Sonargaon (Bengali: সোনারগাঁও; also transcribed as Sunārgāon^[1]) or Sunargaon or Suratân was the administrative center of medieval Muslim rulers in East Bengal. It became as the capital of Bengal during Isa Khan's ruling. The area falls under present-day Narayanganj District, Bangladesh. Today the name Sonargaon survives as Sonargaon Upazila in that district.^[2]

History[link]

Pre-Muslim period[link]

The name Sonargaon came as the Muslim version of the ancient name Suvarnagrama.^[2] Hindu ruler Danujamadhava Dasharathadeva shifted his capital to Suvarnagrama from Bikrampur sometime in the middle of the 13th century.^[2] In early 14th century, Hindu ruling in this area ended when Shamsuddin Firoz Shah (reigned 1301–1322) of Lakhnauti occupied and annexed it to his kingdom.^[3]

Muslim period[link]

Muslim settlers first arrive in Sonargaon region in around 1281.^[4] Sharfuddin Abu Tawwamah, a medieval Sufi saint and Islamic philosopher came and settled here sometime between 1282 and 1287.^[5] He then established his Khanqah and founded a Madrasa.

Firoz Shah built a mint in Sonargaon from where a large number of coins were issued.^[3] When he died in 1322, his son, Ghiyasuddin Bahadur Shah, replaced him as the ruler. In 1324 Delhi Sultan, Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, declared war against him and after the battle, Bahadur Shah was captured and Bengal, including Sonargaon, became a province of Delhi Sultanate.^[6] The same year, Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq, son and successor of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, released him and appointed him as the governor of Sonargaon province.^[7]

After 4 years of governorship, in 1328, Bahadur Shah declared independence of Bengal. Delhi Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq sent his general, Bahram Khan, to depose him. In the battle, Bahadur Shah was defeated and killed. Bahram Khan recaptured Sonargaon for the Delhi Sultanate and he was also appointed the governor of Sonargaon.^[8]

When Bahram Khan died in 1338, his armor-bearer, Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah, declared himself the independent Sultan of Sonargaon.^[4] Fakhruddin sponsored several construction projects, including a trunk road and raised embankments, along with mosques and tombs.^[9] 14th century Moroccan traveller, Ibn Batuta, after visiting the capital in 1346, described Fakhruddin as "a distinguished sovereign who loved strangers, particularly the fakirs and sufis".^[9] After the death of Fakhruddin in 1349, Ikhtiyaruddin Ghazi Shah became the next independent ruler of Sonargaon.^[10]

Ilyas Shah, the independent ruler of Lakhnauti, attacked Sonargaon in 1352. After defeating Ikhtiyaruddin Ghazi Shah, he became the sole ruler of whole Bengal for the first time in history and thus he became the founder of a sultanate of the unified Bengal.^[11]

It is thought^{[by whom?]} that when a squadron of the Chinese fleet of Zheng He, commanded by the eunuch Hong Bao, visited Bengal in 1432, they visited Sonargaon as well. The information about that expedition comes from the book of one of its participants, the translator Ma Huan.^[1]

Sonargaon is the eastern terminus of the Grand Trunk Road, which was built by the Pashtun emperor Sher Shah Suri, extended approximately 2500 kilometres from Bangladesh across northern India and Pakistan to Kabul in Afghanistan.^[4]

Isa Khan's ruling[link]

When Taj Khan Karrani was the independent Afghan ruler of Bengal, Isa Khan obtained an estate in Sonargaon and Maheswardi Pargana in 1564 as a vassal of the Karrani rulers. Isa Khan gradually increased his strength and in 1571 he was designated as the ruler of whole Bhati region. In 1575 he helped Daud Khan Karrani to fight with Mughal flotilla in the vicinity of Sonargaon.^[12]

Daud Khan Karrani died in the battle of Rajmahal against Mughals in 1576. Akbar then assigned Isa Khan as one of the Bara-Bhuiyans by making him the zamindar of Sonargaon. Since then he resisted Mughal's ruling in his area. With the help of allies, he stood defiant against Mughals in the battle against Subahdar Khan Jahan in 1578, Subahdar Shahbaz Khan in 1584 and Durjan Singh in 1597. Isa Khan died in September 1599. Then his son, Musa Khan, took control of Bhati region. But after the defeat of Musa Khan in 10 July 1610^[13] by Islam Khan, the army general of Mughals, Sonargaon became one of the sarkars of Bengal subah. The capital of Bengal is then shifted to Jahangirnagar (later named Dhaka).

Bangladesh period[link]

On 15 February 1984, Narayanganj subdivision is upgraded to a district by the Government of Bangladesh.^[14] Hence Sonargaon became a subdistrict of Narayanganj District of Dhaka division.

Trade[link]

By the 14th century Sonargaon became a commercial port. Trade activities were mentioned by travelers like Ibn Batuta, Ma Huan and Ralph Fitch.^[2] Maritime ships travelled between Sonargaon and southeast/west Asian countries.^[2] Muslin was produced in this region.

Remains[link]

Panam City

Lok Shilpa Jadughar (Folk Arts Museum) in Sonargaon.

• Panam City was established in the late 19th century as a trading center of cotton fabrics during British rule. Hindu cloth merchants built their residential houses following colonial style with inspiration derived from European sources.^[2] After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and the Muslim-Hindu riot, Panam City has reduced into a vacant community. Today this area is protected under the department of archaeology of Bangladesh. Panam city area was linked with the main city area by three brick bridges - Panam Bridge, Dalalpur Bridge and PanamNagar Bridge - during Mughal period. The bridges are still in use.

• Lok Shilpa Jadughar (Folk Art and Craft Museum) of Sonargaon was established by Bangladeshi painter Joynul Abedin on March 12, 1975.^[4] The house, originally called Bara Sardar Bari, was built in 1901.

• Sonakanda Fort is a Mughal river-fort located on the bank of the Shitalakshya River at Bandar.^[15]

• Khasnagar Dighi, a lake in Khasnagar village.

Due to the many threats to preservation (including flooding and vandalism), Sonargaon is placed in 2008 Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites by World Monuments Fund.

See also[link]

• Sonargaon Upazila

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Kazi Azizul Islam and Tania Sharmeen (July 5, 2005). "Panam Among World’s 100 Endangered Historic Sites". News from Bangladesh. http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidDate=2005-07-06&hidType=HIG. 
• Roy, Pinaki (July 9, 2004). "Panam Nagar's Fate in Limbo". The Daily Star. http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/07/09/d4070901022.htm. 
• Ali, Tawfique (April 26, 2007). "Unscientific Restoration Defacing Heritage". The Daily Star, Vol 5 num 1031. http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/07/09/d4070901022.htm. 

External links[link]

• The World Monuments Fund's 2008 Watch List page for Sonargaon
• Sonargaon in Banglapedia
• Sonargaon in Everyneededinfo

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