English Bazar

English Bazar ইংরেজবাজার Malda
—  city  —
The historical entry gate to Gaur
English Bazar Location in West Bengal, India
Coordinates: 25.00°N 88.15°E / 25.00; 88.15
Country	India
State	West Bengal
District	Maldah
Elevation	17 m (56 ft)
Population (2011)
• city	216,083
• Metro	324,237
Languages
• Official	Bengali, English
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN	73210x
Telephone code	91-3512-2xxxxx
Lok Sabha constituency	Maldaha Dakshin
Vidhan Sabha constituency	English Bazar
Website	www.englishbazarmunicipality.com
1The coordinates given here are in metric system and based upon the Microsoft Encarta Reference Library Map Center 2005 2

English Bazar or Ingrāj Bäzär (Bengali: ইংরেজবাজার), better known as Malda, called the "Mango City", is a city and a municipality in Malda district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Malda is located on the western bank of the Mahananda River and is the fifth largest city (after Kolkata, Howrah, Asansol, and Siliguri) in West Bengal. Malda is nominated for becoming a municipal corporation (both English Bazar municipality and Old Malda municipality), and is the second largest city (after Siliguri) in North Bengal. It serves as the district headquarters.

Malda became the first Indian city to have a women's court.

Geography

English Bazar is located at 25.00°N 88.15°E / 25.00; 88.15. It has an average elevation of 17 metres (56 feet). It is located on the western bank of the Mahananda River. Usually the weather, as in 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.

History

English Bazar is situated in between the ancient historical cities of Gaur and Pandua. The city, however, came to be 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.

Firoj Minar at Gour

The gateway of North Bengal, Malda was once the capital of Gour-Banga, with 3456 km² of land classified as Tal, Diara, and Barind. Malda awaits the advent of tourists and people of archaeological 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, and Kalindri. It has witnessed different empires which were raised, flourished, and then 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 the town of English Bazar (once known as Engelzavad, established by the British rulers).

The boundary of Gour was changed in different ages since 5th century BC. 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 early 7th century AD, king Sasanka 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 and 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. Sirajuddaulah was defeated by Lord Clive at the battle of Plassey in 1757, which marked the beginning of British rule. From ancient times, rulers of various origins, religions, and dynasties left imprints of their times on the earth in this district. Those who left ruins and relics speak of past pomp and grandeur, and hold interest for archaeologists and tourists.

This district formed in 1813 out of the outlying areas of Purnia, Dinajpur, and Rajshahi districts. 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 English Bazar with jurisdiction over a number of police stations centered around that place and taken from the two district. Thus the district of Malda was born. The year 1832 saw the establishment of a separate treasury, and in 1859 a full-fledged magistrate and collector was posted.

Up to 1876 this district formed part of Rajshahi Division, and from 1876 to 1905 it formed part of Bhagalpur Division. In 1905, it was again transferred to Rajshahi Division, and until 1947 Malda remained in this division. In August of 1947 this district was affected by the Partition of India. Between August 12th to 15th, 1947 whether the district would become part of India or Pakistan was unknown, as the announcement of the Radcliffe 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. Five thanas were given to Pakistan by mistake.

Civic Administration

There are two 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.^{[citation needed]}

Culture

Malda has special cultural sorts such as Gombhira, Alkap, and Kavigan.

Major rel-festivals are

• Durga puja
• Kali Puja
• Id-ul-Fitr
• Id-uz-Zoha
• Guru Nanak Jayanti, Especially in Old Maldah
• X-mas

Transport

Public transport includes cycle rickshaws, auto rickshaws, and local buses. There is no metered vehicular transport. Six-seater city autos shuttle between English bazar and Old Malda at a rate fixed by the municipal authorities.^{[citation needed]}

Rail

Malda Town - English Bazar is well connected by rail. Its notable railway station is named as Malda Town (station code: MLDT). It is the Divisional Headquarters of Eastern Railway's Malda Division; about 70% of this division is in Bihar and Jharkhand (Junction Point - KIR / NJP / NFK). 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.

Bus

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, which links Kora in Bihar to Malda in West Bengal. A Central Bus Terminal has been set up.

