Mymensingh District Information

Mymensingh is a district of Dhaka division, Bangladesh which was once a large district. Mymensingh district was established in 1787. This greater district was later reorganized as six districts. They are Tangail, Jamalpur, Kishoreganj, Sherpur, Netrokona, and Mymensingh. Mymensingh district has eight municipalities and twelve Upzillas. The municipalities are, namely Bhaluka, Gaffargaon, Gauripur, Ishwarganj, Mymensingh Sadar, Nandail, Muktagachha, and Trishal. The twelve upzillas are: Bhaluka, Dhobaura, Fulbaria, Gaffargaon, Gauripur, Haluaghat, Ishwarganj, Mymensingh Sadar, Muktagachha, Nandail, Phulpur and Trishal.

Boundary: This district is bordered on the north by Meghalaya state of India and Garo Hills, on the south by azipur district, on the east by districts of Netrokona and Kishoreganj, and on the west by districts of Sherpur, Jamalpur and Tangail.

Area: 4363 square kilometers.

Population: 4439017. Among them male are 50.62%, female 49.38%.

Religion: Muslim 94.73%, Hindu 4.25%, Christian 0.75%, Buddhist 0.06% and others 0.21%;

Ethnic community: Garo, Hajong, Koch and Hadi. They are 0.89% of total population.

Literacy rate: Among the literate 30.7% are male and 20% female.

Marks of War of Liberation: Mass grave are in Dakbungalow Char of Mymensingh Sadar, Chakbazar, Jelkhana Char, river bank of Shambhuganj, Boror Char, Agricultural University compound, Rasulpur of Muktagachha.

Main crops: Paddy, jute, sugarcane, wheat, oil seed and pulse, betel leaf, karalla, sweet potato, turmeric, ginger, brinjal, cauliflower and chilli.

Main occupations: Agriculture 57.67%, commerce 8.15%, transport 15.66%, construction 2.13%, service 1.21%, others 15.18%.

Communication facilities: Roads, waterways and railways.

Distance from capital: Mymensingh city is located about 120 km north from Dhaka .

Main exports: Jute, paddy, oil seed, egg, banana, leather, milk products, jackfruit, chicken and chilli.

Weather and geography: Temperature range is from 33 degrees to 12 degrees Celsius. Annual rainfall is average 2174 mm.
Some upazilas are at the foot of Garo hills of Meghalaya. Some Chars are founded on the bed of Old Brahmaputra river and some ancient forests are here. SHAL Forest is one of them.

Forests: Some part of the Madhupur jungle is within Mymensingh. Its average height is about 60ft above the level of the surrounding country and somewhere it exceeds 100ft. The forest is mainly shal forest which is very valuable both as timber and charcoal. The main benefits of Sal are it can absorb carbon more than any other native trees.
Haluaghat upozilla of Mymensingh has border with India and Garo hills of Meghalaya. That area has thick thorny jungle.

Rivers: The Brahmaputra is the main river of Mymensingh. The Jamuna river formed the western boundary of Mymensingh.

Educational institutions: There are 1 agricultural university, 1 general public University ,2 medical college, 1 homeo medical college, 1 polytechnic institute, 1 vocational institute, 1 veterinary training institute, 1 primary teacher’s training institute, 2teacher’s training institute and 1 national institute of primary education . Only one Women Teachers Training College of bangladesh is here. Mymensingh Medical College is the only public medical college. Bangladesh Agricultural University is the oldest agricultural university of Bangladesh. Mymensingh Girls’ Cadet College is the oldest girls’ cadet college of Bangladesh. Mymensingh Engineering College, Muminunnesa Women’s College, Ananda Mohan College are also notable colleges of Bangladesh. Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University has been established in Trishal. Mymensingh Zilla School and Vidyamoyee Uccha Balika Bidyalaya are two renowned schools of Mymensing town.

Research institutes:
• National Academy for Primary Teachers’ Education (NAPE)
• BINA
• Swadu Pani Matsya Gobeshona Kendro
• Primary Training Institute
• Teachers’ Training College
• Women Teachers’ Training College
• Veterinary Training Institute, and
• Institute of Radiation Genetics and Plant Breeding

Mymensingh Town
Mymensingh (pronounced moy-mon-shing-haw) town stands on the west bank of Brahmaputra River. This is an old town and earlier this was known as Nasirabad. Mymensingh was pronunced of the original name Momenshahi, referring to a ruler called Momen Shah. The town is the headquarters of the administrative unit Mymensingh District and has a lot of educational institutes. Mymensingh is known for educational institutions like Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh Medical College, Women Teachers Training College and Mymensingh Girls’ Cadet College. Other landmark institutions include Mymensingh Army Cantonment , Ananda Mohan College etc . The town is also related with old Brahmaputra river, Nakshikantha and many traditional tools. The area of the town is 21.73 km.The population of the town is around 225,811 and the literacy rate is about 65%. Mymensingh is a sleepy town (though large) which retains all the characteristics of a Mofussil town and It consists of 21 wards and 85 mahallas. But Mymensingh town has one University, 2 medical colleges (Mymensingh Medical College, Community Based Medical College), 8 high schools and a lot of colleges. So Mymensingh is one of the best places for living and educating children in Bangladesh.

