Naogaon District
Encyclopedia
Naogaon is a district in Northern Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

. It is a part of the Rajshahi Division.

Upazilas

The district is divided into the following upazilas:
  • Naogaon Sadar Upazila
    Naogaon Sadar Upazila
    Naogaon Sadar is an Upazila of Naogaon District in the Division of Rajshahi, Bangladesh.-Geography:Naogaon Sadar is located at . It has 60753 units of house hold and total area 275.73 km².-Demographics:...

  • Manda Upazila
    Manda Upazila
    Manda is an Upazila of Naogaon District in the Division of Rajshahi, Bangladesh.- Geography :Manda is located at . It has 58493 units of house hold and total area 375.94 km².- Demographics :...

  • Niamatpur Upazila
    Niamatpur Upazila
    Niamatpur is an Upazila of Naogaon District in the Division of Rajshahi, Bangladesh.-Geography:Niamatpur is located at . It has 35299 units of house hold and total area 449.1 km².-Demographics:...

  • Atrai Upazila
    Atrai Upazila
    Atrai is an Upazila of Naogaon District in the Division of Rajshahi, Bangladesh.-Geography:Atrai is located at . It has 30570 units of house hold and total area 284.41 km².-Demographics:...

  • Raninagar Upazila
    Raninagar Upazila
    Raninagar is an Upazila of Naogaon District in the Division of Rajshahi, Bangladesh.-Geography:Raninagar is located at . It has 29198 units of house hold and total area 258.33 km².-Demographics:...

  • Patnitala Upazila
    Patnitala Upazila
    Patnitala is an Upazila of Naogaon District in the Division of Rajshahi, Bangladesh.-Educational institutes:*Nazipur Govt. Degree College*Nazipur Mohila College*Nazipur karigoriCollege*Patnitala High School*Nazipur High School*Puia High School...

  • Mahadevpur Upazila
    Mahadevpur Upazila
    Mahadevpur is an Upazila of Naogaon District in the Division of Rajshahi, Bangladesh.-Geography:Mahadevpur is located at . It has 46642 units of house hold and total area 397.67 km² and its bounded by patnitala on the north, manda and upazilas on the south, badalgachhi and Naogaon Sadar...

  • Dhamoirhat Upazila
    Dhamoirhat Upazila
    Dhamoirhat is an Upazila of Naogaon District in the Division of Rajshahi, Bangladesh.-Geography:Dhamoirhat is located at . It has 29661 units of house hold and total area 300.8 km².-Demographics:...

  • Sapahar Upazila
    Sapahar Upazila
    Sapahar is an Upazila of Naogaon District in the Division of Rajshahi, Bangladesh.-Geography:Sapahar Upazila is bounded by West Bengal of India on the north and west, porsha upazila on the south, patnitala upazila on the east. Main river is "Punarbhaba" at Patari village and Jabai Beel is...

  • Porsha Upazila
    Porsha Upazila
    Porsha is an Upazila of Naogaon District in the Division of Rajshahi, Bangladesh.-Geography:Porsha is located at . It has 18047 units of house hold and total area 252.83 km².-Demographics:...

  • Badalgachhi Upazila
    Badalgachhi Upazila
    Badalgachi is a Upazila of Naogaon District in Bangladesh. It consists of 36,614 households and has a total area of ....


Municipalities

There are three Municipalities in this district.
  • Naogaon Municipality
  • Nazipur
    Nazipur
    Nazipur Municipality stands beside the river Attrai in the Naogaon District of the Division of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. It is the most important place & Business center of Naogaon district. It is near about 36 km away from the Naogaon city. It is a place of educated people, therefore there are...

     Municipality
  • Dhamoirhat Municipality
  • Mohadevpur

History

Paharpur

Paharpur is a small village 5 km west of Jamalganj in the Naogaon district where the remains of the most important and the largest known monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

 south of the Himalayas have been excavated. This 7th century archaeological find covers approximately an area of 27 acres (109,265.2 m²) of land. The entire establishment, occupying a quadrangular court, measures more than 900 ft (274.3 m), and is from 12 to 15 ft (3.7 to 4.6 m) in height. With an elaborate gateway complex on the north, there are 45 cells on the north and 44 in each of the other three sides, for a total number of 177 rooms. The architecture of the pyramidal cruciform temple is profoundly influenced by those of South-East Asia, especially Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

 and Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...

