Ancient times
In
ancient
times the area was mostly part of Vanga, a non-Aryan territory
covering the eastern part of the Gangetic delta. According to some writers it
also covered territories east of the old course of the
Brahmaputra The impact of
Aryan-
Brahmana culture
was felt in Bengal much after the same spread across
northern
India. The various non-Aryan people then living in
Bengal were
powerful and thus the spread of Aryan-Brahman culture was strongly resisted and
the assimilation took a long time.
In a map published in his book Indica, the Greek
traveller
Megasthenes, who visited in 302 BC, presents the entire
Mymensingh area and much beyond in
Kamarupa. In 4th century AD, during the reign
of
Samudragupta,
the region (whole of Kamrupa) was part of the
Gupta
Empire.
[4] During
his visit to the area in 639-45 AD, the Chinese monk,
Xuanzang (Hiuen
Tsang) found both
Buddhism and
Jainism flourishing
in
Bengal.
[2] According
to certain records, some parts of the Mymensingh area, which was part of
Pundravardhana in
7th century AD, was restored to Kamrupa between the 8th and 10th centuries.
Subsequently, some small kingdoms, subservient to the
Pala Empire were
there in area. While Sishu Pal, Harishchandra Pal and Jasho Pal, ruled in the
southern portions, Bhag Dutta (who ruled in Kamrupa) established himself in
the
Madhupur tract.
In the 12th century
Ballal Sena divided
his kingdom into five parts –
Rarh,
Bagri, Barendra,
Mithila and Vanga. While Barendra was the
area bounded by the
Mahananda, and the
Padma and
the
Karotoya, Vanga was the area between the Karatoya
and the
Brahmaputra. It is evident that
the area east of the Brahamaputra was part of Kamrupa and the area west of the
Brahmaputra was part of the
Sena
Empire. However, there is a difference of opinion amongst historians about
where exactly Vanga was and some feel that even the western portion of the
Mymensingh area was part of Kamrupa. In the 13th century Kamrup broke up and
small kingdoms surfaced in the Mymensingh area. In the 14th century the bhati
region was captured by a sannyasi (hermit) named Jitari. The bhati region
normally refers to the extreme western part of old Mymensingh.
Pathan period
While
Bakhtiyar Khilji established
himself in the western parts of
Bengal in
the 12th-13th centuries, he failed to conquer Kamrupa. The supremacy of the
Sena dynasty in the area continued for around a century after the capture
of
Nabadwip by
Bakhtiyar Khilji in
1202.
In 1258, Ikhtaruddin Uzbeg Tugralkhan attacked Kamrupa
and captured parts of it. The king of Kamrupa initially fled but returned to
give fight. Ultimately, Tugralkhan managed to retain his supremacy in certain
parts of Kamrupa, more specifically the Mymensigh area.
When Tugralkhan refused to accept the sovereignty of
the
Delhi Sultanate in 1279,
Ghiyas ud din Balban launched a campaign
against Tugralkhan, who fled but Ghiyas ud din pursued him and reached
Sonargaon.
Dunaj Roy, the ruler of Sonargaon warmly welcomed Ghiyas ud din. The latter
made his second son Nasiruddin Mohammad the ruler of Bengal and left for
Delhi. Nasirabad, named
after him, later became
Mymensingh
town. Subsequently Feroze Shah divided
Bengal into
three parts and made Sonargaon the capital of the eastern region. Fakiruddin on
assumption of office as ruler of Sonargaon, adopted the name of Sultan Sekendar
and declared independence. Thereafter up to 1490, 17 sultans ruled at Sonargaon
but it is not clear whether their territory included whole or part or any at
all of the Mymensingh area.
In 1491, Feroze Shah II ascended the throne of the
independent
Bengal sultanate, and
sent his general Majlis Khan Humayun to attack Sherpur. He defeated the Koch
king Dalip Samanta. That appears to be the beginning of
Pathan rule
in the Mymensingh area. It was during the rule of Hussein Shah, who ascended
the throne in 1494, that Pathan rule was extended to the entire Mymensingh area
(1498).
Atia Masjid
Atia Masjid was built by Hussein Shah in 1516. This is as
per the English translation of an Arabic inscription found at the mosque.
Whenever Hussein Shah conquered a territory he built a mosque as a mark of his
victory. That possibly was an older mosque. The present mosque at Atia was
built by Saiyyad Khan Panni on the banks of the
Louhajang
River in 1608. There are remains of old structures in the area.
Hussein Shah conquered the eastern side of the
Brahmaputra right up to
Tripura. He
appointed Khoaj Khan to rule over this territory with his capital at
Muajjamabad. This place no more exists and it is difficult to specify where
exactly it was located.
