 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
Malda district, also speltMaldah orMaldaha (Bengali:[malda],[maldɔɦ], often[maldɔɦo]), is a district inWest Bengal, India. It lies 347 km (215 miles) north ofKolkata, the capital of West Bengal.Mango,jute andsilk are the most notable products of this district. The special variety of mango,Fazli, produced in this region is popularly known by the name of the district and is exported across the world and is internationally acclaimed. The folk culture ofgombhira is a feature of the district, being a unique way of representation of joy and sorrow in daily life of the common people, as well as the unique medium of presentation on national and international matters. According to theNational Investigation Agency Malda is believed to be a hub of afake currency racket.[3][4][5] It is reported that 90 per cent of the fake currency that enters India originates in Malda.[6][7][better source needed]
The headquarters of Malda district is inEnglish Bazar, also known asMalda, which was once thecapital ofBengal. The district maintains the traditions of the past in culture and education.Old Malda, the town which lies just east of the confluence of theMahananda andKalindi rivers, is part of the English Bazar metropolitan city. The town rose to prominence as the river port of the old capital ofPandua. During the 18th century, it was the seat of prosperous cotton and silk industries. It remains an important distribution centre for rice, jute, and wheat. The area between the historical monument of Jame Masjid (1566) and the landmark of Nimasarai Tower across the river Mahananda, constituted a municipality in 1867. Rice, jute,legumes, andoilseed are the chief crops in the surrounding area. Malda is the largest producer of excellent quality jute in India.Mulberry plantations and mango orchards also occupy large areas; mango trade and silk manufacture are the main economic activities.
Pāṇini mentioned a city namedGourpura, which by strong reason may be identified as the city ofGouda, ruins of which are situated in this district. Examples are legion of the relics of a predecessor kingdom being used in the monuments of the successor kingdoms.
It had been within the limits of ancientGour andPandua (Pundrabardhana). These two cities had been the capital of Bengal in ancient and medieval ages and are equidistant, north and south, fromEnglish Bazar town (once known as Engelzavad established by the British rulers).The boundary of Gour was changed in different ages since the fifth century BC, and its name can be found inPuranic texts.Pundranagara was the provincial capital of theMaurya Empire. Gour andPundravardhana formed parts of the Mourya empire as is evinced from theinscriptions,Brahmi script on a seal discovered from the ruins ofMahasthangarh in theBogra District ofBangladesh.Xuanzang saw manyAshokanstupas at Pundravardhana.
The inscriptions discovered in the district of undividedDinajpur and other parts of North Bengal, along with theAllahabad pillar inscriptions ofSamudragupta, clearly indicate that the whole ofNorth Bengal as far east asKamrup formed a part of theGupta Empire. After the Guptas at the beginning of seventh century ADSasanka, the king of Karnasubarna, as well as the king ofGauda, ruled independently for more than three decades. From the middle of the eighth century to the end of the 11th century the Pala dynasty ruled Bengal, and the kings were devoted toBuddhism. It was during their reign that the Jagadalla Vihara (monastery) in Barindri flourished paralleling withNalanda, Vikramshila and Devikot.[8]
ThePala Empire yielded to the emergence of theSen Dynasty. The Sen rulers wereorthodox Hindus, and in the habit of moving from place to place within their kingdom. During this time, Buddhism went on the defensive. It eventually disappeared from the demographic map of Bengal. At the time of GaudeshwaraLakshman Sen, Goud was known as Lakshmanabati. During his reign Bengal was attacked by the Turkic force ofBakhtiyar Khilji. King Lakshman Sen defeated Khilji in battle and successfully resisted Turkic invasion in his empire.[citation needed] After him Keshava Sen, Biswarup Sen, Madhava Sen etc. many Sena dynasty rulers ruled Gauda and hold the title Gaudeshwara Then Deva dynasty kings of Chandradwip ruled Bengal. Deva dynasty kingDanujmardandeva andMahendra Deva both hold the title Gaudeshwara.[citation needed]
The name Mal Daha was coined (fromMal meaning riches andDaha meaning lake).SultansIlyas Shah,Firuz Shah,Sikandar Shah,Raja Ganesha,Alauddin Hussain Shah andNasiruddin Nasrat Shah were the notable rulers of the medieval age.Afghan warriorSher Shah Suri conqueredGour[9] and was repelled byMughal emperorHumayun.Humayun, loving themango of Gour, named the placeJannatabad (garden of heaven).Firuz Shah Tughlaq,Ghiyasuddin and theMughal army invadedGour to suppress rebellion several times.
