Brahmaputra Heritage Centre

Subject – Art and Culture

Context – British-era bungalow is home to Brahmaputra heritage centre

Concept –

A British-era bungalow on a hillock that used to be the 17th century military office of the Ahom rulers has been converted into a heritage centre depicting life along the Brahmaputra.
Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday inaugurated the Mahabahu Brahmaputra River Heritage Centre on Guwahati’s BarphukanarTila, meaning Barphukan’s Hillock. A Scottishtype wooden bungalow standing since 1850 was renovated and converted into the heritage centre.
Barpukhan was a post equivalent to Governor General created by Ahom king PratapSimha or Susengpha (1603¬1641). The hillock by the Brahmaputra, mentioned in ancient scriptures as Mandrachal, was from where Ahom General LachitBarpukhan launched the Battle of Saraighat in March 1671 to inflict the most crushing defeat on the Mughals.
Saraighat is regarded as the “greatest naval battle ever fought in a river.
Captain Archibald Bogle, posted as the Assistant Commissioner and Collector of Kamrup district in the 1850s, had the bungalow built. Post-Independence, it continued to be the Deputy Commissioner’s Bungalow until 2011.

To know about the Brahmaputra river, please click here.