Undivided Kushtia District () or Greater Kushtia District () or Pakistani Nadia District (Bengali: পাকিস্তানি নদীয়া জেলা) was a district consisting of Kushtia Sub-Division, Meherpur Sub-Division and Chuadanga Sub-Division of Greater Nadia District separated from Nadia District during the creation of East Bengal in 1947.
History In 1725, the region of Kushtia was under the Zamindars of Natore. Later the British East India Company included Kushtia in Jessore District in 1776. But in 1828, it was included in Pabna District. In 1861, Kushtia Sub-Division was established due to Indigo revolt and in 1871, Kushtia Sub-Division with Kumarkhali Upazila and Khoksa Upazila was included in Nadia District. Pre-independence Nadia had five subdivisions: Krishnagar sadar, Ranaghat, Kushtia, Meherpur and Chuadanga. Due to some cartographic error in 1947, large part of Nadia except Nabadwip initially were included into East Bengal, Pakistan (now Bangladesh) due to it being a Muslim majority district in the 1941 census of British India. Due to protests rectification was made and on the night of 17 August 1947, Ranaghat, Krishnanagar, Shikarpur in Karimpur and Plassey were placed in West Bengal, India as Nabadwip district and the district in East Bengal was formed as Nadia district. It was then consisted of 3 subdivisions. These are Kushtia, Meherpur (except Karimpur and Tehatta thana) and Chuadanga (except Krishnaganj thana). In October 1947, Nadia District Magistrate Syed Murtaza Ali changed the name of the district to Kushtia District from Nadia to avoid confusion. Then in 1984, after 13 years of the independence of Bangladesh, Chuadanga and Meherpur districts were separated as separate districts and the present Kushtia district was formed with 6 police stations.
Administrative division Undivided Kushtia district had 03 subdivisions and 12 thanas.
Subdivision no. Upazila Current district Kushtia 01 Kushtia Sadar ThanaKushtia District 02 Kumarkhali Thana 03 Khoksa Thana 04 Mirpur Thana 05 Bheramara Thana 06 Daulatpur Thana Meherpur 07 Meherpur ThanaMeherpur District 08 Gangni ThanaChuadanga 09 Chuadanga ThanaChuadanga District 10 Alamdanga Thana 11 Damurhuda Thana 12 Jibannagar Thana
Demographics According to 1981 census, total population of Kushtia district was 2291997. Muslim formed the largest community.
In the present time Mujibnagar in Undivided Kushtia District was the first temporary capital of independent Bangladesh which is now an upazila in Meherpur District. The Bengali spoken by the original inhabitants of this region i.e. the undivided Nadia district bears a close resemblance to modern Standard Bengali. The larger society of the inhabitants of these three districts is called the Brihottoro Kushtiabasi.
See Also Nadia District (1787-1947) Kushtia District Meherpur District Chuadanga District
References