Relics ofIslamic architecture structures are present in Malda district, such asFiruz minar,Adina Mosque (the largestmosque ofSouth Asia at the time), andQutwali Gate. During the Mughal rule, the capital was removed toDhaka due to a course change of the riverGanges. Muslim rule ended in 1757.Koch army invasion increased during the downfall of Gour.[8][10]
After thewar of Palassy, theBritish rule started in 1757. The English traders settled in the southern bank of the riverMahananda. Some indigo plant chambers, trade centre, and offices were established.William Carey worked here. But the glory days were gone.[opinion]
This district was formed out of some portions of outlying areas ofPurnia,Dinajpur andRajshahi districts in 1813. At the time of Dr. B. Hamilton (1808–09), the present thanas ofGazole, Malda, Bamongola, and part ofHabibpur were included in the district of Dinajpur and the thanas of Harischandrapur, Kharba, Ratua, Manikchak, and Kaliachak were included in the district of Purnia. In 1813, in consequence of the prevalence of serious crimes in the Kaliachak and Sahebganj thanas and also on the rivers, a Joint Magistrate and Deputy Collector were appointed at English Bazar, with jurisdiction over a number of police stations centering that place and taken from the two districts. Thus the district of Malda was born. The year 1832 saw the establishment of a separate treasury and the year 1859 the posting of a full-fledged magistrate and collector.[citation needed]
Up to 1876, this district formed part ofRajshahi Division and between 1876 and 1905, it formed part ofBhagalpur Division. In 1905, it was again transferred to Rajshahi Division and until 1947, Malda remained in this division. During the firstPartition of Bengal of 1905, this district was attached to the newly created province ofEastern Bengal and Assam. Malda has a history of the Indigo movement led byRafique Mondal. The Santhals got insurgent and captured historicAdina Mosque in support of Jeetu. Again in August 1947, this district was affected by partition. Between 12–15 August 1947, the fate of the district as to which side it should go, to Pakistan or to India, was undecided because the announcement of the partition award ofCyril Radcliffe did not make this point clear. During these few days, the district was under a Magistrate ofEast Pakistan due to Muslim majority (1941 British India census). When the details of theRadcliffe Award were published, the district came over toWest Bengal on 17 August 1947. However, the sub-division ofNawabganj was severed from Malda and was given to East Pakistan as a sub-division of theRajshahi district.[8]
Thelatitude range is 24°40’20" N to 25°32’08" N, and thelongitude range is 87°45’50" E to 88°28’10" E. The district covers an area of 3,733.66 square kilometres (1,441.6 sq mi). The total population (as of 2001 Census) was recorded as 3,290,160.
Malda is called the gateway of NorthBengal. It was once the capital ofGour-Banga with its 3,733 square kilometres (1,441 sq mi) lay of the land classified into Tal, Diara, and Barind.
To the south isMurshidabad district, to the north are North Dinajpur district andSouth Dinajpur district. To the east is the international border with Bangladesh. To the west isSanthal Parganas ofJharkhand andPurnea ofBihar.
Malda, the district headquarters which lends its name to the district, during its early days grew up only near the side of the river Mahananda, and now the place is known as Phulbari. Some of the oldest houses can be found here. The city started to grow from 1925 to 1930. Now nearly a half-million people live in this city, and it is one of the biggest cities of West Bengal. It was a part of the historic city ofGour. Malda is recognised as theOld Malda municipality and theEnglish Bazar municipality. Its notable railway station is named asMalda Town.
The Mahadipur international border crossing is on the Malda-Rajshahi route at Mahadipur town in Malda district.
The first monthly periodicals published from Malda wasKusum, edited by Radhesh Chandra Seth, a noted personality of the then Malda. Though the exact date of its first publications is not known, it has been assumed by the informed sources that Kusum was first published in the 1890s. In 1896, Radhesh Chandra published two weekly newspapersGourdoot andGourbarta.[11] In 1897 Maldaha Samachar edited by Kaliprasanna Chakrabarty began to be published. Maulavi Abdul Ganikhan published 'Malda Akhbar' in 1914. In the same year, another periodical Gambhira' edited by Krishna Charan Sarkar was published. Damru, Adina and Minar—three weekly newspapers were published in 1941. The editors were Nanda Gopal Chowdhury, Akbar Munshi and Abdur Rahaman respectively.
