History of Tetulia, Satkhira
Encyclopedia
In the village of Tetulia (or Tentulia), which is in the Tala upazila
Tala Upazila
Tala is an upazila of the Satkhira District in the Khulna Division of Bangladesh. It was established in 1913 and made an upazila in 1983.-Geography:Tala is located at . It has 47394 households and a total area of 344.15 km².-Demographics:...

 in the district of Satkhira
Satkhira District
The district of Satkhira consists 3296 mosques, 1305 temples, 59 churches, 35 Buddhist temples, 8 tombs and 45 shrines.-Subdivisions:Satkhira subdivision was established in 1861 under Jessore district. It was included into Khulna district in 1882. The subdivision was upgraded into a district in...

 in Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

, stands the beautiful Tetulia Jami Mosque, which is also known as the Khan Bahadur Salamatullah Mosque or the Tetulia Shahi Mosque. The founder of the mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...

 was Khan Bahadur Maulvi
Mawlawi (Islamic title)
Mawlawi is an honorific Islamic religious title given to Sunni Muslim religious scholars or Ulema preceding their names, similar to the titles Maulana, Mullah, or Shaykh. Mawlawi generally means highly-qualified Islamic scholar...

 Qazi
Qadi
Qadi is a judge ruling in accordance with Islamic religious law appointed by the ruler of a Muslim country. Because Islam makes no distinction between religious and secular domains, qadis traditionally have jurisdiction over all legal matters involving Muslims...

 Salamatullah Khan, who was also the founder of the mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...

 known as Salam Manzil (now in ruins), which is on the opposite side of the road that separates the two sites. Salamatullah Khan belonged to the zamindar (feudal-lord) Qazi
Qadi
Qadi is a judge ruling in accordance with Islamic religious law appointed by the ruler of a Muslim country. Because Islam makes no distinction between religious and secular domains, qadis traditionally have jurisdiction over all legal matters involving Muslims...

 family of Tetulia. The mosque was built in 1858-59 and enhanced the beauty of the village.

The six-domed mosque reflects a Mughal style
Mughal architecture
Mughal architecture, an amalgam of Islamic, Persian, Turkish and Indian architecture, is the distinctive style developed by the Mughals in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries in what is now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. It is symmetrical and decorative in style.The Mughal dynasty was...

, with close resemblance to those built by Tipu Sultan
Tipu Sultan
Tipu Sultan , also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. He was the son of Hyder Ali, at that time an officer in the Mysorean army, and his second wife, Fatima or Fakhr-un-Nissa...

's descendants. The Salam Manzil, which is now in virtual decay, also echoes similar artistry.

In 1982, the front of the decaying “Shingho Doroja” (“Main Door” in the Bengali language
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...

) – that is, the gateway and entrance to Salam Manzil – appeared to have inscriptions or patterns on the wall. Walking through the gate, one would find a spacious compound
Compound (enclosure)
Compound when applied to a human habitat refers to a cluster of buildings in an enclosure, having a shared or associated purpose, such as the houses of an extended family...

 containing a lot of greenery. A very long verandah
Verandah
A veranda or verandah is a roofed opened gallery or porch. It is also described as an open pillared gallery, generally roofed, built around a central structure...

 with a crumbling roof, supported by a twin-pillar system, overlooked the compound. Opening onto the verandah were dilapidated chambers, which used to function as offices in the past, when the mansion was in a working state. In the past, one or more end-rooms of the verandah had housed palkis (palanquins). One particular palki was enormous and twelve bearers were required to carry it.

It is unusual to find the use of the twin-pillar system in a remote village of Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

 in the mid 19th century. The twin-pillar system was necessary to support the roof, which had several layers of reinforcement. The distance of the roof from the ground appeared to be at least ten and a half feet.

In the present time, the “Shingho Doroja” has been renovated to a different style, though the rest of the Salam Manzil is in complete ruins.

Khan Bahadur Salamatullah Khan was preceded by his father Maulvi Qazi Sana’atullah, who was the son of Qazi Amanatullah. The latter’s father was Qazi-ul-Quzat
Qadi
Qadi is a judge ruling in accordance with Islamic religious law appointed by the ruler of a Muslim country. Because Islam makes no distinction between religious and secular domains, qadis traditionally have jurisdiction over all legal matters involving Muslims...

 (Chief Justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...

) Baqaullah Khan (circa mid to late 18th century AD) – a Mughal
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire ,‎ or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...

 sanad (title) holder. Khan Bahadur Salamatullah Khan was succeeded by his son Maulvi Qazi Hamidullah Khan. The latter’s son Maulvi Qazi Mohammad Minnatullah Khan was a famous personality of the Qazi family of Tetulia.

Minnatullah Khan had two sons, namely Khan Sahib
Khan Sahib
Khan Sahib - a compound of khan and sahib - was a formal title of respect and honour, which was conferred exclusively on Muslim, Parsi and Jewish subjects of the British Indian Empire...