. It takes its name from a high mound, which looked like a pahar
Pahar
Pahar , which is more commonly pronounced Peher, is a traditional unit of time used in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. In India, the measure is primarily used in North India. One pahar nominally equals three hours, and there are eight pahars in a day.-Etymology:The word pahar/peher literally...

, or hillock.

A site museum built recently houses the representative collection of objects recovered from the area. The excavated findings have also been preserved at the Varendra Research Museum at Rajshahi. The antiquities of the museum include terracotta plaques, images of different gods and goddess', pottery, coin inscriptions, ornamental bricks and other minor clay objects.

Nine miles west-southwest of Paharpur is the archaeological site of Halud Vihara
Halud Vihara
Halud Vihara is located 9 miles West-Southwest from the World Heritage Site of Paharpur, in the Naogaon District of Bangladesh.- Description :...

, which has been tentatively listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

.

Kusumba Mosque

Kusumba Mosque is named after the village of Kusumba, under the Manda upazila of Naogaon district, on the west bank of the Atrai river. It lies inside a walled enclosure with a monumental gateway with standing spaces for guards. It was built by a high ranking official named Sulaiman, during the period of Afghan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 rule in Bengal, under one of the last Suri
Suri
-Places:* Suri, Birbhum, a town in West Bengal, India* Suri , an assembly constituency in Birbhum district in the Indian state of West Bengal* Suri dynasty, a former South Asian empire* Şuri, a commune in Drochia District, Moldova*...

 rulers, Ghiyasuddin Bahadur Shah. The inscription tablet is in Arabic, with only the word 'built by' in Persian, dates the building to 966 AH (1558-59 AD), and is fixed over its eastern central entrance. Although built during Suri rule, the mosque is not influenced by the earlier Suri architecture of North India, and is well grounded in the Bengal style. The brick building, gently curved cornice, and the engaged octagonal corner towers are typical features.

The mosque, presently protected by the Department of Archaeology of Bangladesh, was badly damaged during the earthquake of 1897. Although the main fabric of the building is of brick, all of the exterior walls, and the interior up to the arches of the pendentive
Pendentive
A pendentive is a constructive device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to points at the bottom and spread at the top to establish the continuous circular or...

s, have stone facing. The columns, platform, floor, and perforated side screens are of stone. The mosque has a rectangular plan with three bays and two aisles, three entrances on the east, and two each on the north and south sides.

The central mihrab
Mihrab
A mihrab is semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla; that is, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca and hence the direction that Muslims should face when praying...

 is projected in the west. The interior west (qibla
Qibla
The Qiblah , also transliterated as Qibla, Kiblah or Kibla, is the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prays during salah...

) wall has two mihrabs on the floor level opposite the central and southeastern entrances, but the one in the northwestern bay is above a raised platform ascended by a staircase on the east. The presence of such a platform in a non-imperial mosque indicates that not only royalty, but nobility and high-ranking officials were also separated from the general public during prayers.

The mihrabs have elaborate stone carving. They have cusped arches crowned with kalasa
Kalasa
Kalasa is a holy temple-town located in Chickmagalur district in Karnataka. Kalasa is home to the Kalaseshwara Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. Kalasa lies 92 Kilometres South-west of Chickmagalur and is located on the banks of the Bhadra River....

 (water pot) motifs, supported on intricately carved stone pillars which have projections and tasselled decorations hanging from chains. Bunches of grapes and vines curve in an almost serpentine manner on the mihrab frames, and kalasas, tendrils, and rosettes are reduced to dots. The platform edge has grape vine decoration, and there are rosettes on the spandrel
Spandrel
A spandrel, less often spandril or splaundrel, is the space between two arches or between an arch and a rectangular enclosure....

s of the arches supporting the platform, as well as on the mihrab wall.

The stone used in the exterior facing is of coarse quality and is carved in shallow relief. Mouldings are the most prominent decorative feature on the outside. They divide the walls into upper and lower sections, run all along the curved cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...

, around the corner towers, and frame the rectangular panels in the east, south, and north walls. The spandrels of the central entrance arch are filled with small kalasa and rosette motifs. The north and south sides have screened windows.

Patisar

Patisar village is associated with Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...

