Another slice of heritage unearthed at historic Kothi Farhatbaksh
LUCKNOW:The Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam (UPRNN) unearthed an engraved brick plaque bearing Major General Claude Martin’s name at Kothi Farhatbaksh during ongoing excavation work, officials said.
The plaque is perhaps the latest in a series of discoveries that the construction agency has made during ongoing excavation work at the Chattar Manzil and Kothi Farhatbaksh.
“The plaque, bearing the name of Claude Martin is engraved on the wall at one of the arches, (which) possibly could be the main entrance of the building,” said a UPRNN official.
UPRNN is the construction agency engaged in the ongoing project aimed at beautifying and strengthening the Chattar Manzil and Kothi Farhatbaksh. Officials said labourers unearthed the plaque.
Officials, however, said it was yet to be ascertained whether the plaque was installed at the time of construction of the building or in later years.
Kothi Farhatbaksh was said to have been built by Major General Claude Martin in 1781.
Martin was an officer in the French, and later the English East India Company’s army in India. La Martiniere Colleges in Lucknow and Kolkata were founded in accordance with his will.
PC Sarkar, a noted historian who has authored books on nawabi era structures, said recent excavation and restoration work of the Chattar Manzil palace complex was throwing up startling facts on a daily basis. Earlier, UPRNN had unearthed another storey of the historical Chhatar Manzil and Kothi Farhatbaksh. The discovery was made at Chattar Manzil’s Gomtiriver-facing facade when the labourers began to dig the structure’s basement.
“Instead of the foundation, we discovered pillars going deep inside the ground. On further excavation, we noticed a complete storey that was lying buried,” SP Khandoori, project manager, UPRNN, had said.
Khandoori had said as they dug around 19.5 feet deep they found the hidden storey of the over 200-year-old structure.
City historians say the discovery of hidden heritage structures would further deepen the mysteries related to the twin structures.
The agency had also discovered two tunnels that were said to be possible gate way leading to the twin structures.
In May 2017, UPRNN had carried out a similar, but short, excavation exercise at Chattar Manzil after which they discovered a 15 by 15 room lying buried beneath the imposing structures that constituted the seraglio (palace complex) for ‘begums’ of the nawabs of ‘Oudh’.
The entire excavation work is being carried out under the guidance of a high-powered committee comprising officials of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), State Archaeology Department and Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) and officials of the civil engineering department, IIT BHU.