Dhaka,
the capital city of Bangladesh is anancient city from Kolkata city.
Dhaka was established as a city through the Mughal conquestof Bengal at
1608 AD. However the naming of Dhaka is a long story and some historian
believes that it is more than a thousand years back from current date.
There are many fictional tales regarding the naming of Dhaka and
thereare also mixed reactions among the historians about the naming of
Dhaka. It is a matter of query that how the name of Dhaka has evolved.
According
to Allahabad pillar inscriptionfive Border States (Samatata, Davaka,
Kamarupa, Katripura and Nepala) and twelve Republics of Punjab region
that were conquered by Samudra Gupta, certain historians believe that,
from border state named Davaka, the name Dhaka evolved. But some
historians think that, the name Dhaka did not come from Davaka. Border
state "Davaka" of Samudra Gupta is currently known as Doboka or Dobaka
which is a town in Hojai district (previously in Nagaon district) of
Assam state in India.
Some historiansclaim that, the name of
Dhaka came from Dhakeshwari Temple in the 12th century when Bengal was
being ruled by Sen Dynasty. At that time, local Hindus believed that
Ballal Sen (Bollalsen) hadbeen the son of Berham-Pooter, in a disguise
of Brahmin, by one of the Adisur's wives. Ballal sen was born and
brought up in a jungle near the north of the Buriganga River, where his
mother was exiled by Adisur.
In that location a temple was built
as gratitude of protection to Goddess Durga, whose idol Ballal Sen had
discovered in the jungle. This place was concealed and due to its
concealed situation it was called Dehaka Iserry. After that the jungle
was cleared, a town builtand the temple was called Dehaka Iserry and
from there the name Dhakeswari originated. The area is known as Dhaka
from the name Dhakeswari.Some historians and archaeologists said that if
someone looks closely at the statue of Durga, he will not think that it
belongs to the Sena dynasty or earlier.
Some history books
mention that, the name of Dhaka originated from the name of Dhak tree, a
tree of Butea genus andFrondosafamily, which was plentiful in that
region. Another folktale behind the naming of Dhaka which is indicated
in some history books is that there was a huge dhak trees near the river
Buriganga. A city was formed around this big tree and according to the
course of time the area was named Dhaka.
In Rajatarangini written
by a Kashmiri Brahman Kalhana, the name Dhakka is mentioned,in where
Dhakka means watchtower. According to some historians, Dhaka was
elevated land than Bikrampur and Sonargaon the ancient and powerful
capital of Bengal and was used as a guard post to prevent naval
attacks.From the name of Dhakka (the watchtower) the name Dhaka came
from. But some historians and archeologists denied this naming
history,rather they mentioned Dhakia was the Prakrit language among the
people who lived within this area and from the name of Dhakia language
the name Dhaka came from.
It was narrated in some history books
that the Islam Khan Chisti (also known as Shaikh Alauddin Chisti) named
Dhaka from Dhak (a musical instrument; Drums). In 1608 when Islam Khan
Chisti went out to find a new place for capital with his fleet, he
reached Dhaka and after observing this place he thought this is a
perfect place for replacement of capital from Rajmahal.
Then he
saw some people cutting some trees and asked them what the name of the
place is but unfortunately the people thought that Islam Khan asked them
what trees they were cutting. They answered Dhak-ka, Islam Khan then
thought the name of the place is Dhak-ka. But there is no reliable
source regarding this folkstory.
The second story related to
Islam Khan is, when he first stepped into the bank of Buriganga River;
he thought the place is worthy to protect them from foe and started to
think about the name of the place. Then he saw some people playing Drums
and instantly naming this place Dhaka.
Third story is, during
inaugurationof the city, Islam Khan saw some Hindu people playing drums,
then he ordered three of his men to go to three directions and insert
the flag at the end place from where the sound of the Drums was heard as
a boundary of the city. But historians strongly oppose this, they
argued that Islam Khan named the city Jahangirnagar and before Islam
Khan came to Dhaka the name of the place was Dhaka.
In
Ain-i-Akbari the name of Dhaka is mentioned as Dhaka Baju, where Dhaka
was a shown as a Pargana (administrative unit), so it is clear that
before Islam Khan came to Dhaka the name of Dhaka was well established.
The
history of naming of Dhaka is still a controversial thing, no one knows
exactly by whom, how and when the name of Dhaka came. Since there is no
proven inscription, document, image etc. about the origin of naming
Dhaka till now, so we do not know the actual story behind the naming of
Dhaka. The history of naming of Dhaka can be concluded by famous quotes
of A. Whitney Brown "The past actually happened but history is only what
someone wrote down".
The author is an M.Phil.
researcher, Department of History, Jahangirnagar University
