Sylhet Division

Sylhet division, the tea capital of Bangladesh, the only division geographically hedged by three provincial states of the neighboring country India chronologically and respectively on the south, north, and east by Tripura, Meghalaya, and Assam, possesses four districts and a population of around sixteen million.

The hilly division Sylhet has an area of 12,298 square kilometers and has been doing excessively well with around 13 million people. Sylhet division is the administrative tier with the most hills in the country. There lives a total of thirteen major indigenous tribal groups incorporating Khasia, Garo, Tripura, Munda, Santal, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Maiti Manipuri, and many more.

The name Sylhet is nothing but an anglicization of the original word ‘Shilhot’ what is believed to create a sense of “Shila” (Bengali meaning of stone) and hatta (Bengali meaning of Market). These words heavily represent the topography of an area surrounded by hills. History shows the evidence of King Gouro Govindo using Shila stones to protect his capital. However, later the omission of words made it possible for the word Sylhet to come into existence. Another perception goes like, the region was named after the eldest daughter of King Guhak of the Jaintia Kingdom, princess shila.

The most extraordinary documentation about Mughals was “Ain- e- akbari,” which referred to the region as silhat. In 1874, the present Sylhet division and Karimganj collectively came into being as the Sylhet district. Sylhet swallowed the request of segregation made by the viceroy corresponding to getting detached from the mainstream Bengal to join with the NFP (Northeast frontier province) to help initiate Assam’s commercial development. Conversely, people from Sylhet made a protest right away opposing the decision and wrote a letter to the viceroy repelling the decision.

After then the viceroy visited Sylhet and promised that justice would be served, and the Bengal would administer administrative works. And when Sylhet people thought as staying with Assam seems real good for commercial development, we should not restrict the way, Que sera sera. Quite diplomatic! Right!

Historically, the whole Sylhet region used to be only a district within the Surma Valley and Hills, and the division used to be only a portion of the Indian state of Assam. In 1947, a plebiscite took place corresponding to the Sylhet district’s fate, voting in favor of succession to Pakistan. Nonetheless, the karimganj was gifted to India after being pleaded by a delegation led by Abdul Matlib Mazumder. The four other subdivisions (North Sylhet, south Sylhet, Hobigonj, and sunamganj) joined the Pakistani dominion, forming an erstwhile east Bengal’s  ‘Sylhet district’ under the Chittagong division.

In the English year 1995, Sylhet split from the Chittagong division and came into existence as the sixth administrative division and gained the status of a member of the first administrative tier of the country. Like some other divisions, Sylhet is also quite diversified and represent different ethnicities.

Sylhet has been a technically and digitally sound division and quite advanced as Sylhet possesses the country’s first free wifi zone. The division is called the London of Bangladesh as many of the inhabitants of this division have been living in London since a very early period and contributing to the country’s economy.

Sylhet division is called the the “Country of 360 Aulia (pious religious leaders)” as well. This division has been extending hands to others for the greater good of the country. At a time, the people of the division played a stunning role in preaching the religion Islam when the famous khan Jahan Ali, Jalal Uddin, arrived here and concentrated on preaching.

Hail the land of Peace! Hail Sylhet!