Durgapur Upazila, Rajshahi: History
The area covered by the Durgapur Upazila is closely located to Lakhnauti, the capital city of medieval Bengal, and as a result contains sites connected to the Sultanate of Bengal. In c. 1500, the Qismat Maria mosque complex was constructed in Durgapur Upazila's Maria village. Among the 456 mosques and 125 eidgahs of Durgapur Upazila, other historic examples include the one-domed Ruipara Jame Mosque from the 16th century and the five-domed Panchubari Jame Mosque. The Panchubari mosque in Jaygirpara was established by a silk businessman known as Bhadu Pramanik and is bounded on the north by the huge Angra Beel and on the south by the river Malch. A Sufi pir popularly known as Kalachand Shah was based in this area and he is buried in a mausoleum in Hathkanpara Bazar, Jainagar Union. In the 19th century, a Sufi murshid known as Hazrat Shah Shafi Qazi Rafiuddin bin Kafiluddin al-Chishti (1882–1996) of Dhardiyar, Kushtia arrived to Durgapur where many murids gave bay'ah to him. His mazar is located in Jhaluka.
The British Raj officially established a thana in Durgapur in 1909. During the Bangladesh War of 1971, a battle took place between the Bengali fighters and the Pakistan Army at the village of Kabasmul on the border between Durgapur and Paba upazilas. The army major was killed and as a response the army massacred 44 villagers in the villages of Gaganbaria and Palsa. Durgapur Thana was upgraded to upazila (sub-district) in 1984 as part of President Hussain Muhammad Ershad's decentralisation programme.