Muradnagar ( bn, মুরাদনগর, Muradnogor) is an

upazila An ''upazila'' ( bn, উপজেলা, upôzela, lit=sub-district pronounced: ), formerly called ''thana'', is an administrative region in Bangladesh, functioning as a sub-unit of a district. It can be seen as an analogous to a county or a ...

of the

Comilla District Comilla District, officially known as Cumilla District, is a district of Bangladesh located about 100 kilometres south east of Dhaka. Comilla is bordered by Brahmanbaria and Narayanganj districts to the north, Noakhali and Feni districts to t ...

in Chittagong Division, Bangladesh.

History

In ancient times, the area was a part of the geopolitical region of

Samatata Samataṭa (Brahmi script: ''sa-ma-ta-ṭa'') was an ancient geopolitical division of Bengal in the eastern Indian subcontinent. The Greco-Roman account of ''Sounagoura'' is linked to the kingdom of Samatata. Its territory corresponded to much ...

ruled by the Rata dynasty. In the late 20th century, an irrigation canal was being dug in Urishwar, Paharpur Union. During the process, three copper plate inscriptions were discovered, surrounded by old potsherds, supposedly belonging to the Rata dynasty of Samatata. Muradnagar was previously known as Tholla. During the

Mughal period The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

, the area was under the Balda Khal pargana. After the arrival of the

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

, a number of rebellions and peasant movements took place in Tholla. The 19th-century

zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...

Mir Ashraf Ali Shirazi had a house in Tholla. In 1858, Tholla was established as a

thana Thana means "police station" in South Asian countries, and can also mean the district controlled by a police station. * Thanas of Bangladesh, former subdistricts in the administrative geography of Bangladesh; later renamed ''upazila'' * in (Briti ...

and in 1878, Tholla was renamed to Muradnagar. It was named after the revenue collector Mir Murad Ali.

Khwaja Salimullah Nawab Sir Khwaja Salimullah Bahadur (7 June 1871 – 16 January 1915) was the fourth Nawab of Dhaka and one of the leading Muslim politicians during the British rule in India. In 1906, the Muslim League was officially founded at the educationa ...

, the

Nawab of Dhaka The Nawab of Dhaka (Bengali: "ঢাকার নবাব"), originally spelt in English Nawab of Dacca, was the title of the head of largest Muslim zamindar in British Bengal and Assam, based in present-day Dhaka, Bangladesh. The title of ''na ...

donated towards the Muradnagar High School in 1903. In 1941, Captain Narendranath Dutta founded the Sreekail College, an institution of nationwide importance. Many Muradnagari freedom fighters were murdered during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 during face-offs against the Pakistan Army. The thana was upgraded to an upazila in 1983.

Geography

Muradnagar is located at . It has 101,809 households covering a total area of 340.73 km².

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 reco ...

, Muradnagar upazila had a population of 523,556 living in 101,809 households. Its growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 11.86%. Muradnagar has a sex ratio of 1115 females per 1000 males and a literacy rate of 48.81%. 32,644 (6.24%) live in urban areas.

Administration

Muradnagar Upazila is divided into 22

union parishad Union council ( bn, ইউনিয়ন পরিষদ, translit=iūniyan pariṣad, translit-std=IAST), also known as union parishad, rural council, rural union and simply union, is the smallest rural administrative and local government unit ...

s: Akubpur, Andikot ( Haidarabad), Babuti Para, Chapitala, Chhaliakandi, Dakshin Ramchandrapur, Darora, Dhamghar, Jahapur, Jatrapur, Kamalla, Muradnagar, Paharpur, Paschim Bangara, Paschim Nabipur, Paschim Porbadhair, Purba Bangara, Purba Nabipur, Purba Purbadhair, Sreekail, Tanki, and Uttar Ramchandrapur. The union parishads are subdivided into 153 mauzas and 301 villages.

List of chairmen

Notable people

* Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad, Politician *

Rafiqul Islam Miah Rafiqul Islam Miah is a Bangladeshi barrister and politician. He served as the State Minister for Labour and Manpower and later as Minister of Housing and Public Works in the first Khaleda Zia cabinet during 1991–1996. He also served as Minist ...

, Politician * Yussuf Abdullah Harun, Politician

References

External links

* http://muradnagar.comilla.gov.bd/ * https://web.archive.org/web/20130503014930/http://www.bbs.gov.bd/webtestapplication/userfiles/image/Census2011/Chittagong/Commilla/Comilla_C04.pdf * https://web.archive.org/web/20130503014204/http://www.bbs.gov.bd/webtestapplication/userfiles/image/Census2011/Chittagong/Commilla/Comilla%20at%20a%20glance.pdf * https://web.archive.org/web/20131113172538/http://www.bbs.gov.bd/WebTestApplication/userfiles/Image/BBS/Socio_Economic.pdf {{Comilla District Upazilas of Comilla District