The ruins of the Lakshmana Sena Palace, located near the sacred pond, have survived to this day and are among the monuments of history and architecture protected by the state.

This palace, apparently, was built in 1063, the father of Ballal Sena, the king of Vijaya Sena. On copper plates, on which the fact of the victory of Vijay Sena over the hostile king Vikram Raja is immortalized, it is written that the residence of the victorious king is located in Mayapur. Subsequently, for some time, the royal residence moved to Vikrampur, but later the king of Lakshmana Sen again moved it here.

There are legends about the ruins of the palace. Here is one of them.

This was about a thousand years ago when invaders from Muslim countries conquered all of western Bengal. Lakshmana Sen, in order to avoid a battle with them, decided to hide his palace. He covered it with earth, and put a huge block of stone in front of the entrance. A spell was cast on the stone so that no one could enter inside. The mantra that could remove this spell was known to the king’s only servant. During a battle with Muslims, a servant, in fear for his life, climbed a nearby tree and hid in its branches, but one soldier noticed him and shot an arrow at him. The Muslims failed to enter the palace, but the supporters of Lakshman Sena could not do this.

The palace remained underground for several hundred years. Then the British came here and decided to unearth it, because they thought that there were hidden treasures. But everyone who tried to do this was dying - blood started to flow from their mouth. This place was considered damned, and in the end even the British government decided to stop excavation.

And only a little over twenty years ago, when ISKCON parikrama came here, the situation changed. The devotees held a huge kirtan, and the curse was lifted, and all the ghosts and spirits guarding this place were freed. After that, the government began excavations here, and now some parts of the palace are already visible.

A lesson can be learned from this story: Lakshmana Sen tried to defeat material nature, but he was defeated. The only way to defeat maya is to surrender to Krsna.

Translated from dhama.dayalnitay.ru