Munshi Abdul Karim (11 October 1871 – 1953), known as Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad, was a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

littérateur, historian of Bangla literature and collector and interpreter of old Bangla manuscripts.

Early life

Munshi Abdul Karim was born on 11 October 1871 to an

upper middle class In sociology, the upper middle class is the social group constituted by higher status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term '' lower middle class'', which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle-class stra ...

family of

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Malla-

Sheikhs Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning " elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim scholar. Though this title generally refers to men, there are also a small number of ...

in the village of Suchakradandi in

Patiya Patiya () is an upazila of Chattogram District in Chattogram Division, Bangladesh. History During the British rule, a police station(thana) was established in Patiya in 1845. It was upgraded to an ''upazila'' in 1984. The region saw revolutionar ...

Chittagong District Chittagong District (), ( Chatgaiya: Sitang/Chatga), officially Chattogram District, is a district located in south-eastern Bangladesh. It is a part of the Chittagong Division. Due to its geographical location, Chittagong is classified as a s ...

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal until 1937, later the Bengal Province, was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule in India, Company rule and later a Provinces o ...

(now in

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

). His father, Munshi Nuruddin, died before his birth and his mother, Misrijan, died when he was seventeen years old. His paternal family were descended from Habilas Malla, who served as a soldier under the

Sultan of Bengal The Bengal Sultanate (Middle Bengali: , Classical Persian: ) was a Post-classical history, late medieval sultanate based in the Bengal region in the eastern South Asia between the 14th and 16th century. It was the dominant power of the Ganges- ...

. After suffering injuries in a battle, he retired to Chittagong, settling in the village of Habilas Dwip. Karim's paternal grandfather, Muhammad Nabi Chowdhury, was the grandson of Sufi poet Dost Muhammad Abdul Qadir Raja, who migrated from Habilas Dwip to the nearby village of Suchakradandi. His maternal grandfather, Musharraf Ali, was a descendant of Daulat Hamzah, the

Pathan Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...

tarafdar Tarafdar (Bengali তরফদার; spelling variations: Taraphdar, Taraphder, Tarafder) is a Bengali surname. Literally it means "a person in charge of taraf". The name is used by both Hindus and Muslims, with its origins tied to historical ad ...

'' of Hulain near Habilas Dwip. Abdul Karim passed his

Entrance examination In education, an entrance examination or admission examination is an examination that educational institutions conduct to select prospective students. It may be held at any stage of education, from primary to tertiary, even though it is typica ...

in 1893 from Patiya High School. He served as a teacher in few schools. He later joined the office of the Divisional Commissioner of Chittagong and became Divisional Inspector of schools. He retired from the position in 1934.

Literary career

Abdul Karim was given title called "Sahitya Bisharod" which means literary expert. He had a special research interest in Muslim contribution to

Bengali Literature Bengali literature () denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language and which covers Old Bengali, Middle Bengali and Modern Bengali with the changes through the passage of time and dynastic patronization or non-patronization. Bengali h ...

in the medieval period. He collected

puthi A puthi (, Arabic script, Perso-Arab: پوتھی) is a book or writing of poetic fairy tales and religious stories of Bengal and present-day East India, which were read by a senior "educated" person while others would listen. This was used as a med ...

s (old Bangla manuscripts). The Bangiya Sahitya Parisad published his catalog of Bengali manuscripts titled ''Bangala Prachin Puthir Bivaran'' in two volumes in 1920–21. The Department of Bengali of the

University of Dhaka The University of Dhaka (), also known as Dhaka University (DU), is a public university, public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1921, it is the oldest active university in the country. The University of Dhaka w ...

published a catalog of the manuscripts preserved in the University Library under the title ''Puthi Parichiti''. Karim edited and published eleven old Bengali texts and a book on the history and culture of Chittagong, titled ''Islamabad''.

Daulat Qazi Daulat Qazi (; ) was a Bengali poet. He was born into the Qazi family of the village of Sultanpur in Raozan Upazila, Chittagong. Not getting any recognition at home, he left for Arakan, where he seems to have been received warmly. Life and work ...

Alaol Syed Alaol (; 1607–1680) was a Bengali poet of the 17th-century. He is referred to as a "bard of Middle Bengali literature, and is regarded as one the greatest poets of medieval Bengal. His most famous work, '' Padmavati,'' recounts the story o ...

Syed Sultan Syed Sultan ( – 1648) was a medieval Bengali Muslim writer and poet. He is best known for his magnum opus, the ''Nabibangsha'' (1584), which was one of the first translations of the Qisas Al-Anbiya into Bengali language. His literary works have b ...

and Muhamad Khan were notable Bengali poets. Karim discovered about a hundred Muslim poets whose names and works were not known before. Literary Association of Nadia honored him with the title of ''Sahitya Sagar'' and Chattal Dharmamandali Sabha gave him the title of ''Sahitya Visharad''.

Personal life

Abdul Karim married Badi-un-Nesa, and they had a daughter named Altaf-un-Nesa.

Legacy

The

Government of Bangladesh The government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh () is the central government of Bangladesh. The government was constituted by the Constitution of Bangladesh comprising the executive (the president, prime minister and cabinet), the ...

conferred

Independence Day Award The Independence Award (), formally known as the Independence Day Award or Swadhinata Padak (), is the highest state award given by the government of Bangladesh. Introduced in 1977 by President Ziaur Rahman, this award is bestowed upon Banglade ...

to Karim posthumously in 1995.

Early life

Literary career

Personal life

Legacy

References

Further reading