Murshidabad

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Murshidabad
Murshidabad
State - District(s)	West Bengal - Murshidabad
Coordinates	24.18° N 88.27° E
Area - Elevation	- 10 m
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Population (2001) - Density	?? -
Codes - Postal - Telephone - Vehicle	- 74**** - +91-3472-2xxxxx -

Murshidabad is a city in West Bengal, India as well as a district in the state. The city of Murshidabad is located on the southern bank of the Bhagirathi, a tributary of the Ganges River.

1 History
2 Murshidabad City
3 Murshidabad District
4 External links
5 Geography
6 Demographics
7 References

[edit] History

or Moorsheedabad, a town and district of British India, in the Presidency division of Bengal. The administrative headquarters of the district are at Berhampur. The town of Murshidabad is on the left bank of the Bhagirathi or old sacred channel of the Ganges. Pop. (1901), 15,168. The city of Murshidabad was the latest Mahommedan capital of Bengal. In 1704 the nawab Murshid Kulia Khan changed the seat of government from Dacca to Maksudabad, which he called after his own name. The great family of Jagat Seth maintained their position as state bankers at Murshidabad from generation to generation. Even after the conquest of Bengal by the British, Murshidabad remained for some time the seat of administration. Warren Hastings removed the supreme civil and criminal courts to Calcutta in 1772, but in 1 775 the latter court was brought back to Murshidabad again. In 1790, under Lord Cornwallis, the entire revenue and judicial staffs were fixed at Calcutta. The town is still the residence of the nawab, who ranks as the first nobleman of the province with the style of nawab bahadur of Murshidabad, instead of nawab nazim of Bengal. His palace, dating from 1837, is a magnificent building in Italian style. The city is crowded with other palaces, mosques, tombs, and gardens, and retains such industries as carving in ivory, gold and silver embroidery, and silk-weaving. A college is maintained for the education of the nawab's family.

The District Of Murshidabad has an area of 2143 sq. m. It is divided into two nearly equal portions by the Bhagirathi, the ancient channel of the Ganges. The tract to the west, known as the Rarh, consists of hard clay and nodular limestone. The general level is high, but interspersed with marshes and seamed by hill torrents. The Bagri or eastern half belongs to alluvial plains of eastern Bengal. There are few permanent swamps; but the whole country is low-lying, and liable to annual inundation. In the north-west are a few small detached hillocks, said to be of basaltic formation. Pop. (1901), 1,333,184, showing an increase of 6.6% in the decade. The principal industry is that of silk, formerly of much importance, and now revived with government assistance. A narrow-gauge railway crosses the district, from the East Indian line at Nalhati to Azimganj on the Bhagirathi, the home of many rich Jain merchants; and a branch of the Eastern Bengal railway has been opened.

[edit] Murshidabad City

The city of Murshidabad is one of the oldest cities of West Bengal, and has a rich heritage. It was the last capital of independent Nawabs of Bengal, and the first capital of Bengal under the British. However, the city has lost its prominence in modern times to bigger cities such as Calcutta. Today it is primarily a trading town for agricultural products and silk. Murshidabad is also an important educational center, with eight colleges affiliated to the University of kalyani located here.

The origins of Murshidabad are not entirely clear. According to Ghulam Hussain, author of the Riyaz-us-Salatin, a merchant named Makhsus Khan first improved the present site of Murshidabad. Makhsus Khan had been mentioned in Akbar's birography, the Ain-i-Akbari, as a nobleman who served in Bengal and Bihar during the last decades of the sixteenth century. In Valentyn's map (1658-64) Moxudabath is shown on an island formed by the two branches of the Ganges.

In 1704, Murshid Quli Khan, the Diwan (aprox. Chief Minister) of Bengal under Aurangzeb transferred the capital from Dacca (now Dhaka in Bangladesh), and renamed the city Murshidabad. In 1716, he attained the title of Nawab (ruler) of the Subah (province) of Bengal, and Murshidabad became his capital. It continued to be the capital under a succession of Nawabs, and also under the British until 1790. It was constituted as a municipality in 1869, which remains to the present day.

While it features extensively in history books, the large potential for heritage tourism has been somewhat neglected. Of historic interest are Nizamat Kila (the Fortress of the Nawabs), also known as the Hazaarduari Palace (Palace of a Thousand Doors), built by Duncan McLeod of the Bengal Engineers in 1837, in the Italianate style, the Moti Jhil (Pearl Lake) just to the south of the palace, the Muradbagh Palace and the Khushbagh Cemetery, where the remains of Ali Vardi Khan and Siraj Ud Daulah are interred.

The city today is a center for agriculture, handicrafts and sericulture. The famous Murshidabad Silk, much in demand for making saris and scarves, is produced here.

[edit] Murshidabad District

The district of Murshidabad - 2,062 sq mi (5,341 sq km), population 5.863m (2001 census) - has its district headquarters at Baharampur. The district comprises two distinct regions separated by the Bhagirathi River. To the west lies the Rarh, a high, undulating continuation of the Chota Nagpur plateau. The eastern portion, the Bagri, is a fertile, low-lying alluvial tract, part of the Ganges Delta. The district is drained by the Bhagirathi and Jalangi rivers and their tributaries. Rice, jute, legumes, oilseeds, wheat, barley, and mangoes are the chief crops in the east; extensive mulberry cultivation is carried out in the west. The district became part of the Gaur kingdom in 1197 and passed to the British East India Company in the 18th century.

[edit] External links

Official site for Murshidabad district here contains extensive information about the district and its history, along with maps.
West Bengal Govt site for Murshidabad district
An excellent article from Banglapedia on Murshidabad here
Lots of statistical information on Murshidabad district here

[edit] Geography

Murshidabad is located at 24.18° N 88.27° E^[1]. It has an average elevation of 12 metres (39 feet).

[edit] Demographics

As of 2001 India census^GRIndia, Murshidabad had a population of 36,894. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Murshidabad has an average literacy rate of 66%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 71%, and female literacy is 61%. In Murshidabad, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.