Khwaja Alimullah

Legacy of Khwaja Hafizullah

The ancestors of the Khwajas are said to have been traders of gold dust and skins in Kashmir. The earliest founding man of the Dhaka Nawab Estate is Maulvi Hafizullah, who upheld the family tradition and made his fortune in trade and commerce. Leather and salt were the major items of his business. In collaboration with the European merchants in Dhaka, he developed a flourishing business in hides and skins, salt and spices.

Alimullah took major responsibilities in the business of Hafizullah, whom raised in childhood, since the early death of Ahsanulla (his brother and Alimullah's father) in 1795, and groomed as an estate manager. Alimullah, an enterprising man himself, acquired extensive profitable landed property in and around Dhaka city, as well as in Barisal District, Khulna District, Dhaka, Mymensingh and Tripura, in his own name. He also had a moneylending business and was one of the major shareholders and directors of Dhaka Bank.

During this time, zamindari estates of the defaulting proprietors were on sale everywhere in Bengal under the operation of Permanent Settlement. Hafizullah purchased some zamindari estates and indigo factories in Barisal. Those purchases included Atia pargana in the then Mymensingh district (now in the Tangail district) and Aila Phuljhuri in the Bakarganj Sundarbans.

On Khwaja Hafizullah's death, his estate descended on Alimullah, who became the sole heir to his enormous wealth. His landed acquisitions were added to those of his uncle, and the merger effected due to an absence of any surviving male successor of Hafizullah, consequently made the united zamindari one of the biggest in the province.

Foundation of the estate

Before his death (1854), Alimullah made an waqf (vestment) for a united status of the zamindari, turning all his property, landed and otherwise, into an indivisible family concern. The property was to be managed jointly by a mutwalli (Administrator), a responsibility which descended upon his second son Khwaja Abdul ghani Mia.

This measure saved the Khwaja Estate from sub-division and fragmentation like other landed estates through a series of successions and transfers. It empowered the Mutawalli to administer the zamindari and other concerns of the family as representative and sole spokesman of the family. He also was to distribute the family income in the form of individual allowances stipulated in the waqfnama (deed of the waqf).

Over and above these responsibilities

Life and work

A member of the Dhaka Municipal Committee, Khwaja Alimullah took part very actively in the corporate activities of the city, including playing an important role in the preservation of the Lalbagh Fort. He made a wakq of the income of his estate at Atiya Pargana in Tangail for the welfare of the destitute.

Since the death of Ghaziuddin Haider, the last of the Naib Nazims of Dhaka in 1843, Khwaja Alimullah, bore all the expenses of Muharram, the central festival of the Shi'ite Muslims, and was appointed by the government as the mutwalli of Husseini Dalan, the shrine of the Shi'ites in Dhaka.

Through a long association with Eurasian and European business partners, Khwaja Alimullah acquired their lifestyle and habits. He bought thoroughbred horses for racing and made a modest stable for them, and used to go hunting with horses and elephants. He earned considerable fame as an organiser of sports by setting up the Ramna Racecourse and the Gymkhana Club.

Besides sports and games, Alimullah also developed a fancy for jewels. He purchased the famous diamond Dariya-i-Noor at a government auction. He also bought many unique precious jewellery of the house of the Naib Nazim Ghaziuddin Haider when he became heavily indebted due to the English government stopping his allowance on charges of immoral activities.

Alimullah also introduced dance, music and mushairah (literary meet) into the Khwaja family.

Ahsan Manzil

In 1830, Alimullah purchased the French Trading House at Kumartuli on the bank of the Buriganga as part of his land acquisitions in and around Dhaka. The French bought it from Matiullah, whose father, Sheikh Enayetullah, a zamindar of Jamalpur pargana in Barisal during Mughals reign, built it as his Rang Mahal (pleasure house). Alimullah converted it into his residence, effecting necessary reconstruction and renovations, which was carried further by his son and successor Khwaja Abdul Ghani. This mini palace subsequently became the nucleus of the Ahsan Manzil, the residential palace and the kachari (administrative office) of the Nawabs of Dhaka. It is now a national heritage museum of Bangladesh.

Baigunbari Hunting Park

The Hunting Park at Baigunbari, Sadullahpur mauja, Biralia Union, Savar, was a hunting and pleasure park of the Nawabs of Dhaka. Khwaja Alimullah proclaimed the forest land of Sadullapur as a wildlife sanctuary, and the started setting the hunting park, which was completed by Khwaja Abdul Ghani. The hunting park, an area naturally conducive for breeding animals and birds for hunting, used to feature various species of indigenous and exotic deer, peacocks, wild-cocks, francoline partridges, hares etc. and set them free in the forest for breeding. There also were plenty of huntable hogs and various types of birds on the banks of the lakes of the forest. By 1895, the area set apart as an exclusive hunting ground for the Nawab of Dhaka and his guests, became an attraction for illegal hunters.

Daria-i-Noor

Khwaja alimullah purchased the famous diamond Daria-i-Noor [Sea of Light; Persian: دريا (Daria, meaning Sea), Persian: نور (Noor, meaning Light)] for 75 thousand rupees (there were no taka nor Indian rupees at that time) when it was auctioned on behalf of the British government by Hamilton and Company of Calcutta in November 1852. It was auctioned after it was exhibited, along with another famous Indian diamond Koh-i-Noor or the "mountain of light", in 1850 at the Great Exhibition at Hyde Park organised in honour of Queen Victoria. As it did not get the expected price at the exhibitions, Daria-i-Noor was sent back to India to be sold in an auction.

The 26-carat (5.2 g) oblong table-shaped diamond is largest and most precious jewel stone in Bangladesh. It is believed to be quarried in a south Indian mine, like the Koh-i-Noor. It is set in the centre of a gold armlet, with ten 5-carat (1 g) oval shaped smaller diamonds around it, used by the Nawabs of Dhaka, who also used as it an ornament on the turban. It is now preserved in a vault of Sonali Bank.

Shahbag

In 1840 khwaja alimullah bought the two garden-houses set up by Aratun, the Armenian businessman, and Griffith Cook, the British Justice, in the Sujatpur area. He renamed the area as Shahbag (Garden of Kings) and started a project to bring back the splendour to the area known in the Mughal times as Bag-e-Badshahi (also Garden of Kings). He also bought much of vast medow, known as Ramna, between the garden houses and the Sujatpur Palace flanked by Nurkhan Bazaar (set up by Nuruddin Hossain).