Web Write-up Abed Chaudhury

A brief history of Kanihati

The source

Most of this brief history of Kanihati is derived from  “Twarikhe Helimi” written by Janab Akmal Ali Chaudhury (AAC), younger brother of my Grandfather, Janab Makbulur Rahman Chaudhury.  I had the great fortune of reading a copy of the handwritten manuscript of “Twarikhe Helimi’.  AAC was clearly a writer of considerable skill and before he wrote this brief manuscript detailing the history of his family he consulted important books such as Twarikhe Jalali, Chuhun Emon, Eqbal Naam-E- Jahangiri, Twarikhe Firista, Timir Nalak, And the History of India and Bengal.  He also claims to have witnessed all the original Sanads that different members of his family obtained over the last several hundred years.  Here I am presenting only a shortened version of the history written by him.  Given the large number of members of the greater Kanihati clan in the later stages of history I have restricted myself to only our  immediate family.  However other members of the clan can easily obtain materials of their family history from what I am writing here.

The History

Obviously the land of Kanihati is an ancient one going back to thousands of years of antiquity.  We make an arbitrary choice of beginning this history at the time of the arrival of Hazrat Shah Helimuddin for a number of reasons.  That arrival and the events caused by the arrival is what led to the naming of the area as Kanihati.  That interaction is also directly responsible for the creation of the family line that I seek to describe.  The time of arrival of Hazrat Shah Helimuddin (HSH) is described as 561 Hizri, which is roughly 14^th century AD.  HSH was a disciple of Hazrat Shah Jalal and was sent by the great saint to this area, later to be named Kanihati.  He is thought to be of Yemeni orgin and most of the family documents that I have seen including the writings of AAC describes him as Yemeni, but some historians have also described him as Narnooli. 

The pre-Islamic history of Kanihati is intehrally linked to the history of Tripura.  Before this area became known as Kanihati, the names that describes it includes Udaypur, the ancient Tripura capital and now a sub-divisional town in India, Kailashahar, and Asham Rayer Beri.  Udaypur was the ancient capital of the Tippera Kings till it got transferred during the turn of the century to Agartala.  Udaypur is near Dharmanagar and is not far from Kanihati.  Asham Ray was the ruler described in this legendary episode.  Whether he was the reigning King of Udaypur or simply a personality of the royal lineage is not clear to me and is not important for the purpose of the events that unfolded.

The key episode, at the beginning of the history of Kanihati occurred when Asham Ray was involved in catching a wild tiger.  In our area tigers roamed wild till fairly recently and catching a tiger with nets and a lot of fanfare involving flaming torches, drums, and sheer cacophony of people marching and surrounding the beast is a sport that used to be common even in fairly recent times.  But on the fateful day six hundred years ago the sport was not going well for the Royal scion Asham Ray.  The tiger was surrounded but repeatedly eluded all efforts of being caught.  After many attempts, finally Asham Ray realized that he was not after all going to catch the tiger.  He became very despondent and sat quietly, not knowing what to do.  And that is when the Yemeni saint entered the scene and the history of Kanihati.

For a saint and a mystic HSH was a very courageous man.  Upon finding that Asham ray has not been able to catch or kill the tiger he offered to help.  Legend says that he went and caught the tigress by her ear and pulled her out from the jungle to a clearing.  This sight of course was a remarkable one for all the assembled people and HSH was deemed to be a man of supernatural powers. 

Asham Ray was speechless and wanted to know what the saintly mystic wanted for himself.  HSH replied that he wanted land worth the distance of a thrown arrow.  A suitably labeled arrow was produced and the Yemeni saint let it go with his full skill and might sending the arrow to a village that is now known as “Tir-a-Pasha”.  The area from where they conglomeration had their encounter (Asham Ray’s Beri, near Kailashahr) to Tirapasha was donated to the holy man with immediate effect.  If this distance seems too large to be credible please remember that this is likely to be a heavily embellished legend.

So the holy man settled down in the area along with his son Dawlat Malik.  It is not known if he had other children or how big his family was.  Later his son Dawlat Malik fell in love and married the daughter of Kanak_Rani, also a lady of the Udaypur family.  In one version of the legend, Kanak-Rani is the wife of Asham Ray, however, Akmal Ali Chaudhury has not made this claim.  Kanak-Rani’s daughter Radharani, converted to Islam, became Hamira Bibi and got married to Dawlat Malik. 