Cultural interest:
Moimonsingho Geetika is a great collection of myth (Folk Ballads) of this area. These were collected and edited by Dr. Dinesh Chandra Sen.
This town was once famous for Dramas. The Old Town Hall, built by Maharaja Surya Kanta Acharyya had hosted thousands of drama (since 1878).
Bharatmihir was one of the oldest newspapers of British India from Mymensingh .Its publication began in 1875.
Monda of Muktagacha(Sweets ) and Malaikari (sweets) are famous sweets of Mymensingh.
Once Mymensing was very famous for production of jute (remuerative cash crop).
Now As a replacement for the jute industry, Mymensingh district produces a huge amount of fish which is contributing in the local and global markets.
Places of interest:

• Rajbari of Gauripur
• Rajbari of Muktagachha,
• Shashi Lodge
• Durgabari
• Kella Tajpur
• Mymensingh Town Hall
• Bokaynagar Fort
• Alexandra Castle( Lohar Kutir”) build by Maharaja Surya Kanta Acharya(Russian architecture).
• Gospel Church.
• Th”Soshi Lodge” or “Mymensingh Palace”
• Bipin Park
• Museum ( Mymensingh Jadughar ) is at the garden house of zamindar Madan Babu at 17 Amrita Babu Road. This collections are from different palaces of different Zaminders.
• Zainul Abedin Museum of Art on the bank of Brahmaputra River
• Bank of Brahmaputra River and boat trip in the river.
• Bangladesh Agricultural University
• Ananda Mohan College
• Vidyamoyee Govt. Girls High School

Notable personalities

• Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose was born in Mymensingh on 30 November 1858.
• Anti-British leader Mahadev Sannyal
• Anti-British writers Upendra Kishore Roychowdhury, Sukumar Roy and Leela Majumder.
• Musician and a disciple of Rabindranath Tagore Sailaja Ranjan Majumder
• Maharaja Surya Kanta Acharyya
• Maharaja Soshi Kanta Acharya
• Painter Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin
• Ballad collector Sirajuddin Kashimpuri
• Novelists Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay . He received early education in Mymensingh town
• Humayun Ahmed . He is arguably the most popular Bengali writer
• Syed Nazrul Islam . He was the acting president of Bangladesh during the war of liberation.
• Politician and author Abul Mansur Ahmed
• Governor of East Pakistan Abdul Monem Khan
• Educationist principal Ibrahim Khan
• President Shahabuddin Ahmed
• Poets Nirmalendu Goon, Helal Hafiz, Musharraf Karim, and Abid Azad
• Singer Mitali Mukherjee
• Writers Jatin Sarker
• Ghulam Rabbani. He was an Urdu speaking Bangladeshi, author of first Urdu-Bangla and Bangla-Urdu dictionary played important role to maintain communal harmony during 1964 riots and 1971 liberation war.
• Golam Samdani Quraishy. He is a writer, founder GS-BCUTA… Shahid Akhand, Helena Khan, and Iffat Ara

• The Oscar-winning Indian film maker Satyajit Ray and Bollywood actress Rani Mukherjee’s family also hail from this district.
• Taslima Nasreen, the feminist writer and critic of Islam.
• Dr. Sudhangsu Mohan Bhowmick of Lytton Medical School and his late wife Ina were also born and brought up here.

Historical events
Mymensingh is an old town which was earlier known as Nasirabad. Mymensingh was pronunced of the original name Momenshahi, which refer to a ruler called Momen Shah. At the beginning of Mymensingh district Begunbari was chosen as the headquarters of the district. But the district headquarters was relocated to Mymensingh when Begunbari devastated by flush flood. During the British Raj the town was mostly populated by Hindus. From early 20th Century Muslims moved into town.Fakir and Sannyasi revolt (1772-1790), famine (1788) and Swadeshi Movement (1905) are important events.Mymensingh town stands on the bank of Old Brahmaputra River because the 1897 great Assam Bengal earthquake changed the main flow from Brahmaputra to the Jamuna River.Mymensingh is one of the 16 old districts of Bangladesh which was constituted by the British East India Company on 1 May 1787.Visit by Edward VII in 1903,Rabindranath Tagore in 1926,Sir Samuel Baker (1899); Grand Duke Boris of Russia along with General Sir George White (1902) and Mahatma Gandhi (1926) are remarkable history of this district.Mymensing has a great history of the nine month long liberation war of Bangladesh. The killing of Biharis (in Mymensingh) is a dark spot in Bangladesh’d history. But the number mentioned 30,000 is not right. Around 450 Biharis were slaughtered on those fateful nights. in Sanki pAra Behari coloni. Mymesingh became free as the Pakistani occupation forces deserted Mymensing on 10 December and Mukti Bahini took over on 11 December, just 5 days before the victory of Dhaka on 16 December.