Ma’afidars and the Institutions of Learning in Colonial Bengal

Abstract

Bengal became a part of the Sultanate of the Delhi during the 13th century itself. Soon after numerous families of the migrants and administrators came from Khurasan and Central Asia, who made Bengal a part of the larger Islamic East. Along with the institutions of governance and ruling apparatus, they also created the institutions of higher learning and Centers of Sufi activities. On its part, the State liberally supported these individuals/institutions established by them with the land and the cash grants. The Greco-Arabic tradition of learning was well established in the region by the 15th century. The impact of this new tradition on the local culture was so great that Arabic script was adopted for writing Bengali language. The Colonial administration of the East India Company treated this class of revenue grantees in a very hostile manner, especially during the infamous inam Commission (A.D 1828-1846). These proceedings resulted into the destruction of the Muslim institutions of higher learning, and virtually sounded the death knell of the scholastic class of the Muslim ashrafiya. W.W. Hunter has offered the most incriminating data of some of these colonial policies. Such evidence was a huge embarrassment to the then British Colonial officials and even the modern apologists of the Raj. The present study attempts an analysis of the fortunes of Buhar family, Baees Hazari and Shash Hazari Waqfs at Pandua, on the basis on the limited data from the Colonial times. It has been argued that the impact of the British rule in Bengal Presidency was definitely disastrous for the early ruling elite/class, as well as for the Muslim institutions of higher scholarship and the numerous Sufi khanqah.