The holy man, in recognition of the influence and honor of Kanak-Rani named the area Kanak-Hati or Kanihati.  Dawlat Malik and RadhaRani (Hamira Bibi)’s became the founders of the Kanihati clan.  Several other embellished stories and legends are also extant dating back to this time.  One describes a lamp traveling on its own from the house of Asham Ray, presumably from Udaypur.  The nobleman followed the lamp as it traveled only to find that it was entering the house of the newly arrived holy man from Yemen.  This demonstration was too much for poor Asham Ray.  Soon he left all his material property and decided to become a Sanyasi.  What eventually happened to him is not clear; one theory is that he did become a real Sanyasi; another describes him as coming to Manumukh by boat and then settling down in that area as a Muslim Zamindar.

Leading to us

I’ll now provide the direct hereditary lineage that links Hazrat Shah Helimuddin to my son Sami Gauhar Chaudhury.  I’ll then go back and talk about the history of important events and history starting from 14^th century AD till present time.

Shah Helimuddin----Daulat Malik----Sultan Khan----Dawood Khan------Mia Khan-----Kalbe Khan-----Majlish Meramat Khan----Boro Khan------Afzal Khan----Miauddin----Isabuddin (Brother: Nasiruddin Chaudhury)-----Haji Muhammad Chaudhury------Sheikh Bahadur-----Sheikh Mujaffar------Muhammad Mansur-----Abdul Gafoor----Ali Gauhar Chaudhury-----Makbulur Rahman Chaudhury----Abdul Mannan Chaudhury---Abed Chaudhury----Sami Gauhar Chaudhury.

How we became Chaudhury

The honorific title “Chaudhury” was obtained by my family twice, once by Nasiruddin Chaudhury who became an important functionary of the Mughals because of his stand against Khaja Osman, and was given a Sanad by Islam Khan, in the name of Emperor Jahangir.  Later Haji Muhammad Chaudhury obtained another Sanad, this time from Emperor Aurangzeb for unspecified services that he rendered to the Emperor.  Chaudhury was not really a feudal title but more a title indicating that the holder is an employee of the Emperor.  The Sanad was an honour that also came with considerable amount of land.  It is a prevailing misunderstanding that the British gave the title.

In the old days in Sylhet having a “Sanad” used to be a big deal, indicating ones “noble” heritage, and although it is only of historical interest now, I include English translations of both Sanads in this page.  Janab Akmal Ali Chaudhury vouched that he witnessed both Farsi Sanads; presumably sometimes during the last century, the English translations were made for the benefit of the family.

No vestige of any feudalism remains in Kanihati now and to me these events and documents are of historical importance that defines the essential nature of the society as it actually evolved and became what it is now.

Days and Nights of the lives of Chaudhurys of Kanihati

The history of personalities starting from Hazrat Shah Helimuddin till Abdul Gafur, my great great Grandfather describes ups and downs of the family.  They operated within the constraints of their time and attained a stature that vastly exceeded their actual material wealth.  The clan went by the dual reputation of being the clan of a holy man and also one that was looked at favorably by the rulers, starting from Mughals to the Tippera Kings. 

The son of Daulat Malik established the village of Sultanpur, a name that continues today.  It is not clear if anything historic dating back to that time still exists in Sultanpur.  An important person of Sultanpur village was Mr. Altaf Hussain, who was the founding editor of the newspaper Dawn of Karachi.

Sultan Khan’s son Dawood Khan established the village of Dawoodpur and Dawood Khan’s son Mia Khan was the founder of the village of Bhuigaon.  The Bhuigaon house still exists and that clan has later been linked to us through the marriage of my Phupus to Bhuigaon.  Later I’ll describe more about Bhuigaon people.  Mia Khan had two sons, Nur Khan and Kalbe Khan.  Nur Khan has been immortalized by a giant pond (also known as Talab) called “Nur Khar Dighee” on the way to Bhuigaon.  That Dighee is a historic one and needs to be maintained and declared a historic site.  Nur Khan had nine sons but they did not contribute genetically to the subsequent lineage leading to us.  It is not clear what happened to the progenitors of nine sons of Noor Khan.  Nur Khans brother Kalbe Khan had a son named Majlish Meramat Khan.  He lived around 832 Bangla year.  His wife Rawjan Bibi’s name has been immortalized with the village Rajanpur. 

