Clay house lost its popularity with time. Yet, the gigantic 108-room mud house, which was built 33 years ago at Alipur village in Cheragpur Union under Mohadevpur Upazila of Naogaon, still stands with glory. It is probably the biggest clay house in the world. I have never heard of any clay house that has so many rooms.
Two brothers- Shamsher Ali Mandal and Taher Ali Mandal- built this enormous house. They built this two-storied earthen house on three bighas of land 33 years ago. The length and width of this huge house are 300 feet and 100 feet respectively.
Sri Shabinath Mitra (শ্রী শবিনাথ মিত্র), Chairman of Cheragpur Union Parishad, said, “In 1986, this house was built. It looks a lot like a royal palace. For this reason, tourists from different places of the country come to see this house every day. If an initiative is taken by the government then this house can be a tourist destination.”
Then the reporter talked with Masud Rana, son of late Taher Ali Mandal, the owner of the house. When asked about the time the house was constructed, he told the Dhaka Tribune, “Both my father and uncle were very creative. Together they built this 108-room mud house. Today none of them are alive. It took us about a year to build this house. The entire land is 21 bigha, including the house. A huge pond had to be dug to build that house. At that time, it took hundreds of laborers to build the house.”
"Every day people come from far and wide to visit our house. Lime and tar have been applied to enhance the beauty of the house," he added.
Sabbir Hossain and his family came to visit the house from Natore. He said, "I have come to see the 108-room mud house after hearing from people. The new generation does not know two-storied mud houses can be built. So, I have brought my children to show them this mud house. Had I not come here, I would have never known that it is possible to build such a beautiful house with mud only.
Masud’s family told journalists that it takes 6-7 minutes to walk around the house. This huge 108-room house has 7 entrances, but each room has many doors. There are 18 staircases to go to the second floor. There are 96 large and 12 small rooms.
Mobarak Hossain, Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Mohadevpur, said, “The 108-room house at Alipur village in Cheragpur Union as far I know is the largest mud house in Bangladesh. I consult the inhabitants on properly maintaining the house. If the tourists want to stay at night coming to see the house, we arrange a bungalow from the Upazila administration.”
He also said that the authorities have already contacted the tourism ministry for building infrastructure around the house for the refreshment of the tourists.
The more we are progressing the more we are facing the threat of losing the heritage of rural Bengal. Our future generation will never know how much comfortable it is living in a mud house or how it looks like. They will only see this thing in the textbook. I feel very sad for them. We should try to preserve the tradition of our country and also try to ensure the better future of our next generation.
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