History & Background
Dinajpur Rajbari was established by Raja Dinaraj, though other accounts credit its founding to Maharaja Sri Matta Dutta (1608-1642). At the end of the 17th century, Srimanta Dutta Chaudhury became zamindar of Dinajpur, and after his line, his sister's son Sukhdeva Ghosh inherited the estate. Sukhdeva's son Maharaja Pran Nath (1682-1722) rose to great power and prominence, and began construction of the celebrated Kantanagar Nava-Ratna Temple, later completed by his successor Maharaja Ramnath. The palace remained the seat of the Dinajpur zamindari from 1806 until the abolition of the zamindari system in 1951, after which it was abandoned. Following the devastating 1897 earthquake, much of the complex was rebuilt, blending European colonnades and arches with traditional Hindu and Mughal decorative elements.