Famous Persons from Cumilla

At present, Comilla is a district under the Chittagong Division. It is a historical and famous area in the country. In the ancient times it belonged to the Samatat Township and later it became part of the State of Tripura.

The history says, Tripura was ruled by the Gupta emperors since the fifth century AD. The Buddhist rulers ruled the region from the seventh to the middle of the eighth century. In the ninth century, Comilla came under the rule of the kings of Harikel. Later this region was ruled by the Chandra Dynasty for about 150 years from the tenth to the middle of the eleventh century. Later it was ruled by the Mughals and came under the East India Company in 1765.

Year after year, lots of famous people were born in this district. All of these persons have done lots of things for Cumilla district and for the whole country. Below is the list of some famous person from Cumilla.

Name and Lifetime:

• Maharaja Birchandra Manikya Bahadur, 1837-1896

• Nawab Faizunnesa Chowdhurani, 1834-1903

• Hor Dayal Nag, 1853-1942

• Mahesh Chandra Bhattacharya, 1858-1943

• Nawab Sir Syed Shamsul Huda, 1862-1922

• Ray Bahadur Anand Chandra Roy, 1863-1920

• Syed Abdul Jabbar, 1867-1951

• Nawab Syed Hoccham Haider Chowdhury, 1868-1921

• Akhil Chandra Dev, 1869-1950

• Khan Bahadur Abidur Reza Chowdhury, 1880-1961

• Abdur Rasool, 1870-1917

• Khan Bahadur Abdul Karim, 1873-1945

• Nawab Mosharraf Hossain, 1876-1966

• Bashant Kumar Majumder, 1876-1944

• Narendra Chandra Dutta, 1878-1962

• Kamini Kumar Dutta, 1879-1959

• Sachin Dev Varman, 1906-1975

• Dhirendra Nath Dutta, 1886-1971

• Captain Narendranath Dutta, 1884-1949

• Hem Prava Majumder, 1888-1962

• Nawab Sir K. G. M. Faroqui, 1890-1984

• Ashraf Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, 1893-1976

• Atindra Mohan Ray, 1894-1979

• Shahidul Haque, 1894-1968

• Khan Bahadur Mofizuddin Ahmed, 1898-1979

• Abdul Malek, 1898-1965

• Habibur Rahman Chowdhury, 1899-1972

• A. K. M. Zahirul Haque (Lil Miah), 1903-1981

• Dr. Akhtar Hamid Khan, 1914-1999

• Major Abdul Gani, 1915-1957

• Dr. Mujibur Rahman Khan, 1925-1982

Related:

History and Sculptures of Mainamati-Lalmai Range | Part 1
Cast Images - History and Sculptures of Mainamati-Lalmai | Part 2
Little History of SouthEast Bengal | Conquest and Culture Changes

A little about Comilla District
Rammala Library and Mahesh Chandra Bhattachrya

Bangladesh Census Report - 2011 for Comilla
Total 16 Upazilas under Comilla District
Khadi or Khaddar Cloth | Tradition of Comilla

Cumilla Division | The demand of Time

In the Nineteen Sixties, greater mass movement was formed for the implementation of the Cumilla division in the country. It is known that the provincial council was raised in the context of the rationality of the establishment of the division and mass movement in Comilla. In 1994, the leader of the opposition, the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in a meeting on Comilla Railway Station, while going to Chittagong from Dhaka, The leader said that the Comilla will be a Division if Bangladesh Awami League came to power.

Based on the number of population and the number of MPs (Member of Parliament) and other criterias, it is fair to divide the region of Cumilla as a division.

• There are 16 MPs in Chittagong, 4 MPs in Cox's Bazar, 1 MP from Rangamati, 1 MP from Khagrachari and 1 MP from Bandarban district. Total number of MPs from 5 districts of Chittagong and Hill Tracts area is 23.

• From the greater Cumilla and Noakhali region there are 11 MPs from Cumilla district, 6 MPs from Noakhali district, 6 MPs from Brahmanbaria, 5 MPs from Chandpur, 4 MPs from Laxmipur and 3 MPs from Feni district. There are total 35 MPs from the Greater Comilla and Noakhali region.

• From these 35 numbers of MPs, Twenty Two are from three districts of greater Comilla area.

• According to the 2011 population census of Bangladesh Government, the total population of Chittagong and Chittagong Hill Tracts was 1 Crore 18 Lac and 41 thousand.

• Based on the same census in 2011, the total population of the Greater Comilla and Noakhali region was 1 Crore 76 Lac 38 Thousand and 963.

• The population of Greater Comilla region was 1 Crore 10 Lac 43 Thousand and 386.

• Greater Noakhali area population was 65 Lac 96 Thousand and 577.

• The total area of Chittagong division is 33,771 square kilometers.

• The Chattogram Division is a large one having 11 numbers of districts, 2 city corporations, 100 upazilas, 61 municipalities/pourasava, 120 police stations and 946 union parishads.

Many Divisions in Bangladesh have been formed with fewer population and fewer MPs. Though judging from the population and Members of Parliament, the claim for Comilla division is fair. It seems to be very difficult to control the whole area by one divisional Commissioner. The biggest thing is that it’s also hinders for the development of the region. At the same time, the government's financial expenditures also increasing due to various system losses. By dividing Comilla, the expenditure can be reduced.

