Place:Bogra, Rajshahi, Bangladesh

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Bogra District, officially known as Bogura District, is a district in the northern part of Bangladesh, in the Rajshahi Division. Bogra is an industrial city where many small and mid-sized companies are sited. Bogra was a part of the ancient Pundravardhana territory and the ruins of its capital can be found in northern Bogra.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Ancient history

In the ancient period, Bogra District was a part of the territory of the Pundras or Paundras, which were known by the name of Pundravardhana, one of the kingdoms of Eastern India and was separated by the Karatoya River from the more easterly kingdom of Prag-Jyotisha or Kamrupa. The name Pundravardhana frequently occurs in the Mahabharata, Ramayana, and the Puranas. According to the Mahabharata and the Puranas, Vasudeva, a powerful prince of the Pundra family, ruled over Pundravardhana as far back as 1280 B.C. The claims of the district to antiquity, however, mostly rely on an association with the old, fortified town that is now known as Mahasthangarh.

The district was under the rule of the Mauryas in the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. This is evidenced by the presence of pillars of Ashoka in many parts of Pundravardhana and the discovery of an ancient Brahmi inscription at Mahasthangarh in this district. Bhadra Bahu, a high monk of the Jain religion and the son of a Brahmin of Kotivarsha, was the Jain-Guru of Chandra Gupta Maurya. Ashoka was a firm believer in Buddhism and put to death many naked sectarians, presumably the Jains, in Pundravardhana.^[1]

The Gupta authority of the third-to-fifth centuries A.D. over this district is revealed by the discovery of several inscriptions of that period from Pundravardhana, which was a Bhukti under the rule of Guptas till the end of the fifth century.^[1]

At the beginning of the seventh century, Sasanka came upon the throne of Gauda and exercised his authority over Pundravardhana, ncluding this district. After the death of Sasanka, the region fell under the rule of Harshavardhana (606–647). This is evident from the account of a Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, who may have visited Pundravardhana in 640 A.D.^[2]

Mediaeval period

By the middle of the eighth century, Gopala I assumed control over the affairs of North Bengal, establishing a royal house known as the Pala Dynasty. After Gopal was elected king, he took his seat in Pundravardhana and ruled over the region up to c. 780 and was succeeded by his son Dharmapala (c. 781–821). The Pala Kings had peaceful possession of this district until the end of their rule over Bengal in the twelfth century. Dharmapala was the son of and successor to Gopala, extended his power beyond Pundravardhana. Like his father, he was a Buddhist and founded the Buddhist Vihara at Somapura Mahavihara in Varendra, the ruins of which in Naogaon District have been discovered.^[2]

The Senas originally came from the Deccan Plateau and settled in West Bengal. Vijayasena was the first ruler of the dynasty. He defeated the last Pala king Madanapala and established his authority over the district. He was succeeded by his son Vallal Sena (1160–1178), who was in possession of the district. He built his capital at Bhabanipur Shaktipeeth, a Shakti Peeth in this district. Lakshmanasena (1178–1204), the son and successor of Vallal Sena, exercised authority over the district until he was driven out by Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji in 1204. Even after this date, a dynasty of Sena Rajas ruled over the north-eastern tract of this district for nearly a century as feudal chiefs of the Muslim rulers of Bengal. Their capital was at Kamalpur, a few miles to the north of Bhabanipur, a site of pilgrimage for Hindu devotees, and a little to the south of Sherpur Upazila. Achyuta Sena was the last prince of the line.

British Era

The present Bogra District was first formed in 1821 during British rule. In the 1901 census, the population of the district on a reduced area was around 854,533, an increase of 11% over the past decade, and it also revealed there was no town with a population above 10,000. The famous Prafulla Chaki (1888–1908) was born in this district.

Post independence

During the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, fighting occurred in the Bogra district during the Battle of Bogra between the allied troops of Mukti Bahini and Indian Army, and the Pakistan Army , with the former being victorious.

In 2018, the Government of Bangladesh changed the spelling of the district's name from Bogra to Bogura.

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