The most important among them wasGourdoot which was first published on 1896 by Radhesh Chandra Seth. But within a short period, the publication of the newspaper came to an end as the editor faced a serious financial loss. The 'Gourdoot' again began to be published from 1912 under the editorship of Lalbihari Majumdar. Majumdar was a great scholar and his literary sense was appreciated by Benoy Kumar Sarkar and Radhesh Chandra Seth. In this endeavour, the editor was greatly supported by them and financed by Sarat Chandra Roy Chowdhury, Maharaja of Chancal. The Gourdoot was used to be published on Thursday of each week. The paper contained 6 pages and the price is one anna in 1944. The political outlook of the newspaper is pro-Congress. Moreover, Lalbihari Majumdar, its editor, took a pioneering role in organising the congress movement in Malda.[citation needed]
The most important among the popular movement is the one led by Jitu Santhal in 1932. Historians like Tanika Sarkar observes Jitu's movement was rooted in the rich tradition of tribal struggle in Malda. The early form of Santhal resistance was migration, which Professor Ashim Sarkar thinks amounted to a kind of passive resistance. Active struggle between the Santhals and their landlords began about 1910.
As the barind (barindra) area began to be transformed into a developed agricultural zone, the zamindars of barind began to enhance the rent and curb the rights so far enjoyed by the Santhal from 1910 onwards. M.O Carter mentions cases were commonly found in which the lands cultivated by the adhiars, which were previously their occupancy holdings but had been sold up in rent or mortgage sales. This caused friction among zamindars and Santhals. The friction took an alarming proportion as early as 1910 when a zamindar of Bulbulchandi tried to enhance the rent. The Santhal tenants rose into protest. The gravity of the situation compelled Mr. Vas, the District Magistrate, to interfere and fix the rent. It was in this backdrop of oppression, exploitation and injustice. Jitu Santhal of Kochakandahar village of Habibpur began to mobilise the Santhals for a widespread movement. In 1926 Jitu became the leader of the Santhals byconverting them toManuvadi Hinduism. In the same year 'Jitu's Sanyasi Dal' defied police order to perform a Kali puja to assert its new Hindu status. In September 1928 Santhals under Jitu's leadershiplooted the autumn crop ofSikharpur which had recently been taken away from them inbarind region. The District Magistrate and the Superintendent of the Police rushed to the spot with armed police. After much skirmishes, Jitu along with his sixty followers arrested at the hand of the police.[12]
In 2006 theMinistry of Panchayati Raj named Malda one of the country's 283most backward districts (out of a total of640).[13] It is one of the eleven districts in West Bengal currently receiving funds from theBackward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).No notable industry is made here. Most of the people of the district are agricultural labourer and unskilled labourer.[13][14]
The district comprises two subdivisions:Chanchal andMalda Sadar. Chanchal consists of six community development blocks: Chanchal–I, Chanchal–II, Ratua–I, Ratua–II, Harishchandrapur–I and Harishchandrapur–II. Malda Sadar subdivision consists ofOld Malda municipality,English Bazar municipality and nine community development blocks: English Bazar, Gazole, Habibpur, Kaliachak–I, Kaliachak–II, Kaliachak–III, Manickchak, Old Malda and Bamangola.[15]English Bazar is the district headquarters. There are 12 police stations,[16] 15 development blocks, 2 municipalities, 146gram panchayats and 3,701 villages in this district.[15][17]
Other than municipality areas, each subdivision contains community development blocs, which in turn, are divided into rural areas and census towns.[18] In total there are 10 urban units, 2 municipalities and 3 census towns.English Bazar andOld Malda form anurban agglomeration.
