Narayanganj, Dhaka
A Mughal water fort on the bank of the Shitalakshya, built to guard the river route to Dhaka, with crenellated walls and a raised gun platform.
In the 17th century, when Dhaka was the Mughal capital of Bengal, river pirates and Portuguese and Arakanese raiders threatened the waterways. The Mughals answered with a ring of water forts at the river junctions below Dhaka; Hajiganj, also known as Khizirpur Fort, is one of them, generally dated to the time of Mir Jumla in the 1660s.
The fort is a walled enclosure of brick, with crenellated ramparts pierced by loopholes for muskets, bastions at the corners and a tall gun platform reached by steps, from which cannon could command the river.
With its twin across the river at Sonakanda and the Idrakpur fort in Munshiganj, it is one of the best-preserved pieces of the Mughal defence of Dhaka, and a quiet green space in the middle of a busy city.
Come from Dhaka by commuter train or by bus to Chashara.
Walk the ramparts and climb the gun platform for the view over the river.
Take a ferry or small boat to Bandar on the east bank.
See the twin fort with its great round gun platform, then return to the city for lunch.
November to February, in the morning or late afternoon
In the Hajiganj area of Narayanganj city, on the west bank of the Shitalakshya. A short rickshaw or battery-auto ride from Chashara.
