He is not Emperor Shahjahan but his love, compassion and emotion for his wife are no less than those of the Shahjahan. Emperor Shahjahan built the unique, unparalleled Taj Mahal after the death of his wife Momtaz Mahal but King Chandilal Paul of the Paul dynasty excavated 365 ponds in Dhamoirhat of Naogaon praying for the recovery of his gueen from an almost incurable, deadly disease, according to the advice of the Kabiraj ( Ayurvedic Practitioner) and the Hekim (A Muslim Physician).
Chandila Paul was the King of the Paul dynasty living at the Chalk-Chandira village of Yousubpur Union under Dhamoirhat Upazila, some 50 kilometres away from Naogaon district town. According to the advice of his family Kabiraj and the Hekim, he had excavated 365 ponds covering eight kilometres of areas. Some of these ponds are stretched east-west directions, some are stretched north-south and some of those are square in size. According to historians and hearsay, in the 18th Century, King Chandilal Paul fell in an ardent love and passion with a royal woman named Chandrakanta while his first Gueen was alive and staying in the palace. King Chandilal Paul married Chandrakanta and brought her to his palace as his second Gueen . But, the irony of fate was that before the end of the Honeymoon, the second Gueen Chadrakanta was attacked by an alien, deadly disease.
Aiming to cure the Gueen , King Chandilal called all the Kabiraj and the Hekims of the region who tried to cure her using all their knowledge and drugs but failed to cure her. While the king was utterly frustrated getting no positive result to cure the gueen , he came to learn about an expert Hekim of his neighbouring Kingdom and he invited the Hekim to visit his palace and to cure the Gueen . On arrival, the Hekim heard about all the symptoms of the disease to the Gueen and advised the King to excavate 365 ponds where the Gueen would take bath in a pond every day morning and after taking baths in all 365 ponds, the Gueen would get cured of her alien, deadly disease and turn healthy and more beautiful.
The king became upset at first by hearing the prescription of the Hekim since it was not possible to excavate so many ponds in a short time. But, his love for the dear Gueen overshadowed all problems. He started to excavate ponds employing all tenants of his Kingdom. While the excavation of a pond was completed, the Gueen used to take a bath in that pond. Gradually, the Gueen took baths in all 365 ponds in a year and got cured of her deadly disease.
Presently, a huge track of Greenery consists of varieties of large trees and herbs shrouded all the banks of 365 ponds at Chalk Chandira village. Many people visit the ponds areas to watch those ponds, the beauty of the Greenery and hear the chirping of varieties of birds. Moreover, on 1,500 hectares of land nearby which belonged to the same King Chandila Paul, the Department of Forest has developed an attractive green forest belt around.
In addition to those 365 ponds spread over eight Kilometres of area, two separate ponds were also excavated near the Palace of the King for two Gueen s. These two ponds are named the 'Dui Satin er Pukur' ( Ponds of two wives).
People of Dhamoirhat have demanded to include the Ponds and the Palace of King Chandilal Paul as the Heritage of the country.
