It is no secret that Kolkata is one of my favorite places in India. I have sent many clients to this fascinating city, which is crowded and chaotic, but immensely satisfying. For a change of pace after exploring Kolkata, I suggest several nights at a heritage hotel in the villages of West Bengal. I recently visited two properties located in renovated mansions that offer superb comfort and excellent service.
Raypur, West Bengal, January 2025 - Rajbari Bawali is the 300-year-old home of a former zamindar (feudal landlord) of West Bengal. Set among four acres of tropical gardens, this boutique hotel has huge rooms, a swimming pool, several restaurants, and a shop selling local handicrafts. It also has a moody, subterranean bar comprised of former prison cells (repurposed for a much better use). It is only two hours by car from Kolkata, making it an easy add-on to a longer tour in this region.
Azimganj, West Bengal, January 2025 - Bari Kothi (Palace of the Elder) is a bit farther away from Kolkata – five hours by car – thus warranting a stay of two or three nights. This restored palace is owned by a family of Sherwali Jains, a community of financiers and merchants originally hailing from Rajasthan. The guestrooms are beautifully decorated, and the palace serves traditional Sherwali Jain vegetarian cuisine in a collection of stunning dining rooms, including a traditional Durbar Hall with a massive dining table.
Bari Kothi can be used as a base for exploring Murshidabad, former capital of Bengal under the nawabs (hereditary rulers in Mughal India). The city was founded in 1704 by Nawab Murshid Quli Khan, governor of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, when he relocated the capital of Bengal from Dhaka. As the de facto, independent ruler of undivided Bengal (the present-day Indian states of West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar plus Bangladesh), the Nawab of Bengal was extremely powerful.
In the first half of the 18th century, Murshidabad was one of the wealthiest cities in the world due to its robust sericulture industry and its strategic location on the Hoogly River, roughly 200 kilometers upstream from Kolkata. Lucrative industries developed in the region by the nawabs included cotton muslin, saltpetre, gunpowder, ship building, and metal fabrication. The resulting massive wealth fostered the construction of elaborate government buildings, gardens, palaces, mosques, temples and mansions, and attracted merchants from all over India to Murshidabad, including the Sherwali Jains. The ruling nawabs also entered into strategic agreements with French, British, Dutch, Austrian and Danish trading houses, allowing them to establish factories and trading posts in the region.
In 1757, the last Nawab of Bengal was overthrown during the Battle of Plassey, at which point Murshidabad became the British East India Company’s capital in Bengal. Over the next 150 years, Kolkata began to grow in importance, and Murshidabad’s population and prosperity gradually declined, with many of its buildings falling into disrepair. Bari Kothi was built in the late 1700s by the Dudhoria family, who thankfully held on to the property during many lean years. They recently undertook a complicated, five-year restoration project to bring the palace back to its former glory for visitors to enjoy, and the results are quite spectacular.
