The romance of an eastern capital

By Francis Bradley Bradley-Birt

Page 282 –Page 285

Published By SMITH, ELDEE, & CO., 15 WATEELOO PLACE LONDON

1906

In the Dacca of to-day the Nawab Khaja Salimullah Bahadur plays a

large part. In no way connected with the old Nawabs of Dacca, whose line
expired in 1843, the present title was at first bestowed by the British
Government in 1875 as a purely personal distinction upon Khaja Abdul
Ghani Mia, grandfather of Nawab Salimullah. The rise of the family to
wealth and influence reads almost like a romance of the days of Shaista
Khan. Born in Kashmir, Khaja Abdul Hakim, the founder of the family, set
out early in life, like many another of his countrymen, to seek fortune at the
Imperial Court. There his promising career was cut short only by the final
overthrow of the Moghuls, and, doubtless attracted by the rumours of the
wealth of the Eastern Province which had always been looked upon in
olden days as the treasure-house of the Court of Delhi, he set out to
pursue his fortunes on the outskirts of the Empire. Establishing himself as
a trader in Sylhet, such success attended his efforts that he was soon able
to send for his father and brothers from Kashmir, severing all connection
with his old home and settling down with the determination to secure a
position for himself in Eastern Bengal. In the next generation the family
removed to Dacca, and gradually acquired large landed property in that
district and in Barisal, Tipperah, and Mymensingh. It was left, however, for
the Nawab Abdul Ghani to reach the highest dignities and honours. The
wealthiest and most influential Zemindar in Eastern Bengal at the time of
the Mutiny, he loyally placed all his resources at the disposal of the British
Government, and himself did much to allay the unrest among the native
population. Liberal and enlightened, he was foremost in the relief of
distress and in all works of charity, many of his gifts being on a princely
scale. To him Dacca owes its splendid water supply, upon which he spent
some two and a half lacs of rupees. The foundation stone of the
waterworks was laid in August 1874 by Lord Northbrook, the first Viceroy
to visit Dacca since Azim Oshan, Aurungzebe's grandson, had shaken the
dust of the city off his feet over a hundred and sixty years before. Created
Nawab in 1875, a distinction which was made hereditary in 1877, and
K.C.S.I. in 1886, Abdul Ghani died full of years and honours in 1896. His
 son, Khaja Ahsanulla, who had long been in charge of his father's vast
estates, succeeded, and for seven years worthily carried on the great
traditions of loyalty and generosity which had been bequeathed to him. It is
to him that Dacca owes the installation of the electric light which has done
so much to improve the city. Created Nawab in 1875, Nawab Bahadur in
1892, and K.C.I.E. in 1897, he only survived his father seven years, and
his son the present Nawab Khaja Salimullah Bahadur now reigns in his
stead. The British Government has already shown its appreciation of the
loyal assistance he has given to the making of the new Province of Eastern
Bengal and Assam by conferring upon him the distinction of the C.S.I, at
the commencement of the present year. The leader of the Mussulman
community in Eastern Bengal, he holds a position of unrivalled influence
and dignity in the new Province of to-day.

Of the various European factories that were established in Dacca during

the period when the city was the capital of Bengal all trace, save in one
instance, has disappeared. The English factory, the first insignificant
outpost in Eastern Bengal of the race destined in the end to found an
empire of which Shaista Khan himself could never have dreamed, was
started during the early years of the great Viceroy's long reign, in 1668. It
stood on the site now occupied by the Dacca College, and for a hundred
years it formed the centre of English interests in Eastern Bengal. The
French factory, founded within a few years of it, stood where a
portion of the palace of the present Nawab now stands, close by the
river. For over a hundred years it maintained its struggle for existence, in
constant rivalry with the other factories, until it was taken by the English in
1757 during the war with France. ……….

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Author

F.B. Bradley-Birt B.A., I.C.S. (b 1874)

LATE SCHOLAR OP BRASEN0SE COLLEGE, OXFORD,

FELLOW OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY

CORRESPONDING FELLOW OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF LISBON

AUTHOR OF ' CHOTA NAGPOBE: A LITTLE-KNOWN PROVINCE OF THE MPIRE’
AND ' THE STORY OF AN INDIAN UPLAND'
 PREFACE

EASTERN BENGAL, lying outside the beaten track of the tourist and making
no insistent claim to notice, has long failed to attract the attention it
deserves. The much-discussed question of the Partition of Bengal,
however, has recently brought it prominently before the general public,
both in India and at home, and it is hoped that the story of its Capital,
which the following pages attempt to relate in popular form, will be of
special interest at the present time. The task of setting forth something of
its history in a manner calculated to appeal to the general reader has not
been without difficulty. Of the record of its earlier years, during Buddhist
and Hindu supremacy, little that is authoritative has survived; while so fast
did events move, and so rapid were the changes that occurred in later
days, that Mussulman annals are apt to degenerate into a confusing
medley of unfamiliar names, or a bare recital of the doings of Kings and
Governors. Such authorities as these, moreover, are often hard to
reconcile with one another, adding to the difficulty of the writer who strives
for accuracy. It would have been out of place in a work of this kind to enter
at length into controversial points, but, while much has been necessarily
omitted, the aim throughout has been to give a connected readable
account of the old Mussulman city in the heart of Eastern Bengal, which
now, after the lapse of two hundred years, has once more attained the
dignity of a Capital.

To Moulvi Sayid Aulad Hasan, who has done much to revive interest in
old Dacca, my thanks are due for kindly reading the proofs and for many
valuable suggestions. To him I owe the portraits of the Viceroy Shaista
Khan, of Guru Nanak, and of the Emperor Farrukh Siyar and his consort. A
list of some of the more important authorities consulted is given at the end
of the book.

SIMLA : June 25th, 1906.