Munshiganj, widely known as Bikrampur on account of history is located in between 90°10′ and 90°43′ east longitudes and 23°23′ and in 23°38′ north latitudes . Munshiganj district is situated in central Bangladesh under the jurisdiction of Dhaka division. Total Area of the district is 954.96 sq km. which is divided into cultivable and fallow land. About 560 km2 (138472 acres) of the area are cultivable and about 23 km2 (5609 acres) are uncuntivable land. The district does not consist any forest area. About 106 km2 (26242 acres) of the total area is under river and about 163 km2 (40277 acres) of land need irrigation. Munshiganj is consist of 14 rivers of 155 km of which Padma, Meghna, Ichamati, Dhaleshwari are notable.
Munshiganj district is bordered by Dhaka and Faridpur districts on the west, Cumilla and Chandpur districts on the east, Dhaka and Narayanganj districts on the north, Madaripur and Shariatpur districts on the south. Total population of the district is 1293972 with 655585 male and 638387 female. The number of Muslim community in the area is 1181012 along with 110804 of Hindu community, 1922 of Buddhist community, 103 of Christian community and 308 of other communities people. Average literacy rate of the district is 51.62%. The percentages of male and female literacy are 54.13% and 49.07%.
The economy of Munshiganj mostly depend on agriculture. The percentage of agricultural dependency of the district is 38.64%. The main productive crops of the district is Potato. About 80% of the total production of Potatoes in the country came from Munshiganj.
During the eldern period, Munshiganj had been comprehend in the kingdom of Bikrampur along with the Meghna and the Dhaleshwari which was situated on the west of it (Munshiganj). Bikrampur was the second capital of the Senas besides their first capital Nadia during the Sena rule. In 1204, Ikhtiyar Uddin Mohammad Bin Bakhtiyar Khilji attacked and took over Nodia. Subsequently, the Sena King Lakshman Sena fled to Bikrampur and started rulling East Bengal from the area. Kesava Sena and Visvarupa Sena, the afterbearer of Lakshman Sena reigned till 1223 AD in Bikrampur after the demise of him (Lakshman Sena) in 1206. A few historians argue that the descendants of Lakshman Sena ruled up to 1243-45 AD in Bikramapura. The Senas were evicted in the third quarter of the 13 th century by Raja Dasaratha Deva, Danuj Madhava (Danuj Rai) and the Deva king of Chandradvipa. After that, the Devas ruled in the south-eastern Bengal rest of the thirteenth century. Munshiganj was a sub-division during the British rule. In 1984, after the liberation of Bangldesh it was turned into a district.
During the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971, Pakistani Army attacked the district and obtained mass killing, raped women, destroyed properties as well as thousands of crime. On 29 March 1971, the Pakistani army were confronted by some students and general people with arms and ammunitions captured from the government armoury. Pakistani army conducted a mass killing in a village of Gazaria Upazila on 9 May, that killed about 400 people. After few days of this incident, on 14 May at Kewar, the Pakistani army again murdered a number of youths. On 31 March the people of Munshiganj resisted the Pakistani army jointly with the people of Narayanganj. After this success, a training camp was formed in July at Dhalagaon. In this camp, hundreds of young peolpe got arms training and carried many successful operations against Pakistani armed force. The freedom fighters took control over two police stations, the Sreenagar Police Station and Lohajang Police Station on 11 and 14 August. The freedom fighters seized a lot of arms and ammunitions by launching an attack on the Tongibari Police Station in September. At Shibrampur Upazila the freedom fighters fought an battle against the Pak army. In this battle they killed many Pakistani soilders and also destroyed three gun boats of the Pakistani army. Muktibahini catched and killed 6 razakars at Goalimandra. About 35 Pakistani soldiers were killed by the Freedom Fighters in a direct encounter. A mass killing was conducted by the Pakistani army at Shekhar Nagar village. They also destroyed many houses by setting fire. On 27 Ramadan, in the night of Shab-e-Qadr Muktibahini took over the control of Munshiganj town by launching a combined attack on the Pakistani army. The freedom fighters took control over the Tongibari Police Station on December 4. Thus, the Mushiganj district became liberated on 11 December. A Mass grave, 3 mass killing sites, 3 memorial monuments along with trumatic memories of people still upholding the sacrifices of the martyred and vilonences of Pakistani Army.
