Jhenaidah

About Jhenaidah

Jhenaidah lies in the north-west of Khulna division, with Kushtia to the north, Magura to the east, Jashore to the south, and Chuadanga and the Indian border to the west. The Gorai, Kumar, Nabaganga, Chitra, Bhairab and Kobadak rivers cross a flat, fertile plain dotted with beels and old oxbow lakes known locally as baors.

The district town sits where the Dhaka–Khulna highway meets the road north to Kushtia, and Jhenaidah has long been a crossroads for the south-west. Its six upazilas — Jhenaidah Sadar, Harinakunda, Kaliganj, Kotchandpur, Maheshpur and Shailkupa — are overwhelmingly rural, with rice, jute, sugarcane, bananas and betel leaf growing right up to the edge of the towns.

For visitors, Jhenaidah’s surprise is its heritage. Around Barobazar in Kaliganj, excavations have uncovered a cluster of brick mosques from the Bengal Sultanate, while nearby Naldanga has a group of Hindu temples built by a local royal family, and the great banyan of Bethuli spreads over a whole village plot.

History

A popular explanation of the name joins jhinuk, the freshwater pearl oyster once gathered here, with daha, a deep pool. Barobazar, on the old course of the Bhairab, was an important town in the fifteenth century and is associated with the legend of Gazi, Kalu and Champavati, a story still sung in rural ballads. The Naldanga Raj family later built temples at their seat in Kaliganj. Jhenaidah became a subdivision of Jashore in 1862 and a district in 1984.

During the Liberation War the district saw fierce fighting at Bishaykhali and elsewhere along the highway. Bir Sreshtho Hamidur Rahman, one of seven recipients of the country’s highest gallantry award, was born at Khordo Khalishpur in Maheshpur. The poet Golam Mostafa came from Shailkupa, and Harishpur in Harinakunda is one of the places claimed as the birthplace of the mystic singer Lalon.

Economy and livelihoods

About two-thirds of household income comes from farming. Paddy, jute, sugarcane, bananas, betel leaf, vegetables and date-palm gur are the main products, and Kaliganj and Maheshpur also grow flowers on a commercial scale like neighbouring Jashore. The Mobarakganj sugar mill in Kaliganj buys cane from local farmers. Large baors such as Baluhar in Kotchandpur are managed for fish culture, and Kotchandpur was once a busy centre of the sugar trade. Trade along the highway, transport and remittances from family members working abroad support many households.

Food, culture and festivals

Jhenaidah shares the Baul tradition of Kushtia, and village fairs bring folk songs, jatra and the ballads of Gazi-Kalu. Winter is gur season, with fresh date juice and pitha in every village, while summer brings mangoes and lychees from homestead gardens.

Mosques, temples and shrines sit close together here, and both Durga Puja in Naldanga and the annual gatherings at Barobazar’s shrines draw crowds from across the region.

Places to visit in Jhenaidah

1. Barobazar mosque city

   In Kaliganj upazila, a cluster of fifteenth-century brick mosques excavated since the 1990s, including the Galakata, Jor Bangla and Gorar mosques. Many have terracotta decoration and stand beside large old ponds.

2. Naldanga temple complex

   A group of temples near Kaliganj built by the Naldanga Raj family, with a tall-spired central temple and smaller shrines around a lawn. It is still a place of worship.

3. Bethuli great banyan (Mallikpur banyan)

   Once promoted as the largest banyan tree in Asia, this huge tree near Bethuli village in Kaliganj spreads by aerial roots across several acres. Parts have been lost, but it remains an impressive sight.

4. Shailkupa Shahi Mosque

   A many-domed pre-Mughal brick mosque in Shailkupa town, now renovated and in daily use, near the Kumar river.

5. Miyar Dalan

   The ruined mansion of a nineteenth-century landlord on the bank of the Nabaganga just outside Jhenaidah town, with arched verandas and plaster ornament.

What Jhenaidah is famous for

• Date palm molasses (khejur gur)
• Banana
• Betel leaf

How to get to Jhenaidah

Most travellers come by bus from Dhaka’s Gabtoli or Sayedabad terminals, crossing the Padma Bridge and following the highway through Faridpur and Magura; the trip takes roughly four to five hours. Jhenaidah town has no railway, but Mobarakganj and Kotchandpur stations in the south lie on the line between Jashore and Darshana. The nearest airport is Jashore, about an hour away by road.

Markets and haats

Barobazar

A highway market town in Kaliganj whose name recalls a cluster of twelve old bazaars. Today it trades in vegetables, bananas and everyday goods, and it is the base for visiting the mosque ruins.

Kaliganj Bazar

The commercial centre of Kaliganj upazila on the Dhaka–Khulna highway, where farm produce, sugarcane trade and wholesale goods meet.

Kotchandpur Bazar

An old trading town on the Kobadak that was once known for sugar; today its market deals in rice, vegetables and fish from the nearby baors.

Jhenaidah at a glance

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Questions about Jhenaidah

More districts in Khulna Division

• Bagerhat Khan Jahan’s mosque city on the edge of the Sundarbans
• Chuadanga Border farmland of date molasses, betel leaf and the Darshana sugar mill
• Jashore The flower capital, home of date molasses and the Benapole gateway
• Khulna River city of shrimp and the gateway to the Sundarbans
• Kushtia Land of Lalon and Tagore, tiler khaja and Kumarkhali handlooms
• Magura Raja Sitaram’s country of jute fields, pera sandesh and Khamarpara doi
• Meherpur Mujibnagar, where Bangladesh’s first government took its oath
• Narail S M Sultan’s Chitra river country, home of boat races and cricketers
• Satkhira Early mangoes, soft-shell crabs and the western Sundarbans