Majlish Meramat Khan had 4 sons, Kuli Khan, Ismail Khan, Sharif Khan and Boro Khan.  Kuli Khan’s wife was called Siraj Bibi and the village and pond named after her is a about a kilometer west of our current home.  Kuli Khan’s son Mali Khan was also known as Mali Thakur.  The name Thakur seems to occur quite commonly indicating that Thakur title used be common to both Hindus and Muslims in those days.  Boro Khan’s son Afzal Khan had a son named Miauddin.  By now we are in 1010 Bangla year and around the time of Emperor Jahangir.  Miauddins son Nasiruddin became one of the most illustrious sons of the Kanihati clan.  During this time our area had become embroiled in one of the most dramatic episodes of history involving Mughals and Pathans.  And those events were centered on Khaja Osman, the royal house of Ita headed by Raja Shubidnarayan and Islam Khan, the general of Emperor Jahangir.

Because of his help in capturing the rebel king Osman, the Mughals gave Nasiruddin a Sanad and allowed him to use the title Chaudhury.  Later he moved to Murshidabad as an officer of the Mughals and died there.  We are not descended from Nasiruddin Chaudhury, it is not clear what happened to his progenitors.  His brother Isabuddin continued the line from which was born his son Haji Muhammad in whose name we have Hajipur, our current village.  Haji Muhammad followed the footsteps of his uncle and rendered services to the mighty Mughals, by now led by Emperor Aurangzeb.  Haji Muhammad too received a Sanad and the title of Chaudhury.  Haji Muhammed had a son called Sheikh Bahadur who in turn had a son called Sheikh Mujaffar, who was popularly known as Shuna Thakur.  He died in 1168 Bangla year.

A Dighee called Shuna Thakur’s Dighee, which is barely a kilometer northwest of our current home, has immortalized Shuna Thakur.  Shuna Thakur had two sons, Muhammad Maniar and Muhammad Mansur.  Muhammad Maniar was the first person to build a house in the current site of what his known as Majer Bari, the house belonging to late Janab Firoze Bakth Chaudhury.  Muhammed Maniar died childless in 1222 Bangla. 

Muhammad Mansur had three sons Md. Mazhar, Abdul Gafoor, and Muhammad Baksh.  These three brothers became the patriarchs of the current Kanihati clan, defining three distinct parallel family lines.  I’ll now describe the line of Abdul Gafoor Chaudhury

Abdul Gafoor Chaudhury lived around the time of the war of independence against the British in 1857.  He was known to have sheltered many rebel soldiers who were then hiding in the villages after the return onslaught of the British.  Later the British forces crushed the freedom fighters completely and we were to remain under occupation for another ninety years. 

Abdul Gafoor Chaudhury’s elder daughter Ayesha Banu married Dewan Muhammad Ahsan of Ita (Now also known as Mansurnagar) in 1258. Dewan Muhammad Ahsan was the fifth generation descendent of Isha Khan, also known as Krishna Narayan, one of the sons of Raja Shubid Narayan.  He is also the great grandfather of Dewan Abdul Basit a contemporary important member of the Ita clan. Through the marriage of Ayesha Banu to Dewan Ahsan began a tradition of close relationship between the families of Ita and Kanhati through marriage.  That trend has continued for at least five subsequent generations, making Ita and Kanihati linked by a tangled web of genetic inbreeding. Descendents of Ayesha Banu are also living in Australia now.

Abdul Gafoor Chaudhury’s second daughter married the Zamindar of Duhalia, who was the Grandfather of Dewan Muhammad Azraf, a well-known literary personality of Bangladesh. Dewan Azraf was the maternal grandson of Dewan Hasan Raja, the mystic Poet from Sunamganj.

Abdul Gafoor Chaudhury had only one son, Ali Gauhar Chaudhury who became a legendary figure in his time.  By this time British rule was entrenched and consolidated and vast tracts of our family land was confiscated at nominal price by the British for establishing tea estates.  All the land currently comprising the Shamshernagar and Allynagar Tea Estates used to be owned by Ali Gauhar Chaudhury. 

I have heard that having taken all this land at a low price the British later named one of the Estates in his name, provided him with free English lesson and even offered him a job in one of the Estates.  It is not known how he reacted to these propositions, but his five sons, Ali Haidar Chaudhury, Makbulur Rahman Chaudhury, Ajmal Ali Chaudhury, Akmal Ali Chaudhury, and Tajammul Ali Chaudhury in various capacity learned English and tried to prosper in the situation that they found themselves into due to the British occupation of our land.

