Dharmapasha (, also spelled as Dharampasha or Dharamapasha, is an

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 ...

Sunamganj District Sunamganj District (), is a district located in north-eastern Bangladesh in Sylhet Division. History In the ancient period, Sunamganj was part of the Laur Kingdom. After the conquest of Sylhet (Kingdom of Gauiurh) in 1303 by Muslims under the sp ...

in the Division of

Sylhet Sylhet (; ) is a Metropolis, metropolitan city in the north eastern region of Bangladesh. It serves as the administrative center for both the Sylhet District and the Sylhet Division. The city is situated on the banks of the Surma River and, as o ...

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 ...

Geography

Dharamapasha is located at . It has 25,305 households and total area 310.00 km². It is located on the banks of the

Kangsha River The Kangsha () (also known as the Kangsai or the Kangsabati) is a river in the northern parts of Mymensingh and Netrakona districts of Bangladesh. The Someshwari is one of the main rivers that join it from the north. Course At Gaglajuri, the Dh ...

, close to the

haor A () is a wetland ecosystem in the north eastern part of Bangladesh which physically is a bowl or saucer shaped shallow Depression (geology), depression, also known as a backswamp.MK Alam; ''Wave attack in Haor areas of Bangladesh and cement co ...

areas. Tānguār Hāor, the largest

of Bangladesh, lies between the upazilas of Dharmapasha and

Tahirpur Tahirpur () is an upazila of Sunamganj District in the Division of Sylhet Division, Sylhet, Bangladesh. Geography Tahirpur is located at . It has 42,693 households and total area 315.33 km2. History The territory of Tahirpur Upazila contain ...

. Other haors, rivers and

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 ...

s in Dharmapasha include

Surma River The Surma () is a major river in Bangladesh, part of the Surma-Meghna River System. It starts when the Barak River from northeast India divides at the Bangladesh border into the Surma and the Kushiyara rivers. It ends in Kishoreganj District, ...

, Tagār Hāor, Dhārām Hāor, Ghāglājur River, Sārdā Bil, Kaimer Dair, Dhānkuniyā Hāor, Sonāmaral Hāor, Rāuwār Bil, Shiyāldighā Bil, Pākertalā Bil, Phirāgāng Bil, Dharani Bil, Jāldharā Bil, Sanuā Hāor, Pashwa River, Chhātidharā River, Rāklā River, Baulāi River, Chepta River, Nowanadi River and Helainna River. The neighbouring upazilas are Mohanganj, Barhatta, Kalmakanda, Jamalganj and Tahirpur.

History

During the reign of the

Mughal emperor The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

in around 1691, Mahamanikya Datta of Hooghly set off for

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

. On his journey, he passed by the Kalidaha lowlands and was astonished by its natural beauty. As a result, he purchased a

jagir A jagir (), ( Hindustani: जागीर/جاگیر, ''Jāgīr''), ( Marathi: जहागीर, ''Jahāgīrá'') also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar ( Zamindar ...

in Sukhair in present-day Dharmapasha. In 1695,

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 ...

Mohanlal had a large palace built within the Sukhair jagir, and they had authority over 20 wetlands. An English officer visited the

Tanguar haor Tanguar Haor () is a wetland ecosystem located in the Dharmapasha and Tahirpur upazilas of Sunamganj District in Bangladesh. The area of Tanguar Haor including 46 villages within the haor is about of which 2,802.36 ha2 is wetland. It is t ...

for

tiger hunting The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

during the zamindari of Maiyuk Chaudhuri. The English officer was captured by three tigers, and when news of this reached the Zamindar, he broke the law by shooting the tigers to free him. Chaudhuri was later awarded a gun for his services. The reason for the change of surname from Datta to Rai-Chaudhuri is explained by Malay Rai Chaudhuri to be due to the fact that one of his ancestors married a Das when arriving to Sukhair. Mahamanikya Dutta's fourth descendant Pratap Rai-Chaudhuri embraced

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

and married a woman from an upper-class Muslim family in nearby Rajapur. He inherited half of Sukhair's zamindari, and later became the Zamindar of Rajapur. In 1787, the

Khasis The Khasi people are an Austroasiatic ethnic group of Meghalaya in north-eastern India with a significant population in the bordering state of Assam and in certain parts of Bangladesh. Khasi people form the majority of the population of the e ...

of Laur rebelled against the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

by plundering many of their

pargana Pargana or parganah, also spelt pergunnah, equivalent to Mohallah as a subunit of Subah (Suba), was a type of former administrative division in the Indian subcontinent during the time of the Delhi Sultanate, Mughal and British Colonial empire ...

s (including modern-day Dharmapasha Upazila's Bangsikunda, Ramdigha, and Selbaras) and killing up to 800 people. The British collector of Sylhet, Robert Lindsay, sent troops to the area but before they could arrive, the Khasis had retreated back to their mountains. Muhammad Akhtar Chowdhury Tota Mia (b. 1840s), the zamindar of Selbarash, was renowned for his bravery. In the early 20th century, the deputy commissioner of Sylhet described the zamindars of Selbarash as among the most prominent landholders of

greater Sylhet Sylhet Division () is a northeastern division of Bangladesh, renowned for its lush tea gardens, rolling hills and vibrant cultural heritage. Covering an area of approximately 12,298 square kilometres, it is bordered by the Indian states of Megh ...

