Sahibzada Sahib or Saheb (; ) is an Arabic title meaning 'companion'. It was historically used for the first caliph Abu Bakr in the Quran. The title is still applied to the caliph by Sunni Muslims. As a loanword, ''Sahib'' has passed into several langua ...

Mīrzā Mu'hammad Jalāl ud-Dīn Mridha

Sahib Sahib or Saheb (; ) is an Arabic title meaning 'companion'. It was historically used for the first caliph Abu Bakr in the Quran. The title is still applied to the caliph by Sunni Muslims. As a loanword, ''Sahib'' has passed into several langua ...

, 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: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

aristocrat in the erstwhile

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

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 t ...

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 and educated at the

Rajshahi Collegiate School Rajshahi Collegiate School ( bn, রাজশাহী কলেজিয়েট স্কুল) in Boalia Thana in the center of Rajshahi, a city in northern Bangladesh, is the oldest school in the country. History After completing MA in Phi ...

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 language, Persian-ظهیرالدّین میرزا محمد) was a Mughal dynasty, Mughal Prince through the Nineteenth Mughal emperors, Mughal Emperor Akbar I ...

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

Mughal Emperor The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled t ...

. 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. W ...

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

''. One of the few Muslim zamindari in Natore, during 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 the newly formed Islamic

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provin ...

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

Raja ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested f ...

s (Kings) of

East Bengal ur, , common_name = East Bengal , status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan , p1 = Bengal Presidency , flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg , s1 = East ...

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. 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 and educator of the

, the oldest school of the

Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

. 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 a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

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

Hussain Muhammad Ershad Lt. Gen. Hussain Muhammad Ershad ( bn, হুসেইন মুহাম্মদ এরশাদ; 1 February 1930 – 14 July 2019) was a Bangladeshi Army Chief politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1983 to 1990, a time ma ...

, the President of Bangladesh in 1986.

Sources

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

Early life

Background

Death and legacy

See also

Sources