Maghbazar

Maghbazar a locality in the city of Dhaka bounded on the west by Eskaton, on the south by Ramna, on the north by Tejgaon and on the east by the Malibagh-Siddheswari area. The name Maghbazar appears to be derived from the Maghs of Arakan.The present Maghbazar in Dhaka is associated with the memories of the Maghs. The Maghs of Arakan launched frequent raids in Bengal. They had their first attack on Dhaka in 1920 AD. The Mughal subadar ibrahim khan fath-i-jang defeated the Maghs and captured about four thousand of their war boats. During the viceroyalty of Islam Khan II (1635-39) Mukut Roy, the nephew of Arakan king and the governor of Chittagong, surrendered to the subadar and accepted Islam. The area where the Maghs were permitted by the subadar to build there settlements later came to be known as Maghbazar.

There is a different opinion that a bulk number of the Maghs from Arakan took shelter in British kingdom in the nineteenth century. A Magh chief named King Bring took refuge along with about fifty followers. The place in Dhaka where those Magh refugees developed settlements was subsequently known as Maghbazar. The Maghs used to get allowance from the British Government at the rate of twelve rupees per head per month. Even at the end of the nineteenth century Maghbazar in Dhaka was a dense forest with ferocious animals. [Fazilatun Nessa]

Bibliography Azimusshan Haider, Dacca: History and Romance in Place Names, Dacca, 1967; Nirmol Gupta, Dhakar Kotha, Kolkata, 1940.