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 | 603,649 | — |
| 1911 | 698,547 | +1.47% |
| 1921 | 686,174 | −0.18% |
| 1931 | 720,440 | +0.49% |
| 1941 | 844,315 | +1.60% |
| 1951 | 937,580 | +1.05% |
| 1961 | 1,221,923 | +2.68% |
| 1971 | 1,612,657 | +2.81% |
| 1981 | 2,031,871 | +2.34% |
| 1991 | 2,637,032 | +2.64% |
| 2001 | 3,290,468 | +2.24% |
| 2011 | 3,988,845 | +1.94% |
| source:[19] | ||
Bengalis about 91% includingBengali Muslims andBengali Hindus form the majority of the district population. Bengali Muslims about 51.27% form themajority of Malda district population whereas Bengali Hindus are the second largest community forming about 48% of District population. According to the2011 census Malda district has apopulation of 3,988,845,[20] roughly equal to the nation ofLiberia[21] or the US state ofOregon.[22] This gives it a ranking of 58th in India (out of a total of640).[20] The district has a population density of 1,071 inhabitants per square kilometre (2,770/sq mi) .[20] Itspopulation growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 21.5%.[20] Malda has asex ratio of 939females for every 1000 males,[20] and aliteracy rate of 62.71%. 13.58% of the population live in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 20.94% and 7.87% of the population respectively.[20]
Malda has a largely diverse range of population groups. People from adjoining regions like Bihar and Murshidabad district came here since centuries. People of various classes and tribes like Polia,Shershabadia,Khotta,Panjhra,Chain Mondal,Rajbanshi, andSanthal inhabit the district.[23]
| Religion | Population (1941)[25]: 75 | Percentage (1941) | Population (2011)[24] | Percentage (2011) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Islam | 414,031 | 49.04% | 2,045,151 | 51.27% |
Hinduism | 378,341 | 44.81% | 1,914,352 | 47.99% |
| Tribal religion | 51,462 | 6.10% | 7,929 | 0.20% |
| Others[a] | 481 | 0.06% | 21,413 | 0.54% |
| Total Population | 844,315 | 100% | 3,988,845 | 100% |
Muslims are the majority in the district, and are most dominant in the northwest and south along the Padma River. Hindus are in majority to the east of the Padma along the Bangladesh border, as well as in urban areas.[24]
| CD Block | Muslim | Hindu | Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harishchandrapur I | 59.41% | 40.31% | 0.28% |
| Harishchandrapur II | 73.65% | 26.18% | 0.17% |
| Chanchal I | 71.22% | 28.61% | 0.17% |
| Chanchal II | 71.25% | 27.82% | 0.93% |
| Ratua I | 66.88% | 32.97% | 0.15% |
| Ratua II | 78.71% | 21.18% | 0.11% |
| Gazole | 23.60% | 74.51% | 1.89% |
| Bamangola | 8.87% | 89.96% | 1.17% |
| Habibpur | 1.28% | 94.96% | 3.76% |
| Old Malda | 28.60% | 70.00% | 1.40% |
| English Bazar | 51.49% | 48.34% | 0.17% |
| Manikchak | 43.88% | 55.96% | 0.16% |
| Kaliachak I | 89.29% | 10.56% | 0.15% |
| Kaliachak II | 65.98% | 33.88% | 0.14% |
| Kaliachak III | 50.72% | 49.01% | 0.27% |
| Area not under any Sub-district | 11.66% | 86.80% | 1.54% |
The language spoken by the populace of Malda district is predominantlyBengali.[26]Khotta,Santali,Maithili andHindi languages are also spoken by some minority population throughout the district.[27]
Malda has special cultural sorts likeGombhira,Alkap,Kavigan etc.
Almost all of the major religious festivals are celebrated, like
Some of the most reputed cultural fairs of the district are
Notable educational institutions of the district include:
.svg)
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)Liberia 3,786,764 July 2011 est.
Oregon 3,831,074
Places adjacent to Malda district | |
|---|---|
Cities, towns and locations inMalda district,Malda division | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cities, towns and locations in Purnia division, BiharCities, towns and locations in Uttar Dinajpur districtCities, towns and locations in Dakshin Dinajpur districtNaogaon District, BangladeshChapai Nawabganj District, Bangladesh Cities, towns and locations in Murshidabad districtCities, towns and locations in Santhal Parganas division, Jharkhand | ||||||
| Cities,municipal andcensus towns |
|  | ||||
| Locations other than cities and towns |
| |||||
| Neighbourhood | ||||||
| Related topics | ||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
