The Itachuna Rajbari in the Chinsura subdivision of Hoogly district in West Bengal is also known as "Bargee-Danga" for its violent past.This Rajbari was built by the ancestors of Shri Safallya Narayan Kundu in 1766. The Kundus have modified their titles from Kundan who were amongst the Maratha Bargees.Between 1741 to 1751 the Maratha Bargees plundered the villages of Bengal. They attacked Bengal repeatedly every year to collect Chauth which is according to historian Jadunath Sarkar was essentially a tax paid by those states that did not want the Marathas to enter into their realm.The Chauth thus served as a protection money against Maratha invasions in these states.The then Nawab of Bengal,Bihar and Orissa Alibardi Khan resisted these bargee attacks conducted under the guidance of Bhaskar Pandit and Raghuji Bhosle. This act of the Nawab protecting his people who were majority Hindu, from the Hindu looters marks a significant milestone in the diversified and variant history of Bengal and makes us think about today's Hindutva fscism and mob lynching of Muslim people.
There were probably ten invasions of the Maratha bargees from August 1741 to May 1751. Though Nawab Alibardi Khan resisted the invasions and end up the destruction by signing of peace treaty with the Maratha Empire and subsequently placing a Maratha nominated ruler in Orissa nominally controlled by the Nawabs;the frequent loot left Bengal in widespread economic losses and heavy civilian casualties. It was finally the British who uprooted the Marathas for their own "good" intetests.Some of these Bargees who were mesmerized by the resources of Bengal settled down here and started their own trade . One of these families were the Kundans later known as Kundus who built the Itachun Rajbari. This haunted palace whose every brick wails in whisper the shocking history of blood ,death and oppression is still known as Bargee Danga(the land of Bargees) and will remain so .
- Amrita
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