Atrai Upazila () is the southernmost

upazila An ''upazila'' ( pronounced: ), formerly called ''thana'', is an administrative division in Bangladesh, functioning as a sub-unit of a district. It can be seen as an analogous to a county or a borough of Western countries. Rural upazilas ...

Naogaon District Naogaon District () is a district in northern Bangladesh, and part of Rajshahi Division. It is named after its headquarters, the city of Naogaon in Naogaon Sadar Upazila. Demographics According to the 2022 Census of Bangladesh, Naogaon Distri ...

, located in

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Rajshahi Division Rajshahi Division () is one of the eight first-level administrative divisions of Bangladesh. It has an area of and a population at the 2022 Census of 20,353,119. Rajshahi Division consists of 8 districts, 70 upazilas (the next lower administrat ...

. It is named after its principal watercourse, the

Atrai River Atrai River (also spelt as Atreyee) () flows in West Bengal in India and northern parts of Bangladesh. In ancient times the river was called Atreyee and finds a mention in the Mahabharata, one of the two Sanskrit epics of ancient India. It is ...

Geography

Atrai has 45,465 households and total area 284.40 km². Along with the

, the Nagor River, Pakar

Beel A beel (Bengali language, Bengali and Assamese language, Assamese: বিল) is a billabong or a lake-like wetland with static water as opposed to moving water in rivers and canals - typically called in Bengali, in the Ganges - Brahmaputra ...

, Chander Beel, Kaklaban Beel are notable water bodies. The upazila is bounded by

Raninagar Raninagar is a town with a police station, not identified in 2011 census as a separate town, in the Raninagar II CD block in the Domkol subdivision of Murshidabad district in the state of West Bengal, India. Geography Location Raninagar is l ...

and Manda upazilas on the north,

Natore sadar upazila Natore Sadar Upazila () is an upazila of Natore District in the Division of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Geography Natore Sadar is located at . It has 76,696 households and a total area of 226.73 km2. The upazila is bounded by Atrai and Baghmara u ...

on the south,

Singra upazila Singra Upazila () is an upazila of Natore District in the Division of Rajshahi Division, Rajshahi, Bangladesh. History The area was governed by the Zamindars of Bengal and Zamindar of Natore, Natore, under the Rajshahi Raj family and the Dighapat ...

on the east,

Bagmara upazila Bagmara Upazila () is an upazila of Rajshahi District in the Division of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Geography Bagmara is located to the north of Rajshahi city, about 42km distant from the city. It is located within 24°30' and 24°41' north latitudes ...

on the west.

History

It is said that

Islam Khan I Shaikh Alauddin Chisti (1570–1613; popularly known as Islam Khan Chisti) was a Mughal general and the Subahdar of Bihar and later Bengal. He transferred the capital of Bengal from Rajmahal to Sonargaon and founded the city of Jahangirnagar. ...

, a Mughal

Subahdar Subahdar, also known as Nazim, was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty, Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, and the Mughal era who was alternately designated as Sahib- ...

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

, passed through Atrai (hence many villages have names such as Islampur and Islamganthi) and constructed a mosque known as the Islamganthi Mosque in the seventeenth century. Atrai later came under the

zamindar A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a ''zamindari'' (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; ''zamindar'' is the ...

i of the Mollah political family. In 1916, Atrai was officially established as a

thana Thana means " station" or "place" in South Asian countries. The word ''thana'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''sthana'' or "sthanak", meaning "place" or "stand", which was anglicized as ''thana'' by the British. * Thanas of Bangladesh, forme ...

. In 1968, the Mollah Azad Memorial College was founded in Atrai. During the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

of 1971, a brawl emerged between the two factions in Bandaikhara on 19 September. Another encounter took place near Ghaulya and Taranagar. In a surprise attack, nine

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

ships were sunk. Its status was upgraded to

(sub-district) in August 1983 as part of the

President of Bangladesh President of Bangladesh (POB), officially the President of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is the head of state of Bangladesh and commander-in-chief of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. The role of the president has changed three times since ...

Hussain Muhammad Ershad Hussain Muhammad Ershad (1 February 1930 – 14 July 2019) was a Bangladeshi military officer, dictator and politician who served as President of Bangladesh, the president of Bangladesh from 1982 to 1990. He seized power as a result of a 1982 ...

's decentralisation programme.

Demographics

According to the

2011 Census of Bangladesh In 2011, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics conducted a national census in Bangladesh, which provided a provisional estimate of the total population of the country as 142,319,000. The previous decennial census was the 2001 census. Data were r ...

, Atrai Upazila had 45,465 households and a population of 193,256. 38,390 (19.86%) were under 10 years of age. Atrai had a literacy rate (age 7 and over) of 45.38%, compared to the national average of 51.8%, and a sex ratio of 1010 females per 1000 males. 13,202 (6.83%) lived in urban areas. As of the

1991 Bangladesh census In 1991, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, conducted a national census in Bangladesh. They recorded data from all of the districts and upazilas and main cities in Bangladesh including statistical data on population size, households, sex and a ...

, Atrai has a population of 166978. Males constitute 50.88% of the population, and females 49.12%. The population above the age of eighteen years is 83466.

Administration

Atrai Upazila is divided into eight union parishads: Ashanganj, Bhonpara, Bisha, Hatkalupara, Kalikapur, Maniari, Panchupur, and Sahagola. The union parishads are subdivided into 155 mauzas and 200 villages. Atrai Thana was formed in 1916 and it was turned into an upazila on 1 August 1983.

Chairmen

Facilities

Atrai Upazila has hundreds of mosques. Many of the mosques are notable tourist attractions in Atrai due to their antiquity or architectural style. These include the Islamganthi Mosque, Mahadighi Mosque, Qazipara Mosque and Mirpur Mosque. The

mazar (mausoleum) A ''mazār'' (), also transliterated as mazaar, also known as ''marqad'' () or in the Maghreb as ''ḍarīḥ'' (), is a mausoleum or shrine in some places of the world, typically that of a saint or notable religious leader. Medieval Arabic ...

of Naib Ali the

Dervish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from ) in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity (''tariqah''), or more narrowly to a religious mendicant, who chose or accepted material poverty. The latter usage is found particularly in Persi ...

is situated in Sannyasbari. The upazila is home to other facilities such as the Madinatul Uloom Madrasa and Lillah Boarding Orphanage in Biharipur and the Bandaikhara Madhyapara Islamia Hafizia Madrasa and Orphanage Lillah Boarding.

Notable people

* Moslem Ali Mollah, politician and businessman * Ohidur Rahman, politician *

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

, poet and Nobel laureate who had lived here

References

{{Upazilas of Rajshahi Division Upazilas of Naogaon District