump. 

Now let's go to the bedroom. You can see the fancy beds used by the landlords, the designed chairs, the easy chairs, the elaborate vases. If you ask anyone, you will know that teak wood designed furniture is hundreds of years old. 

Now proceed towards Ayanamahal. Dance-song sessions were held here every evening. You will see one or two hazak lights used at that time. The amateur landlords used jarbatis. But because there was no electricity system, candles were used in them. As there were no electric fans then hand drawn fans were used. If you look for such fan Ranjan Babu, you will find it. 

You will see a small garden in front of the residence. This garden was once decorated with colorful flowers brought from different countries of the world. The golachi tree brought from Orissa was alive for a long time. There are still Nainaviram Parijat, Chapa, Magnesium and Kanakchampa. There were also separate orchards. 

Now you go to the dining room. There used to be a few seasoned cooks here regularly. Besides the members of the zamindar's family, the footmen and tax collectors used to eat and drink. Feast your eyes on a white stone plate used by landlords. 

Look around the dining room, you will see many rare things. Nowadays we use filters to purify water. Just looking at the filter placed next to the door, you can understand how health conscious the landlords were even 100 years ago. If you look at the bottom of the filter, you will see a small inscription, 'Made in London'. 

Now come out of the dining room. On the way out you will see an umbrella. But it was not an umbrella, but a silver handle umbrella. When the landlords went out to see the happiness and sorrows of the subjects, two men carried it. 

Exit the main house and now come to the crematorium. Zamindar Ram Mohan Roy, Krishnamohan Roy, Gauri Mohan Roy and many zamindars are buried here. However, according to Hindu tradition, soil was given to the saintly man Kamalakanta Roy without being burnt in the fire. Candles are lit here every evening. Both Hindus and Muslims respected him. 

How to go:

Various buses depart from Dhaka's Sayedabad to Comilla or Companyganj. You will reach the cantonment adjacent to Mainamati just 2 hours before Comilla city. There is no need to change the bus after taking the Companyganj bus.