Gopalganj

About Gopalganj

Gopalganj lies in the south-west of Dhaka Division, where the Madhumati river separates it from Narail and the district meets Faridpur, Madaripur, Barishal, Pirojpur and Bagerhat. It has five upazilas: Gopalganj Sadar, Kashiani, Kotalipara, Muksudpur and Tungipara. The 2022 census counted about 1.3 million people, roughly four in five of them in rural areas.

This is some of the lowest land in Bangladesh. Huge beels, among them Baghiar and Chandar beels around Kotalipara and Tungipara, stay flooded for much of the year, linked by rivers such as the Madhumati, Ghagor and Kumar and a web of canals. People travel by boat in the monsoon, houses stand on raised mounds, and farmers have adapted with floating gardens built from water hyacinth.

Gopalganj also has one of the largest Hindu populations of any district in the country, and its villages mix mosques, temples and Matua shrines. The district town, on a bend of the Madhumati, is a quiet place with a market, courts and colleges.

History

Local tradition links Kotalipara with the ancient Vanga region and the Gangaridai people described by Greek writers, and copper-plate inscriptions from the area date to the early medieval period. The town takes its name from a zamindar family: Rajganj bazar was renamed after Nabo Gopal, a descendant of Rani Rashmoni of Kolkata, whose family owned estates here in the 19th century.

Under the British the area belonged to Bakerganj and then Faridpur, and Gopalganj became a subdivision in 1909. It was raised to a district on 1 February 1984. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding president of Bangladesh, was born in Tungipara in 1920 and is buried there. Orakandi in Kashiani is the birthplace of Harichand Thakur, founder of the Matua faith, which has a large following in Bangladesh and India.

Economy and livelihoods

Farming and fishing support most families. On the beels, boro rice is grown in the dry season, while in the wet season farmers raise vegetables and seedlings on floating beds called dhap, made from layers of water hyacinth and water plants; when the water recedes the rotting beds fertilise the fields. Gourds, okra, beans, eggplant, chillies and spices grown this way supply neighbouring districts. The district also grows jute, sugarcane, groundnut and watermelon on higher ground, and the beels and rivers yield koi, shing, magur and other freshwater fish. Small industries and trade centre on Gopalganj town and the river port at Bhatiapara.

Food, culture and festivals

Folk forms such as sarigan boat songs, murshidi and kirtan are strong here, and boat races on the rivers draw crowds after the monsoon. The great annual event is the Baruni Snan mela at Orakandi, where hundreds of thousands of Matua devotees gather each spring to bathe and sing.

Gopalganj is known for its sweets, especially rasgolla and chhanar jilapi made from fresh chhana, as well as winter pitha, patishapta and khejur gur from local date palms. River and beel fish are at the centre of every meal.

Places to visit in Gopalganj

1. Tungipara and the Mausoleum Complex

   The ancestral village of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the Baigar river, with his grave, a museum, library and landscaped grounds. It is the most visited site in the district.

2. Orakandi Thakurbari

   The home and temple complex of Harichand and Guruchand Thakur at Orakandi in Kashiani, the spiritual centre of the Matua community. The spring Baruni Snan mela here is one of the largest religious fairs in the region.

3. Floating gardens of Kotalipara

   In the wet season, rows of floating vegetable and seedling beds cover the beels around Kotalipara and Tungipara. Hire a boat from a local ghat to see farmers tending gardens on the water.

4. Ulpur Zamindar Bari

   The remains of a zamindar estate at Ulpur in Gopalganj Sadar upazila, with old buildings, temples and ponds that hint at the area's landed past.

What Gopalganj is famous for

• Gopalganj rasgolla
• Floating-garden vegetables and seedlings
• Date-palm molasses (khejur gur)
• Chhanar jilapi

How to get to Gopalganj

From Dhaka, buses cross the Padma Bridge, follow the expressway to Bhanga and continue south-west to Gopalganj town and Tungipara; the trip takes roughly three to four hours. Buses leave from Sayedabad and Gabtoli. Gopalganj also has a railway line through Kashiani to Gopalganj town and Tungipara, and trains on the Padma Bridge link can be used as far as Bhanga. Inside the district, boats remain useful in the wet season.

Markets and haats

Ghagor Bazar, Kotalipara

The main market of Kotalipara on the Ghagor river, where farmers bring vegetables and seedlings from the floating gardens and beel fish by boat.

Bhatiapara Bazar

A river-port market on the Madhumati in Kashiani upazila, long an important ghat for trade between Gopalganj, Faridpur and Narail.

Gopalganj town bazar

The district town's central market and municipal market, good for local sweets, fish and everyday goods.

Gopalganj at a glance

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Questions about Gopalganj

More districts in Dhaka Division

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• 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
• 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
• 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