Sonakanda Fort

Sonakanda Fort is a river fort situated in Narayanganj on the eastern bank of Shitalakshya River. Though the actual time of its establishment could not be ascertained, historians believe that the river fort was built by Mir Jumla II, a Subahdar of Bengal under the Mughal Empire, to defend Dhaka and Narayanganj from the pirates.

History
The Bengal went under the effective control of Mughal Empire in 1574 AD after the defeat of Daud Khan Karrani to Mughal General Munim Khan. Mughals exercised a progressive rule in Bengal and were determined to protect their subjects from external forces.

Mir Jumla II was appointed as the Subahdar or the governor of the then Bengal province in 1660 AD. He was aware of the pirates who used to run a campaign of terror in the important cities of Bengal. In a quest to protect the capital Dhaka from the pirates, Mir Jumla II decided to build up three river forts around Dhaka. One of these three forts is Sonakanda Fort of Narayanganj.

Though the archeologists could not trace any evidence on its date of establishment, according to the historians the construction of the fort started between 1660 AD and 1663 AD.

Structure
The fort is considered to a combination of thick walls, a massive artillery platform and a gateway heading to the north.

The fort apparently has two main parts. One is fortified defensive wall of gigantic dimensions. The defensive walls are 3.05 meters in height and thicker from the bottom. It has several wide and narrow loopholes from which the guns and light cannons used to throw shells at the pirates. The other one is a raised outwork on the western face to defend the fort from the attack of the pirates.

The most significant structure of the fort is the massive artillery platform. One of the spherical artillery platforms has a stairway, which leads up to the artillery platform. Cannon with bigger caliber was placed on that platform aiming at the aggressors coming up the Shitalakshya River. This is a unique feature of the river forts built by Mughal Empire.

The platform is surrounded by two circular structures of which the diameter of the inner one is 15.70 meters and the diameter of the outer one is 19.35 meter respectively. The structure is 6.09 meters in height and surrounded by walls.

The fort is quadrangular according to the plan measuring 86.56 meters to 57.0 meters. There are four octagonal bastions on the four corners of the fort. The corner bastions on both sides of the western wing are wider than those of the eastern wing, which are 4.26 meters, while the two on the western wing are 6.85 meters in width.

The only gate of the fort is on the north. The arched entrance is placed within a rectangular frame. The gateway is higher than the average height of the walls of fort decorated with several groomed panels.

Myths
There are a number of myths available related to the river fort that includes tragedy and mystery.


 * One of the myths is about a princess who was abandoned by his father Kedar Roy. Princess Swarnamoyee was the daughter of Kedar Roy, a king of Bikrampur. She went to the Shitalakshya River with her barge to perform the sacred bath. Unfortunately the pirates attacked her barge that day and looted all the valuables she had. They also kidnapped the princess.

The princess was later saved by Isa Khan, the ruler of Sonargaon. Isa Khan brought her to the Sonakanda Fort and requested her father Kedar Roy to take her back. Kedar Roy however refused to take her daughter back as she lost her caste by spending a night in a tent owned by a Muslim ruler.

The princess Swarnamoyee, shocked by the incident cried for several days in her tent of Sonakanda Fort. According to a popular belief the name of the fort derived from this incident as the Swarnamoyee in other words Sona, cried a lot in this fort. The Bengali meaning of crying is Kanda.


 * Other version of the story says Isa Khan forcefully married Sona Bibi, a widowed daughter of Kedar Roy. She was brought to this fort and was put under confinement by the soldiers of Isa Khan. She used cried a lot following the incident and the name of the fort derived from that.


 * Some people believe that there were some hidden tunnels in the fort that linked it with Sonargaon and Lalbagh Fort.