. It is situated on the banks of the Nagor, 12 kilometres south-east of the Atrai railway station and 26 kilometres from the district town. The headquarters of the Tagore family's zamindari in Kaligram Pargana was located at Patisar. Dwarkanath Tagore, the grandfather of Rabindranath Tagore, purchased this zamindari in 1830. Rabindranath Tagore first came to Patisar in January 1891.

The architectural design of the two-storied Kuthibari of Patisar is similar to that of Shilaidaha-Shahjadpur. The buildings, adjacent to the main mansion, are now reduced to ruins. A pond, named Rabindrasarobar, is now a silted up marsh. During his stay at Patisar, Tagore composed various poems, stories, novels, essays and the verse-play Biday Abhishap. He also established many primary schools, a school named Rathindranath High School, charitable dispensaries, and Patisar Krishi Bank (1905). He introduced tractors in Patisar and formed co-operative societies for the development of agriculture, handloom, and pottery.

In 1921, when the zamindari was divided, Patisar was included in Tagore's share. When the poet was awarded the Nobel Prize, the tenants of Patisar gave him an address of honour (1913). On the request of his tenants, Tagore visited Patisar in 1937 for the last time on the occasion of Punya. Every year many devotees of Tagore come from home and abroad to visit Patisar. On the occasions of Tagore's birth and death anniversaries, discussion meetings and cultural functions are held at Patisar.

Dubalhati

Dubalhati is an ancient site in the south-western part of the district. The road to Dubalhati passes through the wide bill named “Digholi bill”. There is a large well in the center of the road for providing travellers with water. Today the road is becoming a recreational place for the town dwellers because of its natural beauty.

The most notable feature of Dubalhati is “Lord House (Jomidar Bari/Rajbari)". The house has two parts; the main part, Darbar Hall, is residential and also used for holding seminars, while the other part, Natto Shalla, is for prayers. The rajbari is a three-story building standing on wide and long masonry slender spiral columns. There are also four big dhighi around the site.

The rajbari was first built by Raja Horandro Ray Chodhory during the Pala
Pala
-Places:*Pala, California, town in the United States*Pala Casino Resort and Spa, casino located in Pala, California*Pala, Chad, town in Chad*Pala , town on Atauro Island, East Timor*Pala , town in Kerala, India...

 Dynasty (781–1124). About 53 raja
Raja
Raja is an Indian term for a monarch, or princely ruler of the Kshatriya varna...

s have ruled the region, beginning with Jogotram, and ending with Haranath Ray Bahadur II in 1971. The rule of Raja Horonath Ray Bahadur I was notable for his construction of schools in Rajshahi and Naogaon district, including as Natto Shala, Baganbari, Dubalhati High school, Naogaon K.D. School, and the Rajshahi Government College. He founded Dubalhati Raja Horonuth High School, only the second high school in the Rajshahi Division, in 1864. He also built many wells and dhighi for providing drinking and irrigation water, and provided food during the famine of 1874.

Economy

Today Naogaon District is considered the bread basket of Bangladesh. It is the central part of Borendra Region, with an area of about 3435.67 square kilometres (1,326.5 sq mi), about 80% of which is under cultivation. The soil of the area is a fertile inorganic clay called dhoyass.

The total population of the area is about 25 lac
Lac
Lac is the scarlet resinous secretion of a number of species of insects, namely some of the species of the genera Metatachardia, Laccifer, Tachordiella, Austrotacharidia, Afrotachardina, and Tachardina of the superfamily Coccoidea, of which the most commonly cultivated species is Kerria lacca.The...

, and most of the people of the district are farmers. The literacy rate is 44.39%. Crops grown in the district include paddy
Paddy
Paddy may refer to:*Paddy , a World War II carrier pigeon*Paddy , a comic strip*Paddy field, a type of cultivated land*Paddy Whiskey, a liquor*Patrick , including people with the name*Padraic, including people with the name...

, jute
Jute
Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fibre that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus, which has been classified in the family Tiliaceae, or more recently in Malvaceae....

, wheat, maize, sugar cane, potatoes, pulses, oil seeds, brinjal, onions, and garlic. The total production of paddy and what in 2009-2010 was 13,58,432 metric tons, including a surplus of 8,26,835 metric tons. Today it is the top listed district in the side of rice production and has the highest number of rice processing mills of any district.

Religion

The district of Naogaon consists 3864 mosques, 1018 temples, 96 churches and 51 Buddhist churches. Kusumba mosque is the famous mosque in this district.

