In Bangladesh, the ancestral home of eminent filmmaker Satyajit Ray in Mymensingh city, formerly used as the Mymensingh Shishu Academy, is being demolished to make way for a new semi-concrete structure.
Eminent litterateur Upendra Kishore Ray Chowdhury was the father of celebrated poet Sukumar Ray and grandfather of the filmmaker Satyajit Ray, who used to live in the house.
Located on Horikishore Ray Chowdhury Road in Mymensingh city, the century-old house is tied to the legacy of the illustrious Ray family, whose contributions to Bangla literature and arts are considered foundational. Horikishore Ray Chowdhury himself was an ancestor of Upendra Kishore, Sukumar, and Satyajit, reports the Daily Star, a leading daily of Bangladesh.
Local residents say that the demolition will wipe out the legacy of the Ray dynasty in Mymensingh city.
According to the Department of Archaeology, the house was built more than a century ago by Upendra Kishore, a notable zamindar from Masua in Kishoreganj district.
After the partition of 1947, the property came under government ownership and was repurposed as the Mymensingh Shishu Academy in 1989, reports the Daily Star.
Sabina Yeasmin, field officer at the Department of Archaeology, Mymensingh Division, said the house was not enlisted with the department yet, but according to the survey, it was an archaeological heritage.
The official said she spoke with Shishu Academy officials and administration yesterday, with a request to protect the building, but her request went in vain.
According to the Prothom Alo newspaper, an archaeological researcher and writer Swapan Dhar visited the structure Monday afternoon after hearing the news of its demolition. Swapan Dhar condemned the demolition of the house. He said the condition of the house is such that it cannot be saved now, although it could have been preserved earlier. Since restoration is no longer possible, he demanded that it be rebuilt as it was, in order to preserve its heritage.
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