We went to Bikrampur (Munshiganj), the capital of ancient Bengal on our tour. Although there is a lot to see in Munshiganj, we saw a few places in our one-day tour. On May 7, 2022, at 7 AM, I left Dhaka with Mahbub Bhai @MahabubMunna for Bikrampur and back to home at 8.44 PM. It was 161 km and around 7 hours of journey. We visited historical places, Hindu temple, Buddhist temple, Mosque, Church, Museums, Rivers, etc.
The tour included following historical and attractive places:
Site seeing:
- Padma river
- Dhaleshwari river
- Ichamati river
- Bhagyakul bazar
History of Bikrampur
Bikrampur (âCity of Courageâ) was a pargana situated 19 kilometres (12 mi) south of Dhaka, the modern capital city of Bangladesh. In the present day, it is known as Munshiganj District of Bangladesh. It is a historic region in Bengal and was a part of the Bhawal Estate. The name Bikrampur has emanated from the loving memory of King Vikramaditya.
Ashoka, the emperor of the Maurya Dynasty, ruled all of major parts of Bengal from ca. 269 BC to 232 BC. Being a devotee of Gautama Buddha, he propagated Buddhism across his kingdom which included Bikrampur to the east. Following the high ideals of this religion, Pala Kings came to Bikrampur to rule the region 770â810 AD. Since then, Bikrampur has been ruled by different rulers, such as, Chandra Era (reigned 930 â 975 AD), Varman Dynasty (1035-1150 CE), Sen Era which was continued till Emperor Akbar established Bikrampur as one of the 52 parganas of Sonargaon Sarkar in Bengal subah during his administrative reforms in 1572â1580.
During the Mughal rule they built a new town Idrakpur which was named after Mughal faujdar Idrak. Idrakpur was strategically very significant place for Mughal subadar Mir Jumla. It was the junction of Meghna, Shitalakshya, Ichhamati & Dhaleshwari rivers. Idrakpur fort was built on the bank of Ichhamati river which was the route to the Portuguese & Magh pirates. Idrakpur was the naval base of naval fleet 200 frigates with mortars - cannons. Mir Jumla was successful for protecting his capital Dhaka from pirates. As a result, for being a strategically important place, for defense, Idrakpur (Munshiganj) was becoming popular and developed by the Mughal rulers. The British changed the name Idrakpur as Munshiganj after the name of Munshi Hyder Hosaain (or Munshi Enayet Ali), a local zamindar who was from the village Kazi Kasba in Rampal. Bikrampur was never a district from British to Bangladesh period. In 1945, Munshiganj (Idrakpur) was declared as subdivision of East Indian Company. In 01 March 1984 Munshiganj (Idrakpur) was declared as district of Dhaka division.
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