Ishwaripur

Ishwaripur (Shyamnagar, Satkhira) is one of the historically famous villages in Bangladesh. It has many beautiful sites; including the "Jeshoreshwari Kali Temple", the Triangular "Chanda Bhairab Temple", the Five domed "Tenga Mosque" & a "Hammamkhana" built in the late sixteenth century by Raja Pratapaditya.

Location, Population & Religion

Ishwaripur, is located 64 kms south to Satkhira Sadar. It has an area of 1.5 km² and is bounded by Kaliganj and Assasuni upazilas on the north, the Sundarbans on the south, Koyra and Assasuni upazilas on the east, West Bengal of India on the west.
The village is situated on the bank of Ichamati River (now known as "Kadamtali" Canal).
Total population: approximately 5000 (Male 50.54%, Female 49.46%).
Muslim 78.08%; Hindu 21.45%, Christian 0.28%, Buddhist 0.01% and others 0.18%.

History

Once the capital of Raja Bikramaditya and Raja Pratapaditya was at "Dhumghat". Later it was transferred to Ishwaripur. It was the capital city from 1590-1610. The first Catholic Church of Bengal was built in Ishwaripur in 1599. The Portuguege soldiers of Raja Pratapaditya initiated the building process of the church. After the fall of Raja Pratapaditya the area surrounding Iswaripur emerged as forest and people started going away from the area. The "Mughal Foujder"s and the "Jamider"s also retrieted from the area. Then there was no worship in the Jeshoreshwari Kali Temple. Eventually the area was used by local robbers as hiding place. The robbers worshiped the goddess Kali at that time. After some hundred years, somehow people from other villages came and worshiped the goddess. As the days past, there was a village situated surrounding the Temple. This village was known as "Jessoreshwaripur", now known as Ishwaripur.
The village has a long heritage of social hermony. The Kali Temple, the catholic Church and the Tenga Mosque played an important role for the said hermonous relationship of the people of the village. In 1919, at the time of British rule, a post office (Ishwaripur Post Office) was placed in the village.

Education

Average literacy 28.1%; male 38% and female 17.4%. There is a Union Parishad, a high school, a post office, a club & a maktab.
Noted educational institution: Ishwaripur United High School (1965), The literacy movement name is Uddiptya Satkhira.

Important Personalities

*Raja Pratapaditya (1570-1620), son of Raja Bikramaditya (Sri Hari)
*Jay Krishna Chattopadhyay Adhikari
*Srishchandra Chattopadhyay Adhikari (1871-1950), Social Leader & Member, Local Board, Khulna & Juri, Khulna Judge Court
*Makhan Lal Chattopadhyay (1907-1990), Freedom Fighter and Activist, Indian National Movement
*Prof. A. Latif (1940-), Teacher, Satkhira College
*Jayanta Chattopadhyay (1946-) Reciter and Actor