Sylhet Division

Sylhet Division (Bengali: সিলেট বিভাগ) is the northeastern division of Bangladesh. It is bordered by the Indian states of Meghalaya, Assam and Tripura to the north, east and south respectively, and by the Bangladeshi divisions of Chittagong to the southwest and Dhaka and Mymensingh to the west. Prior to 1947, it included the subdivision of Karimganj (presently in Barak Valley, India). However, Karimganj (including the thanas of Badarpur, Patharkandi and Ratabari) was inexplicably severed from Sylhet by the Radcliffe Boundary Commission. According to Niharranjan Ray, it was partly due to a plea from a delegation led by Abdul Matlib Mazumdar.^[9]

The name Sylhet is an anglicisation of Shilhot (শিলহট). Its origins seem to come from the Sanskrit words শিলা śilā (meaning 'stone') and হট্ট haṭṭa (meaning 'marketplace'). These words match the landscape and topography of the hilly region. The shila stones were abundant across Sylhet and King Gour Govinda is known to have used stones to guard his capital. The word changed to Shilhot due to the elision of letter-final অ ô in the Bengali language.^[10] Another theory is that it was named after Princess Sheela, the eldest daughter of Raja Guhak of the Jaintia Kingdom. It is said that Sheela was once bathing in a pond and was kidnapped. After being rescued by her father Raja Guhak, Sheela started to become more religious and live a secluded life. Sheela's died at a young age, the port-area which developed around the lake, which was the largest centre in northeastern Bengal for trade, was named Sheela haat (or Sheela's marketplace) in her honour. Xuanzang of China mentions that he visited a place called Sheelachatal in the 630s in his book, the Great Tang Records on the Western Regions. The Hattanath Tales mention Sheelachatal was named after both daughters of Guhak; Sheela and Chatala. Chatala indulged herself in an unlawful relationship with one of the palace servants, leading to her being disowned and dumped in a distant island in the middle of 2000 square mile lake to the south of the kingdom.^[11]

Mughal documents such as the Ain-i-Akbari referred to the region in Persian as Silhet/Silhat (سلهت). Archaic European spellings included Sirote and Silhat. After the British arrived in the region in the 18th century, the spelling was changed from Silhat (সিলহট/ছিলট sil[h]ot) to Sylhet (সিলহেট/সিলেট sil[h]et) so that it is distinct from the name of the nearby town of Silchar. The Anglicised spelling eventually also became the standard and official name in Modern Bengali.^[12]

An alternative name which may or may not have originated from Shilahatta was Srihotto (শ্রীহট্ট). The word sri is a Sanskrit word for beauty. This name was used in Kamarupa and the other petty kingdoms. In the Bengal Sultanate's inscriptions, Srihat/Sirhat (سریحت/سرحت) can be found as an administrative "Arsah". The earliest Sultanate inscription using this name was found in Shah Jalal's Dargah. Dating 1303, the inscription mentions Sikandar Khan Ghazi's Conquest of Arsah Srihat with the help of Shah Jalal, during the reign of Sultan Shamsuddin Firoz Shah.^[13]

After the Islamic Conquest of Sylhet in 1303, the city colloquially became nicknamed as Jalalabad (জালালাবাদ). It is made up two words Jalal (جلال), a name of Arabic origin meaning majesty but in this case referring to Shah Jalal, and Abad (آباد), meaning settlement.^[14][15][16] This colloquial name continued to be used in the Mughal period. Currently, in the Sylhet City Corporation, there exists a metropolitan thana known as the Jalalabad Thana as well an area in its 7th ward.^[17]