Comilla District: History
The name Comilla is derived from the Bengali word Komolangko (Bengali: কমলাঙ্ক), the previous ancient name of the region, which means 'lotus pond'. The present Comilla is a district under the Chittagong Division. It was once under the reign of Gangaridai and Samatata in ancient period. As far as is known from the ancient archeology found in the region, Gupta emperors ruled Comilla since the fifth century AD. It was under the control of Gauda Kingdom in 6th century AD after the fall of Gupta rule in Bengal. According to historians, the Buddhist Deva dynasty ruled the region from the seventh to the middle of the eighth century. In the ninth century, Comilla came under the control of the kings of Harikela and Chandra dynasty during the tenth and mid-eleventh century AD. These rulers built the Shalban Vihara in the Mainamati hills, which was a major centre of Buddhist learning. The region became a part of Hindu Sena and Deva dynasty in the 12th and 13th centuries, and was one of the last strongholds of these dynasties after the invasion of the Delhi Sultanate.
Due to its position on the edge of the Bengal Delta, the Comilla region was often contested between the Delhi Sultanate and later Bengal Sultanate and the kings of Tripura whose heartland was in the hills to the east. The arrival of numerous Muslim pirs in the district caused the local Hindu and Buddhist population to largely adopt an Islamic identity In the 15th century the Tripura king Dharma Manikya I built the Dharmasagar tank in Comilla town. After the Mughal conquest of Bengal, the Mughals attacked the Tripura kingdom and conquered most of the present Comilla district, restricting the Tripura kings to the hills. The region became known as Chakla Roshanabad and was part of the Sarkar of Sonargaon of the Bengal Subah, although the Tripura kings still had Zamindari rights over much of the land. In the 18th century, the Comilla region saw the uprising of Shamsher Gazi from the current Feni district, who briefly ruled over the kingdom of Tripura and nearby lands until his execution in 1760 by the Nawabs of Bengal.
In 1765, as part of their obtaining the Diwani of Bengal, the East India Company took Comilla. In order to facilitate revenue collection, the company hired a district collector in the province in 1769. Comilla then belonged to the province of Dhaka. Comilla was made under the office of the district collector in 1776. The Tripura Collector's journey began with the formation of Tippera or Tipperah district of Bengal by the British in 1790. According to the Third Regulation in 1793, a civil judge was appointed for the Tripura district and in that year he was given magisterial powers. In 1837, the posts of magistrates and collectors were separated. In 1859, these two posts were merged again.
In the 19th century the reforming influence of Maulana Keramat Ali largely caused the Muslims of the district to abandon all folk religious practices including the worship of minor deities and pirs. In the early 20th century the Tippera Krishak Samiti helped organise the peasants of the district and won most of the seats in the district in the 1937 elections. In the 1940s, the mostly Muslim populace supported the Pakistan movement, and southern parts of the district were heavily affected by the Noakhali riots which led to a steady exodus of Hindus to India, especially neighbouring Tripura state. …