Dhamrai Upazila: History
There are two theories on the naming of Dhamrai. The first is that during the time of Ashoka, there was a Buddhist called Dharmarajika and that the area was named after him. The discovery of a Buddhist stupa in Savar, about 10 miles from Dhamrai, lends credence to this opinion. Another theory is that in the early fourteenth century, five companions of the Sufi saint Shah Jalal (Tirmidhi Al-Husayni, Haji, Ghazi, Zam Bahadur, and Shah Makhdum) came and settled in the sparsely populated and heavily forested area. Food supplies ultimately ran short and one day they found a stray cow wandering about which they slaughtered the cattle to eat and satisfy their hunger. After a few days, they were approached by Dhama Gope and his wife Rai Goalini who claimed that the cow was theirs and demanded compensation for it. The Sufis learnt that the couple was childless. It is said that with their blessings a child was born to the couple and also they said that they would name the place so that their names would forever be remembered. Thus the name Dhamrai (Dham+Rai) came about. Dhamrai was a Zamindari Estate to the Dhar family established by Kashmiri Pandit Maharaja Virendra Mohan Dar of Akhnoor. The Zamindari comprised thousands of acres of land from Rajrajeshwar, Sheriffbag, Nannar, Dhamrai after the royal family shifted from Akhnoor. The Dhar Zamindar Palace was established in c. 1802 by the Maharaja in Dhamrai.
Dhamrai was once under the Thana (now Upazila) of Savar. Dhamrai became a Thana itself in 1914 during the British rule; the same year Dhamrai Hardinge High School was established. In 1947 it was put under the district of Dhaka. On December 15, 1984, Dhamrai was upgraded into a full-fledged Upazila.