Air

Malda Airport (IATA: LDA, ICAO: VEMH) was closed in 1972 due to the Bangladesh War.Before that there were direct daily flights from Malda to Kolkata, Delhi, and Guwahati. The Indian government is relocating the airport 5–6 km away from the town, though the land acquisition has been taken up.

Demographics

As of the 2011 census, English Bazar municipality had a population of 216,083 and the urban agglomeration had a population of 324,237. The municipality had a sex ratio of 877 females per 1,000 males and 14.9% of the population were under six years old. Effective literacy was 84.69%; male literacy was 85.44% and female literacy was 83.86%.

Communities that inhabit Malda include the Bengalis, Gorkha, Marwaris, Biharis and Rajbangsis. Some local forms of Bengali, Maithili, Rajbangsi, Hindi and Urdu language are spoken along with original forms. Commonly spoken languages include Bengali and Hindi. Some regional languages are Pabnai, Nawabgangi, Kamtapuri, Shershahabadia, Santali, Khotta, etc. Old Maldah has a number of Shikh population who suffered in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.^{[citation needed]}

Economy

Malda has been long a neglected area since independence of India. However, it became a prominent place in West Bengal after A. B. A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury (1927-2006), one of the prominent personalities of eastern India, took steps within his various capacities being minister of different portfolios from state to national ministries of India to develop Malda.

For 28 years, West Bengal was ruled by the opponents of Mr. Khan Chowdhury, who succeeded to establish a unique relation with him, and the district witnessed the fruit of this coalition in the industrial sector. Sukhjeet Starch Ltd, East End Silk Ltd. and many other enterprises have increased. East India Agro at Rishipur Anchal, which deals with mango pulp and raw jute. There is also a GO-NGO partnership on the card, especially artisan-based business cluster development and SME establishment is within the mission. Malda has good potential in agricultural products like mango, jute, and silk.

Due to political differences, Maldah is still a neglected area. In recent times, land mafias are plenty in the city, the city is rising in height but in the past 30 to 40 years the size of the city remains the same. The politically corrupt rule the city.

Due to growing economic transactions some major banks have opened in the city, namely Standard Chartered, HDFC, ICICI, Allahabad Bank, Axis Bank, Punjab National Bank, UCO, IDBI, Vijaya, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank. Other banks including State Bank of India, BGVB are in the city from a long time.

Education

Schools

Though Malda is one of the least educated districts of West Bengal, it contains some of the most élite schools of the state.

Some of the most reputed Bengali medium schools of the city are:

• Malda Zilla School - one of the oldest schools of Malda, famous for former students like professor Benoy Sarkar of Calcutta University and Ramesh Chandra Ghosh, MABL, lawyer and former colleague of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, who was imprisoned by the British in 1942.
• Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Vidyamandir
• Barlow Girls' High School
• A.C.Institution
• Lalit Mohan Shyam Mohini High School
• Malda Town High School
• Umesh Chandra Bastuhara High School
• C.C.Girls High School
• Malda Girls' High School

Some of the English medium schools:

• St. Xavier's School
• North Point English Academy
• Holy Child English Academy
• Kendriya Vidyalaya - Malda
• St Mary's School
• Daffodils English Academy
• Jingle Bell School - preparatory school
• Humpty Dumpty

Colleges and Universities

• The University of Gour Banga - established on 2008. Almost all of the 28 colleges in Maldah, Uttar Dinajpur and Dakshin Dinajpur, with the exception of Raiganj University College, are affiliated with this university.

The main building of the University of Gour Banga.

• Malda College - established on 23 July 1944, is the oldest higher educational institution in the city.
• Malda Women's College - the only women's college in the city.

Malda has two engineering colleges, viz.

• IMPS College of Engineering and Technology - established on 2003
• Malda Polytechnic - one of the oldest polytechnic colleges in West Bengal.

The Malda Medical College and Hospital, located in the heart of the town, established on 2011 is the only medical college in the region.

Notable personalities

• Shibram Chakrabarti
• A. B. A. Ghani Khan Choudhury
• Benoy Kumar Sarkar
• Dr Asim Dasgupta
• Subhas Bhowmick

See also

• English Bazar (Community development block)
• Malda Museum
• List of cities in West Bengal

External links

• http://malda.nic.in/

Gour-Pandua travel guide from Wikivoyage