Jagannath Hall of Dhaka University is a residence hall for students from religious minorities, including Buddhists, Christian, and Hindus. It is one of the three original residence halls that date from the founding of the university in 1921, and is modelled on the

colleges of the University of Oxford The University of Oxford has 36 colleges within universities in the United Kingdom#Traditional collegiate universities, colleges, three societies, and four permanent private halls (PPHs) of religious foundation. The colleges and PPHs are autonom ...

, a complex of buildings including residences, meeting rooms, dining rooms, a prayer hall, gardens, and sporting facilities. Of the approximately 2000 students of the hall, half live in the residences, and half are non-residential students affiliated with the college. Several professors at the university hold the positions of house tutors and provost at the hall. In 1971, the Pakistan Army killed over 300 students at this Hindu-majority dormitory.

Structures

The hall includes four residential buildings: * Govinda Chandra Dev building * Sontosh Chandra Bhattacharya Bhavan (New Building) * October Memorial Building (October Smiriti Bhaban) * Jyotirmoy Guhathakurta building

History

Establishment

Kisorilal Roy Chowdhury, 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 ...

of Baliati in Saturia, Manikganj, who had previously established Jagannath College named after his father Jagannath Saha, also established this hall of University of Dhaka. University of Dhaka was established in 1921 as a merger of the two institutes of higher learning that existed in the city at that time,

Dhaka College Dhaka College (), informally known as DC, is a public educational institution of Bangladesh located in Dhanmondi, Dhaka. It is one of the oldest educational institutions in the subcontinent. It offers Honours degree, honours and Master's degree ...

, a government institution, and Jagannath College, which was privately funded. With the Jagannath College Act of the Indian Legislative Council (Act No XVI of 1920), that college was renamed as Jagannath Intermediate College, and the second- and third-year students (303 in all) were transferred to University of Dhaka the following year, along with many teachers and equipment such as library books. Two residence halls at Dhaka University were then named after the contributing colleges: Jagannath Hall and Dhaka Hall (since renamed Dr Muhammad Shahidullah Hall). The first Provost of this hall was Professor Naresh Chandra Sengupta, who served from 1921 to 1924. Other famous provosts include philosopher Govinda Chandra Dev (who served from 1957 to 1970) who was murdered by the occupying Pakistani army in 1971, along with the then current provost Professor Jyotirmoy Guhathakurta.

Assembly House

On 20 June 1947, 141 East Bengali legislators from the

Bengal Legislative Assembly The Bengal Legislative Assembly () was the largest legislatures of British India, legislature in British India, serving as the lower chamber of the legislature of Bengal Presidency, Bengal (now Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal). It ...

voted on the partition of Bengal, with 107 supporting joining Pakistan's

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

if Bengal were partitioned. The Sylhet region in Assam voted in a referendum to join East Bengal. After the creation of the

Dominion of Pakistan The Dominion of Pakistan, officially Pakistan, was an independent federal dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations, which existed from 14 August 1947 to Pakistan Day, 23 March 1956. It was created by the passing of the Indian Independence ...

, those 141 legislators, in addition to legislators from Sylhet of the Assam Legislative Assembly, formed the

East Bengal Legislative Assembly The East Pakistan Provincial Assembly, known as the East Bengal Legislative Assembly between 1947 and 1955, was the provincial legislature of East Pakistan between 1947 and 1971. It was known as the East Bengal Assembly from 1947 to 1955 when the ...

. The Muslim League's Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin became the first chief minister. He was succeeded by Nurul Amin in 1948. The assembly was housed in Jagannath Hall.

Mass murder during Operation Searchlight

After midnight on 25 March 1971, the campaign of genocide ( Operation Searchlight) against intellectuals by the Pakistani army took place in the Dhaka University area. Jagannath Hall could not be defended against this action, and many residential students and employees were killed on that night. Professor Jyotirmoy Guhathakura and Professor Govinda Chandra Dev, the former and current provosts, were also murdered at their apartments on Secretariat Road. Over 300 students were killed after the Pakistani army encircled the hall, burned it, and indiscriminately fired at it.

1985 Jagannath Hall tragedy

On 15 October 1985, a tragic accident occurred when the roof of the ancient assembly building of Jagannath Hall collapsed. It killed 39 people, students, employees and guests. Since then the day is observed as a day of mourning for the university. In 1988 the building was reconstructed as a residential building, and named October Memorial Building.