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TheGreater Jessore district region predominantly includes the modern districts ofJessore,Jhenaidah,[1]Narail, andMagura in Bangladesh, as well as theBangaon subdivision of India. Nestled close to theSundarbans, the region experienced human settlement early on. It served as the capital city of theSamatata realm and passed through severalBuddhist andHindu kingdoms, such as thePalas andSenas. Jessore was ruled byKhan Jahan Ali ofKhalifatabad, under the MuslimSultanate of Bengal, who is credited with establishing theQasbah of Murali and urbanising the region through advancements in transportation and civilization. Jessore later came to be ruled by various kings,such asPratapaditya, and became familiar to contemporary European travellers asChandecan before being annexed to theMughal Empire in the seventeenth century. By 1757, theBritish East India Company had dominated and started to establish themselves in the region. British rule lasted up until 1947, with Jessore coming under theProvisional Government of Bangladesh from 1971 onwards.
It is thought that Jessore was a sparsely populatedfenland in ancient times, being situated between theSuhma kingdom and theVanga kingdom. Ruins of an ancient temple dating back to the2nd century have been discovered inDonar, Manirampur.[2] By the fifth century, the Jessore region came under the control of the Vanga kingdom.Alexander Cunningham suggests that Jessore was the capital of theBuddhistSamatata kingdom, whichXuanzang ofTang China visited in the 630s and mentioned in his book, theGreat Tang Records on the Western Regions.[3][4] It is said that Vanga lost control of Jessore after the invasion of KingJessobarman ofKannauj. Jessore then successively came under the rule of thePalas andSenas.[5]
A caravan of 25Muslim preachers was said to have arrived in the greater Jessore region following theUmayyad conquest of Sindh in 711 AD, developing a small minority community in the area. In the following centuries, a further ten large caravans ofghazis, predominantly from theArabian Peninsula, permanently settled in the regions of Jessore,Khulna, and the24 Parganas. Notable personalities among this later group includeGazi Pir, Zayed Ghazi, Ahmad Ghazi, Hussaini Ghazi, Muhammad Ghazi, Mawdud Ghazi, Mubashar Ghazi, Momin Ghazi, Amjad Ghazi, Sahib Ghazi, Abdullah, and Sanaullah Rana-Ghazi. Four of theseghazis established the village of Dariapur inSreepur, Magura, as their hub. The settlement of these Muslim populations influenced local Buddhists and Hindus to convert to Islam.[6]
Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji'sconquest of Bengal in 1202 formally established Muslim rule in the region. During the early 14th century, Bengal was divided between three small divisions:Sonargaon in the east,Lakhnauti in the west, andSatgaon in the south.Izzuddin Yahya was appointed byMuhammad bin Tughluq as the governor of southern Bengal, and he encouragedconversion to Islam among the Buddhist and Hindu populations. Yahya was succeeded byShamsuddin Ilyas Shah, who established the independentSultanate of Bengal.[7] SeveralSufidervishes started to propagate Islam in Jessore after this period, includingSyed Shahadat Ali. In the mid-15th century, the Sultan of Bengal appointedKhan Jahan Ali as the ruler ofKhalifatabad, which included the greater Jessore region.[8] Ali resided in Champanagar (renamedBaro Bazar after his 12 disciples), which served as a centre of medieval Bengali civilisation.[9] 126 dighis are attributed to him in Jhenaidah, and mosques built there during his stay includeGorar Mosque,Galakata Mosque,Jorbangla Mosque,Pir Pukur Mosque,Satgachia Mosque,Manohar Mosque, Shukur Mallik,Nungola Mosque,Pathagar Mosque andSingdaha Awliya Mosque. Damdama and the dighis of Galakata and Saudagar can also be found here.[10] He was also known to have established theQasbah (township) of Murali and connected it with other small towns in Jessore, such as Bogchar, by completing Ghazi's long road (now known asKhanjalir Jangal) which originally went from Barobazar to Murali-Qasba (Jessore town), extending it tohis capital. Ali also entrusted two of his disciples, Gharib Shah and Burhan Shah, to preach Islamic teachings in Qasba (Jessore town).[11] TheShailkupa Shahi Mosque was built during the reign of SultanNasiruddin Nasrat Shah, who appointed Mawlana Sufi Muhammad Arab to propagate there. Among hisdisciples were Shah Abdul Qadir and Abdul Hakim Khan. Raja
After the fall of theHussain Shahi dynasty, Bengal experienced political fragmentation. Jashore saw the establishment of a local dynasty. During the so-called twelve-lord period of Bengal,Pratapaditya was a quasi-independent ruler of Jashore who built up a significant local military force, including a large fleet. Following the invasions of Man Singh and Islam Khan Chishti, the reign of Jashore passed to new landlords sanctioned by theMughal Empire.[12][13] Pratapaditya was portrayed in various poetic, semi-legendary, or hagiographic works by authors likeBharat Chandra,Ramram Basu, andSarala Devi Chaudhurani, among others.
