places Bansberia and its neighbourhood suffered much from their cruel devastating raids. Their very name struck terror into the hearts of the residents and was used in the nursery to frighten little children to sleep. The name of the Lion-hearted Richard was not more dreaded in Constantinople during the Crusades than that of the Burgees in Bengal towards the end of the seventeenth century and the first part of the eighteenth. Rajah Rameswar, in order to secure himself and his property against the ravages of the Marhatta marauders at a great cost caused a deep and wide ditch or moat to be dug around his extensive dwelling house, with the grounds adjoining it. It covers nearly a mile in circumference. The royal residence being thus moated, it has since been known as the Gurbati[1] (a range of buildings encompassed by a ditch). Curiously enough the Rajbati with the lands attached thereto, considerably resemble the lists made by the old Athenian king, Theseus, for the purpose of a grand tournament. As the poet says,
"The whole circumference, a mile long;
The form was circular, and all without
A trench was sunk to moat the place about"
[2] The stately residence was not only surrounded by a trench, it was also defended by a fort which was built in such a way as to secure a strong strategic position. The fort[3] was garrisoned by a goodly number of soldiers, who were armed with swords, shields, pikes, muskets, bows and arrows, and was mounted with several pieces of artillery. The sides of the moat were raised to a great height, and brambles and prickly shrubs were planted on them so as to impede the progress of the turbulent raiders. The Rajbati thus became an asylum for the neighbouring
- ↑ The word literally means 'the moated House'. The term 'Gur' also means a fort or fortress, but here it means a ditch or trench. At Benipore in the 24 Parganas, there is also a place surrounded by a trench called Gurbati, where Rajah Nrisinhadeb built a fine house, noted for its artistic workmanship.
- ↑ See Dryden's Miscellaneous Works Vol. III. p. 39.
- ↑ The fort is not in existence, only some vestiges thereof, remaining a little to the north of the old gateway.