Famous places of Naogaon

  • Shampur Bihar, PaharPur, Badalgacchi
  • Dubalhati Rajbari
  • Kusumba Masjid, Manda
  • Patishar (Rabindranath Tagor's KuthiBari)
  • AltaDighi Dhamoirhat
  • Mohadevpur Razbari
  • Dibor Dighi-Patnitola
  • Gahon pirbabar Mazar-Patnitola
  • Kancon-Hazarat Zahor Uddin Cistia Babar Mazar-Patnitola
  • Katabari Mazar Patnitola
  • Dudulhati ROyal Palace, Sadar
  • Balihar Royal Palace, Sadar
  • Vimer Panti, Dhamuirhat
  • Jogoddol Bihara, Dhamoirhat
  • Mahisontos, Dhamoirhat
  • Halud Bihar

Hats and bazaars

  • Dubalati Bazar
  • Satihat
  • Chaubaria Hat
  • Chawkgaurihat
  • Matajihat
  • Mohadebpurhat
  • Dhamoir Hat
  • Kholishakuri Hat
  • Lakhaijani Hat
  • Hapania Hat
  • Entetala Hat
  • Kritipurhat
  • Abadpukur Hat
  • Nazipur Natunhat
  • Nazipur Puraton Bazar Hat
  • Bandaikhara Bazar
  • Katkhoir Hat
  • Ahashangonj Hat
  • Bedhgari Hat
  • Vobanipur Hat

Fairs

  • Dubalhati Poush Parbon Mela
  • Kalitala Rath Mela
  • HinduBaga Mela
  • Gudishahar Mela
  • Shibpur Lakshmi Mela
  • Kashipur Mela

Educational institutes

  • Al-Helal Islami Academy School, Sapahar.
  • Dubalhati Govt. Primary School, dubalhati, Naogaon
  • Dubalhati Hafezia and Forkanea Madrasha, Dubalhati, Naogaon
  • Chalkenayet Model Government Primary School
  • Naogaon Government Girls High School, Naogaon
  • Naogaon Government College, Naogaon.
  • Naogaon B. M.C. Government Mohila College, Naogaon
  • Naogaon Polytechnic Institute, Dubalhati Road, Naogaon
  • Momen Shana College, Manda, Naogaon
  • Naogaon K.D. Government High School
  • Naogaon Zilla School
  • Tilakpur Government Primary School, Tilakpur, Naogaon
  • Tilakpur Moslim High School, Tilakpur, Naogaon
  • Naogaon Janakallan Model High School
  • Gobindapur High School
  • Bangal Para Government Primary School
  • Hapania High School
  • Ratowal Bishwo Kabi Rabindranath Tagore Dimukhi High School
  • Paharpur G. M. High School, Established in 1936
  • Paharpur Government Primary School
  • Jahangirpur Model High School, Mohadavpur
  • Saraswatipur High School
  • Rasulpur High School
  • Kushadanga High School
  • Pirojpur High School
  • Bilkorilla B.M. High School
  • Katkhoir High School
  • Pakuria High School
  • P.M Girls High School
  • Shaluka High School
  • Kirtipur High School
  • M.P, J.N.V. School, a polytechnic
    Polytechnic
    Polytechnic may refer to:Education:* Institute of technology, and polytechnic, several types of educational institutions, including:** Polytechnic , a higher education institution...

    college
  • Primary Teacher's Training Institute
  • Bandaikhara High School
  • Katkhoir High School
  • Al-Helal Islami Academy School, Sapahar
  • Sapahar Pilot High School
  • Sapahar KG School
  • Sapahar Govt. Degree College
  • Sapahar Govt. Model Primary School
  • Sapahar Govt. Girls School
  • Teghoria High School, Sapahar
  • Sahagola High School, Sahagola,Atrai.
  • Potishor Rothindra Nath Institute,Potishor, Atrai.

Newspapers and weekly periodicals

  • Nabajug
  • Nabadiganta
  • Saptahik Bangabani
  • Bakachand
  • Nababarta
  • Banglar Kantha
  • Little Magazine
  • Sangkalon
  • Tolpar
  • Protichhabi
  • Kalbela
  • Eisomoy
  • Calantika
  • Anjali Loho Mor

Got Gari Shahid Mamun High Scool & College
Raigaon High School
Raigaon College

External links

  • http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/322

[Kamruzzaman, Dubalhati, Naogaon]
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