Shashi Lodge is a former Zemindar Palace located in the town of Mymensingh, Bangladesh. Mymensingh is located on the west bank of Brahmaputra River, about 120 km (75 mi) north of Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka.
Sri Krishna Chaudhury founded the Mymensingh Zamindari after a grant from Mughal Nawab Alivardi Khan in 1727. The family established their palace in Muktagacha and that started the history of the Mutkagacha Zemnidari. The eighth Zemindar in line of that lineage, Surya Kanta Acharya expanded the territory covered by the Zamindars, earning him the title ‘Rai Bahadur’ in 1877, a ‘Raja’ in 1880 and a ‘Maharaja’ in 1897. However, he was childless and adopted Shashi Kanta Acharya, the son of his brother Raja Jagat Kishore Acharya.
Suryakanta Acharya built a palace for himself in the site where Shashi Lodge in located today, called the 'Crystal Palace'. The palace was destroyed by an earthquake on 12 June 1897. He started to rebuild it and named it ‘Sashi Lodge’ after his adopted son. Suryakanta Acharya died before Shashi Lodge was completed and Shashi Kanta completed the work between 1905-11. Because of the earthquake, Shashi Lodge was built as a single-story construct on a nine-acre area of land.
Shashi Kanta was educated in the UK and Shashi Lodge was built using the finest marbles, glass, crystal and furniture from Europe.
The 24-room Palace is accessed through a semi-circular arched gateway, flanked on either side with Doric columns. There are large lawns both in the front and the back of the Palace. The garden in the front has an ornamental marble fountain and a classical ‘Venus’ nymph sculpture imported from Italy. A similar statue was also placed inside the Palace.
The Palace was fashioned like European mansions of the period. Carriages arriving at the Palace did so under porches supported by twelve elegant Corinthian columns. The Palace had all the features typical of an establishment of its stature including a ballroom, a spacious greeting hall, accommodation areas etc.
Shashi Lodge also has a unique two storied bathing pavilion (‘Jol-tungi’) made of marble for use by the ladies of the house. Nothing like this has been seen at any of the other Zemindar palaces in Bangladesh
Alexander Castle
Very close to Shashi Lodge, Maharaja Suryo Kanta Acharya Chowdhury built the highly unusual Alexander Castle in 1879. It is not a castle at all but is a 14 room two storied building.
It seems to have been named in memory of the first District magistrate of Mymensingh, Mr. N. S. Alexander at the time of Jubilee festival. Located on the riverside, it was built on a high plinth to avoid flooding. It was made of teak imported from Burma, with steel and wrought iron and was built by craftsmen from China. So much iron was used in its construction that it was known locally as the ‘Iron Cottage’. There are two Greek statues placed on either side of the entrance (both are now badly damaged).
It was designed to accommodate visitors to the Palace and hosted visitors including luminaries such as Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore (on 15.2.2026), Lord Curzon, Chittaranjan Das, Mahatma Gandhi, Nawab Sir Salimullah. George White, the then Chief Justice of India, Cromer Pathram, Chief Justice of India, Francis Malcolm, Russian Grand Duke Boris, Lord Wisbourn of Ireland, Duke of Penbenda of Spain and Yuvraj Prasad Yousi of Egypt.
Shashi Mahal and Alexander Palace today
By the standards of many former Zemindar palaces in Bangladesh, both are at least still standing. This is not saying much but, in comparison to most former Zemindar palaces, their fate is remarkable. This is because Shashi Lodge has been used as a Women’s Teachers Training College since 1952. The main building has been used as the principal's office but the main training takes place in the teaching complex that has been built on the grounds of the original palace. Responsibility for Shashi Lodge was taken over by the Department of Archelogy in 2015. Most of the furniture and furnishings of the original Palace are no longer there but a museum exists which houses some remaining pieces.
Alexander Castle was is currently used as the library of Men’s Teachers Training College, although in the past, 7 of its rooms on the first floor had been used as a teachers' dormitory. The building is currently in precarious condition and the second floor is not in use.
About Mymensingh
Mymensingh is an anglicization of the name Momen Singh, referring to a Muslim ruler called Shah Momin or Momin Singh, an ethnic Bengali Muslim ruler. Mymensingh City was formerly called Nasirabad. The city of Mymensingh was formed in the sixteenth century by the sultan of Bengal Syed Alauddin Husain Shah as a new state for his son Syed Nasir Uddin Nasrat Shah, hence the name, Nasirabad. The Greater Mymensingh region was created as a district by the British Indian government in 1787.
Location:
Shashi Lodge: 24.7618° N, 90.4030° E.
Alexander Castle: 24.7657° North, 90.4020° East.
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