Chowdhury Abu Torab Khan ( bn, চৌধুরী আবু তোরাব খাঁ), better known simply as Abu Torab ( bn, আবু তোরাব), was an 18th-century

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 ...

zamindar A zamindar (Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...

from

Sandwip Sandwip ( bn, সন্দ্বীপ, Shondip) is an island located along the southeastern coast of Bangladesh in the Chattogram District. Along with the island of Urir Char, it is a part of the Sandwip Upazila. Description Sandwip is locate ...

, an island in present-day

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, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

. His hegemony later extended to islands of Hatiya and Bamni. He is best known as the leader of

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

's first rebellion against the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

. He had strong support from the local peasantry, and is regarded as a hero in the

history of Bengal The history of Bengal is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent and the surrounding regions of South Asia and Southeast Asia. It includes modern-day Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam's Karimga ...

Early life and background

Abu Torab was born into a wealthy

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims ( bn, বাঙালি মুসলমান; ) are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the se ...

family in

Bengal Subah The Bengal Subah ( bn, সুবাহ বাংলা; fa, ), also referred to as Mughal Bengal ( bn, মোগল বাংলা), was the largest subdivision of the Mughal Empire (and later an independent state under the Nawabs of Beng ...

during the Mughal period. His father was Muhammad Raja, the son of Junud Khan, the son of Chand Khan. Chand Khan was the husband of Musabibi, a powerful noblewoman and the eldest daughter of

Dilal Khan Dilwar Khan ( bn, দেলোয়ার খাঁ, Delwar Khan), popularly known as Raja Dilal ( bn, দিলাল রাজা, Dilal Raja), was the last independent ruler of Sandwip, an island in present-day Bangladesh. His reputation as a ...

, the last independent ruler of Sandwip defeated by Mughal imperialism. He succeeded Dilal Khan as the leader of Sandwip.

Career

Torab's palace was situated in the village of Harishpur, on the western coast of Sandwip. According to British sources, he developed a notable contingent of 1500 armed slaves, each of whom he provided a house for, although native sources claim this is not true. Abu Torab overpowered all the local Zamindars (landowners) in his area and these smaller zamindars aided him in battle against

Gokul Ghoshal Gokul Chandra Ghoshal was a native official of the East India Company who became a prominent and influential landlord by abusing his position and founded the Bhukailash Estate. He and Devi Singh, Diwan of Rangpur, were part of a number of rent col ...

. Ghoshal was the founder of

Kidderpore Khidirpur or Kidderpore is a neighborhood of metropolitan Kolkata (Calcutta), in Kolkata district, West Bengal, India. Etymology Most plausibly, the name is a corruption of ''Khidrpur'' or ''Khizarpur'', Khizr/Khidr being the guardian sai ...

's Bhukailas dynasty and was the clerk of Harry Verelst, the first British governor of Chittagong. At Ghoshal's suggestion, Verelst colonised Sandwip in 1763 and replaced the Mughal wadadar Ozakur Mal with Goshal. One of his loyal employees Vishnucharan Basu took the role as the first Wadadar in British Sandwip. At that time Ram Kishore Badujej was appointed as Basu's deputy. Abu Torab Chowdhury could not accept Gokul Ghoshal's authority, who had come to Sandwip for the purpose of collecting revenue on behalf of the East India Company between 1763 and 1764. Abu Torab readied his defence as soon as Ram Kishore step foot in Sandwip.

Rebellion

The aftermath of the

Battle of Plassey The Battle of Plassey was a decisive victory of the British East India Company over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies on 23 June 1757, under the leadership of Robert Clive. The victory was made possible by the defection of Mir Jafar, ...

in 1757 marked the start of colonial control in Bengal. Exactly 10 years following this event in 1767, Abu Torab gathered the people of Sandwip and rebelled against the colonial governors in Chittagong and their native allies such as

. Abu Torab refrained from depositing revenue and instructed his general Malkam Singh to expel Ghoshal's representatives from Sandwip. A group of Company soldiers came from

Chittagong Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...

and Lakshmipur to fight Abu Torab and his general. In the face of resistance and pressure, the representatives were forced to leave Sandwip within a few days.

Death and legacy

Eventually, six Company troops led by Captain Nollekins and a few other generals, crossed the river and reached Sandwip in the middle of 1767. A fierce battle took place between Captain Nollekins' forces and Abu Torab's forces at Qillabari (Fort-house), not far from Char Ani Hat, a little north of the town of Sandwip. Abu Torab was killed in this battle as a result of treachery from one of his close relatives who had leaked his war strategy to the British Company. His armed slave contingent are the ancestors of the current ''Golam'' class in Sandwip. After the fall of Abu Torab, the lesser zamindars of Sandwip accepted the tyranny of Gokul Ghoshal in return for their zamindaris (land, estates). After becoming the de facto ruler of Sandwip, Gokul Ghoshal gave the estate of Abu Torab in the name of Bhabanicharan Das. Shortly after, Ghoshal regained all the zamindaris and exerted full control. The Ghoshal dynasty had amassed a large amount of wealth through corruption, looting, salt lease and anonymous zamindari. Their Bhukailas Palace in

stands today, built with the wealth of Sandwip's peasants, is remembered by locals with hatred. Numerous linked rebellions against the colonials took place in Sandwip subsequently, up until the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

in 1947.

References

Bibliography