Mushiganj is a district that shows diversity with its culture and tradition. Kabi Gan, Jatra, Pala Gan are very common folk culture of the region. During special occasions like Bengali New Year’s Day (Naba Barsha), Last day of Bengali Year (Chaitra Sankranti), Durga Puza special programmes of Kirtan Lila, Boul Gan are arranged in the district. Boat Race, Jhulan Mela, Shyamsiddhir Mela, Rath Jatra, lathi khela (playing with sticks) etc. are also very famous traditions among the people of Munshiganj.
| At a Glance of Munshiganj | ||
| 01 | Area | 954.96 km2
(368.71 sq mi) |
| 02 | Population | Total: 1,445,660
Men: 655585 Women: 638387 |
| 03 | Founding Year | 1 March 1984 |
| 03 | Density | 1,500/km2
(3,900/sq mi) |
| 04 | Literacy Rate | 51.62% |
| 05 | Seats in the Parliament | 3 |
| 06 | Postcode | 1500 |
| 07 | Sector in Liberation War | |
Upazilas:
The district of Munshiganj is consists of 6 upazilas, namely,
- Lohajang Upazila
- Sreenagar Upazila
- Munshiganj Sadar Upazila
- Sirajdikhan Upazila
- Tongibari Upazila
- Gazaria Upazila
Main River
The Padma, Meghna, Dhaleshwari, Ichamati and Shitalakshya.
Interested Places:
Munshiganj is the home of many attractive places. Many of these places are historically and archeologically significant. They are-
- Idrakpur Fort (1660)
- Panditer vita (birth place of atish dipankar srijnan) at Bajrayogini
- Baba Adam’s Mosque
- Dighi of Raja Haris chandra
- Home stead of Raja Ballal Sen
- Home stead of Raja Sreenath at Rampal
- Rampal Dighi
- Kodal Dhoar Dighi
- Shyamsiddhi Math at Sreenagar
- Hasara Dargah
- Sholaghar Math
- Bhagyakul Rajbari
- Residence of Jagadis Chandra Basu at Radhikhal
- Jora Math at Sonarang
- Kalibari at Tongibari
- Taltala Pancha-shikhara Mahadeva Temple
- Talukdarbari Mosque at Kusumpur
- Tajpur Mosque
- Patharghata Mosque
- Kazishal Mosque
- Palghata Bridge
- Panch Pir Dargah
- Marble statue of Ashutosh Ganguly inside the library room of Haraganga College
- Shulpur Church
- Meghna Village Tourists Garden (Gazaria).
Highlighted Personalities:
Many personslities contributed in the country as writer, actor, scientist, reformer, revolutionalist, politician are from Munshiganj.
- Hamidullah Khan (Sector Commander, Sector 11, Bangladesh War of Independence 1971)
- Jagadish Chandra Bose (Great Bengali physicist)
- Badal Gupta (Revolutionary against British India)
- Benoy Basu (Revolutionary against British India)
- Dinesh Gupta (Revolutionary against British India)
- Sarojini Naidu (Politician)
- Chittaranjan Das
- Chashi Nazrul Islam (Artist)
- Humayun Azad (Linguistic scientist, poet and novelist)
- Durga Mohan Das (Brahmo reformer)
- Dwarkanath Ganguly (Brahmo reformer)
- Brojen Das (The first Bangladeshi and Asian to swim across the English Channel, and the first person to cross it four times)
- Imdadul Haq Milan (Writer and media personality)
- Buddhadeb Bosu (Writer, poet, playwright, essayist)
- Ananta Jalil (Actor)
- Tahsan Rahman Khan (Singer-songwriter)
- N. M. Hamidullah (First Governor of Bangladesh Bank)
- Fakhruddin Ahmed (Former chief adviser, Non-Party Caretaker Government, 2007–2008.)
- Iajuddin Ahmed (Former President of Bangladesh
- Q.M. Badruddoza Chowdhury (Former President of Bangladesh)
- A. Naser (Former Vice Chancellor or BUET)
Written & Edited by Shaima Akter Sethu.