Latest / The Hidden History of Bengal: Kingdoms, Empires, and Revolution — Fexingo History / The Floating Fortress of Jahangirnagar: Dhaka's Lost Mughal Port
Transcript
- Luna: So we've talked about Murshidabad, Chinsurah, Chandannagar… but we've never really done an episode on Dhaka. And I mean, Dhaka today is a megacity, but back then? Lucas: Right — seventeenth-century Dhaka, or Jahangirnagar as it was called then, was effectively the Mughal capital of Bengal for about sixty years. It's a fascinating pivot point because Bengal's wealth flowed through its rivers, and Dhaka sat right on the Buriganga, which was a superhighway for trade. But the city itself was almost like a floating fortress — built around water, protected by it, and ultimately undone by it. Lucas: Today's episode is about that forgotten port city and the man who really built it up: Shaista Khan. He was the Mughal governor of Bengal under Aurangzeb, and he transformed a modest riverside town into a commercial powerhouse. Luna: Before we dive deeper — if today's conversation gives you a new way of seeing Bengal's river history, the way these stay ad-free is listener support. You can buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a small way to keep these deep dives coming. Lucas: Absolutely. And speaking of deep dives — Shaista Khan arrived in Bengal in the 1660s, and he immediately saw that the old capital at Rajmahal was too far inland. He moved the administration to Dhaka because the Buriganga gave direct access to the Bay of Bengal. Luna: So it was a strategic move — control the river, control the trade. Lucas: Exactly. And he didn't just move offices. He built a fortress — Lalbagh Fort — right on the riverbank. The fort was never fully completed, but what remains is stunning: a three-domed mosque, a mausoleum for his daughter Bibi Pari, and an elaborate water reservoir. The whole complex was designed to project Mughal power to every ship coming up the Buriganga. Lucas: But the port itself was the real engine. Dhaka's docks handled cotton textiles, saltpeter, indigo, and of course the famous Dhaka muslin. European companies — Portuguese, Dutch, English, French — all jostled for space along the riverfront. Luna: I remember from the Dutch episode that the VOC had a factory in Dhaka. Lucas: They did — and the English East India Company too. But the Portuguese were there first, actually. They had a settlement called Feringhee Bazaar, just south of the fort. They were tolerated because they brought in silver and gold for trade, but they also caused trouble — sometimes they'd act like pirates on the river. Lucas: Shaista Khan had to balance all these competing interests. He built caravanserais — like the Bara Katra and Chhota Katra — which were massive inns for merchants, with rooms around a courtyard and space for storing goods. These were essentially early trade hubs, and they became the commercial heart of the city. Luna: The Katras — those are still standing in old Dhaka, right? Lucas: Parts of them. The Bara Katra was built in 1644 by Mir Abul Qasim, a Mughal prince who was actually Dara Shikoh's son-in-law. It was a grand structure — four stories high, with a massive gateway. Merchants from Persia, Armenia, and Central Asia would stay there. And right next to it, the riverfront was lined with customs houses and weighing stations. Lucas: But here's where the geography becomes the villain. The Buriganga started silting up. By the early 18th century, larger ships couldn't reach Dhaka's docks. The Mughal capital shifted to Murshidabad, and the river trade moved downstream to other ports. Luna: So the same river that made Dhaka prosperous eventually abandoned it. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the hidden story of Jahangirnagar — a city built on a river that gave it everything and then took it away. By the time the British took over, Dhaka had shrunk to a fraction of its former size. The muslin trade moved, the merchants left, and the fort fell into ruin. Luna: It's strange to think of Dhaka as a sleepy backwater when today it's one of the most densely populated cities on earth. Lucas: But that quiet period is exactly why so much of the Mughal port remains undiscovered. Underneath modern Dhaka, there are layers of Jahangirnagar — old river channels, buried wharves, the foundations of the Katras. Archaeologists have found coins from Safavid Persia, porcelain from Ming China, and even Portuguese cannonballs in the riverbed. Luna: So the history is literally still there, under the streets. Lucas: It is. And that's what makes Bengal's river history so compelling — it's not just in textbooks. The Buriganga still flows, though it's heavily polluted now. But if you walk along its banks in old Dhaka, you can still see remnants of those 17th-century ghats, the steps where boats would unload silk and spices. Lucas: One last detail — Shaista Khan's daughter Bibi Pari, whose tomb is in Lalbagh Fort, died young. Legend says she was poisoned by a rival. Her unfinished mausoleum stands as a symbol of the unfinished city — a reminder that empires and their capitals are fragile things, built on water and time. Luna: That's a beautiful, melancholic note to end on. Lucas: Bengal's history is full of those. But next time, we'll look at another forgotten city — this time further east. Until then.