The Chowdhuries of Natore ( bn, নাটোরের চৌধুরী বংশ) are a notable Bengali Muslim family who have played important roles throughout the history of

North Bengal North Bengal ( bn, উত্তরবঙ্গ/উত্তর বাংলা) is a term used for the north-western part of Bangladesh and northern part of West Bengal. The Bangladesh part denotes the Rajshahi Division and Rangpur Division. Gen ...

History

The family is descended from Amanullah Khan, an

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

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

nobleman who settled in Burdwan, Bengal Subah in the early 18th century with his son, Azam Khan. The family moved to Natore in northern Bengal after Muhammad Zaman Khan was appointed as the '' Nazir'' of the Natore court and given large tracts of land in that district. After his death, he was succeeded by his son, Dost Muhammad Khan, who extended 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 a ...

i across the Kholabaria, Piprul and Kalam areas of Natore. In 1787, the

Company Raj Company rule in India (sometimes, Company ''Raj'', from hi, rāj, lit=rule) refers to the rule of the British East India Company on the Indian subcontinent. This is variously taken to have commenced in 1757, after the Battle of Plassey, when ...

conferred the title of Chowdhury to him, in addition to the family's original title of

Khan Khan may refer to: *Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan *Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name *Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...

. Dost Muhammad Khan Chowdhury married the daughter of the Mutawalli of Bagha, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Muhammad Ali Khan Chowdhury.

Khan Bahadur Khan Bahadur – a compound of khan ('leader') and bahadur ('brave') – was a formal title of respect and honor, which was conferred exclusively on Muslim and other non-Hindu natives of British India. It was one degree higher than the title of K ...

Chowdhury Muhammad Ali Khan had two sons; Rashid and Ershad. His daughter, Rabeya Khatun, married Shah Syed Janab Ali Chowdhury from the

Dhanbari Nawab family The Nawabs of Dhanbari ( bn, ধনবাড়ীর নবাব) were a Bengali aristocratic family of feudal landowners. The zamindari estate encompassed parts of the Tangail District, particularly around Dhanbari. Although their aristocratic ...

and was gifted a quarter of the Dhanbari zamindari. Rashid Ali Khan Chowdhury inherited the zamindari from his father and most notably founded the Rashid Anglo-Persian School in 1862. He was succeeded by his younger brother, Ershad Ali Khan Chowdhury, who was a notable politician and member of the

Bengal Legislative Council The Bengal Legislative Council ( was the legislative council of British Bengal (now Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal). It was the legislature of the Bengal Presidency during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After reforms wer ...

. He served as the chairman of Natore municipality from 1891, and is heavily credited for the development of Natore. In 1903, Ershad Ali Khan Chowdhury chaired the Muslim Education Associatian's first session in Rajshahi. After the establishment of the All-India Muslim League in 1906, he was appointed as the inaugural chairman of its Natore branch. He was also a member of the Bengal Management Conference and Rajshahi District Board, and a supporter of the Mohammedan Literary Society and Anjuman-e-Islamia organisations. After Ershad Ali Khan Chowdhury's death in 1928, he was succeeded by his son,

Ashraf Ali Khan Chowdhury Ashraf Ali Khan Chowdhury ( bn, আশরফ আলী খান চৌধুরী; 1878 – 8 December 1941) was a Bengali lawyer and politician. Early life Chowdhury was born in 1878 to a Bengali Muslim ''zamindar'' family known as the Chowdhur ...

. Ashraf's mother, Masirunnesa Khanum, was the only child of 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 a ...

Shahzadpur Shahjadpur ( bn, শাহজাদপুর) is an upazila or sub-district of Sirajganj District in Rajshahi Division of Bangladesh. History Makhdum Shah Daulah Shahid was a Fourteenth Century Muslim saint recognized for his preaching of Islam ...

, and he eventually inherited the Shahzadpur zamindari too. He was a Muslim League politician like his father, and also served as the deputy speaker of the Bengal Legislative Assembly. He had a daughter named Syedani Razya Khatun who married Nawab

Syed Hasan Ali Chowdhury Syed Hasan Ali Chowdhury ( bn, সৈয়দ হাসান আলী চৌধুরী; – 30 May 1981) was a Bangladeshi politician, minister and the former Nawab of Dhanbari. He served as a Minister for Commerce and Industry in East Pak ...

of Dhanbari. After her death, his other daughter Syedani Lamya Asya married the Nawab of Dhanbari. Although the East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act of 1950 led to the abolishment of the zamindari system, the family continue to hold influential positions in north Bengal, for example, Abdus Sattar Khan Chowdhury, a former BNP parliamentarian.

References

{{Nobility of the Raj Chowdhuries of Natore

History

See also

References