Sherpur District’s History

Sherpur District is an administrative region of the Mymensingh Division in Bangladesh. Previously it belonged to the Dhaka division from 1829-2015. It consists of 14 unions and one municipality. SherpurSadarUpazila is bounded on the north by Srivardi, Jhenaigati, and Nalitabarisub-districts, on the south by JamalpurSadar sub-district, on the east by Nakla sub-district, on the west by Islampur and Melandah sub-districts. Sherpur district was formerly a subdivision of Jamalpur district. It was upgraded to a district on 22 February 1984.  

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The Sherpur region was part of the Kamrupa kingdom in ancient times. During the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar, this area was known as "DashkahniaBaju". Earlier, to go to Sherpur, people had to cross the Brahmaputra River by ferryboat. The area came to be known as Dashkahnia as it was designated for ferryboat crossing. In the seventeenth century, Ghazi of Bhawaloccupied the Dashkahnia area from the descendants of Isa Khan. DashkahniaPargana was later renamed Sherpur after Sher Ali Ghazi, the lastzamindar of the Ghazi dynasty. From Warren Hastings to Cornwallis, fakir-monk revolts against the East India Company and local zamindars took place; Tipu Shah, the leader of the Fakir movement, declared sovereignty in the area and established Garjipar as its capital. Under the leadership of Khosh Muhammad Chowdhury, a farmers' conference was held in 1906, 1914, and 1917 at Kamar Char in Sherpur. In 1838-48, the communists revolted at Nankar, Tank, Bawali, Mahajani, and Sherpur against the lease system. A catastrophic earthquake in 1897 changed the course of the Brahmaputra to the west and forced it to merge with the Jamuna; It also caused severe damage to many ancient buildings.   Sherpur is an ancient town.

In the 4th century AD, the region was under the rule of the kingdom of Kamarupa. Kamrup was known as PragjyotishCountry. The capital of Pragjyotish (Kamarupa) was Pragjyotishpur. At that time Buddhism appeared and spread throughout the region.   According to FA Sakshi, author of the Mymensingh District Report, the region was under the Koch feudal lords until the last decade of the fifteenth century. A Koch king named DalipaSamanta ruled the region. Its capital was Gardalipa. Garadalipa or Garajaripa now belongs to Srivardi police station of Sherpur district. The kings of the Koch dynasty ruled Gardalipa for many years. The power of the Koch feudal lords was exhausted by the constant attacks of the independent sultans of Bengal. In 1491, on the orders of Saifuddin II Feroze Shah, Majlis Khan, the general, defeated and killed KochrajaDolipaSamanta and captured Garadlipa. Since then the region has been occupied by Muslims. During the reign of Emperor Jahangir (1605-1617) the entire Mymensingh region became part of the Mughal Empire.  

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Written by,

Nazeeb Alam.

Information Collected