[3][4] Historians link the name of the district to the 24th and last Jain tirthankara, Mahavira Vardhamana, who came to preach in the area.

[5] Quite a large number of the mutilated sculptures representing Jaina Tirthankara were noticed within the enclosure of the brick temple of Satdeulia in Burdwan district.

The city owes its historical importance to being the headquarters of the Maharajas of Burdwan, the premier noblemen of lower Bengal, whose rent-roll was upwards of 300,000.

Archaeological excavations/ findings at Pandu Rajar Dhibi and Birbhanpur have indicated settlements in the Ajay and Damodar valleys in the Mesolithic age, around 5,000 BC.

Not much is known about the early settlements and the period that followed till around 700 BC in ancient times when the area was referred to as Bardhamanbhukti, which was a part of the Rarh region.

In 1622, when Jahangir's son, Khurram, who later became Shah Jahan, rebelled against his father, he captured the fort of Bardhaman.

During the reign of Krishnaram Rai, Subha Singh, zamindar of Chitua and Barda, then part of Bardhaman, raised the standard of revolt in 1696.

[7][8] After the victory of the British in the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the fertile district of Bardhaman, along with Medinipur and Chittagong, was ceded to the East India Company.

At the time of the Permanent Settlement of Lord Cornwallis in 1793, the chaklas were reduced in size, in order to make them more manageable, and districts were created.

Mahatabchand was appointed additional member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council and in 1877 was allowed to use the title of His Highness before his name.

[12] Burdwan district with its varied tectonic elements and riverine features, is a transitional zone between the Jharkhand plateau which constitutes a portion of peninsular shield in the west and Ganga-Brahmaputra alluvial plain in the north and east.

The western half of the district resembles a promontory jutting out from the hill ranges of Chotonagpur plateau and consists of barren, rocky and rolling country with a laterite soil rising into rocky hillocks, the highest being 227 m. These diversify the otherwise monotonous landscape and lend a special charm to the skyline around Asansol subdivision.

Ajoy-barakar divide is a convex plateau, the average altitude being 150 m. The gradient is westerly to the west and to the east it is northerly toward Ajay and southerly toward Damodar below the latitude.

The Ajoy-Damodar inter-stream tract is made up of several stows consisting of vales and low convex spurs which run in almost all directions except northeast and thus lends a very complicated character to local relief.

[12] The river system in Burdwan includes the Bhagirathi-Hooghly in the east, the Ajoy and its tributaries in the north, and the Dwarakeswar, the Damodar and its branches in the southwest.

This soil is reddish, medium to coarse in texture, acidic in reaction, low in nitrogen, calcium, phosphate and other plant nutrients.

The Durgapur barrage and Mithon dam have formed two large reservoirs at the southwestern and western periphery of the district.

[12] According to the 2011 census Bardhaman district has a population of 7,717,563,[14] roughly equal to the nation of Switzerland[15] or the US state of Virginia.

Ausgram and Mangalkot are part of Bolpur (Lok Sabha constituency), which has five other assembly segments from Birbhum district.

Ketugram, Mangalkot and Ausgram will be part of Bolpur (Lok Sabha constituency), which will contain four other assembly segments from Birbhum district.