Sahibzada Sahib or Saheb () is a term of address originating from Arabic (). As a loanword, ''Sahib'' has passed into several languages, including Persian, Kurdish, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Uzbek, Turkmen, Tajik, Crimean Tatar, Urdu, Hi ...

Mīrzā Mu'hammad Jalāl ud-Dīn Mridha

Sahib Sahib or Saheb () is a term of address originating from Arabic (). As a loanword, ''Sahib'' has passed into several languages, including Persian, Kurdish, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Uzbek, Turkmen, Tajik, Crimean Tatar, Urdu, Hi ...

, better known as Jalaluddin Mirza (1898–1975), 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 ...

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

aristocrat in the erstwhile

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

who served as the fifth and last hereditary

Zamindar of Natore Zamindars of Natore were influential aristocratic Bengali Zamindars (rent-receiving landholders), who owned large estates in what is today Natore District in Bangladesh . They contributed to the development of East Bengal and later Bangladesh th ...

from the House of Singra and Natore before it was abolished in 1951.

Early life

He was born in 1898 as the son of

Muhammad Mirza Jafaar (1876-1921) and his principle first wife, in Mirza Mahal palace in

Natore Natore is a city ("town" in some sources) in western Bangladesh. It is the headquarters of the Natore District. Its current administrator is Asha Khatun. The Narod river is passing through the center of the city with pollution from upstream industr ...

and educated at the

Rajshahi Collegiate School Rajshahi Collegiate School (), a public school for boys located in Boalia Thana in the center of Rajshahi, which is a metropolitan city in northern Bangladesh, is the oldest school in the country. History Rajshahi Collegiate School is the olde ...

alongside the Dighapatia princes. He was named by his grandfather

Zahir Shah Mirza Mirza Mu'hammad Zahir ud-Din Shah (c. 1855–1899) known as Mirza Zahir Shah (Persian-ظهیرالدّین میرزا محمد) was a Mughal Prince through the Nineteenth Mughal Emperor Akbar II lineage descendant who was the Great-Grandfather ...

(1855-1899) after his illustrious ancestor Mirza Jalaluddin Muhammad (1542-1605), 3rd

Mughal Emperor The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...

. Mirza married Jamila Begum.

Background

His father served as the " Mridha" or the Military Governor to the Maharaja of Rajshahi, while he paid tributary to the Maharaja of Dighapatia as a '' Madhyasvatva'' (subinfeudated or

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...

) as after his father death he took over the dignitaries as the ''

zamindar A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a ''zamindari'' (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; ''zamindar'' is the ...

''. One of the few Muslim

zamindari A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous Indian feudalism, feudal lord of a ''zamindari'' (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian language, Persian was the offi ...

, during the

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

in 1947 the newly formed Islamic

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan () (abbreviated as GoP), constitutionally known as the Federal Government, commonly known as the Centre, is the national authority of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a federal republic located in South Asia, con ...

favored Muslim families and especially when Bengal was split the old Hindu

Raja Raja (; from , IAST ') is a noble or royal Sanskrit title historically used by some Indian subcontinent, Indian rulers and monarchs and highest-ranking nobles. The title was historically used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. T ...

s (Kings) of

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

left resulting in most of the neighboring estates coming under him and his full brothers. From his father's death in 1921 till his election as the Zamindar in 1932, his brothers managed the Singranatore estate.

Death and legacy

He died in 1975 and his oldest child Gulbadan Begum of Natore (1923-2005) succeeded him as the head of the

Singranatore family The Singranatore family () is the consanguineous name given to a noble family in Rajshahi of landed aristocracy in erstwhile East Bengal (present day Bangladesh) and West Bengal that were prominent in the nineteenth century till the fall of th ...

. In 1950 during the abolition, the Singra Natore Zamindari was at its fullest extent, annexing villages formerly governed by High caste Hindu families. Most of his children were married off to notable land holding and feudal noble families of aristocratic lines. An educationalist and philanthropist, he was a

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

and educator of the

, the oldest school of the

Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. He donated lands towards the building of many schools. The first College of Singra, Gole Afroz College was named after his oldest granddaughter and was established in

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

. After the war of 1971, the college was personally nationalized by

Hussain Muhammad Ershad Hussain Muhammad Ershad (1 February 1930 – 14 July 2019) was a Bangladeshi military officer, dictator and politician who served as President of Bangladesh, the president of Bangladesh from 1982 to 1990. He seized power as a result of a 1982 ...

, the

President of Bangladesh President of Bangladesh (POB), officially the President of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is the head of state of Bangladesh and commander-in-chief of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. The role of the president has changed three times since ...

in 1986.

Sources

* 1898 births 1975 deaths Mughal nobility 20th-century Bengalis 20th-century Bangladeshi people {{India-royal-stub

Early life

Background

Death and legacy

See also

Sources