Kishoreganj

About Kishoreganj

Kishoreganj is in the north-east of Dhaka Division, between Mymensingh and Netrokona to the north and west, Sunamganj and Habiganj to the east, and Brahmanbaria and Narsingdi to the south. It has 13 upazilas, including Kishoreganj Sadar, Bhairab, Bajitpur, Kuliarchar, Katiadi, Pakundia, Hossainpur, Karimganj, Tarail, Nikli, Itna, Mithamain and Austagram. The 2022 census counted about 3.27 million people.

The district has two very different halves. The west is flat, well-drained farmland along the Old Brahmaputra and the Narasunda, the river that runs through Kishoreganj town. The east is haor country: shallow basins that turn into a sea during the monsoon, when villages stand like islands and boats replace roads, then drain in winter into immense fields of boro rice. The Meghna is born on the district's south-eastern edge, where the Surma and Kushiyara systems meet, and flows past Bhairab.

In recent years the all-weather road linking Itna, Mithamain and Austagram has made the haors a popular trip from Dhaka, especially in the rainy season, when the road appears to float across open water.

History

Archaeology at Egarosindur in Pakundia points to trade going back many centuries, and the area lay on the fringes of Kamarupa before passing under the Pala and Sena kings and later local Koch and Barman chiefs. In the late 16th century the Baro-Bhuiyan leader Isa Khan took the fort at Jangalbari and used it in his long resistance to the Mughals. The town itself is named after Nanda Kishore, a local landholder who gave land for a market. Under the British, Kishoreganj was a subdivision of Mymensingh; it became a district in 1984.

The district is rich in literary and political figures. Chandrabati, often called the first woman poet of Bengali, lived in Patuari in the 16th century and wrote a Bengali Ramayana. The ancestral home of Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, grandfather of film-maker Satyajit Ray, is at Masua in Katiadi. Syed Nazrul Islam, acting president of the 1971 wartime government, came from Kishoreganj, as did two later presidents of Bangladesh.

Economy and livelihoods

Rice is the backbone of the economy: the haors produce a single huge boro crop harvested in April and May, and a flash flood before harvest can wipe out a year's income. The haors are also among the richest inland fisheries in the country, and ducks are raised in large flocks on the open water. Jute, vegetables and bananas grow in the west. Bhairab, on the Meghna, is a major river port and rail junction and one of the country's biggest centres of footwear manufacturing, with thousands of small workshops making shoes and sandals for markets across Bangladesh.

Food, culture and festivals

The Sholakia Eidgah in Kishoreganj town hosts what is widely considered the largest Eid prayer congregation in Bangladesh. The district is also deeply tied to the Mymensingh Gitika, the folk ballads whose villages and haors lie in this region, and boatmen still sing bhatiali on the water. The Kurikhai fair at Katiadi and the annual boat races on the haors are big local events.

Food follows the water: haor fish such as boal, ayre, rui and small native species, duck curry in winter, and shutki from the haor fisheries.

Places to visit in Kishoreganj

1. Nikli Haor and the Itna-Mithamain-Austagram road

   Nikli is the easiest haor to reach from Dhaka, with boats for hire at its ghats. The long all-weather road across the haors to Mithamain and Austagram is dramatic in the monsoon, when water stretches to the horizon on both sides.

2. Sholakia Eidgah

   A large open prayer ground beside the Narasunda in Kishoreganj town, famous for its enormous Eid congregations. Outside Eid it is a quiet green field.

3. Chandrabati Shiva Temple

   A small brick temple at Patuari, Kishoreganj Sadar, linked to the poet Chandrabati and her father Dwija Bangshidas. It stands beside the Phuleshwari river and is a pilgrimage for literature lovers.

4. Jangalbari Fort

   Remains of Isa Khan's stronghold at Jangalbari in Karimganj upazila, with an old mosque and the houses of his descendants. It is one of the few surviving traces of the Baro-Bhuiyan era.

5. Pagla Mosque

   A landmark mosque on the Narasunda in Kishoreganj town, known across the country for the large sums of money and gifts left in its donation boxes.

What Kishoreganj is famous for

• Bhairab footwear
• Haor freshwater fish
• Dried fish (shutki)
• Haor boro rice
• Haor duck eggs

How to get to Kishoreganj

Kishoreganj town is roughly 140 km from Dhaka. Buses from Mohakhali and Sayedabad take about three to four hours via Bhairab or Gazipur. Intercity trains such as the Egarosindur and Kishoreganj Express run from Kamalapur to Kishoreganj, and many more trains stop at Bhairab Bazar junction. To reach the haors, travel to Kishoreganj or Bhairab and continue by road to Chamraghat or Nikli, then hire a boat; in the dry season the haor road can be driven.

Markets and haats

Bhairab Bazar

A big river-port market on the Meghna, with wholesale fish landing points and a footwear trade that supplies shoe shops across the country.

Kishoreganj Boro Bazar

The main market of the district town, near the Narasunda, selling haor fish, rice, vegetables and household goods.

Chamraghat

A haor-edge river ghat and market in Karimganj upazila, where rice and fish from the haors are traded and boats leave for Itna and Mithamain.

Kishoreganj at a glance

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More districts in Dhaka Division

• Dhaka The capital on the Buriganga: Mughal forts, muslin memories and a city that never pauses
• Faridpur Jute country on the Padma, and home of the poet of rural Bengal
• Gazipur Sal forests, jackfruit orchards and the factory belt north of Dhaka
• Gopalganj Beel country on the Madhumati, with floating gardens and Tungipara
• Madaripur Arial Khan river town of date-palm gur, Shah Madar and Shakuni Lake
• Manikganj Where the Jamuna meets the Padma: zamindar palaces and hajari gur
• Munshiganj Ancient Bikrampur: potatoes, patkhir and the north end of the Padma Bridge
• Narayanganj Old Sonargaon, jamdani looms and the knitwear port on the Shitalakshya
• Narsingdi Looms of Madhabdi, lotkon orchards and the ancient city of Wari-Bateshwar
• Rajbari Goalundo and Daulatdia: the Padma gateway of onions and jute
• Shariatpur Where the Padma meets the Meghna: Zajira, Kirtinasha and bibikhana pitha
• Tangail Tangail saree, Porabari chamcham and the sal forests of Madhupur