Report of a Tour through the Bengal Provinces/Barat
BARAT.
Barat is a largish village on the north of, and close to, the road; this place is said to have been the residence of the Saint Valmiki when Sita was sent into exile. At his orders Viswakarman constructed the rock cave noticed above for Sita's residence. At present the only object of notice here is an old mud fort standing on a high mound; the fort is said to have been the garh of Durinarayan Chaudhari Hartakya Brahman; it is 300 feet long by 250 feet wide, rectangular; its interior is about 20 feet above the level of the fields adjacent; above this the earthen parapets tower another 20 feet or so; the parapets are built entirely of mud, precisely like the mud walls of the large huts of the present day; but these walls appear to have been baked or in some way submitted superficially to the action of fire after being built; the fort is a plain oblong with a round tower at each corner.