Khan Jahan Ali

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Khan-i-Azam
Khan Jahan
Khalifatabad, Bengal Sultanate
Resting placeMazar of Khan Jahan Ali, Bagerhat, Bangladesh
ReligionIslam
Other namesKhanjali, Khwaja Ali
Muslim leader
Period in office15th century
Disciples
Islam in Bangladesh
History
Culture
Architecture
Literature
Music
Major figures
Communities
Ideology/schools of thought
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Khan Jahan Ali or Ulugh Khān (

Khalifatabad (now in Bangladesh). It is believed that he built the great Mosque City of Bagerhat, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[1]

Background and early life

He is also known by the name "Ulugh Khan", and this suggests that he is of

Tughlaq Sultanate, Khan Jahan seems to have migrated to Bengal following the Capture of Delhi by the Timurid Empire led by Timur in 1398.[2][1]

Migration

After migrating to Bengal, Khan and his companions were welcomed by 12 Muslim saints to Champanagar (which was renamed Barobazar after the 12 saints). Khan stayed here for a number of years. 126 dighis are attributed to him and mosques built during his stay include Gorar, Golakata, Jor-Bangla, Pir Pukur, Satgachia, Monohar, Sukkur Mollick, Nungola, Pathagar and Adina. Damdama and the dighis of Galakata and Saudagar can also be found here. Khan completed the road built by Ghazi, which originally went from Barobazar to Jessore, extending it to Bagerhat.[3]

Khan was able to acquire a forest area in the

Khalifatabad and stretched up north to Naldi in Lohagara. He built numerous mosques here such as Singar, Bibi Begeni, Chunakhola, Ranabijoypur, Nine Dome, Zinda Pir and Reza Khuda as well as the Ghora dighi. Most notably, he built the Sixty Dome Mosque which was one of the largest during this period.[3]

The Sixty Dome Mosque has been described as "one of the most impressive Muslim monuments in the whole of the Indian subcontinent."
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Khan also travelled to

Masjidkur, Gharib Shah, Shubharara Mosque can be found in Murali-Qasba. In Phultala, he established the Poyogram-Qasba. Two mosques that were built here were as large as the Sixty Dome Mosque but are now ruins. The roads in this town had a "rectangular cheeseboard pattern". One of the roads still in use is Khanjali Road and one of the mosques which isn't in ruins here is Dakshin Dihi mosque. One of Khan's houses and Shahabatir Dighi can also be found in Poyogram.[1]

He founded numerous

wudhu facilities. The most notable dighis are the Khanjali Dighi, excavated in 1450 and located near his tomb, and Ghoradighi, measuring 230 by 460 metres (750 by 1,500 ft) to the west of the Sixty Dome Mosque. He is said to have built a highway from Bagerhat to Chittagong, a 32-kilometre (20 mi) long road from Samantasena to Badhkhali, and a road running from Shuvabara to Daulatpur in Khulna
.

His role as administrator of Khalifatabad did not stop him from also preaching the religion of

Dhul Hijjah
863 AH).

Legacy

The mausoleum housing the tomb of Khan Jahan Ali.
Khan Jahan Ali's Tank in front of the tomb of Khan Jahan Ali

After his death, he was buried in a mazar near one of his mosques and dighis. Khan Jahan Ali's Tank contains crocodiles which are considered to be descended from the two crocodiles which Khan rode on.[6] The great-grandmother of Haji Faqir Humayun Kabir, a guardian of the shrine, is said to have fought with them. Hundreds of visitors visit the shrine everyday, and also pet the resident crocodiles.[7]

Khan Jahan introduced a new architectural style in his buildings, which is named after him. The Khan Jahan style architecture is seen throughout the modern-day Khulna Division. The Khan Jahan Ali Airport is a proposed airport in Mongla to be named after him.[8]

One of the Bangladesh Navy's auxiliary ships is named after him as "BNS Khan Jahan Ali". The ship was made by Ananda Shipyard & Slipways Limited and handed to the Bangladesh Navy on 6 November 2014. The 80-metre-long tanker can carry 2,400 tons of diesel and 120 tons of aviation fuel. It can go 24.5 km per hour with full load and can refuel two war ships simultaneously. The ship was commissioned on 6 September 2015.[9] Previously, there was an oil tanker with the name "BNS Khan Jahan Ali". This was an Ex-Soho Maru (T1056) made by Setoda's Naikai Shipbuilding in 1963. It was sold after 1983 and commissioned on 14 July 1987 as a naval tanker. It was decommissioned after 28 years on 5 September 2015.[10]

List of the things named after Khan Jahan Ali

The Khan Jahan Ali Bridge was inaugurated in 2005, and is referred to as the gateway of Khulna.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Polin, Fatiha; Mahboob, Farah; Alam, Dhrubo (26 August 2019). "Trails of Khan Jahan Ali". The Daily Star.
  2. OL 30677644M
    . Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  3. ^ a b Eaton, Richard M (31 July 1996). The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760. University of California Press. pp. 209–257.
  4. ^ Khan Sahib Ali Ahmad in the preface of Pashupati Chatterjee's biography of Khan Jahan Ali
  5. ^ Hanif, N (2000). "Jalal, Shaikh (d.1357 A.D.)". Biographical Encyclopaedia of Sufis: South Asia. Sarup & Sons. p. 193.
  6. ^ Raj, Selva J; Harman, William P, eds. (1 February 2012). Dealing with Deities: The Ritual Vow in South Asia. SUNY Press. pp. 89–90.
  7. ^ Karim, Elita (8 April 2016). "The Shrine by The Dighi". The Daily Star.
  8. ^ "Mongla airport construction to resume soon: Faruk". Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
  9. ^ "Ananda Shipyard delivers oil tanker to Bangladesh Navy". The Daily Star. Archived from the original on 24 December 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  10. ^ "Khan Jahan Ali". maritime-connector.com. Archived from the original on 5 September 2019. Retrieved 4 January 2020.

Further reading

  • Hasan, Sayed Mahmudul Khan Jahan: Patron-saint of the Sundarbans (Islamic Foundation Bangladesh, 2004)
  • Shahid, Rudabeh The Mystic Contribution: Khan Jahan Ali and the Creation of Bagerhat (Adorn Publication, 2010)
  • Khoundkar, Alamgir Khan Jahan (R): Ruler, Builder, and Saint (Parash Publishers, 2001)
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