Nasratshahi
After Hussein Shah conquered Kamrupa, Nasratshah was
appointed the ruler. When the
monsoon season set
in and extensive areas were flooded, the defeated local rulers regrouped and
recaptured Kamrupa. Nasratshah fled, crossed the
Garo Hills and
established himself at Muajjamabad. He renamed the entire area as Nasratshahi.
At that time
Ibrahim Lodi was ruling in
Delhi.
[5] It
was during the reign of Hussein Shah that
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu spread the
Vaishnava religion
and reforms. His follower Madhabacharya engaged in spreading Viashnava religion
in the Mymensingh area.
Mughal period
With
Akbar advancing
and pushing the Pathans to Orissa,
Bengal was
ripe for small independent kingdoms ruled by the Barobhuyian. Five of them
established kingdoms in eastern part of Bengal – Chand Roy-Kedar Roy in
Bikrampur,
Lakshman Manik in
Bhulua, Kandarpa Narayan Roy in Chandradwip,
Fazalghazi in
Bhawaland
Isa Khan in
Khijirpur, and ruled over the Dhaka, Noakhali, Bakharganj, Faridpur and
Mymensingh areas.
Sirkar Bazuha
Akbar despatched
Todar
Mall in 1580 to quell disturbances in
Bihar.
Todar Mall not only quietened down Bihar with his able systems of land revenue
collection but also built up rapport for rent collection in
Bengal. He divided
Bengal into
19 Sirkars, which was further subdivided into 682 Mahals. The Nasratshahi area
was reconstituted as Sirkar Bazuha. It was divided into 32 Mahals – Alepshahi,
Mominshahi, Husseinshahi, Baroraju, Merauna, Kharana, Herana, Serali,
Besriabaju, Bhawalbaju, Pukhuriabaju, Daskahaniabaju, Selim-Pratapbaju, Sultanpratapbaju,
Chandpratapbaju, Sonaghutibaju, Sonabaju, Selebras, Sayer Jalkar, Saojielbaju,
Jafarogielbaju, Koturalbaju, Katabaju, Singhdhamoin, Mirhussein, Nasratshahi,
Singhnasrat Jial, Mobarak O Jial, Hariyal Baju, Yuchhisahi, Pratapbaju and
Dhakabaju. Sirkar Bazuha extended from the
Buriganga to
Garo Hills. In the east it included parts of greater Sylhet, and in the west it
included parts of greater Pabna, Rajshahi and Bogra districts.
Isa Khan
Isha Khan accepted the suzerainty of the
Mughal
Empire and took charge of both Sirkar Bazuha and Sirkar Sonargaon with
his capital at Khijirpur. After settling down in his work, Isa Khan started
building forts at Tribeg, Hajiganj and Kalgachiya, and also renovating the old
forts at Egarosindhu and Ekdala. Thereafter, he stopped paying rent to the
emperor at
Delhi.
Troops were despatched against Isa Khan. He was defeated by Shabaz Khan in
1585 in his capital. Shabaz
Khan chased him until the borders of the sea but escaped from one island to
another. Taking his victory for granted Shabaz Khan engaged in merry making,
when Isa Khan suddenly attacked him and regained his capital. As Khijirpur was
in shambles he shifted his capital to Sonargaon.
Next,
Man Singh was despatched against Isa
Khan. On being defeated at Ekdala, he fled to Egarosindhur. The decisive battle
atarted near Egarosindhu on the western bank of the
Brahmaputra.
On the third day of the battle, Man Singh’s sword broke. On seeing Man Singh
unarmed, Isa Khan stopped fighting. The noble gesture touched Man Singh. He
concluded a treaty with Isa Khan, who was honoured in the Mughal court with the
title of Masnadali and given charge of 22 parganas. The only other ruler in
Sirkar Bazuha at that time was Raghunath Singh of
Mulke
Susang
Muslims in large numbers moved into the sparsely populated
area. Many Muslim holy men,
pirs,
fakirs and
aulias, also entered the region and engaged in religious conversion. The
earlier inhabitants of the area such as the
Kochs and
Hajongs were
subdued before long.
Before the rise of Isa Khan, the Gazis used to rule in the
forested areas of Bhawal. Once Isa Khan became powerful they accepted his
suzerainty, but after his death they resumed their powers. Many of the Muslim
holy men occupied 11 of the 22 parganas ruled by Isa Khan. Some of the
prominent ones were Pir Sahensa in Atia, Pir Sahajman in Kagmari, and Islam
Khan in Bhawal. In 1608, during the rule of
Jahangir, the
capital was shifted to
Dhaka. Sirkar
Bazuha being adjacent to the capital often had to bear some part of the brunt
of foreign attacks, as for example of the Portuguese and Arakanese in 1610. The
capital was shifted to
Murshidabadin 1703.
