Dinajpur

About Dinajpur

Dinajpur covers about 3,444 square kilometres in the north-west corner of Bangladesh, making it the biggest district in Rangpur Division by area. India's West Bengal lies along its whole western edge. Thakurgaon and Panchagarh are to the north, Nilphamari and Rangpur to the east, and Gaibandha and Joypurhat to the south. The 2022 census counted a little over 3.3 million people across thirteen upazilas, and roughly four in five of them live in villages.

The land is high, flat and older than the young river plains further south. Its reddish soil drains well, and that suits litchi orchards and mango gardens as much as it suits rice. Several small rivers cross the district from north to south: the Punarbhaba, the Atrai, the Dhepa beside Kantajew Temple, and the Tulshiganga. None of them is wide, so Dinajpur feels like orchard and paddy country rather than river country. Patches of sal forest survive at Singra in Birganj and around Nawabganj.

For most Bangladeshis the name Dinajpur means two things to eat: Kataribhog rice and litchi. For travellers it means the finest terracotta temple in the country and a string of old palaces, tanks and mosques left by the Dinajpur Raj, one of the great zamindar houses of North Bengal.

History

Local tradition says a chief called Dinaj, or Dinaraj, founded the ruling family, and the mouza around the palace took his name. Under the Mughals the region was run from Ghoraghat, whose old fort still stands in ruins in the south of the district. In 1786 the East India Company replaced the Ghoraghat unit with a new district and named it after the Raj family's seat. Its borders changed many times in the nineteenth century, and Thakurgaon and Panchagarh were separated as districts in 1984.

The Dinajpur Raj shaped the landscape. Maharaja Pran Nath began Kantajew Temple in the early eighteenth century and his son Ramnath finished it around 1752, and Ramnath also had the Ramsagar tank dug before the Battle of Plassey. In 1946 Dinajpur was a centre of the Tebhaga movement, when sharecroppers demanded two-thirds of the harvest. One of its leaders, Haji Mohammad Danesh, gave his name to the science and technology university in the town.

Economy and livelihoods

Dinajpur is one of the main rice bowls of Bangladesh. Besides ordinary boro and aman crops it grows aromatic varieties such as Kataribhog and Chinigura, which sell for premium prices across the country. Around Pulhat and other parts of the town there are many automatic and husking rice mills. Wheat, maize, potatoes and vegetables follow the rice. The litchi orchards are a large seasonal business, and the Bedana litchi of Masimpur is the most prized. Industry is mostly based on farming, such as the Setabganj sugar mill in Bochaganj. The big exception is Parbatipur, where the Barapukuria coal mine and power plant and the Madhyapara hard-rock mine are both located. Trade with India runs through the Hili land port in Hakimpur.

Food, culture and festivals

Food here centres on rice. A pot of Kataribhog polao is how a Dinajpur family honours a guest, and baskets of litchi go out as gifts to relatives all over the country in early summer. The local speech belongs to the northern Rangpuri family of dialects. Santal and Oraon communities in Birganj, Nawabganj and Phulbari keep their own languages, dances and harvest festivals.

The biggest annual gathering is the Rash Mela at Kantajew Temple around the Rash Purnima full moon in late autumn. Pilgrims, traders and families come for weeks of worship, stalls and folk performances. The Dinajpur Museum in the town keeps sculpture and relics connected with the Raj and the district's ancient sites.

Places to visit in Dinajpur

1. Kantajew Temple (Kantanagar)

   This mid-eighteenth-century temple stands about 20 km north of town in Kaharole upazila. Every surface is covered in terracotta panels showing scenes from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and everyday life of the period. It originally had nine spires, but an earthquake in 1897 destroyed them. It is still the best-preserved terracotta temple in Bangladesh.

2. Ramsagar National Park

   A tank more than a kilometre long, dug by hand in the 1750s at Tajpur, about 8 km south of the town. It is said to be the largest man-made pond in Bangladesh. The shaded banks form a national park with a small deer enclosure, picnic spots and the remains of the old ghat.

3. Nayabad Mosque

   A three-domed brick mosque in Kaharole, not far from Kantajew, dated 1793. Tradition says it was built for the Muslim craftsmen who worked on the temple. Its own terracotta decoration is worth seeing up close.

4. Dinajpur Rajbari

   The ruined palace complex of the Dinajpur maharajas on the north-eastern edge of the town. Its gateways, temples and courtyards are crumbling but still atmospheric, and they make a good first stop before the drive to Kantanagar.

What Dinajpur is famous for

• Dinajpur litchi
• Kataribhog rice
• Chinigura aromatic rice
• Dinajpur mango

How to get to Dinajpur

Dinajpur is a little over 400 km from Dhaka. Buses from Gabtoli and Kallyanpur cross the Jamuna Bridge and take roughly 8–9 hours, longer around Eid. Intercity trains from Kamalapur, such as the Ekota Express and the Drutojan Express, run overnight or by day to Dinajpur in about 9–10 hours via Parbatipur junction. The fastest route is a flight of about an hour to Saidpur airport in Nilphamari, then roughly an hour by road to Dinajpur town.

Markets and haats

Bahadur Bazar

The old commercial heart of Dinajpur town. Its wholesale rice, spice and grocery shops are where you can compare Kataribhog and Chinigura straight from the mills.

Gor-e-Shahid Maidan litchi market

In late May and June the big ground in the town centre turns into a litchi market. Growers bring bundles of Madrajji, Bombai, China-3 and Bedana fruit from the orchards around the district.

Hili land port

A border trading town in Hakimpur upazila with busy shops and warehouses. It handles imports of rice, onions and other goods from India.

Dinajpur at a glance

Shops from Dinajpur on Midmart

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Questions about Dinajpur

More districts in Rangpur Division

• Gaibandha Char country on the Brahmaputra, home of rasmanjari and winter knitwear
• Kurigram Where the Brahmaputra enters Bangladesh, a land of rivers, chars and Bhawaiya
• Lalmonirhat Railway town, Teesta Barrage and the Tin Bigha Corridor on the northern border
• Nilphamari Old indigo country, Saidpur's railway workshop and the north's industrial edge
• Panchagarh Bangladesh's northern tip, with flatland tea gardens and Kanchenjunga on the horizon
• Rangpur Capital of the north, home of shataranji rugs, Haribhanga mangoes and Begum Rokeya
• Thakurgaon The wheat basket of Bangladesh, home of Suryapuri mangoes and a giant old mango tree