| English Bazar | |
| — city — | |
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| Coordinates | |
| Country | India |
| State | West Bengal |
| District(s) | Malda |
| Parliamentary constituency | Maldaha Uttar |
| Assembly constituency | English Bazar |
| Population | 324,237 (2011[update]) |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
| Area |
• 17 metres (56 ft) |
| Website | malda.nic.in/ |
English Bazar, better known as Malda, called mango city, is a city and a municipality in Malda district in the state of West Bengal, India. Malda is the fifth largest city (after Kolkata (Calcutta), Howrah, Asansol, Siliguri) in West Bengal. Malda is nominated for becoming a municipal corporation (both English Bazar municipality & Old Malda municipality), and is the second largest (after Siliguri) city in North Bengal. It serves as the district headquarters.
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English Bazar is located at .[1] It has an average elevation of 17 metres (56 feet). It is located on the western bank of the river Mahananda. Usually the weather like much of Bengal is extremely humid and tropical. Temperatures can reach as high as 46 °C in the hot and dry months of May and June but can plummet to about 4 °C in the chilly nights of December and January.
In the 2011 census, English Bazar Urban Agglomeration had a population of 324,237, out of which 175,073 were males and 149,164 were females. The 0-6 years population was 24,262. Effective literacy rate for the 7+ population was 81.32 per cent.[2]
As of 2001[update] India census,[3] English Bazar had a population of 161,448. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. English Bazar has an average literacy rate of 75%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 78%, and female literacy is 71%. In English Bazar, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.
English Bazar is situated in between the ancient historical cities of Gaur and Pandua. The city, however, came up much later, around mid 18th century. It was once known as Engelzavad established by the British rulers. In 1813 a joint magistrate and deputy collector were appointed and in 1832 a treasury was opened.
The gateway of North Bengal, Malda, once the capital of Gour-Banga with its 3456 km² lay of the land classified into Tal, Diara, and Barind awaits the advent of tourists and people of archeological interest with its wealth to be enjoyed and its huge potential to be explored.
This portion of the Earth is washed by the waves of the rivers Ganges, Mahananda, Fulahar, Kalindri and had been the witness of different empires raised, flourished and cast down near oblivion by a successor kingdom built up on the relics of its predecessor. Panini mentioned a city named Gourpura, which by strong reason may be identified as the city of Gouda, ruins of which are situated in this district. Examples are legion of the relic of a predecessor kingdom being used in the monuments of the successor kingdoms.
It had been within the limits of ancient ‘Gaur’ and ‘Pandua’ (Pundrabardhana). These two cities had been the capital of Bengal in ancient and medieval ages and are equidistant, north and south, from English Bazar town (once known as Engelzavad established by the British rulers).
The boundary of Gour was changed in different ages since 5th century BC and its name can be found in Puranic texts. Pundranagar was the provincial capital of Maurya Empire.
Gour and Pundrabardhana formed parts of the Mourya empire as is evinced from the inscriptions, Brahmilipi on a seal discovered from the ruins of Mahasthangarh in the Bogura District of Bangladesh. Hiuen Tsang saw many Ashokan stupas at Pundrabardhana.
The inscriptions discovered in the district of undivided Dinajpur and other parts of North Bengal along with the Allahabad pillar inscriptions of Samudragupta clearly indicate that the whole of North Bengal as far east as Kamrup formed a part of the Gupta empire.
After the Guptas in the beginning of 7th century AD Sasanka, the king of Karnasubarna as well as the king of Gaur ruled independently for more than three decades. From the middle of 8th century to the end of 11th century the Pala Empire ruled Bengal, the kings were devoted to Buddhism. It was during their reign that the Jagadalla Vihara (monastery) in Barindri flourished paralleling with Nalanda, Vikramshila and Devikot.
The Pala Dynasty yielded to the emergence of Sena Empire, the Sen rulers were Hindus, and in the habit of moving from place to place within their kingdom. At the time of Lakshman Sen Goud was known as Lakshmanabati. The Sen kings ruled Bengal till Bakhtiyar Khilji conquered Bengal in 1204 AD.
