House of Sheherwali: A peek into pre-colonial Murshidabad

On the banks of the Bhagirathi, in the humble town of Azimganj, is the House of Sheherwali.

- MOHUL BHATTACHARYA

On the banks of the Bhagirathi, in the humble town of Azimganj, is the House of Sheherwali. This is the dream child of Pradip Chopra, chairman of the PS Group. The building is roughly one kilometre from the Azimganj City railway station and has road connectivity through the NH-34 highway. It is 224 kilometres from Kolkata by road.

At first glance, the hotel seems unassuming and like any other building, but only once one has started noticing will the intricate details of the history of the land come to life. The name of Sheherwali came from a time around 1643 when Kolkata was just a village of Sutanuti, and people travelling from Murshidabad would be called Shehewala (city-dwellers). They were a Jain merchant community who settled under the Nawabs of Bengal. One of the most notable of them was Jagat Seth, who was once called the banker of the world. Such was his influence on the world economy that his promissory notes were accepted even by the Bank of London. Any tourist visiting Murshidabad can still see his house.