Raja Syed Irfan Ali Choudhury was the 11th monarch of the quasi-princely state of Tarakote in

Odisha 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 ...

. He's known for the wide social reforms that he had brought in the state. He was a staunch supporter of

female education Female education is a catch-all term of a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education (primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and health education in particular) for girls and women. It is frequently called girls ...

and had undertaken active steps to impart formal education to girls. He built the first girls school in Jajpur district in 1886.

Early life

Miyanzada Syed Irfan Ali was born on 21 January 1869 into the ruling family of

Tarakote State Tarakote formerly Shergarh-Tarakote Estate was a quasi princely state in Korei, Odisha which was established under the Mughal Empire as a Sarakaar and was later reduced to an intermediary princely estate during the subsequent Maratha and the Br ...

to Raja Miyan Syed Nurrudin Ali Choudhury. At the age of 8 he contracted

small pox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) cer ...

which took away his vision. At the age of 27, upon his father's death, he ascended the throne to become the 11th ruler of

Reign

Raja Miyan Irfan Ali lost a majority of villages of

to the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

under the land revenue settlement act. Some of the villages were even auctioned and sold out to outsiders by the

British Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

During his great grandfather's reign, a major portion of

was annexed by the

Marathas The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...

and a new state called Pacchikote was created. The newly crowned Raja of Pacchikote, a contemporary of Raja Irfan is said to have fought a bloody battle against Tarakote near the Purbakot haat, Kantor. It is said that Raja Irfan Ali had participated in the war himself and had defeated the Raja of Pacchikote. In popular opinion it is believed that, one fine night the Diwan of the Raja of Pacchikote was returning to Pacchikote Garh with some essential commodities, he happened to cross

. The soldiers of Tarakote Raj mistook him to be a

dacoit Dacoity is a term used for "banditry" in the Indian subcontinent. The spelling is the anglicised version of the Hindi word ''daaku''; "dacoit" is a colloquial Indian English word with this meaning and it appears in the ''Glossary of Colloquia ...

and arrested him for intruding the state's borders. The Raja of Pacchikote got furious at this and attacked

Tarakote state Tarakote formerly Shergarh-Tarakote Estate was a quasi princely state in Korei, Odisha which was established under the Mughal Empire as a Sarakaar and was later reduced to an intermediary princely estate during the subsequent Maratha and the Br ...

. Raja Syed Irfan Ali was successfully able to defend the state with the help of the

Pathan Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

soldiers A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

from

Bhadrak Bhadrak is a city of Odisha state in eastern India. The city is the district headquarters of Bhadrak district. According to legend, the city derives its name from the Goddess Bhadrakali, whose temple is on the banks of the Salandi River. His ...

Social Reforms

Raja Irfan Ali promoted female education, he himself was a great patron of

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

and

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

languages. In 1880 he commissioned

Jajpur Jajpur (also known as Jajapur) is a town and a municipality in Jajpur district in the Indian state of Odisha. It was the capital of the Kesari dynasty, later supplanted by Cuttack. Now, it is the headquarter of Jajpur district. Etymology and ...

's first girls school. He was successfully able to suppress the Qazis voice who was against the idea of starting a 'girls school'. In 1886, the school was constructed and opened to impart education to girls. Presently it is known as Tarakote girl's school Makhtab.{{Cite web, title=TARAKOT URDU GIRLS MAKTAB, KORAI, url=http://www.schoolsworld.in/schools/showschool.php?school_id=21130804103, access-date=2020-07-11, website=www.schoolsworld.in

References

People from Odisha Indian monarchs