Thengal Manor

Thengal Manor, formerly known as Thengal Bhawan, is a mansion at Jalukonibari near Titabor in Jorhat district, Assam, India. Built as the residence of the Barooah family of tea planters, it housed the press and office of Dainik Batori, the first daily newspaper in the Assamese language. The house lies about from Jorhat and has functioned as a heritage hotel since 2000.

History

Construction

Front view of Thengal Manor Thengal Manor was built by Siva Prasad Barooah, a tea planter, lawyer and journalist of the Khongiya Barooah family of Thengal, and the son of the planter Bisturam Barooah. It was originally known as Thengal Bhawan.

Dainik Batori

A weekly Assamese newspaper was published from Thengal Bhawan in 1929. A printing press and office were later established at the house, from which the daily Dainik Batori was published, with Nilamani Phukan as editor. The daily was launched in 1935. It was the first Assamese-language daily and the first daily in any language to be published from a village in India. The house had no post office.

Heritage hotel

Hemendra Prasad Barooah, a son of Siva Prasad Barooah, opened the ancestral home to visitors as part of an effort to promote tea tourism and renamed it Thengal Manor. It was run by his company Heritage North East Pvt Ltd, which also operated Banyan Grove at the Gatoonga Tea Estate and the Kaziranga Golf Resort. The house began receiving guests in 2000. By 2009, Thengal Manor and the bungalow at the Sangsua Tea Estate were operated under the WelcomHeritage group.

Architecture and grounds

Thengal Manor is a single-storey, whitewashed mansion in the colonial style, with a classical portico and a front porch. It stands in lawns of about five acres (two hectares), surrounded by rice fields, bamboo groves and village homes. The interior includes a chandeliered dining room, high-ceilinged bedrooms with four-poster beds, fireplaces, a gallery of portraits of the Barooah family going back to Bisturam Barooah, family photographs, antiques, and certificates issued under George VI. A swimming pool has been added to the grounds. An enclosure behind the house contains 19 temple-like tombs of members of the family. The building has withstood two earthquakes.

Accommodation

The mansion has five guest rooms, four deluxe rooms and one single superior room, furnished in colonial style. Each has a dressing room and an attached bathroom. The Hoollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary is about from the house, and the nearby Gatoonga and Sangsua tea estates are used for visits by guests.

Thengal Manor

See also

  • Titabor
  • Siva Prasad Barooah
  • Hemendra Prasad Barooah