 Qazi Rizwanullah Khan and Qazi Mohammad Shafiullah Khan. By the time these two sons had started their families the wealth of the family was already in sharp decline. The graves of both Qazi Mohammad Shafiullah Khan and Khan Sahib Qazi Rizwanullah Khan lie in the cemetery which is within the compound of the Tetulia Jami Mosque.

Qazi Shafiullah Khan married Shaiqatunnisa, who was the second daughter of Khan Bahadur Abu Nasr Muhammad Ali – a Presidency Municipal Magistrate and a Tribunal Sessions Judge in Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

 of British India. Prior to receiving the Khan Bahadur title, he was awarded the title of Khan Sahib in 1914. The Khan Bahadur came from a very distinguished Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...

 family of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, whose ancestry can be traced back to Qamaruddin Hosain Khan of Ajmer
Ajmer
Ajmer , formerly written as Ajmere, is a city in Ajmer District in Rajasthan state in India. Ajmer has a population of around 800,000 , and is located west of the Rajasthan state capital Jaipur, 200 km from Jodhpur, 274 km from Udaipur, 439 km from Jaisalmer, and 391 km from...

 in the government of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan
Shah Jahan
Shah Jahan Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) (Full title: His Imperial Majesty Al-Sultan al-'Azam wal Khaqan...

. The Khan Bahadur’s father was Shams-ul-Ulama Maulvi Abul Khair Muhammad Siddiq, to whom the Shams-ul-Ulama title was conferred by the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

 in 1897 for "eminence in oriental learning". Abul Khair Muhammad Siddiq also became Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 of Arabic in Kolkata’s Presidency College
Presidency College, Kolkata
Presidency University, Kolkata, formerly Hindu College and Presidency College, is a unitary, state aided university, located in Kolkata, West Bengal. and one of the premier institutes of learning of liberal arts and sciences in India. In 2002 it was ranked number one by the weekly news magazine...

. One of Khan Bahadur Abu Nasr Muhammad Ali’s brothers (Abul Muhamed Mohammad Asad) was, too, awarded the Khan Bahadur title by the British Empire and he also became the first Muslim Director of Public Instruction (DPI) in undivided Bengal. His name appears as a representative of Bengal in a symposium
Academic conference
An academic conference or symposium is a conference for researchers to present and discuss their work. Together with academic or scientific journals, conferences provide an important channel for exchange of information between researchers.-Overview:Conferences are usually composed of various...

 held in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

, India, in 1947.

The eldest son of Shafiullah Khan (of the zamindar family of Tetulia) was named "Siddique" and the sons of Rizwanullah Khan (of the zamindar family of Tetulia) were named "Quader" by Khan Bahadur Abu Nasr Mohammed Ali, the father-in-law of Shafiullah Khan. The youngest son of Shafiullah Khan, however, retained the Khan surname. The eldest son of Shafiullah Khan, namely Abu Saleh Mohammed Siddique, married the daughter of British-Empire title holder Khan Sahib Maqsud Ahmed. The late Abu Saleh Mohammed Siddique retired from the UK Civil Service, died in 2007 and is buried in the Muslim section of the Greenford
Greenford
Greenford is a large suburb in the London Borough of Ealing in west London, UK. It was historically an ancient parish in the former county of Middlesex. The most prominent landmarks in the suburb are the A40, a major dual-carriageway; Horsenden Hill, above sea level; the small Parish Church of...

 cemetery in the London Borough of Ealing
London Borough of Ealing
The London Borough of Ealing is a borough in west London.-Location:The London Borough of Ealing borders the London Borough of Hillingdon to the west, the London Borough of Harrow and the London Borough of Brent to the north, the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham to the east and the London...

.

Shafiullah Khan’s daughter was married to Syed
Sayyid
Sayyid is an honorific title, it denotes males accepted as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husain ibn Ali, sons of the prophet's daughter Fatima Zahra and his son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib.Daughters of sayyids are given the titles Sayyida,...

 Mohammad Ali, who was the son of Khan Bahadur Syed Sultan Ali of Bagerhat
Bagerhat Sadar Upazila
Bagerhat Sadar is an Upazila of Bagerhat District in the Division of Khulna, Bangladesh.-Geography:Bagerhat Sadar is located at . It has 45527 units of house hold and total area 272.73 km².Total union 10.-Demographics:...

.

Initial studies also reveal such names as Qazi-ul-Quzat Saiyid Ahmad Ali Khan Qazi Saadathullah, Naib Qazi Ifazatullah, Mir Jumlah Ubaid Khan Bahadur Turkhan, Qazi Kalimullah, Qazi-ul-Quzat Ghulam Yaha Khan, Muhammad Nasratullah, Qazi Izzatullah, Najibullah Khan and Muhammad Asadullah, who, apparently, along with Baqaullah Khan, were entrusted to rule as Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...

s in the various areas of the Province of Jessore (Satkhira was in the Province of Jessore at the time), possibly areas of West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...

 and Orissa
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...

in the 18th century.

External links

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