Jagannath Hall

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Jagannath Hall
জগন্নাথ হল
Jagannath Hall, Dhaka University 07 (cropped).jpg
Gate of the Jagannath Hall
Established1921
Provost Mihir Laal Saha
Students2492
Location,
23°43′45″N90°23′39″E / 23.729088°N 90.394242°E / 23.729088; 90.394242
Affiliations University of Dhaka
Website Official site

Jagannath Hall of Dhaka University is a residence hall for minority students, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, and others. It is one of the three original residence halls that date from when the university was founded in 1921, and like them is modelled on the colleges of the University of Oxford, a complex of buildings including residences, meeting rooms, dining rooms, a prayer hall, gardens, and sporting facilities. Of the approximately 2000 students of the hall, half live in the residences, and half are non-residential students affiliated with the college. Several professors at the university hold the positions of house tutors and provost at the hall. [1]

Contents

Structures

The hall includes four residential buildings:

History

Establishment

Kisorilal Roy Chowdhury, the Zamindar of Baliati in Saturia, Manikganj, who had previously established Jagannath College named after his father Jagannath Saha, also established this hall of University of Dhaka. [1]

University of Dhaka was established in 1921 as a merger of the two institutes of higher learning that existed in the city at that time, Dhaka College, a government institution, and Jagannath College, which was privately funded. [3] With the Jagannath College Act of the Indian Legislative Council (Act No XVI of 1920), that college was renamed as Jagannath Intermediate College, and the second- and third-year students (303 in all) were transferred to University of Dhaka the following year, along with many teachers and equipment such as library books. Two residence halls at Dhaka University were then named after the contributing colleges: Jagannath Hall and Dhaka Hall (since renamed Dr Muhammad Shahidullah Hall).

The first Provost of this hall was Professor Naresh Chandra Sengupta, who served from 1921 to 1924. [4] Other famous provosts include philosopher Govinda Chandra Dev (who served from 1957 to 1970) who was murdered by the occupying Pakistani army in 1971, along with the then current provost Professor Jyotirmoy Guhathakurta.

Assembly House

On 20 June 1947, 141 East Bengali legislators from the Bengal Legislative Assembly voted on the partition of Bengal, with 107 supporting joining Pakistan's Constituent Assembly if Bengal were partitioned. [5] The Sylhet region in Assam voted in a referendum to join East Bengal. After the creation of the Dominion of Pakistan, those 141 legislators, in addition to legislators from Sylhet of the Assam Legislative Assembly, formed the East Bengal Legislative Assembly. The Muslim League's Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin became the first chief minister. He was succeeded by Nurul Amin in 1948. The assembly was housed in Jagannath Hall, [6]

25 March 1971

Grave of the 1971 martyrs, in front of Jagannath Hall Martyr's Grave In Front of Jagannath Hall (DU).JPG
Grave of the 1971 martyrs, in front of Jagannath Hall

After midnight on 25 March 1971, the campaign of genocide (Operation Searchlight) against intellectuals by the Pakistani army took place in the Dhaka University area. Jagannath Hall could not be defended against this action, and many residential students and employees were killed on that night. Professor Jyotirmoy Guhathakura and Professor Govinda Chandra Dev, the former and current provosts, were also murdered at their apartments on Secretariat Road.

1985 Jagannath Hall tragedy

October Smriti Bhawan (October Memorial Building) October Smriti Bhawan, Jagannath Hall,University of Dhaka.jpg
October Smriti Bhawan (October Memorial Building)

On 15 October 1985, a tragic accident occurred when the roof of the ancient assembly building of Jagannath Hall collapsed. It killed 39 people, students, employees and guests. Since then the day is observed as a day of mourning for the university. In 1988 the building was reconstructed as a residential building, and named October Memorial Building. [7] [8]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Jagannath Hall". Jagannath Hall Alumni Association of Canada. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  2. "Jagannath Hall tragedy day observed". The Daily Star. 16 October 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  3. Harun-or-Rashid, Mirja (2012). "Jagannath College". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  4. "Hall Provosts". Jagannath Hall Alumni Association, Dhaka University. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  5. Bose, Sugata (1986). Agrarian Bengal: Economy, Social Structure and Politics. Cambridge University Press. p. 230. ISBN   978-0-521-30448-1.
  6. The All Pakistan Legal Decisions. The All-Pakistan Legal Decisions. 1949. p. 6.
  7. "Jagannath Hall tragedy remembered". The Daily Star. 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  8. "Jagannath Hall tragedy Oct 15". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 2019-10-17.

Further reading