Bagha Upazila

Bagha () is an upazila of the Rajshahi District, located in Bangladesh's Rajshahi Division.
Geography.
Bagha is located at . It has 29056 households and total area 184.25 km2.
Bagha Upazila is bounded by Charghat Upazila and Bagatipara Upazila, the latter in Natore District, on the north, Lalpur and Bagatipara Upazilas, both in Natore District, on the east, Daulatpur Upazila, Kushtia in Khushtia District, on the south and Jalangi CD Block, in Murshidabad district, West Bengal, India, on the west.
Demographics.
According to 2011 Bangladesh census, Bagha had a population of 184,183. Males constituted 49.96% of the population and females 50.04%. Muslims formed 94.70% of the population, Hindus 5.21%, Christians 0.03% and others 0.07%. Bagha had a literacy rate of 49.65% for the population 7 years and above.
As of the 1991 Bangladesh census, Bagha has a population of 153931. Males constitute 51.48% of the population, and females 48.52%. This Upazila's eighteen up population is 77686. Bagha has an average literacy rate of 26.2% (7+ years), and the national average of 32.4% literate.
History.
Alaipur village of Bagha was the headquarters of Laskar Khan Jaigirdar during the sixteenth century. Hazrat Shah Doulah settled at Bagha and started preaching Islam after being granted42 parganas by the rulers. He also established a famous madrasa here. Bagha thana of present-day Rajshahi district was a thriving centre of learning in the early Muslim period. The place became famous after Shah Muazzam Danishmand (Maulana Shah Daula) from Baghdad settled there during the reign of the Sultan of Bengal Nasiruddin Nasrat Shah (1519–32) and built his khanqah there. An inscription table of the time of Sultan Nusrat Shah was discovered there that records the construction of a Jam’i mosque in 930 A.H. (1523-24 A.D.) One Abdul Latif visited the Bagha madrasah in 1609. There he met an elderly Sufi named Hawadah Main (Maulana Hamid Danishmand) son of Maulana Shah Daula, who was running a madrasah and a khanqah in a peaceful environment. Probably the madrasah was established during the reign of Nusrat Shah.
During the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, temporary camps were founded by the Pakistan Army in places such as Narayanpur, Bagha, Pakuria, Arani, Alaipur and Chawkrajapur, and many brawls took place in these camps against the 400 Bengali freedom fighters of Bagha. 7 of these freedom fighters were murdered.
Administration.
Bagha Upazila is divided into two Municipal Corporations and six Union Parishads.
Municipal Corporations:
Union Parishads:
The union parishads are subdivided into 99 mauzas and 78 villages.
Economy and tourism.
Bagha Upazila is home to 343 mosques, most notably the ancient Bagha Mosque complex which also contains the mazar (mausoleum) of Shah Dawlah, a key figure who propagated Islam in the region. The mazar of Dilal Bukhari is in Alaipur. The indigo factory (nilkuthi) at Mirganj is a relic of the colonial period, and is currently used as a silk factory.
Education.
There a number of madrasas in Bagha Upazila which provide educational services to the local community. Some of these include: