Modhu Polli, house of Poet Michael Madhusudan Dutta

A bust of Michael Madhusudan Dutta in front of the house.

Michael Madhusudan Dutta was a legendary poet in Bangla literature and considered as the father of Banga Sonnet. It is nearly 150 years since he has departed from the earth, but his village and his house are still remaining there firmly. His father was a very rich lawyer from that time, and built this Elysian (as per that time) mansion at the village Sagardari. Nowadays this house is converted as a museum that commemorates the poet, and opened for the public visitors. A lot of tourists come here everyday. I forgot about the exact entry fee, probably around 10-15 Taka per person.

Welcome to “Modhu Polli“. The pond behind is filled with a lot of water lilies.

After visiting the Tetulia Shahi Mosque, we decided to visit the house of poet Michael Madhusudan Dutta. We were on a motorbike and through the scenic beauty of Satkhira and Jessore district. It was around a half an hour of bike ride from the mosque, or even more.

Most of the rooms of the house are mainly decorated with the used substances of the poet. Few of the noticeable things are the bed, iron safe, wooden safe, cookeries, gramophone, etc. I found it hard to believe that those things were only used by the aristocratic family that time and compared to this modern time those are nothing. But still at that time people felt pride by possessing those things. I believe 100 years later people would think the same about our laptop, cellphone, etc.

Inside the Modhu Polli it has a large pond with a ghat at one side. There were few benches to have a seat for the visitors. But unfortunately it was the middle of the day and those were hot enough to force me to place my bottom there. So I decided to visit the famous river Kopotakkho. This river Kopotakkho, and the village name Sagordari is complementary to the poet. It’s hard to find a person who is aware of our poet, but isn’t familiar with the river and village’s name. In fact these two names came many times in Michael’s writing.

I had very high expectations about this river. I had a lot of exciting imagination before visiting this river. But I was totally shocked when I saw this. It was a dead river and totally covered with the water hyacinths. Hard to see a drop of water on it through the dense green. I believe the level of water should be around one or two feet. Just seemed to me like an open green field. You won’t believe this as a river. I was really feeling crestfallen after seeing the poor Kopotakkho. I believe poet Michael would feel the same.

River Kopotakkho filled with water hyacinths. It looks like a green field.

Most of the area near Modhu Polli is packed with a lot of institutes which are directly or indirectly related with the poet and his name. Some of those are governed by the poet’s trust (probably the government itself), others are managed by local people. I could have explored more but those didn’t attract me and so I headed for my next destination, the Shekhpura Mosque. It’s the place where the young poet learned education (mostly the language Farsi) during his childhood.

A wooden safe that belonged to the poet Michael Madhusudan Dutta.

How to go

I already mentioned Modhu Polli as a famous tourist destination of Jessore district. So you shouldn’t face any difficulties to reach here from Jessore town. You can come here using a hired motorbike the whole way from Jessore town. Or you can use the public bus as transportation. That case you have to come to Keshabpur. It will be around 40 Taka per person. From there you can again take a bus, motor bike, or local tempo to reach near the house of the poet. In total it will be around 60 minutes to 90 minutes of journey that varies based on your selection of vehicle. GPS Coordinate of the house of Michael Madhusudan Dutta is (22°49’8.99″N, 89° 9’47.64″E).

Where to stay

There are few hotels available in Jessore and Khulna. But most of them are not available to book from online. If you want a comfortable hotel then I’d suggest you to stay in Khulna as they have quite a few international quality hotels over there. You can use the below search box to see hotels from Khulna.

Modhu Polli of Poet Michael Madhusudan Dutta,
Village: Sagordari,
Upazela: Keshobpur,
District: Jessore,
Country: Bangladesh
Gps coordinate (22°49’8.99″N, 89° 9’47.64″E).

This article is written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog alonelytraveler.com

Friday, 21 June 2013