Feudal systems
In the 16th century
Sher
Shah Suri, who was a Pathan ruler ruling between two Mughal emperors, was
the first to establish a powerful
feudal administration.
He raised the status of different provinces to that of a sirkar, and
streamlined the system of revenue collection. During his reign such positions
as that of amin (surveyor), sikdar (police chief) and munsef (judge) were
created. It was during the rule of the Baro Bhuiyan that
zamindars or
landlords first came into existence in the Mymensingh area. They had their amla
(bureaucracy), gomasta (administration), and their own forces called
paik-peyada-barkandaj.
The Mughals brought in some radical changes. They introduced
the position of
mansabdars, who were military rulers, also looking after
administration. The selection of mansabdars was through a regular process. The
Mughals introduced a scientific system of feudal administration, which later
the British retained for a long period.
Zamindars
While the contribution of zamindars for the development of
an area is widely noted and tales of their torture is local legend, the torture
imposed on zamindars is less well known. When zamindars failed to pay rent,
they were tied in chains and taken earlier to Dhaka and
later to Murshidabad for punishment.
Indranarayan Chowdhury, zamindar of Kagamri, failed to pay
rent and was tortured so much by
Murshid
Quli Khan that he was ultimately forced to give up his religion and
convert to Islam as Inayetulya Chowdhury. In 1725, Surya Narayan Chowdhury,
zamindar of Daskahania (Sherpur) was tortured so much that he gave up his
zamindari. Two children of Rana Singha, the deceased ruler of Susang, Kishore
Singha and Raj Singha, were sentenced to ten whips each for non-payment of
revenue. The punishment borne on their behalf by a loyal servant Banchharam is
part of local lore
British period
After the
Battle
of Plassey, the British occupied
Dhaka towards
the end of
1757. In
1765 British East India Company acquired from the Mughal emperor,
Shah Alam
II, the sole right to collect rent in
Bengal.
However, they did not immediately concentrate on governance and for a long time
there could scarcely have been any government. They set up a trading
establishment at Begunbari in the Mymensingh area and removed the Portuguese
and French establishments from the area.
The situation was recorded in a local rhyme:
- Nababguli khaey aar ghumaey
- Ingraj taka adaey kore aar despatch lekhey
- Bangali kandey aar utsanney jaey
- The nawbabs eat and sleep
- The English collect money and send despatches
- The Bengalis cry and go to hell
Sannyasi rebellion
Chhiyattarer manwantar or
the famine of 1770 struck
Bengal. It is so called because of its happening in
the
Bengali calendar year 1176. The famine
nourished the
Sannyasi Rebellion by swelling their ranks
and they soon became a nuisance to be reckoned with by the government.
Around 1773, the
sannyasis and
fakirs came and set themselves up in the forested areas of Madhupur and in
Sannyasiganj (Paltan near Jamalpur). With
Warren
Hastings sending a force against them, they went underground for the
sometime, but resurfaced later.
In 1781, they forcibly harvested the crops of both zamindars
and peasants in Alapsingha and Jafarshahi parganas. They tortured people in the
entire area and the nominal English force could do nothing to prevent their atrocities.
In 1783, the sannyasis under Shah Madgerud again looted Jafarshahi. Lodge
fought a pitched battle against the sannyasis and the English set up a
cantonment at Sannyasiganj. Although the main body of the sannyasis were
subdued, they carried on sporadic attacks from time to time. The zamindars
appealed again and again for support and finally a decision was taken to
establish a new district. It was a long time before they finally petered out.
Formation of district
Mymensingh district was established by the British East
India Company on 1 May 1787.
[1] It
may be mentioned that Mymensingh is a corruption of Mominshahi and Mominingh,
the name of the pargana in the area. The name could also have been synthesised
from two parganas, Alapsingh and Momenshahi, both of which were included in the
then Mymensingh District. It became the largest district in
India.
Nasirabad was established in 1791. Begunbari where the English had developed an
early establishment was washed away by the
Brahmaputra.
Another town was established at Sehra.
With
the
permanent settlement of
Lord Cornwallis in
1793, peace and goodwill prevailed in the area. The practice of arbitrary
torture for non-payment of revenue was modified by a system of judiciary. The
district started feeling the gradual introduction of westernised modernity. Peace
and prosperity gave rise to large
zamindars that
became legends in their own right.
Notable Zamindar Estates of the district
There were innumerable Zamindar Estates in Mymensingh
district. Some of notable ones were:
Sushang Estate. The Sushang Estates date back prior to the
Afghan-Pathan-Moghul eras. Amongst all the zamindars, they enjoyed the highest
order of social precedence in the district, and third in undivided Bengal, preceded only by Coochbehar and Burdwan. However,
their revenues were small.
Mymensingh Estate. The Mymensingh Estate or the Maharaja
Mymensingh Estate was the largest in the district and socially preceded over
every other zamindars of the district excepting Maharaja of Sushang.
