The family of the estate carry the title and surname of Chowdhury. They were locally described as Biswas. The legacy of the estate lives on in the name of the Amirabad Railway Station of the Bangladesh Railway in Faridpur, Bangladesh. The estate also has a rich architectural legacy, including the mansion of Moyez Manzil, the grounds of Biswas Bari and other hamlets.
Geography
According to the Bengal District Gazette in 1925, Telihati Amirabad was the largest private estate in colonial-era Faridpur District.
According to the district gazette published by the colonial British anthropologist Lewis Sydney Steward O'Malley, the Telihati-Amirabad Estate was the largest private estate in all of Faridpur (including Faridpur proper, Rajbari, Gopalganj, Shariatpur and Madaripur). It had 72,000 acres within the colonial district of Faridpur alone. The estate was divided into four villages. According to O'Malley, "on the average, each estate is divided into five villages".[3] In the case of Amirabad, four villages shared the estate system of the Zamindari. A railway station of the Eastern Bengal Railway was established in Amirabad. The first railway from Rajbari to Faridpur was built in 1899.
The estate's lands outside Faridpur were considerable. In 1923, the estate covered 4,000 sq km of territory in the Bengal Presidency. It was one of the ten largest estates in British Bengal with landholdings in Faridpur, Rajbari, Madaripur, Shariatpur, Gopalganj, Manikganj, Mymensingh, Pabna, Gazipur, Rangpur, Dacca, Calcutta and 24 Parganas. It also owned some landholdings in The Punjab region of North India and the Hejaz region of Arabia. The core property of the family was in the Faridpur and Rajbari regions, particularly along the southern banks of the Padma River (the main distributary of the Ganges). The estate covered extensive farmland as well as many deltaic islands. The estate measured 1 million acres by the time of its demise after the partition of India. It included parts of both East Bengal and West Bengal. According to the family historian Chowdhury Abd-Allah Quaseed, the estate covered 2.6% of the territory of Bangladesh and 1.65% of the territory of undivided Bengal.[4]
Arafat Ali, a man from the Jaunpur Sultanate, settled in Fatehabad (the former name of Faridpur). Fatehabad was a mint town of the Bengal Sultanate.[5] His family was given an endowment by the Mughal government to govern the northern part of Fatehabad. During the reign of Emperor Jahangir in the 17th century, the family became the jagirdars of the northern part of Fatehabad along the banks of the mighty Ganges. Fatehabad was a district of Mughal Bengal. According to a British scholar, Fatehabad was the name of a mint town of Hussain Shah, which has been identified with the town of Faridpur; it was also the name of a large sarkar or division, which is believed to have been named after Jalaluddin Fateh Shah, king of Bengal from 1481 to 1486. This sarkar included part of Faridpur and portions of Dacca and Bakarganj, as well as the islands of Dakhin Shahbazpur and Sandwip.[6]
The name Telihati is mentioned as a historical administrative unit of Faridpur in the Mughal period. The area was fertile and a bastion of zamindar estates. According to N. K. Sinha, "In the suburb of Telihati Pargana of Faridpur, villages like Vabrasur served as early settlements for zamindar lineages migrating from central Bengal during the Mughal decline (late 17th–early 18th century). These areas were integrated into British revenue surveys post-1793".[7]
During the British colonization of Bengal, the family resisted British expansion by deploying its private lathial army. The East India Company divided the Mughal endowment into 23 segments. 22 segments were auctioned off to newly created estates, including Hindu estates. The original Muslim family from the Mughal period retained a portion in Biswas Bari. In the 19th century, Chowdhury Moyezuddin Biwshash greatly expanded the estate through his own mercantile activities. He acquired land in other parts of Bengal, as well as in Punjab and Arabia. He built the Moyez Manzil in the main town of Faridpur. In Dhaka, the family owned property which was sold to the French East India Company which in turn sold it to the Dhaka Nawab Family; the Ahsan Manzil stands on the site of the former French factory.[8] The family was responsible for promoting many development works in Faridpur, including the introduction of electricity, cinema, a modern water supply; building roads, bridges, and schools; improving rail communications; and safeguarding Bengali Muslim culture and civil rights. The Amirabad Railway Station was named in honor of Amir Ali Chowdhury.
