Dhubri district

Etymology

The name Dhubri is derived from a story of Padma Purana of Behula-Lakhindar, where the main character of the story, who is called Behula during the period as the person had taken the path she followed to make a devoted visit to her dead husband going to the still living Lakhindar. Behula arrived at the bank of Brahmaputra called Netai. She had worked for the heaven gods such as Shiv, Partbati and others, and washed her clothes on a big stone at the bank of the Brahmaputra river called "Netai Dhubunir Ghat".

History

After bifurcation, the Muslims are 73.49% of the population with Hindus constituting 26.07%.

Languages

At the time of the 2011 census, 37.97% of the population spoke Assamese, 18.98% Bengali, 5.65% Rajbongshi, 2.15% Hindi and 1.21% Bhatia as their first language. 31.12% of the population recorded their language as 'Others' under Assamese, and 0.91% as 'Others' under Bengali.

It is estimated the number of Bengali speakers is much higher because the district has many Bengali origin Muslims, known as Miyas but during census enumeration, reported their mother tongue as Assamese in large scale.

Culture

Terracotta and pottery craft

Dhubri district of Assam have occupied a pivotal position in terracotta market of the world. The Assam's terracotta art and culture mainly took its birth at Asharikandi, a small village near Gauripur town in Dhubri district. More than 80% families of this craft village are engaged in this ethnic based art (handicraft) and pass their life after selling these terracotta products in the national and international markets.

Places of interest

The main places of interest in Dhubri district include Rangamati or Panbari Mosque, the oldest mosque in entire northeast region of India, Chakrashila Wildlife Sanctuary, Matiabag Palace, Gurdwara Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib, Mahamaya Dham, Garden and Panchpeer Dargah.

This place is known for the Sikh Gurdwara namely Gurdwara Damdama Sahib or Thara Sahib which was constructed in memory of visit of First Sikh Guru Nanak Dev (Punjabi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ, Hindi: गुरु नानक, Urdu: گرونانک Guru Nānak) and later it was followed by visit of Ninth guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur (Punjabi: ਗੁਰੂ ਤੇਗ਼ ਬਹਾਦੁਰ, Hindi: गुरू तेग़ बहादुर) and the Gurdwara is named as Gurdwara Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib. Hence, it has great importance for Sikh community.

Main towns in Dhubri district are Dhubri, Gauripur, Bilasipara, Golakganj, Tamarhat, Sapatgram, Chapar, Hatsingimari, Mankachar, Agomani etc.

Flora and fauna

On 14 July 1994, a virgin forest patch of Dhubri District of Assam was declared as a wildlife sanctuary by the gazette notification of the Assam government. This sanctuary has been named as "Chakrashila Wildlife Sanctuary". It is the youngest sanctuary of North East India having an area of 11,260.00 acres (45.5676 km2). Chakrasila is unique because of the presence of golden langur (Presbytis geei) which is found nowhere else except along the Assam and Bhutan border. Besides, the virgin forest of Chakrasila Wildlife Sanctuary is endowed with rare specimens of trees, shrubs, medicinal plants, mammals, reptiles and birds and insects.

Geographical location of the Chakrasila Wildlife Sanctuary is in the latitude 26° 15′ to 26° 26′ N and longitude 90° 15′ to 90° 20′ E. It is in the District of Dhubri, the westernmost region of Assam. It is 68 km from the district headquarters Dhubri and 219 km from the Borjhar Airport of Guwahati City.

There are several small springs for quenching the thirst of the wild animals of this hilly forest. But the two major perennial springs in the sanctuary are howhowi Jhora and Bamuni Jhora, which flow over the rocks, sparkling and spattering throughout the year, adding to the scenery of the sanctuary.

Climatic conditions of Chakrasila Wildlife Sanctuary is like that of temperate zone with dry winter and hot summer followed by heavy rains. Annual rainfall is 200 to 400 cm. Soil is azonal, forestlike and hilly. temperature throughout the year generally varies between 8 °C and 30 °C.

The diverse eco-systems of Chakrasila present a model habitat diversity and support various mammalian species like tiger, leopard, golden langur, leopard cat, gaur, mongoose, porcupine, pangoline, flying squirrel, civet cat. Along with all these prolific gifts of the nature Chakrasila has a wide variety of avifauna.

The two internationally recognised wetlands namely Dhir and Deeplai have not been yet taken inside the declared boundary of the sanctuary. But they are a part of the Chakrasila eco-system. It is expected that in due course they will be included within the sanctuary.

Education

At present the district houses 15 colleges for higher education. B. N. College, Dhubri (estd. 1946) at Dhubri is one of the oldest institutes in Assam. Sapatgram College situated in Sapatgram town is imparts degree BA and certificates HSSLC in Art's stream Bilasipara College situated in bilasipara town also imparts degrees (BA and BSc) and certificates (HSSLC) in the science and arts streams. Ratnapeeth College of Chapar is another prominent college of the district. The Government Boys Higher secondary School and Bidyapara Boys' Higher secondary school are the two important schools of Dhubri town and the oldest too. Happy Convent School is also one of the best schools affiliated by CBSE.

One Industrial Training Institute and some 30 number of private run computer institutes are there. Most prominent among these is COLLEGE OF ADVANCED TECHNICAL STUDIES popularly called CATS situated at G T B Road, Opposite to Students' Library, Dhubri. This institute is providing coaching and training facilities for Bachelor of Computer Application [BCA] course along with both short term and long term courses on Computer.

More than hundred high and higher secondary schools are also imparting education to the people of the district. ASIAN MISSION INSTITUTE a vocational training centre is imparting education to the people.

Prominent personalities from Dhubri District

• Pramathesh Barua, One of the pioneers of Indian Cinema. Directed and acted in many films in the pre-independence era.
• Pratima Barua Pandey, The Queen of folk music. She is a legend of Goalpariya folk music.
• Rebati Mohan Dutta Choudhury, Sahitya Akademy winner novelist.
• Kalicharan Brahma, a 20th-century social and religious reformer of Bodo society.
• Sarat Chandra Sinha, Ex Chief Minister of Assam. He was known for his simplicity and honesty.
• Parbati Barua, Internationally acclaimed "Queen of the Elephant".
• Abdul Hamid, former MP. Represented Dhubri MP Constituency for three times.
• Nazrul Hoque, Dhubri MLA
• Javed Zaman, First cricketer from Assam to play for India A team. A veteran Ranji player for Assam and Railways.
• B. C. Sanyal was a famous Indian painter who have been born and brought up in Dhubri.
• Tapas Sen ( 11 September 1924 – 28 June 2006) was a noted Indian stage lighting designer who was born and brought up in Dhubri.
• Priyadarshini Chatterjee, is an Indian model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Femina Miss India World in 2016. She represented India at the Miss World 2016 pageant. She is the first Indian Bengali women from Dhubri district to represent India at Miss World.
• Saifuddin Ahmed Born in Assam, Bangladeshi Actor.

References

References

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