TheMughal invasions and conquests inBengal started during the reigns of EmperorsHumayun andAkbar. TheBattle of Rajmahal in 1576 led to the execution ofDaud Khan Karrani, ending theKarrani sultanate. Jessore later came to be ruled by an independent chieftain known asPratapaditya, though the region was conquered by theMughal Army earlier than other parts of Bengal. Under the Mughals, northern Jessore was administered under the Mahmudabadsarkar, while southern Jessore was made a part of the Khalifatabadsarkar.[14] In 1589, a group of Mughal soldiers based inGhoraghat rebelliously captured Jessore. As a response,Man Singh I, theSubahdar ofBengal, dispatched an army led by his son, Jagat Singh, to defeat the rebels and reclaim Jessore as a territory of Mughal Bengal.[15]Raja Sitaram Ray named the town of Mahmudpur in honour of Sufi Mahmud Shah ofMagura.Shah Sultan Ahmad arrived in Jessore as a member of Man Singh's army and became established in the region as a prominent Sufi. Raja Shukdev of Chanchra arranged for Ahmad's tax-free land grant in Singhra (now in Jessore town). Shah Abdul Karim'sErshad-i-Khaleqia work is the oldest book onSufism written in the region.[6]
A church was set up by CatholicJesuit priests inc. 1600, which was the first ever church in easternBengal.[12] In the later Mughal period, afaujdar (sometimes referred to as anawab) would be appointed by thesubahdar to govern Jessore. The governor's residence, known as the Mirzanagar Nawab Bari, was built inKeshabpur inc. 1649. The complex consists of a residential building, mosque, bathing house, and fort. It was especially prominent underMirza Shafshikan andNurullah Khan, both of whom were Faujdars of Jessore.[16] In the mid-1690s, Khan was ordered by the Governor of Bengal to march from Jessore and defeat the rebels inBurdwan following the murder of RajaKrishna Ram Roy.[15]
During the reign of NawabMurshid Quli Khan, a localzamindar in Jessore known asSitaram Ray revolted against the Mughal rule, but was defeated by the imperial forces.[17] The Chachra Shiv temple, for example, is an eight-eaves (at-chala) temple dedicated to the Hindu Lord Shiva that was constructed by the local landlord Manohar in 1696. The temple stands inJessore Sadar today.[18] A descendant ofShah Ali Baghdadi by the name of Shah Hafiz arrived in Magura from Girdah in Faridpur, where he established akhanqah in the 18th century. Hafiz was granted tax-free land in Naldanga by the Hindu zamindar. His village in Magura was later renamed to Alokdia (light-giving) in memory of his preaching.[6]
After the establishment of British colonial rule, Jashore was declared as a separate district for the British administrative system. The famous Bengali authorBankim Chandra Chattopadhyay served as the deputy collector and deputy magistrate of Jashore for some time. In 1868, the Jashore municipality (Paurasabha) was established. The district school was established in 1838, a public library in 1851, and an airport in the 1920s–1930s. A cantonment was set up in Jessore.
Anindigo revolt was initiated by farmers in Jessore between 1860 and 1861.[19]
During the 1971Bangladesh liberation war, the Jessore road was a key route of Bengali refugees streaming into India for shelter against the atrocities of thePakistani military forces that occupiedEast Bengal. The poetAllen Ginsberg wrote his famous poem "September on Jessore Road" after visiting the refugee camps. On March 30, 1971, the Bengali soldiers in Jessore Cantonment revolted against the Pakistani regime. Bengali freedom fighters organized resistance in Jashore. In November 1971, a pitched battle was fought in Chaugachha between the Pakistani army and the Bangladeshi freedom fighters supported by the Indian allied forces, where the former was routed.[20] On December 6, 1971, Jashore became the first district of Bangladesh to become independent.[21]