In 1881, the family supported the formation of the People's Association of Faridpur, which was the first organized political party in what is now Bangladesh.[4][9] Chowdhury Moyezuddin Biwshash and Ambica Charan Mazumdar were the founders of the People's Association of Faridpur. They later supported the Indian National Congress which was founded in 1885. After the first partition of Bengal, the estate fell under the short-lived province of Eastern Bengal and Assam.
In 1908, the area was surveyed by the British government. The survey report stated that "Amirabad mauza [village tract] borders the Telihati pargana to the north; surveyed in 1908, showing alluvial soil suitable for multiple cropping. Population density: 1,040 per sq. mile".[10] In 1913, Amirabad was mentioned in the district gazette of L. S. S. O'Malley. The description was given as "Amirabad (village in Faridpur Sadar thana): Population 1,248 (1911 census); area 1,200 acres; chief crops: rice and pulses. Lies 8 miles southeast of Faridpur town, near the Kumar River; notable for a small mosque (built c. 1800) and as a minor trade post for jute. Revenue assessment: Rs. 2,500 annually under zamindari tenure".[11] The estate owned vast lands around the Goalundo Ghat which was the main river port connecting eastern and western Bengal.
In 1925, the Amirabad Estate was ranked as the largest private estate in all of Faridpur by the Bengal District Gazette written by the renowned colonial scholar Lewis Sydney Steward O'Malley.[12] The estate had a population of several thousand people with considerable landholdings within and outside Faridpur. O'Malley noted that the district was remarkable for the great number of independent estates at the time of the Permanent Settlement in 1793.[13]
In 1954, Biswas Bari hosted A. K. Fazlul Huq and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy during the United Front election campaign.[17] Leaders from the family led efforts to build schools, roads and bridges in Faridpur.[16] During the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, the grounds of the estate suffered raids and at least 10 people were killed in the hamlet of Chandpur.[18] Land reforms after the creation of Bangladesh ended all traces of the zamindari system. The Bangladesh Land Holding Limitation Order 1972 restricted a single family from owning more than 100 bighas of land.[19] On 29 April 1976, farmland nationalized by the state was returned to private owners through the Alienation of Land Ordinance. The family recovered many of plots land with the restoration of property rights.
Biswas BariMoyez ManzilMosque and mausoleum of Chowdhury Moyezuddin Biwshash
In colonial times after the Permanent Settlement, it was customary for zamindar estates in Faridpur to be shared by a group of villages. On average, a single estate included properties in five villages. A single village contained properties of multiple estates. Seven villages also constituted an estate.[21] In Amirabad's case, four villages constituted the estate. These four villages emerged as four branches of the family. Thus, the clan of the Faridpur Biswas Estate has four branches.
Biswas Bari
The ancestral origins of the entire estate began in Biswas Bari which was the birthplace of the estate under British rule. It is located in the hamlet of Chandpur. It was the principal seat of the Faridpur Biswas Estate. The original estate includes several heritage buildings and intricately designed wooden structures. Furniture from Biswas Bari can be viewed at the Bangladesh National Museum.
After leaving Biswas Bari, the merchant-zamindar Chowdhury Moyezuddin Biwshash built the Moyez Manzil in the main town of Faridpur. Moyez Manzil became the leading house of Faridpur. The property is now administered as an Islamic waqf.
Borobari
Borobari is also known as Biswas Bari II. It is located in the hamlet of Chandpur. The family of Borobari has produced several local government leaders, including leaders of union parishad.
Chowdhury Bari
Chowdhury Bari is a branch of the family located in the hamlet of Chandpur.
↑ Telihati was the Mughal-era name of the area. Amirabad became the name by 1908 due to a railway station. Telihati Amirabad was the official name of the estate which is recorded in the Bengal District Gazette on Faridpur which was published in 1925 and written by Lewis Sydney Steward O'Malley, an officer of the Imperial Civil Service in British India. Telihati Amirabad was listed as the largest estate in Faridpur District. It was ranked first among the ten largest private estates in the district.[1]
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