Tipu Shah ( bn, টিপু শাহ; died 1852) was the second leader of the mystic Pagal Panthi Order in

Mymensingh Mymensingh ( bn, ময়মনসিংহ) is the capital of Mymensingh Division, Bangladesh. Located on the bank of Brahmaputra River, about north of the national capital Dhaka, it is a major financial center and educational hub of north ...

(present-day

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 ...

). He commanded the Order and the local peasantry in revolts against the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

and managed to establish an independent state in Sherpur.

Early life

Tipu Shah was born into a

Sufi Muslim Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...

fakir Fakir ( ar, فقیر, translit=faḳīr or ''faqīr'') is an Islamic term traditionally used for Sufi Muslim ascetics who renounce their worldly possessions and dedicate their lives to the worship of God. They do not necessarily renounce al ...

family of Pathan ancestry who had settled in Letarkanda, Pargana Sushang (presently under Purbadhala, Netrokona). His father,

Karim Shah Karim Shah ( bn, করীম শাহ), also known as Karam Shah ( bn, করম শাহ), was the founder of the mystic Pagal Panthi order in eastern Bengal (present-day Bangladesh). Biography Though the origins of Karim Shah are shrouded in ...

, founded the mystic Pagal Panthi Order (considered to be the established successor of

Majnu Shah Majnu Shah or Faqir Majnu Shah Burhan (died 1787Ray, Rajat Kumar (1986). ''Colonial Penetration and the Initial Resistance: The Mughal Ruling Class, the English East India and the Struggle for Bengal 1756-1800'', in ''The Indian Historical Review'' ...

's activism) after being inspired by his predecessor

Musa Shah Musa may refer to: Places *Mūša, a river in Lithuania and Latvia * Musa, Azerbaijan, a village in Yardymli Rayon * Musa, Iran, a village in Ilam Province *Musa, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Iran *Musa, Kerman, Iran * Musa, Bukan, West Azerbaijan ...

. His mother, Chandi Bibi, also played an important role in the Order and was respected by the Pagal Panthis as "'' Pīr- Mātā''".

Career

It is said that the Pagal Panthis were composed mostly of tribes like

Garos Garos is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regi ...

, Hajongs and Hudis. Tipu Shah led a rebellion against the

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 ...

(landlords) who collected the taxes for

. The zamindars had imposed heavy taxations on the peasant class, which served as the main cause of the rebellion. The zamindars themselves were paying taxes to the East India company, which raised the taxes after the First Anglo-Burmese War. The rebellion succeeded in the establishment of an independent administration ruled by Tipu Shah in the Sherpur territory of

. Beginning in the name of

Allah Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", an ...

, he collected minimum taxes to run the administration and called for the construction of a mud-fortress known as ''Garh-Jarip'', which functioned as his capital city. He appointed Bakshu Sarkar as the State Judge, Gumanu as the State Collector and Jarip Pagal among others as faujdars. Ultimately, the Company army and police along with local zamindars were able to suppress the rebellion and imprison him on 7 December 1824. Two days later however, he was released on bail. He was arrested for a second time in the same month and was again released on bail on 17 December. In early January 1825, Tipu Shah was trialled and sentenced to lifetime imprisonment.

Death and legacy

Tipu Shah died in jail in 1852, after spending 27 years imprisoned. Following his imprisonment in 1825, the Pagal Panthi Order for another ten years under the leadership of Dubraj Pathor and Janku Pathor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shah, Tipu 1852 deaths People from Sherpur District People from Netrokona District Indian independence activists from Bengal 19th-century Bengalis Bangladeshi people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in British detention