MYMENSINGH, a town and district of British India, in the Dacca division of Bengal. The town (formerly known as Nasirabad) is situated on an old channel of the Brahmaputra, 'and has a station of the Eastern Bengal State railway. Pop. (1931) 30,480. The District of Mymensingh, with an area of 6,237 sq.m. and a population (1931) of 5,130,262, is the largest district in India, and its administration is an onerous charge. It occupies a portion of the alluvial valley of the Brahmaputra east of the main channel (called the Jamuna) and north of Dacca, for the most part level and open, covered with well-cultivated fields, and intersected by numerous rivers. The Madhupur jungle is a slightly elevated tract, extending from the north of Dacca district into the heart of Mymensingh ; its average height is about 6o ft. above the level of the surrounding country, and it nowhere exceeds ioo feet. This tract divides Mymensingh into two distinct parts. On the west is an alluvial plain watered by the Jamuna; the eastern area is fertilized by the Surma or Meghna, the old Brahmaputra and other streams, and contains extensive marshes, which are un der water for eight months in the year and are grazing grounds for cattle for the other four months. The only other elevated tract
in the district is on the southern border, where the Susang hills rise. The Jamuna forms the western boundary for a course of 94 m. ; during the rainy season it expands in many places to 5 or 6 m. in breadth. The Brahmaputra formerly flowed through Mymensingh till it joined the Meghna a little below Bhairab Bazar, but over a century ago the formation of bars of sand in the upper part of its course diverted the main volume of water into the present channel of the Jamuna. The staple crop is rice. A branch line of the Eastern Bengal State railway runs north from Dacca through Mymensingh, which is also connected with Jagan nathganj and Bhairab Bazar.