Sylhet

About Sylhet

Sylhet district lies in the far north-east of Bangladesh, pressed against the Khasi and Jaintia hills of Meghalaya to the north and Assam to the east. The Surma and Kushiyara, the two arms of the Barak river, enter from India and wind westward across the district, and the city of Sylhet grew on the north bank of the Surma. North of the city the land rises into tea-covered hills; to the south and west it drops into haors, including part of Hakaluki, the country's largest.

Sylhet city is the division's capital, a fast-growing place of hilltop shrines, tea estates within city limits, glossy shopping malls and an international airport with long-standing links to Britain. Out in the district, hill rivers such as the Piyain, the Dauki and the Sari carry crystal-clear water and stones down from Meghalaya, creating the landscapes at Jaflong, Bichanakandi and Lalakhal that draw visitors from across the country.

History

The region appears in old texts as Srihatta, and before the fourteenth century it was divided among local kingdoms, including Gour under Raja Gour Govinda and the Jaintia kingdom, whose capital at Jaintiapur still has standing stone megaliths. In 1303 the Sufi saint Shah Jalal arrived with his companions and, together with a Muslim army, defeated Gour Govinda; his shrine has made Sylhet a place of pilgrimage ever since, and the traveller Ibn Battuta came to meet him in the 1340s. His nephew Shah Paran is buried on a hill on the city's eastern edge.

The British established Sylhet district in 1782, and in 1874 it was transferred to the new province of Assam. In a referendum in July 1947 Sylhet voted to join East Bengal, so most of it became part of Pakistan, later Bangladesh, while Karimganj went to India. The first commercial tea estate of the subcontinent was laid out at Malnicherra in 1854. In the 1980s greater Sylhet was split into four districts, and in 1995 Sylhet became the headquarters of a new division.

Economy and livelihoods

Sylhet has an unusual economy. Remittance is central: a large share of the British Bangladeshi community traces its roots to Sylhet, and the money and investment sent home show in the city's houses, shops and banks. Tea estates, many near the city and in Jaintiapur and Companiganj, are the other pillar. The district also holds gas fields such as Haripur, Kailashtila and Jalalabad, and quarrying of stone and sand from the border rivers has long been a major — and contested — trade. Agriculture, especially boro rice in the haors and citrus, pineapple and betel leaf in the hills, employs many rural families, and tourism grows every year.

Food, culture and festivals

Sylhet has its own dialect, Sylheti, distinct enough that it once had its own script, Sylheti Nagri, used for religious and folk poetry. The shrines of Shah Jalal and Shah Paran hold annual urs festivals, and Sufi and baul songs are woven into everyday life. Khasi, Manipuri and tea-worker communities add their own festivals and crafts, and the district is famous for sital pati, the fine cooling mats woven from murta cane.

The food is distinctive too. Beef or fish cooked with shatkora, a bitter-aromatic citrus; akhni, a fragrant rice dish served at gatherings; chunga pitha, rice cooked inside bamboo; and the fiery naga chilli all say Sylhet. Tea is drunk everywhere, from city cafés to roadside stalls in the estates.

Places to visit in Sylhet

1. Shah Jalal Dargah

   The shrine of the fourteenth-century saint at Dargah Gate in the heart of Sylhet city, visited by pilgrims of all backgrounds. The complex includes a mosque, a pond of sacred fish and an atmosphere that is busiest on Thursday evenings.

2. Jaflong

   A riverside spot in Gowainghat where the Piyain flows out of the Meghalaya hills, with views of waterfalls and the Dawki bridge across the border. Stone-collecting boats, Khasi villages and tea gardens nearby complete the scene; it is about 60 km from the city.

3. Ratargul Swamp Forest

   One of the few freshwater swamp forests in Bangladesh, in Gowainghat upazila. In the monsoon visitors glide by small boat between half-submerged trees; in the dry season the forest floor emerges and boats line up at the edge.

4. Bichanakandi and Lalakhal

   Two hill-river destinations: Bichanakandi, a stone-strewn bed where streams pour out of Meghalaya, and Lalakhal in Jaintiapur, known for the emerald-green water of the Sari river beside tea hills.

5. Keane Bridge and Ali Amjad's Clock

   The steel Keane Bridge, opened in 1936 across the Surma, and the nineteenth-century clock tower beside it are the city's classic riverside landmarks, best seen at dusk from the river ghat.

6. Malnicherra Tea Estate

   Established in 1854 just outside the city near the airport road, it is considered the first commercial tea garden in the subcontinent. Its rolling hills are a short ride from the city centre.

What Sylhet is famous for

• Sylhet tea
• Sylhet shatkora
• Sital pati (cane mat)
• Naga chilli

How to get to Sylhet

Sylhet city is roughly 240 km from Dhaka by road. Buses from Sayedabad, Fakirapool and Mohakhali take about five to six hours on the Dhaka–Sylhet highway. Several intercity trains run daily from Kamalapur and take roughly seven to eight hours, passing the tea gardens of Sreemangal on the way. By air, flights from Dhaka to Osmani International Airport take under an hour, and there are direct international services as well. From Sylhet city, Jaflong, Ratargul and Lalakhal are day trips by car, CNG or bus.

Markets and haats

Bandarbazar

The old commercial heart of the city near the Surma, crowded with wholesale and retail shops for cloth, groceries, household goods and electronics.

Zindabazar

Sylhet's main shopping street, lined with malls, jewellers and clothing stores as well as the restaurants famous for Sylheti dishes.

Kalighat

A riverside wholesale market beside the Surma where spices, rice, dried fish and other groceries are traded in bulk for shops across the region.

Sylhet at a glance

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Questions about Sylhet

More districts in Sylhet Division

• Habiganj Tea hills, gas fields and haor country on the road to Sylhet
• Moulvibazar Sreemangal's tea, Lawachara's rainforest and the country's biggest haor
• Sunamganj Land of haors and mystic songs beneath the Meghalaya hills