Idrakpur Fort

Idrakpur was built around 1660 by Mir Jumla, the Mughal governor, as one of a group of forts guarding the river approaches to Dhaka against raids by Arakanese and Portuguese pirates who came up the delta channels, and it is the best preserved of them. It is small: a rectangular walled enclosure with a round bastion at the front and a raised circular platform inside for guns, built in brick with a gateway, standing where a river channel once ran past. The water has since moved and the fort now sits inland in the middle of Munshiganj town with houses around it. It has been restored and the walls can be walked. There is very little inside beyond the platform.

History

After Aurangzeb made Mir Jumla II governor of Bengal in 1660, he moved the capital from Rajmahal to Dhaka and, to protect it from Magh and Portuguese pirates who came up the rivers raiding Sonargaon and Bikrampur, built three river forts, Idrakpur with those of Hajiganj and Sonakanda. Idrakpur, built around 1660 where the Ichhamati met the Meghna, was the centre of this triangle and the base of a fleet of 200 vessels under the Mughal admiral Abul Hossain (Wikipedia, Idrakpur Fort).

What to look for

• A round front bastion - the main defensive work of the fort.
• The raised gun platform - the circular emplacement inside the walls.
• Brick Mughal construction - the fabric of the 1660s.
• A river fort now inland - the channel it guarded has moved away.

When to go

November to March. One hour. It closes on some days. The drive from Dhaka involves a ferry or the bridge and is slow. Mornings are cooler.

Before you go

It is very small and thirty minutes covers it. The setting is now a town centre rather than a riverbank, which removes the point of it. There is little interpretation and nothing inside the walls.

Nearby

Munshiganj town surrounds it; Dhaka lies north.

Key facts