Thereafter the Muslim rule lasted for about five hundred years before Sirajuddaulah was defeated by Lord Clive at the battle of Plassey in 1757 whence the British rule started. From ancient times, rulers of various origins, religions, and dynasties left imprints of their times on the earth of this district. Those that left ruins and relics speak of past pomp and grandeur, and hold interest for archeologists and tourists.
This district formed out of outlying areas of Purnia, Dinajpur, and Rajshahi districts in 1813. At the time of Dr. B. Hamilton (1808–09), the presents thanas of Gazole, Malda, Bamongola, and part of Habibpur were included in the district of Dinajpur and the thanas of Harischandrapur, Kharba, Ratua, Manikchak, and Kaliachak were included in the district of Purnia. In 1813, in consequence of the prevalence of serious crimes in the Kaliachak and Sahebganj thanas and also on the rivers, a joint magistrate and deputy collector were appointed at Englishbazar with jurisdiction over a number of police station centering that place and taken from the two district. Thus the district of Malda was born. The year 1832 saw the establishment of separate treasury and the year 1859 the posting of a full - fledged Magistrate and collector.
Up to 1876, this district formed part of Rajshahi Division and between 1876 & 1905, it formed part of Bhagalpur Division. In 1905, it was again transferred to Rajshahi Division and till 1947 Malda remained in this division. In August, 1947, this district was affected by Partition of India. Between August 12–15, 1947 whether the district would become part of India or Pakistan was unknown as the announcement of the Radcliff Line did not make this point clear. During these few days the district was under a magistrate of East Pakistan until the details of the Radcliffe award were published and the district became part of West Bengal on the 17th of August 1947.
English Bazar is well connected by both road and rail. It is the Divisional Headquarters of Eastern Railway's Malda Division; about 70% of this division is in Bihar and Jharkhand. Financial department officials like Sr.DFM, Sr.DRM, and ADFM have offices there. Almost all trains bound for North Bengal and the North Eastern States of India pass through Malda Town station (station code: MLDT). The city is located on National Highway 34, the North-South arterial road of West Bengal some 347 km north of Kolkata and 256 km south of Siliguri. It is also connected to National Highway 81. Malda Airport (IATA: LDA, ICAO: VEMH), which was closed since 1972 due to the Bangladesh War, is trying to reopen.
Though Malda is one of the least educated districts of West Bengal, it contains some of the most élite schools of the state. Malda Zilla School, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Vidyamandir, The Barlow Girls High School, A C Institution, Lalitmohan, Malda Town High School, C.C.Girls High School, St Xavier (English medium), St Mary School (English medium), Kendriya Vidyalaya-Malda , Jingle Bell School (An English Medium preparatory school), Daffodils English Academy, Holy Child English Academy and North Point English Academy are also some of the most reputed schools of the district.
Established in the year 1858, the school started in the building in which the Superintendent of Police of Malda resides at present. It all started in 2 & 3 pucca rooms and in thatched rooms separated by fences in the Northern, Southern and Western sides. In 1897, the school shifted to the present campus having 11 compartments and 1 hall attached to a courtyard. Before 1985, this building enjoyed the recognition of being the main building. In 1985, this building was named after an eminent student of this institute Prof. Binoy Sarkar as Binoy Sarkar Bhavan. At present, this building is utilized for administrative purposes. These apart, there are 24 classrooms housed in Jagadish Chandra Bhavan, Rammohun Bhavan, Vidyasagar Bhavan and Nazrul Bhavan. At present, the morning section of the school runs from class – I to class – V while the day section runs from Class – VI to Class – XII. In the higher secondary course, the school carries studies in all the 3 streams of study; namely the sciece, HUMANITIES and commerce streams of study. From 1897 onwards, the school had two hostels – the Hindu hostel and the Muslim hostel. Now those two hostels have been amalgamated and remain functional as the Malda Zilla school hostel. This hostel has the capacity of providing accommodation to 40 students of the XI and XII standard and a few students of lower classes. Housed in the same campus of the school, it has two separate units: Unit 1 and Unit 2.
There are 2 municipalities in English Bazar; the English Bazar municipality and the Old Malda municipality.
English Bazar municipality is divided into 25 wards. Currently, the Indian National Congress with ten councilors shares power in alliance with the four councilors representing the Trinamool Congress.
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