Narayanganj

About Narayanganj

Narayanganj is the smallest district in Bangladesh by area but one of the most crowded, with about 3.9 million people in the 2022 census. It lies immediately south-east of Dhaka, along the Shitalakshya, Buriganga and Dhaleshwari, with the Meghna on its eastern edge. Besides Narayanganj City Corporation, it has five upazilas: Narayanganj Sadar, Bandar, Rupganj, Sonargaon and Araihazar.

The city of Narayanganj, facing Bandar across the Shitalakshya, has long been a river port, and its ghats still bustle with launches, cargo boats and sand barges. Inland, Rupganj and Araihazar mix weaving villages, nurseries and new housing projects, while Sonargaon in the east preserves some of the oldest monuments in the country among canals and ponds.

Because it is part of the Dhaka metropolitan region, Narayanganj is linked to the capital by road and commuter rail, and many people work in one district and live in the other.

History

Sonargaon, in the east of the district, was a capital of Bengal under the independent sultans of the 14th century and later the seat of Isa Khan, leader of the Baro-Bhuiyan chiefs who resisted the Mughals. Travellers such as Ibn Battuta described its trade, and its weavers produced the fine muslin that made the region famous. The Goaldi mosque of 1519 and the tomb of Sultan Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah survive from this era, and the Mughals later built river forts at Hajiganj and Sonakanda to defend against raiders.

The town takes its name from Bicon Lal Pandey, known as Lakshmi Narayan Thakur, who in the 1760s dedicated the markets on the Shitalakshya to the worship of Narayan. In the 19th century British and Indian firms turned Narayanganj into a jute port, and after 1947 so many jute mills opened, including the giant Adamjee mill, that it was nicknamed the Dundee of the East. Narayanganj became a district in 1984.

Economy and livelihoods

The economy is industrial and commercial. Narayanganj is a leading centre of knitwear and hosiery, with factories at Fatullah, Siddhirganj and the BSCIC estates supplying exporters and the domestic market. Tanbazar is a major wholesale market for yarn and fabric, and Nitaiganj handles grain, flour and other staples on a huge scale. Rupganj and Sonargaon are home to jamdani weaving, the handloom craft recognised by UNESCO as intangible heritage, while Araihazar has many power looms. Shipyards, cement and dockyard industries line the Shitalakshya and Meghna.

Food, culture and festivals

The Langalbandh Ashtami Snan on the Old Brahmaputra draws hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrims each spring for a holy bath. The Bangladesh Folk Art and Crafts Foundation at Sonargaon hosts a museum and an annual folk fair with crafts, music and food from across the country. Old traditions of jari, pala gan, murshidi and women's songs continue in the villages.

Narayanganj is also known for its theatre and cultural groups in the city, and for food stalls around the river ghats.

Places to visit in Narayanganj

1. Panam City, Sonargaon

   A single street lined with abandoned two- and three-storey merchants' houses from the 19th and early 20th centuries, with arches, cast iron and coloured glass. It is one of the most atmospheric heritage sites in Bangladesh.

2. Folk Art and Crafts Museum, Sonargaon

   The Bangladesh Folk Art and Crafts Foundation occupies Bara Sardar Bari, a restored mansion with a lake and gardens. Its galleries show nakshi kantha, pottery, woodwork and metalwork.

3. Goaldi Mosque

   A single-domed brick mosque from 1519 in Sonargaon, covered in fine terracotta and carved stone. It is a short walk from Panam City.

4. Hajiganj Fort

   A Mughal river fort in the city on the bank of the Shitalakshya, built to protect the waterways to Dhaka from pirates. Its walls and gun platform are well preserved.

5. Tomb of Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah

   The grave of Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah, sultan of Bengal around 1390-1411, at Mograpara in Sonargaon, one of the few surviving royal tombs of the Sultanate.

What Narayanganj is famous for

• Jamdani saree
• Narayanganj knitwear and hosiery
• Sonargaon folk crafts
• Nakshi kantha

How to get to Narayanganj

Narayanganj city is about 20 km from central Dhaka. Buses from Gulistan and Jatrabari take roughly 45 minutes to an hour and a half depending on traffic, and the Dhaka-Narayanganj commuter train from Kamalapur is cheap and frequent. For Sonargaon, take a bus towards Mograpara on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway; it is roughly an hour from Dhaka outside rush hour. Launches also connect Narayanganj with Chandpur and the south.

Markets and haats

Tanbazar

A crowded wholesale market in Narayanganj city for yarn, cloth, hosiery and knitwear, where many small garment makers buy materials.

Nitaiganj

One of the country's largest wholesale markets for rice, flour, pulses, sugar and edible oil, beside the Shitalakshya.

Rupganj Jamdani Palli

The weaving villages around Tarabo and Noapara in Rupganj, where buyers can visit looms and buy jamdani saree directly from weavers.

Narayanganj at a glance

Shops from Narayanganj on Midmart

No shop from Narayanganj is selling on Midmart yet.

Questions about Narayanganj

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
• Kishoreganj Gateway to the haors, home of Sholakia and the poet Chandrabati
• 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
• 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