Bamna

About Bamna

Bamna (Bengali: বামনা) is an upazila of Barguna District in Barisal, Bangladesh.

Etymology

According to local tradition, the name Bamna derives from an incident involving the Bawalis, traditional forest-dwelling woodcutters, who once navigated the Bishkhali River in their Bawali boats. In those days, the surrounding region formed part of the vast Sundarbans mangrove expanse. Legend recounts that during one such voyage, a man named Baman fell overboard around this area and vanished into the river's depths. In commemoration of this unfortunate event, the locality came to be known as Bamna.

Geography and climate

Bamna Upazila is surrounded by Kathalia Upazila to the north, Mathbaria Upazila to the west, Betagi and Barguna Sadar upazilas to the east, and Patharghata Upazila to the south. Bamna Upazila is situated on the banks of the Holta River to the west and the Bishkhali River to the east. Bamna has immense potential to prosper from its natural resources but has suffered from successive natural disasters. Cyclones and tidal waves in 1961, 1965, 1970, and 1991, and the impacts of Cyclone Sidr in 2007 and Cyclone Aila in 2009, have repeatedly battered Bamna Upazila.

History

The area now comprising Bamna Upazila was part of the Chandradwip kingdom and thereafter Pargana Buzurg-Umedpur, which was gifted to Buzurg Umed Khan by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. The pargana's largest taluq was the uninhabited Ramna-Bamna Taluq. In the 17th century, attempts were made to cultivate it in a few places. Due to the oppression of Magh and Portuguese pirates, no settlement was established. After the arrival of the East India Company in the middle of the 18th century, salt began to be cultivated in the region, and the taluq was leased to Sadashiva Majumdar, and later the Armenian merchant Khwaja Michael. During the time of the Thomson Partition in 1792, Ramna-Bamna was still a part of the Sundarbans.

In 1795, Ramna-Bamna was occupied by Safizuddin Jamadar, son of Muhammad Idrak of Durgapasha and brother of Zamindar Sidam Chowdhury of Gyanpara. Safizuddin, also known as Safi Mahmud Chowdhury, was a peyada of the East India Company salt-houses in Chechri and Amua who had been promoted to a jamadar. By 1809, with the assistance of the English merchants, Jamadar secured a seven-year revenue settlement for the Ramna-Bamna estate at an annual rent of 1,165 takas. The taluq consisted of 43 villages on the banks of the Bishkhali River. He began to permanently settle in Bamna, and the Saheb Bari Bazaar is named after the Chowdhury Taluqdars of Bamna. He had two sons: Hosenuddin Chowdhury and Nasruddin (Nayebuddin) Chowdhury. Hosenuddin inherited the zamindari estate from his father and is credited with constructing the Rangmahal Chan Pukur (where the Bamna hospital is now located). Khondkar Munshi Samiruddin served as his naib and is considered to be the founder of the Khondkar family in Bamna. Hosenuddin Chowdhury had a son and three daughters: Afsaruddin, Fakhrunnesa, Azizunnesa, and Asmatunnesa.

Mir Sarwar Jan (d. 1914), an heir of the Syeds of Malidia, settled in Bamna after marrying Azizunnesa Chowdhurani. Upon her premature death, he married her widowed elder sister, Fakhrunnesa Chowdhurani, thereby securing proprietary rights over a substantial portion of the Ramna-Bamna estate and emerging as a rival to his brother-in-law Taluqdar Afsaruddin Chowdhury. When Afsaruddin's sole son, Fakhruddin Chowdhury, was still a minor, Sarwar Jan was appointed guardian. After Fakhruddin attained maturity, a prolonged legal battle ensued, culminating in a landmark ruling by His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council in London, which formally declared Fakhruddin an adult at the age of thirty-six. By then, Fakhruddin had married the sister of Sir Kazi Golam Mohiuddin Faroqui and established his residence in Alekanda, Barisal. Fakhruddin (Nabalak Saheb) was childless and devoted himself to the philanthropic management of an orphana

Source: Wikipedia →