HISTORY

The Fort at Maksudpur has now been in the hands of the family for 300 years. It was conquered by the ancestors of the Rajas of Maksudpur from the Mughal Faujdar of Pargana Sanaut in the year 1710. The Fort remained a stronghold as the family brought the entire Magadh region under its control in the unsettled times following the death of Aurangzeb. After the Permanent Settlement of Bengal in 1793 by the East India Company, Maksudpur was the headquarters of the

Maksudpur Raj Estate until the Abolition of Zamindari Estates in 1952. In 1942 the Maksudpur Raj Estate was endowed at the feet of Goddess Bhagwatiji, installed at the Andar Mahal of Maksudpur. This was in keeping with the wishes of Raja Chandreshwar Prasad Narain Singh, and now the Maksudpur Raj Trust manages the Estate on behalf of the Goddess.

 

MAKSUDPUR FORT (Qila)

The Maksudpur Fort stands on a slight prominence, rising from the surrounding moat. Built originally with mud bastions and subject to additions and accretions over a long period of time, it has features of Islamic and Rajput architecture. It was once a maze of 52 courtyards, 3 floors above the ground and several under ground chambers and tunnels.

The Fort was used as the residence of the Maksudpur Rajas till 1934, when it was partly damaged by an earthquake centered in North Bihar. It has been abandoned ever since and was vandalized for the last 30 years as a local source of building material.

Around the forecourt in front of the Fort are the remains of stables for horses and the pil-khana for elephants.

RAJMANDIR PALACE

The Rajmandir Palace was built in the 1860s with a colonial façade as a pavilion for Dussehra celebrations. After the Fort was abandoned, it was modified and expanded to serve as the residence of the Raja.
Over the years this building fell to disrepair and most of the roofs had caved in. In a pioneering self-financed heritage conservation initiative in 2007, all the dilapidated pillars and roofs were pulled down and re-built using traditional building techniques of lime mortar and plaster.

TEMPLES

Installed in the Andar Mahal of the Rajmandir Palace is the Gaddinashin Maharani Mata Bhagwatiji, the presiding deity of Maksudpur. The Dussehra Puja of the Goddess and Mela (village fair) at that time is a big draw for people from the surrounding areas.

The Bathing Tank (Talai) with the Raj Ghat and other bathing ghats on all sides is used by the local community and has special relevance during the Dussehra and Chatt festivals. During the Chatt Puja the ghats are thronged with devotees from the region making offerings to the setting and rising sun.

On the grounds around stand the nine-spired Nauratan Mandir, dedicated to Radha-Krishna and eight other deities as well as the smaller Hanuman Mandir and Surya Mandir.