Documents in this web-page

In this web page I have included certain original documents, certain documents that are not original, but translated, transcribed and printed mainly by my grandfather Janab Makbulur Rahman Chaudhury who became the head of the clan.   I have a document involving “Boro Dada” Janab Ali Haidar Chaudhury; the document is of the year 1893 and involves him and one Rajya Narayan of the village Paboi.  A young Syed Sikandar Ali, the father of Syed Mujtaba Ali, has signed the document, signed in the sub-registry office of Hingajia.  Other documents include letters written by different Government functionaries to my grandfather.  By the turn of the century the family members were trying hard to be in the good book of the British; they had no other options.

Our family and Sami Gauhar Chaudhury

My Father Abdul Mannan Chaudhury in whose name is this site dedicated was an only son of my grandfather.  My father had two sisters, who were married to a family in Bhuigaon, a distantly related member of the kanihati clan.  I will write later about the members of my Phupu’s family.

My father had three sons and two daughters.  Our eldest sister Naushaba Chaudhury died at child birth in the early 1940’s and very few people alive now has any direct memory of her.  She is always in my  imaginative memory.  Her son Hadi Nehal Ahmed is now retired after being a tea planter for many years.  One of my fondest memories is visiting his tea garden in which the famous waterfall Madhabkunda is located. 

My eldest brother was Janab Abdul Musabbir Chaudhury, who passed away in 1985.  Both he and my immediate elder brother Abdul Muktadir Chaudhury settled in Kaula where they inherited property from their mothers family.  My elder brother has four daughters and one son.  Both my brothers lived interesting and eventful lives.  They were bright enterprising businessmen, affectionate father to their many children and were very popular in the locality.  They continued the tradition of the legendary acclaim and popularity that my father enjoyed in the area. 

Abdul Muktadir Chaudhury, also known as Jubed Mia became a very well known figure in Kulaura area.  He played a leading role in Muktojuddho and went to India with his family in 1971.  Later he managed Tea Gardens and became a successful businessman. He passed away in 1987.  His is remembered for his courage and dynamism.  His sons, Matiul Mannan Chaudhury (Hesham), Emadul Mannan Chaudhury (Tarham) and Taraj Chaudhury are all successful young men.  Later I’ll write more about them and the contemporary state of my immediate family.

My sister Jahanara (also known as Dilara) Chaudhury married Janab Jahanzeb Rasheed, who is a son of Begum Serajunnessa, a member of the Ita  clan.  Their children, Sabrina Rasheed, Shayan Rasheed and Jami Rasheed are now leading active lives, in USA and Bangladesh.

I was born in Kanihati where I lived regularly till I was nine and after that off an on till 1979, when I went overseas.  In 1983 I married my second cousin Tulip Chaudhury, daughter of Janab Abdul Muntaquim Chaudhury, who is also a son of Tajammul Ali Chaudhury, younger brother of my grandfather.  Tulip and I share a great grandfather, the legendary Ali Gauhar Chaudhury.  To celebrate this family lineage we named our son Sami Gauhar Chaudhury.

Tajammul Ali Chaudhury whose photo is included in this site was a trail-blazing personality who came out of the family mold of landed feudalism and religious orthodoxy and extended himself to greater public service.  He became a  Deputy Commissioner at the turn of the century and was the first Muslim DC of Assam.  He was the mentor of a whole generation of people of Sylhet and Assam who benefited from his patronage and affection.  Unfortunately he too faces oblivion since nothing has been written about his life and times.

His younger son, my father in law, Janab Abdul Muntaquim Chaudhury, a graduate of Aligarh University and a Barrister became the youngest member of Parliament (MNA) in Pakistan.  Later he joined  Awami League  winning a seat  from our constituency in 1970  and then 1973 elections.  He joined Muktijuddho and later, together with Dr. Kamal Hussain co-wrote the first constitution of Bangladesh.  He became Bangladesh’s ambassador to Japan and Germany before retiring.

For us Sami Gauhar Chaudhury, a Kanihati product from both paternal and maternal sides is the latest addition in the long family tree that began with Hazrat Shah Helimuddin almost seven hundred years ago and spans 21 generations.  Sami is 21 times removed from that great Yemeni saint, who is the initiator of our clan.  As a keen student of history and human genetics and heredity it gives me immense joy to write this brief family tale for posterity and also for our son, who, although growing up in Australia,  is already showing a keen interest in his roots.