Raja Tonkonaths Palace

Raja Tongnath's palace is located on the banks of Kulik river in Ranishankail upazila of Thakurgaon district. Raja Tonkonath's Palace is 40 km from Thakurgaon Sadar and 1.3 km from Ranishankail Upazila. It is said that King Tongnath's father Buddhinath Chowdhury was a Maithili Brahmin. He was engaged in the service of the temple of Shyamrai, a zamindar of the Ghosh or Goala clan at Katihar. The childless Goala zamindar left it under the care of the zamindari service before going to Kashibas with a copperplate deed. As the zamindar did not return, Buddhinath Chowdhury got the zamindari according to the deed. In the 19th century, Buddhinath Chowdhury started the construction of the zamindar house on about 10 acres of land, but the construction work was completed by the hands of Raja Tongknath.

In 1925, the British government conferred the title of Chowdhury on Tongnath and he received the title of Raja from Maharaja Girijnath Roy of Dinajpur. At the western side of the now almost destroyed Rajbari, the SNEW symbol is engraved on the directional iron bar at the top of the Singha Darja. Raja Tongaknath's palace has Kacharibari, two ponds, Ramachandra (Jayakali) temple 200 meters away. It is known that the Ramchandra temple is much older than the royal palace of King Tonknath. In 1971, the temple suffered a lot of damage during the liberation war and now it has almost become a ruin.

Thakurgaon can be reached by road and rail from Dhaka. There are several bus services plying from Dhaka to Thakurgaon by road, among them Karnaphuli Paribahan ( 01674-805164 ), Hanif Enterprises, Nabil Paribahan, Ena, Hanif, Bablu Enterprises and Kaya Paribahan. Ticket fare per person for these transports is Tk 800-900 for non-AC and Tk 1000-1600 for AC. Apart from this, Ekta Express, Hirtyan Express and Panchagarh Express leave for Thakurgaon from Dhaka's Kamalapur or airport. It will take 650 to 2237 taka depending on the class to buy a train ticket to go to Thakurgaon.

From Thakurgaon by bus or CNG you can come to Ranishankoil bus stand by van or motorcycle to see Raja Tongnath's palace located next to the old building of Bachor Union Parishad.

There are several government post bungalows or rest houses in Thakurgaon. You can stay overnight in these rest houses with the permission of the authorities. Among the residential hotels, Hotel Salam International, Prime International, Hotel Shah Jalal, Hotel Sadek are notable.

You can eat at the beehive restaurant in Ranishankoil. Apart from this, you will find standard hotels and restaurants here to fulfill your daily food needs. However, if you go to Thakurgaon during the mango season, you will definitely come to eat the famous Suryapuri mangoes.