Rajmahal

Rajmahal stands where the Ganges runs beside the Rajmahal Hills, at a narrow approach between Bihar and Bengal. The river and the nearby Teliagarhi pass gave the town strategic command of traffic entering the delta. As Akbarnagar it became a Mughal provincial capital, with a palace, mosque and mint marking its importance.

In 1576 Mughal forces defeated the Afghan ruler Daud Khan Karrani near Rajmahal. Two decades later the governor Man Singh chose the site for a new Bengal capital and named it Akbarnagar in honour of Akbar. Its position on the Ganges allowed the administration to watch both river traffic and the road through the hills. The capital later moved to Dhaka, but Shah Shuja restored it to Rajmahal in 1639. Shuja built a palace and strengthened the city’s defences. The Ganges, however, was a shifting neighbour: a change in its course damaged the newly built palace. During the Mughal succession war, Shuja retreated through the region before fleeing east. The provincial capital moved back to Dhaka in 1660, leaving Rajmahal’s buildings as reminders of its years at the centre of Bengal’s government.