page_title: Shahbag
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Shahbag / History
caption_attribution_description: Photograph of the Ramna Gate to the Race Course, in Dhaka, now capital of Bangladesh taken in the 1870s by an unknown photographer. The view shows a number of elephants being ridden through the gate. The Race Course is now the Subrawardy Udyan - Ramna Park in the city and a popular place for recreation.
context_page_description: Shahbag or Shahbagh is a major neighbourhood and a police precinct or thana in Dhaka, the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. It is also a major public transport hub. It is a junction between two contrasting sections of the city—Old Dhaka and New Dhaka—which lie, respectively, to its south and north. Developed in the 17th century during Mughal rule in Bengal, when Old Dhaka was the provincial capital and a centre of the flourishing muslin industry, it came to neglect and decay in early 19th century. In the mid-19th century, the Shahbag area was developed as New Dhaka became a provincial centre of the British Raj, ending a century of decline brought on by the passing of Mughal rule.
  Shahbag is the location of the nation's leading educational and public institutions, including the University of Dhaka, the oldest and largest public university in Bangladesh, Dhaka Medical College, the largest medical college in the country, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, and the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, the largest public university for technological studies in the country. Shahbag hosts many street markets and bazaars.
context_section_description: Although urban settlements in the Dhaka area date back to the 7th century CE, the earliest evidence of urban construction in the Shahbag area is to be found at monuments constructed after 1610, when the Mughals turned Dhaka into a provincial capital and established the gardens of Shahbag.  Among these monuments are: the Dhaka Gate, located near the Bangla Academy in Shahbag, and erected by Mir Jumla, the Mughal subadar of Bengal from 1660 to 1663; the Mariam Saleha Mosque, a three-domed Mughal-style mosque in Nilkhet-Babupara, constructed in 1706; the Musa Khan Mosque on the western side of Dhaka University, likely constructed in the late 17th century; and the Khwaja Shahbaz's Mosque-Tomb, located behind the Dhaka High Court and built in 1679 by Khwaja Shahbaz, a merchant-prince of Dhaka during the vice-royalty of Prince Muhammad Azam, the son of Mughal Emperor Aurengzeb. According to legends a sadhu named Gopal Giri, from Badri Narayan, established a Kali temple in Shahbag in the 13th century. Called kaathgarh at the time, it eventually became the Ramna Kali Mandir. Iti s also said that Kedar Rai of Bikrampur, one of the Baro-Bhuyans, apparently built a Kali temple on the site in the late 16th century, and the main temple was built by Haricharan Giri in the early 17th century.
  However, with the decline of Mughal power in Bengal, the Shahbag gardens—the Gardens of the Kings—fell into neglect. In 1704, when the provincial capital was moved to Murshidabad, they became the property of the Naib Nazims – the Deputy-Governors of the sub-province of East Bengal – and the representatives of the Nawabs of Murshidabad.  Although British power was established in Dacca in 1757, the upkeep of Shahbag gardens was resumed only in the early 19th century under the patronage of an East India Company judge, Griffith Cook, and P. Aratun. In 1830, the Ramna area, which included Shahbag, was incorporated into Dhaka city consequent to the deliberations of the Dacca Committee (for the development of Dacca town) founded by district collector Henry Walters. A decade later, Nawab Khwaja Alimullah, founder of the Dhaka Nawab Family and father of Nawab Khwaja Abdul Ghani, purchased the Shahbag zamindari (estate) from the East India Company. Upon his death, in 1868, the estate passed to his grandson Nawab Khwaja Ahsanullah. In the early 20th century, Ahsanullah's son, Sir Nawab Khwaja Salimullah, was able to reclaim some of the lost splendour of the gardens by dividing them into two smaller gardens—the present-day Shahbag and Paribag (or, "garden of fairies")—the latter named after Paribanu, one of Ahsanullah's daughters.
  With the partition of Bengal in 1905, and with Dacca becoming the capital of the new province of East Bengal, European-style houses were rapidly built in the area, especially along the newly constructed Fuller Road (named after Sir Bampfylde Fuller, the first Lieutenant Governor of East Bengal).  Around this time, the first zoo in the Dhaka area was also established in Shahbag. Rani Bilasmani of Bhawal established a new idol in the Kali temple and excavated a large pond in front of it at this period. In 1924, Anandamayi Ma moved into Shabag and established Anandamayi Asharam inside the 2.22 acres of temple ground.
  After the creation of the new nation of Pakistan in 1947, when Dhaka became the capital of East Pakistan, many new buildings were built in the Shahbag area, including, in 1960, the office of Bangladesh Betar, (then Pakistan Radio), the national radio station, the (now-defunct) Dacca race-course, as well as the second electric power-plant in East Bengal.  On 7 March 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman chose the Ramna Racecourse near Shahbag to deliver his speech calling for an independent Bangladesh.  On 27 March 1971, Pakistani Army destroyed the Kali temple and its 120 feet tower. During the ensuing Bangladesh Liberation War, many foreign journalists, including the Associated Press bureau chief in Pakistan, Arnold Zeitlin, and Washington Post reporter, David Greenway stayed at Hotel InterContinental (now Hotel Sheraton) at the Sh
caption: Elephants being ridden through Ramna Gate, Race Course, 1875
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