Mymensingh

About Mymensingh

Mymensingh lies about 120 km north of Dhaka, on the banks of the Old Brahmaputra, and is the headquarters of the division that shares its name. It is one of the oldest and most populous districts in the country: the 2022 census counted nearly 5.9 million people across thirteen upazilas, from Bhaluka and Trishal in the south to Haluaghat and Dhobaura on the Meghalaya border in the north. Most of the land is flat, fertile floodplain, broken in the south-west by the red-soil edge of the Madhupur tract and in the north by the foothills of the Garo range.

The city itself is a pleasant, leafy place by the river, with a long promenade, colonial-era palaces left by the zamindars of Muktagachha, and a large student population. Bangladesh Agricultural University, the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute and the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture are all here, which is why the district is closely tied to farming science, seed and fish hatcheries.

History

The town was once called Nasirabad, and the name Mymensingh is usually traced to Momen Shah, a local ruler of the Sultanate period. Greater Mymensingh, created as a district by the British in 1787, was one of the largest districts of Bengal and later gave up Tangail, Jamalpur, Sherpur, Kishoreganj and Netrokona as separate districts. The area was a centre of the Fakir-Sannyasi resistance and the Pagalpanthi peasant movement, and in the nineteenth century the Acharya Chowdhury zamindars of Muktagachha built much of the town's grand architecture. The railway arrived in 1884, and Mymensingh became a division of its own in 2015.

The physicist Jagadish Chandra Bose was born in Mymensingh, the national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam spent part of his boyhood at school in Trishal, and the painter Zainul Abedin grew up on the Brahmaputra here, which is why the city keeps a museum of his work.

Economy and livelihoods

Agriculture still dominates, with rice, jute, vegetables and fruit on the floodplain, but Mymensingh is best known today as the heart of Bangladesh's pond aquaculture. Thousands of farms around Trishal, Muktagachha, Fulbaria and Bhaluka raise pangas, tilapia, koi and carp, and trucks of live and fresh fish leave for Dhaka every night. In the south, Bhaluka has grown into an industrial belt of garment, textile and other factories along the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway. Universities, hospitals and divisional offices make services and retail a large part of the city economy.

Food, culture and festivals

Mymensingh is the home of the Maimansingha Gitika, the cycle of folk ballads such as Mahua and Malua that were collected in the early twentieth century and are still staged as pala gaan. Baul songs, jari and the traditions of the Garo and Hajong peoples in Haluaghat and Dhobaura add to a rich folk life.

Food lovers come for the monda of Muktagachha, a soft, grainy milk sweet that the Gopal Pal family shop says it has been making since the 1820s. The city is also known for its rasmalai and other sweets, and for fresh river and pond fish cooked every way.

Places to visit in Mymensingh

1. Shashi Lodge

   A red-and-cream zamindar palace in the city centre, built by Maharaja Surya Kanta Acharya and rebuilt by his adopted son Shashi Kanta after the 1897 earthquake. Its marble fountain and statue garden are the classic photo spot of Mymensingh; the building houses a women's teachers' training college and is a protected monument.

2. Alexander Castle

   An unusual iron-and-timber mansion from 1889, known locally as Lohar Kuthi. Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi both stayed here in 1926; today it is a library within the Teachers' Training College grounds.

3. Muktagachha Zamindar Bari

   The sprawling palace complex of the Muktagachha zamindars, about 17 km west of the city, with a Durga temple, theatre hall and old ponds. Combine a visit with a stop for monda in the same town.

4. Bangladesh Agricultural University campus

   A large green campus on the Brahmaputra with a botanical garden, fish and crop research plots and a riverside walk, popular with families at weekends.

5. Zainul Abedin Museum and Brahmaputra riverside

   A museum of sketches and paintings by the master artist sits in a riverside park in town. The long promenade along the Old Brahmaputra here is where the city comes to stroll and take boat rides at sunset.

What Mymensingh is famous for

• Muktagachha monda
• Mymensingh farmed fish (pangas, tilapia, koi)
• Rasmalai
• Garo handloom textiles

How to get to Mymensingh

Mymensingh is one of the easiest district towns to reach from Dhaka. By road, buses run frequently from the Mohakhali bus terminal along the four-lane Dhaka-Mymensingh highway and usually take about three hours, more at peak times. By rail, several intercity trains a day, including the Tista, Brahmaputra, Jamuna and Haor expresses, run from Kamalapur and the Airport station to Mymensingh Junction in roughly three to three and a half hours. The city is also the gateway to Netrokona, Sherpur and Jamalpur.

Markets and haats

Gopal Pal's monda shop, Muktagachha

The family-run shop on Jagat Kishor Road credited with inventing Muktagachha monda. Many copies trade on the name, so visitors come to buy from the original counter.

Mechua Bazar, Mymensingh

One of the city's oldest trading areas, laid out in lanes for rice, pulses, yarn and conch-shell goods during the zamindari era, and still a busy wholesale market.

Trishal fish markets

The roadside and wholesale fish markets of Trishal, in the pond-farming belt, where farmed pangas, tilapia, koi and carp are traded fresh before dawn for city buyers.

Mymensingh at a glance

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More districts in Mymensingh Division

• Jamalpur Nakshi kantha country, between the Jamuna and the Old Brahmaputra
• Netrokona Garo hills, china-clay lakes and haor country, with balish mishti on top
• Sherpur Garo hill forests, Tulshimala rice and chhanar payesh