The Gunahar Zamindar Bari () was a zamindari estate based in the Bogra District of

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

. The residential palace, popularly known as Saheb Bari ( bn, সাহেব বাড়ী), was the erstwhile

Zamindars 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 ...

of Gunahar in

Dhupchanchia Dhupchanchia Upazila ( bn, দুপচাঁচিয়া উপজেলা) is an upazila of Bogra District in the Division of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Dhupchanchia Thana was established in 1880 and was converted into an upazila in 1983. It is na ...

. The present building was constructed in 1941, and remains a tourist attraction.

Location

The zamindar palace is located in the Gunahar Union, roughly 7km from the headquarters of the

Dhupchanchia Upazila Dhupchanchia Upazila ( bn, দুপচাঁচিয়া উপজেলা) is an upazila of Bogra District in the Division of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Dhupchanchia Thana was established in 1880 and was converted into an upazila in 1983. It is na ...

of Bogra District.

History

Roughly 200 years ago, Sundar Ali Khan, a

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 ...

aristocrat from the United Provinces was granted land in Gunahar by the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

, where he decided to settle. After his death, his one and only son, Ramzan Ali Khan, became the next zamindar (feudal lord) of Gunahar. The latter named the estate as Jahanun Nessa Estate after the name of his wife. The couple had two sons, Miyan Jan Khan and Meher Jan Khan. Miyan Jan Khan had three sons; Kawthar Ali Khan, Abdul Majid Khan and Mamtaz Ali Khan. Meher Jan Khan also had three sons; Abdul Latif Khan, Motahar Husayn Khan and Muhsin Ali Khan, in addition to three daughters; Zubaydah Khatun, Aminah Khatun and Akhtarunnessa. Hamida Khatun, daughter of Zubaydah Khatun, is the mother-in-law of Ashraful Huda, the 22nd

Inspector General of Bangladesh Police The Inspector General of Police (IGP) is the senior-most and highest ranked police officer of Bangladesh and the head of the Bangladesh Police, who oversees all police activities throughout the country. He reports directly to the Ministry of Home A ...

. Aminah Khatun's son, Abdur Rashid Khan (Ali Khan) was the lifelong chairman of the Gunahar Union Council and the founder of Gunahar Primary School. Khandakar Azadur Rahman, son of Akhtarunnesa's daughter Anwara Khatun Hasnah, was the former Chief Engineer of the

Roads and Highways Department Department of Roads and Highways is a Bangladeshi state department that is responsible for the construction and maintenance of highways and bridges and is located at the industrial area of Tejgaon in Dhaka, the capital city. History Roads and H ...

. Motahar Husayn Khan was born in 1894 in the village of Gunahar. He was later granted the title of

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 ...

by the British Raj. During his lifetime, he had established the Taluch High School and Taluch Hat in the name of his first son Omar Haydar Khan. Motahar Husayn Khan was also the Excise Commissioner of Bengal,

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

and

Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Sch ...

under the British government. In 1941, he established the Gunahar Zamindar Bari (variously known as Saheb Bari, Khan Bari or Raj Bari). It was popularly visited by locals as it was one of the first houses in the area to have a telephone connection, kerosene oil fan and various fancy furniture. He married Zaynab Banu Rabiah Khanom and had five daughters and a son. Following the East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act of 1950, Motahar lost his status as a zamindar. Motahar Husayn Khan died in his palace on 2 July 1952.

Present circumstances

Zamindar Khan Bahadur Motahar Husayn Khan's two eldest daughters married into the Nawab family of Murshidabad. The third daughter married a relative of the Nawabs of Murshidabad under the mediation of

A. K. Fazlul Huq Abul Kasem Fazlul Huq ( bn, আবুল কাশেম ফজলুল হক, ur, ; 26October 1873 — 27 April 1962), popularly known as Sher-e-Bangla (''Lion of Bengal''), was a British Indian and Pakistani lawyer and writer who present ...

. His second son, Zubayr Hayat Khan, established Gunahar Union Council Complex and Gunahar Post Office. His daughter, Rawnaq Mahal Dilruba Begum, founded a healthcare centre (hospital). She also received a certificate from Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1972 for her contribution during the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...

of 1971. His youngest daughter, Jaulas Mahal Akhtari Begum passed her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in 1973, a few days after her marriage to Dr Abdul Majid. Her plan was to study law in the

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following her Masters but her father-in-law persuaded her not to pursue that. In 1977, Dr Abdul Majid was sent to work for the

Government of Libya The politics of Libya has been in an uncertain state since the collapse of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya in 2011 and a recent civil war and various jihadists and tribal elements controlling parts of the country. On 10 March 2021, a national unity ...

. Being unable to live without him, she also moved to

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

in 1987. Her father-in-law Mahir Uddin Ahmad entrusted the Gunahar Zamindari to Sulayman bin Qurban Ali of nearby Amjhupi. Akhtari Begum returned to

in 2008 and saw that everything in the estate had been evicted. According to her, the palace was taken over by those entrusted and she claimed that they had also sold a lot of land without permission. According to the latest estimates, 8

bigha The bigha (also formerly beegah) is a traditional unit of measurement of area of a land, commonly used in India (including Uttarakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, Gujarat ...

s of land had been evicted. Among her children, two sons live in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

whilst her other son and daughter live in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. She lost contact with her husband in 2011 after the Killing of Muammar Gaddafi. After contacting the Bangladeshi embassy in Libya, she was able to call Dr Abdul Majid three to four times, before losing communication totally. She migrated to Khilgaon in

where she lives in hiding as people want to attack her for her property. She has claimed that there have been several murder attempts against her in both Bogra and Dhaka.

Gallery

File:Rightside_canal.jpg, The canal on the right side of Gunahar Zamindar Palace File:Leftside_canal.jpg, The canal on the left side File:Pond_side.jpg, Estate pond File:Pond_sideview.jpg, View from pond File:Jomidar_bari_backside.jpg, Back view

References

External links

Bogura Live, online archive
{{Bogra District Bangladeshi families Muslim families Bogura District Zamindari estates Bengali families