. Narrative folk ballads, known as ''pala gan'', about Tota Mia's heroism gained prominence. These ballads are preserved in Badiuzzaman's Momenshahi Geetika published by

Bangla Academy The Bangla Academy (, ) is the official regulatory body of the Bengali language in Bangladesh. It is an autonomous institution funded by the Government of Bangladesh that fosters the Bengali language, literature and culture, works to develop an ...

. On 12 June 1897, the area was heavily affected during an

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

which resulted in many deaths. Between 1922 and 1923, Sukhair became a prominent area of the Nankar Rebellion. Ghulam Jilani Choudhury of the Selbaras zamindar family married Ashrafunnesa Choudhurani in the 1930s. Their son, Ahmad Taufiq Choudhury, joined the

Ahmadiyya Ahmadiyya, officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ), is an Islamic messianic movement originating in British India in the late 19th century. It was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), who said he had been divinely appointed a ...

movement where he became the regional leader of

Khuddam-ul Ahmadiyya Majlis Khuddam-ul-Ahmadiyya (, literally means "Association of the Servants of Ahmadiyya") is one of five auxiliary organizations in the Ahmadiyya Muslim community. It is the young men's branch of the community, particularly for those between the ...

, and later migrated to Mymensingh where he became the Ameer of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Bangladesh after independence. In 1942, 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 ...

was established at Dharmapasha. 50 people died of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

in one night at the village of Bishara in 1967. In 1983, Dharmapasha Thana was upgraded to an

(sub-district) 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. Three years later, a second thana was founded in Dharmapasha Upazila called Madhyanagar Thana. On 26 July 2021, Khandker Anwarul Islam announced the establishment of

Madhyanagar Upazila Modhonogor or Madhyanagar (, is an upazila in Sunamganj district in Bangladesh About 1.5 lakh people live in 4 unions of the upazila. The second largest haor of Bangladesh, the third Ramsar area is located at Banshikunda of Brihaur in Madhyanagar ...

, which effectively reduced the Dharmapasha Upazila.

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 ...

, the residual Dharmapasha Upazila had 25,305 households and a population of 130,457. 39,626 (30.37%) were under 10 years of age. Dharmapasha had a literacy rate (age 7 and over) of 29.83%, compared to the national average of 51.8%, and a sex ratio of 992 females per 1000 males. 7,858 (6.02%) 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 ...

, Dharamapasha has a population of 164131. Males constitute 51.41% of the population, and females 48.59%. This Upazila's eighteen up population is 80347. Dharamapasha has an average literacy rate of 20.8% (7+ years), and the national average of 32.4% literate.

Economy

Dharamapasha has 14 famous market places, mostly famous for agricultural products, domestic animals, sand, and stones.

Administration

Dharamapasha Upazila is divided into ten

union parishad Union council (), also known as union parishad, rural council, rural union and simply union, is the smallest rural administrative and local government unit in Bangladesh, with zila parishads (district councils) being the largest rural authori ...

s: South Sukair-Rajapur, Dharmapasha, Joysree, Paikurati, Selbarash, and North Sukair-Rajapur. The union parishads are subdivided into 174 mauzas and 324 villages. There are 18 post offices, One Govt. Hospital, One Health Center, One Sub-Health Center and Twenty two community clinics in Dharmapasha Upazila.

Upazila chairmen

Education

* Gulokpur Hazee Abdul Hafez High School. * Dharamapasha Janata High School (oldest one, Former Khoda-Box Public High school ) * Dharamapasha Girls School * Dharamapasha Degree College * Dharamapasha Model Primary School * Badshaganj Govt. High School * Badshaganj Public Girls High School. * Badshaganj Degree College * Khoda-Box Public High school * Joysree High School, Joysree * Modhyanagar B.P. High School and College * Bongshikonda Momin High School * Moheskhola High School * Camardani High School Primary * Patkura Govt. Primary School * Rouha Govt. primary School * Mewhary Govt.primary School * Kandhapara Govt.primary School * Camardani Govt.primary School. * Syedpur Govt.primary School. * Ahmedpur Govt.primary School. * Singpur Govt.primary School. * Khoyerdirchar Govt.primary School. * Mudahorpur Govt primary School. * Batakpur Reg; primary School. * Barpachur Reg; primary School. * Nalgora Reg; primary School. * Selbarash Govt. primary School.

Facilities

Dharmapasha Upazila is home to 192 mosques, most notably the historic Selbaras Jame Mosque.

Notable people

* Abdul Hakeem Chowdhury, former Member of Parliament *

Moazzem Hossain Ratan Moazzem Hossain Ratan (born 13 June 1972) is a Bangladesh Awami League politician and the incumbent Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Sunamganj-1 constituency since 2009. Early life Moazzem Hossain Ratan was born on 13 June 1972 in the vil ...

, politician *

Nirmalendu Chowdhury Nirmalendu Chowdhury () (27 July 1922 – 18 April 1981) was a Bengali musician, composer, lyricist and singer, who contributed significantly to the Folk music of Eastern India, particularly of Bengal and Assam. Early life Nirmalendu was ...

, musician

References

{{Upazilas of Sylhet Division Dharampasha Upazila