राजमहल, साहिबगंज (Rajmahal/Akbarnagar) – Sahibganj

Rajmahal is situated on the west bank of the Ganges and located in the hills known as daman-i-khoh during the Muslim rule. The hill runs north south for 193 km from Sahibganj of Santal Pargana to Rampurhat Railway Station of Dumka. 

Local people say that the shankh of King Bhagirath stopped second time here in this place which marks the start of old age (vridhhavastha) of Ganga. (Balyavastha at Gangotri, yuvavastha at Haridwar).

The earlier name of the place was Agmahl. Man Singh, on his return from the conquest of Orissa in 1592, named it Rajmahal and on 7 November 1595 laid the foundations of a new capital of Bengal subah there and named it Akbarnagar, after Akbar, the emperor.

In 1592, Raja Man Singh, who was the general of Emperor Akbar, founded this city and constructed a Rajmahal in the place. Apart from this Rajmahal, the town is home to several other monuments like Singhi Dalan, Akbari Masjid, Tomb of Maina-Bibi and Tomb of Miran. 

Rajmahal Hill named after the town of Rajmahal and situated at the head of the Ganges Delta near the border of Bihar and West Bengal of India in a north-south elongated narrow belt. They occupy the area between latitude 24°30′ N and 25°15′ N and roughly along the longitude 87°30′ E. The average height of the range is about 1,000m. The volcanic activity during the Jurassic Period was confined to the area at the head of the Ganges delta in the Rajmahal Hills that forms the type area for the Rajmahal Group

Rajmahal Basin Jurassic trap rocks inter bedded with the beds of sedimentary rocks of the Rajmahal Hills area are known as the deposit of the Rajmahal Basin and the sequence mentioned as the Rajmahal Group (Series) from the hill ranges (24°30′ N: 87°30′ E) that takes it’s name from the town of Rajmahal. The rocks of the Rajmahal Basin have been encountered in the foreland shelf of north-western Bangladesh and referred to as the Rajmahal Formation. [Mujibur Rahman Khan]

 HISTORY

Tomb and Distant View of Rajmahal Hills 1782 William Hodges 1744-1797 Presented by the Friends of the Tate Gallery 1964 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T00690

Rajmahal Hills has got very much attention in the British times. The dead mountains are formed from the rocks dating from the from the Jurassic Period. The hills with low elevations has created a unique vegetation of the place. This has attracted one of the great artist of its times named ‘William Hodges’ (1744–1797) . 

It appears to have been chosen as the site of the capital on account of its central position with reference to Bengal and Bihar and for its commanding both the rivers Ganges and the Pass of Teliagarhi. Man Singh built there a palace, a fort and also a Jama-i-Masjid (known as Hadafe Mosque). Soon, being a healthier site than Gaur, a choice city sprang up there. The city, however, lost its strategic value soon. The river Ganges having receded nearly a kros, the city was no longer accessible to war-boats and could not be defended on land and water. In 1608-09 Islam Khan transferred the capital to Jahangirnagar (Dhaka) in order to suppress the bara-bhuiyans and resist more effectively the growing power of the Portuguese and the Maghs. But Rajmahal regained its administrative position in 1639 when Shah Shuja (1639-1660) fixed his capital there. The prince built there the famous palace called Sang-i-dalan (Stone Palace) for his own residence with an attached Diwan Khana (audience hall).

On 20 January 1640, a fire caused immense destruction to the palace complex and claimed seventy-five lives of Shuja’s harem. Shuja crowned himself in November 1657 in this city. It appears that it had extensive construction works done. At a considerable distance from the Sang-i-dalan is a ruin called the Phulbari (flower garden). Near this is the tomb of Bakht-Homa, widow of shaista khan. In the second half of the eighteenth century the city was 2.41 kilometre in length and 0.80 kilometre in breadth with numerous mosques and monuments.

The city’s decline began when Mir Jumla (1660-1663) transferred the capital again to Dhaka to cheek the Arakanese and the Portuguese pirates. The ruins of the old city are now covered with luxuriant jungle extended for about four miles to the west of the present sub-divisional town. [Md Akhtaruzzaman]

 GEOGRAPHY

Geology
Plant Fossil bearing Inter-trappean beds of Rajmahal Formation nearby has been declared the National Geological Monuments of India by the Geological Survey of India (GSI), for their protection, maintenance, promotion and enhancement of geo-tourism.

Demographics
According to the 2011 Census of India, Rajmahal had a total population of 22,514, of which 11,755 (52%) were males and 10,730 (48%) were females. Population in the age range 0–6 years was 3,985. The total number of literate persons in Rajmhal was 11,618 (62.70% of the population over 6 years).

Religions

Hinduism 52.59%
Islam 47.09%
Christianity 0.24%
Others 0.08%