At present, there are no more divisions in the country that has 11 numbers of districts except Chattogram Division. Large sections have been divided for administrative decentralization across the country. Now, Comilla should be divided for the time being. Otherwise, this region will be wrongly judged and the development oriented people will be affected by extreme discrimination.

Cumilla is required to establish as a division through the decentralization in order to reach the state's doorstep for the establishment of strong administrative structure, balanced development and for good governance. There are 50 government and non-government departments and organizations office in Comilla - Noakhali territories. Many of these departments will not have to be re-established if divide Comilla. These will be established as divisional offices.

Cumilla has a glorious position in numbers of the educational institutions, it is called educational hub. At present, there are five Medical Colleges (One public and four private), five Universities in Cumilla (One public and four private) located around the Cumilla city.

The roads and communication systems of the region was developed for a very long time. Inside this district, 112-kilometer portion of the Dhaka-Chittagong National highway, which is known as the country's economic gateway, has been dispersed. The Cumilla district is surrounded by five of the six districts of greater Comilla and Noakhali region. Only the Lakshmipur district is a little away, but the roads and communication system is well with Lakshmipur.

Brahmanbaria district situated on the north side of Comilla, Chandpur district on the south-west side, Noakhali and Lakshmipur district on the south side and Feni district is located on the south-east side.

For International Border with India, it is very easy to make inter-country communication via road, railway and waterway (via Gomti River) to boost trade and commerce of the country. Considering the communication system, the Comilla division has the right priority.

The implementation of the Comilla division has now become a mass demand for the time being. Comilla Gonodabi Parishad has been in the movement for three decades in the context of this claim. Comilla's long-standing demand came forward even after the recent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina decided to break the Chittagong division into another division. As a result, people of the area believe that their long-standing demand will be in reality soon.

It was people's usual demand for establishing a new division comprising with these six districts. So, the demand for the life of the large population of the greater Cumilla area will come true soon. People of these areas now believe it.

The demand of the peoples: Cumilla Division!

Thanks,

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Little History of SouthEast Bengal | Conquest and Culture Changes

The instruments of Mughal conquests in Bhati, or Eastern part of the Bengal, the threat or the use of brute force and the use of sizable rewards for enticing enemy defections, did not differ from those used in the west or the north. Typical was Islam Khan’s annexation of the Zamindari of Bhallua, in what is now the Comilla-Noakhali region of the southeastern delta. Around the year 1611 a force of four thousand cavalry, three thousand musketeers, and fifty elephants entered the territory of Raja Ananta Manik with orders to extend to the king the hope of imperial favors should he submit; and if he resisted, bringing to Dhaka either the king’s person or his severed head.

Advancing into the Comilla region, the army easily reduced one of the king’s forts near modern-day Chandpur, while groups of Mughal soldiers pillaged the countryside and terrorized the peasants by killing or imprisoning those who refused submission. Here as elsewhere military sticks were accompanied by political carrots. After making overtures to Mughal officers, the raja’s chief minister was offered and accepted a middle-level imperial rank. His military and political positions thus undermined, Ananta Manik eventually abandoned his territories, which were forthwith annexed to Mughal Bengal.

About the same time, Raja Ram Chandra of Bakla in Eastern Bakarganj, one of the “twelve chieftains” of eastern Bengal, was similarly overwhelmed. Although placed under detention in Dhaka, the ex-king was allowed to retain enough of his former territory to maintain a naval fleet, while his remaining lands were handed over to Mughal collectors and assigned to other Jagirdars. As we have seen, in the delta’s central and northeastern sectors - today’s Dhaka, Mymensingh, and Sylhet districts - Isa Khan’s son Musa had already been defeated and integrated into Mughal service, and in 1612 ‘Uthman Khan, the last major holdout against Mughal authority in the province, was killed and his Afghan troops were absorbed into Mughal service.

Unlike the population of the northern frontier region, however, and despite the pillaging of village communities as had occurred in the campaign against Ananta Manik, the people of eastern Bengal did not mount a prolonged resistance to the imposition of Mughal authority. On the contrary, for much of this region’s population, political submission was gradually followed by the adoption of a distinctly Islamic identity. In the Dhaka region, Muslim peasant communities were reported as early as 1599, even as the balance of power in the region was shifting from Isa Khan to Raja Man Singh. Such communities were also reported in the Noakhali region in the 1630s and in the Rangpur region in the 1660s.

The map above indicates that by 1872, when the earliest reliable census data come to hand, Muslims predominated in Bengal’s eastern districts in proportions ranging from 60 to 90 percent, in contrast to western districts, where they shaded off from less than 40 percent of the total to virtually zero along the delta’s western edge. Clearly, given its extraordinary incidence of Islamization, the cultural evolution of the east departed radically from that of the rest of the delta or, for that matter, the rest of India.

Yet Mughal policy, which in any case was not directed at converting the “natives,” does not appear to have been applied any differently in the east than in the west. Nor is there any evidence that Sufis were any more pious, preachers any more zealous, or warriors any more courageous in East Bengal than were those in the west. For so different an outcome to have occurred there must have been other factors or forces operating in the east that were altogether unique to the region. In the next few chapters we shall explore this question in detail.

source: The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760, Richard M. Eaton

Thanks a lot for reading this.


read other related posts:
History and Sculptures of Lalmai-Mainamati Range - Part 1
History and Sculptures in Mainamati-Lalmai Comilla - Part 3

A little about Comilla District

Bangladesh Census Report - 2011 for Comilla
Total 16 Upazilas under Comilla District
Famous Persons from Comilla Region