Ramgopalpur Estate. The zamindars of this estate were given
the title of Raja.
Gauripur Estate. Jugal Kishore Roychaudhuri, Brajendran
Kishore Roychaudhuri, who donated a very large sum to the National Council in
1905 which later became Jadavpur University, for which he was offered the title
of Rai Bahadur; Birendra Kishore Roy Chaudhuri who was an eminent Sarod player
and founder Dean of the Faculty of Music of Rabindra Bharati University,
Calcutta.
Muktagacha Half Estate.
Atharabari Estate.
Narayandahar Estate- It is said that the estate was Founded
by a kanauji brahmin Rajeswar Pathak who came here from Agra area with Raja
Mansing's army at the time of Emperor Akbar near Purbadhala of Netrokona sub
division.Notable personalities of this family were Rajendra narayan mazumder
chaudhury,Mahendra narayan mazumder chaudhury,Rabindra narayan mazumder
chaudhury,Mohini mazumder chaudhury, Haridas mazumder chaudhury etc.First
English minor school was started in 1846 at Narayandahar.
Development
Earlier there was a sadar post office in the district from
where the mail was carried by hand to wherever the collector was residing at
that point of time. In July 1792,
a postal system was established with the setting up of
eight post offices between Dhaka and Mymensingh.
In 1793 the use of copper coins were introduced replacing
the system of karis and dhamris. In 1800, the use of old coins was stopped and
the coins of
East India Company were introduced.
The first permits for importing liquor were introduced. Gradually the judiciary
was separated from the executive. For the first time, metal roads were
introduced. Dhaka-Mymensingh telegraph line was established in 1883.
Dhaka-Mymensingh railway was opened in 1886. The District Board was set up in
1887. Nasirabad Municipality was established in 1869.
The borders of Mymensingh district underwent constant change
and internal administrative changes continued. In 1786 Beluha and some
adjoining mahals were transferred to Tripura. In 1830, Sarail-Satarkhansar,
Daudpur, Haripur, Bejura etc. were transferred to Tripura. In 1845, Jamalpur
was made a sub-division. In 1860 Kishoreganj was made a sub division. In 1866,
Atia from Dhaka and Dewanganj from Bogra were transferred to this
district. Tangail subdivision was set up in 1869 and Netrakona made a
subdivision in 1882. In
1906, Mymensingh district had five subdivisions, nine munsef chowkies, and
forty police stations.
Pagalpanthi uprising
With floods and famines affecting the district from time to
time in the 19th century resulting in the failure of the peasants to pay taxes
and subsequent oppression of the zamindars, peasant rebellions were many. The
suffering caused was of such an order that even human beings were sold for the
petty sum of one to four
rupees, in an age when price of a
maund of
rice shot up to
two rupees. The more prominent among these rebellions were the
Pagalpanthi uprising,
the boxer uprising at Sherpur (1791), Jankupathar’s uprising (1833), and Mangal
Singh’s uprising at Bhawal (1836).
The leader of the Pagalpanthis was Karam Shah, who
established a strong influence over the indigenous tribal population consisting
of
Garos and
Hajongs, who were exploited by the zamindars, through the simple doctrine of
equality, fraternity and truthfulness. Karam Shah petitioned the collector in
1802 for taking over the entire estate to the north-east of Sherpur pargana on
payment of tax. Although the collector recommended the case, it did not find
favour with the
Board of Revenue. After his death in 1813, his
second son, Tipu, became leader and collected a small army. As leader of the
oppressed peasantry he started a ‘no rent’ campaign. He attacked and looted the
houses of zamindars in Sherpur and made Garjaripa, an ancient fortified place,
his headquarters. He issued orders under the seal of ‘Royal Court of King Tipu
Pagal’.
He was arrested twice and released, and the government
wanted to solve the problem with a more equitable rent but Tipu’s army of 3,000
men armed with spears, swords, bows and matchlocks, took possession of the
entire area between Sherpur and Garo Hills. Ultimately, the British decided to
launch full scale military operations. By 1839, the Pagalpanthi uprising came
to an end.
There were subsequently some uprisings in the district
against indigo cultivation and the related oppression of the peasants.
Since Independence
With departure of the British in 1947, Mymensingh district
was part of East Pakistan. Tangail was made a separate district in
1970
[16] when Bangladesh was
part of
Pakistan.
After the formation of Bangladesh in 1971, re-organization of the
country's regional administrative structure was undertaken and Jamalpur, a
sub-disdtrict then called Subdivision, was made a separate district in 1978. As
decentralisation continued under president General
Ershad,
Kishoreganj and
Netrokona were
promoted as distrcits in 1984. Also, a new district was created named
Sherpur with
parts mainly from Jamalpur.
