Narail; a City in Bangladesh

Narail, Bangladesh

Narail (Bengali: নড়াইল Noraayil) (Urdu and Punjabi: نارائل) is a district in South-western in Bangladesh. It is a part of the Khulna Division. 

Geography: 

Narail District (নড়াইল) (Khulna Division) has an area of 990.23 km². It is located to the south of Magura District, north off Khulna District, with the Faridpur District and Gopalganj District on the east, and Jessore District to the west. Its average temperature ranges between 11.2C and 37.1C and has a yearly presperation of 1467 mm. Through the district flow the Madhumati (মধুমতি), Nabaganga (নবগঙ্গা), Bhairab (ভৈরব), Chitra (চিত্রা) and Kajla (কাজলা) rivers. There are many beels (বিল) and baors (বাওড়) most noted of which is Chachuri Beel. 

Total Land Area 240,439-acre (973 km2), Cultivable Area 176,504-acre (714 km2), Fallow Land 25,090-acre (102 km2), Area Under Forest 10 Acre, Area Irrigated 36,208-acre (147 km2), Area Under River 8,562-acre (35 km2).

Old house of Banarjee family , Itna , Lohagara, Narail

Subdistricts: 

The district has three upazilas: Narail Sadar Upazila, Kalia Upazila and Lohagara Upazila. and the districts has four thanas: Narail Kalia Lohagora Noragati. Administration of Narail district was established in 1984. It consists of two municipalities, 18 wards, 43 mahallas, 3 Upazilas, 4 police stations (Narail, Kalia, Lohagara and Naragati), 37 union porishods, 445 mouzas and 649 villages. Municipalities are Narail Sadar and Kalia. 

History: 

Narail town was named after a feudal lord (Zamindars). The zaminders established a market at Roopgonj, named after a zaminder. They established a post office for the first time in the district during British Raj near Rotongonj, named after another member of the feudal lord family. They modernised Narail. They promoted culture, sports and education in that part of the world.

A Masjid in Narail, Bangladesh

The large playing field "Kuriddobe" was a gift of the feudal lord family. They introduced football competition in that part with a shield given to the champions and a cup the runners-up as well as medals to all players from early twentieth century. One of the feudal lords moved away from Narail and settled in Hatbaria and established another large manor (jomidarbaari). 

Religion: 

The district of Narail consists 1675 mosques, 248 temples, four churches, seven tombs and 11 shrines. Out of them the "Radha Raman Smriti Tirtha Mandir" at Debbhog is a prominent place to visit. Nishinath Tola in Rupganj and Lakkhipasha thakurbari are prominent places. 

Muslims are in mejority farming 88.75% of the population while Hindus stand in second with 9.25%. Christians contribute 1.5 % to the population of Narail. The remaining population belongs to other faiths. 

Nihar Ranjan Gupta Family house in Lohagara, Narail

Places of Interest: 

Motth at Borodia of Nishinathtola. The homestead of famous detective writer Dr. Nihar Ranjan Gupta is at Itna, Lohagora. 

Narail Victoria College and Collegiate School is one of the oldest modern high school in Bangladesh, established in 1858 by the Landlords of Narail who were enthusiastics of education. They also established a girls' school which was a rarity in Bangladesh at that time. It's called Shib Shankar Memorial Girls' School. This school closed down due to lack of funding after they left East Pakistan for India. It was reopened by some local enthusiasts, like Mr. J Bhattacharjee, Mr. S Biswas and Mr. B Bhowmic. They borrowed furnitures from the neighbours. They went house to houses soliciting parents to send their children to the school.

NARAIL LANDING PLACE

Narail Palace was one of the biggest Landlord mansion in Bengal. When the Hindu landlords left East Pakistan for Kolkata after partition of India, the mansion was looted and vandalised and gradually collapsed. There is still some remains present specially the Kaalibaari (temple of goddess Kali), Shibmondir (temple of Lord Shiva) and the Bandha ghaat on the River Chitra. Some local people continued the famous Durga Puja in the mansion, but was discontinued after a few years. Part of the building was used for some time as government office. But due to lack of maintenance it gave in. 

The famous writer Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was a magistrate in Narail and his book Neelkuthi was based on the forceful cultivation of indigo in Narail by the East India Company. Narail was once declared independence from the British Raj by Ms Shorola di (Sister Shorola), as she was known at the time by her followers of independence movement of India. But the independence lasted for 3 days only.

Gov,Victoria College, Narail Bangladesh

Educational Institutions:

• Kalia Pilot High School (Established in 1865) 
• Narail Victoria College (Established in 1886) 
• Jogania D.N. Madhyomik Bidyaloy 
• Marich Pasha Secondary School,Lohagara (Established in 1972) 
• Naragati College 
• Narail Govt. High School 
• Lohagara Pilot High School 
• Lohagara Adarsha Mohavidyalay 
• Parbati Bidhyapith,Gobra 
• Gobra Mittra Mahabiddyalya 
• Laxmipasha Mohila Degree College 
• Laxmipasha girls school 
• Baman Hat High School 
• Maijpara High School 
• Maijpara College 
• Tularampur High School 
• Mulia High School

Sheikh Mohammed Sultan

• Debbhog High School 
• Aagdia Shimulia High School 
• Marich pasha High school 
• L. S. J. N. Union Institution 
• Munshi Manik Mia College Borhdiya 
• Khashial High School 
• Shaheed Abdus Salam Degree College, Kalia 

Famous Personalities: 

• SM Sultan, famous Bangladeshi painter 
• Mashrafe Bin Mortoza, famous cricket player of national team 
• Bijoy Sarkar, Baul singer 

Transportation:

• Roads & Highways: Narail-Jessore-Magura-Dhaka, Narial-Gopalganj-Dhaka, Narial-Khulna, Narial-Satkhira. 
• Rural communications/roads.