Deep in Chilapata forest, a jeep track ends at walls of narrow old bricks, half buried in roots and leaf litter. There are the remains of gateways, a long rampart and mounds that may hide more buildings. Local people call it Nal Raja Garh, the fort of King Nal.
Guides and many tourist leaflets say that the fort was built by a king called Nal in about the fifth century, the time of the Gupta empire, and that it guarded a trade route between the plains and the hills. You will hear this story at the gate.
The written record is thinner. Wikipedia's article on Chilapata says the fort was built by the Kingdom of Bhutan, which controlled the Dooars until the British took them in 1865, and that the site is poorly maintained but of considerable archaeological interest. We have not found a published excavation report that settles its date.
So the honest answer is that nobody we can cite knows for sure. What is certain is that this low forest was once a frontier between Bhutan, the Koch kingdom of Cooch Behar and the plains, and that someone thought it worth defending. Walk the walls quietly and leave every brick where it lies.
Sources
- Chilapata Forests (Wikipedia)
- Told locally in Kodalbasti and Hasimara
Legends are retold differently from village to village. Where a story is told locally rather than written down, we say so.
