Feni

About Feni

Feni is one of the smallest districts in Bangladesh, yet almost every traveller between Dhaka and Chattogram passes through it, because the main highway and railway squeeze through this narrow strip of land between the Indian state of Tripura and the sea. Tripura lies to the north and east, Chattogram to the south-east, Noakhali to the west and Cumilla to the north-west, with the estuary of the Feni river and the Bay of Bengal at its southern edge. Six upazilas make up the district: Feni Sadar, Chhagalnaiya, Daganbhuiyan, Parshuram, Fulgazi and Sonagazi. About 1.65 million people lived here in 2022.

The land is flat and low, crossed by the Feni, Muhuri, Kahua and Selonia rivers, which carry water down from the Tripura hills. That makes the northern upazilas prone to sudden flash floods: in August 2024 Feni suffered the worst flooding in living memory, when water from upstream swept across Parshuram, Fulgazi, Chhagalnaiya and Feni Sadar. The southern upazila of Sonagazi opens onto coastal chars and mudflats near the Feni river mouth.

History

The district takes its name from the Feni river. Local stories link the word to "phani", a snake, perhaps from the river's winding course, and a ferry crossing called Feni appears in Bengali and Persian writing from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The area was part of the old Bhulua region of greater Noakhali and a frontier between Bengal, Tripura and Arakan. In the eighteenth century the local strongman Shamsher Gazi controlled much of the area from his base at Chhagalnaiya until his defeat in the 1760s. Feni became a subdivision of Noakhali in 1876 and a district on 1 March 1984.

Feni has given Bangladesh several important figures. Abdus Salam, one of the martyrs of the 21 February 1952 Language Movement, was born in Daganbhuiyan. The writer Shahidullah Kaiser and his brother, the filmmaker Zahir Raihan, director of "Jibon Theke Neya", came from the district. During the Second World War the Allies built an airfield here for the Burma campaign, and in 1971 Feni's position on the main supply route made it a site of heavy fighting until it was freed on 6 December.

Economy and livelihoods

Remittances shape Feni more than almost any other district: a large share of families have members working in the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere, and the money they send home shows in the many new buildings, shops and schools. Farming still matters, with rice, vegetables and fish ponds across the plains, and the Muhuri irrigation project in Sonagazi supplies water to tens of thousands of hectares. Feni town is a busy commercial centre for the surrounding area, and a large solar power plant and economic zone have been planned for the Sonagazi coast.

Food, culture and festivals

The local dialect is close to Noakhali's, and the food is a highlight of any visit. Khandal's sweets, a rasgolla first made in the late 1960s at the small bazaar of Khandal and eaten hot as well as cold, are carried by expatriates as far as the Middle East and Europe. Buffalo-milk ghee from the coastal chars, pitha such as khili and pantua, and spicy dried-fish dishes are other local favourites.

Banglapedia lists jatra, bhatiali, rakhali, marfati and murshidi songs among the district's folk traditions, alongside riddles, rhymes and Khanar Bachan sayings. Feni College, founded in 1922, has long been the centre of the town's intellectual and political life.

Places to visit in Feni

1. Muhuri Project, Sonagazi

   A long sluice and closure dam across the Feni river built for irrigation and flood control, with a wide reservoir behind it. It is a favourite picnic and boating spot, and migratory birds gather here in winter.

2. Rajajhir Dighi

   A large old tank in the centre of Feni town, surrounded by government offices and paths, popular for an evening walk.

3. Bijoy Singh Dighi

   A historic tank on the edge of Feni town, said to have been dug by a local raja, with clear water and shady banks.

4. Shamsher Gazi's fort area, Chhagalnaiya

   Remains and sites associated with the eighteenth-century ruler Shamsher Gazi near Chhagalnaiya, part of the district's frontier history.

5. Language Martyr Abdus Salam's village, Daganbhuiyan

   The home village of the language martyr, now named Salamnagar, with a memorial library and museum in his honour.

What Feni is famous for

• Khandal's sweets (rasgolla)
• Buffalo-milk ghee
• Home-made pitha

How to get to Feni

Feni lies on the Dhaka–Chattogram highway, and buses from Dhaka's Sayedabad and Jatrabari take roughly three and a half to four and a half hours depending on traffic. Most intercity trains between Dhaka and Chattogram stop at Feni station, taking about three and a half to four hours from Kamalapur. From Chattogram it is about two hours by road. The nearest airport is Shah Amanat International in Chattogram.

Markets and haats

Feni Boro Bazar

The town's main market, a dense area of wholesale and retail shops for groceries, fish, cloth and household goods serving the whole district.

Khandal bazaar

A small rural bazaar in the north of the district, about 25 km from Feni town, famous for the sweet shops that gave Khandal's rasgolla its name.

Feni at a glance

Shops from Feni on Midmart

No shop from Feni is selling on Midmart yet.

Questions about Feni

More districts in Chattogram Division

• Bandarban Cloud-wrapped hills, the Sangu river and the highest peaks in Bangladesh
• Brahmanbaria The Titas, classical music, chhanamukhi and the gas fields that power the east
• Chandpur The home of hilsa, where the Padma, Meghna and Dakatia meet
• Chattogram Port city, green hills and mezban: the commercial capital of Bangladesh
• Cumilla Mainamati's Buddhist ruins, khadi cloth and the rasmalai everyone asks for
• Cox's Bazar An unbroken sea beach, the Marine Drive, dried fish and salt fields
• Khagrachari Green hills on the Chengi river, Alutila cave and the road to Sajek
• Lakshmipur Soybean fields, coconut and betel nut groves on the Meghna estuary
• Noakhali New land from the Meghna: Hatiya, Nijhum Dwip and a famous dialect
• Rangamati Kaptai Lake, the hanging bridge and Sajek: the lake district of the hills