Talatal Ghar
| Talatal Ghar তলাতল ঘৰ |
|
|---|---|
Talatal Ghar or "The Rangpur Palace", Sivasagar
(View of one of the wings of the Talatal Ghar) |
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| General information | |
| Architectural style | Tai Ahom Architecture |
| Location |
Sivasagar Assam India |
| Coordinates | 26°57′59″N 94°37′29″E / 26.9663056°N 94.6246917°ECoordinates: 26°57′59″N 94°37′29″E / 26.9663056°N 94.6246917°E |
| Construction started | 1751 |
| Completed | 1769 |
| Client | ChaoPha Suremphaa aka Swargadeu Rajeswar Singha |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Bricks and indigenous varieties of cement |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Ghanashyam |
The Talatal Ghar (Assamese: তলাতল ঘৰ [tɔlatɔl ɡʱɔɹ]) is located in Rangpur, 4 km from present-day Sivasagar, in Upper Assam. Of all Ahom ruins, it is one of the grandest examples of Tai Ahom architecture. The Talatal Ghar, together with its above-ground counterpart the Kareng Ghar, is also the largest of all Tai Ahom monuments.
Visitors nowadays can only view the ground floor, the first floor, and what remains of the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Kareng Ghar. The floors of the Talatal Ghar below the ground have been sealed off.
Swargadeo Rudra Singha shifted the capital of the Ahom Kingdom from Garhgaon to Rangpur in AD 1702-03. For about a century thereafter, Rangpur remained the capital. It is located in the western part of Sivasagar. The earliest constructions were commissioned by Swargadeo Rudra Singha in AD 1698. Rangpur was the capital of the Ahom Kingdom and served as its military-station.
The Talatal Ghar is a palace which was initially built as an army base. It houses two secret tunnels, and three floors below ground level which were used as exit routes during the Ahom wars (and which give the structure its name).
After Swargadeo Rudra Singha's death the Talatal Ghar, which together with the above-ground Kareng Ghar constitutes the "Rangpur Palace", went through many architectural alterations to its structure, which resulted in its irregular shape.
Rangpur Palace
Talatal Ghar
Kareng Ghar
However the first Ground Penetrating Survey (GPR) in the northeast, undertaken at two Ahom monuments in Sivasagar district in early Apr 2015, has not revealed the existence of any secret tunnel. The survey was carried out by IIT-Kanpur, in collaboration with the Guwahati circle of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), over a period of five days at Talatal Ghar and Ahom Royal Palace (Kareng Ghar), both in Sivasagar district.
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Wikipedia