MillenniumPost
Bengal

Unique session to highlight 480 years of friendship between Mughals, Roy Choudhurys

Kolkata: At a time when attempts have been made from various corners to weaken Hindu-Muslim unity, Sabarna Roy Choudhury Paribar Parishad will organise a unique interactive session with the descendants of the Mughal Empire at their Barisha residence on Sunday.

The purpose is to celebrate 480 years of friendship between the Roy Choudhurys and the Mughals.

Mughal Emperor Humayun was a friend of Panchanan Gangopadhyay, a descendant of Sabarna Roy Choudhury. He gave Gangopadhyay the title of "Shakti Khan" and gave him a jagir (land) at Haveli Sahar, later known as Halisahar. Gangopadhyay was known as "Panchu Shakti Khan".

Mumtaz Hossain Chowdhury, the 27th descendant of Babar along with his wife Moitriyee, will be present at the interactive session on Sunday. The Chowdhurys now stay in Oman and are coming all the way to Kolkata to take part in this particular session. The event will be held in two parts — one from 4 pm to 5 pm and another between 5 pm and 6 pm. There will be students, scholars, historians and general people from various professions.

The session will be held like the Dewane Aam which used to held by Shah Jahan where the Emperor used to meet the common people.

After Bahadur Shah was driven out of the Red Fort following the Sepoy Mutiny, his two sons had come to Bengal. The elder son could not bring any jewellery and money from Delhi. But the second son brought a lot of wealth and settled at Shaktigarh in East Burdwan district.

Debarshi Roy Chowdhury said the sole purpose of the interactive session will be to develop an interest for the Mughals and India's history and heritage. "We encourage young people, particularly the students to take part in the interactive session and attempts are already on to rewrite India's history deleting some of the important events that had taken place," said Debarshi Roy Choudhury, curator of Sabarna Sangrahashala.

It may be recalled that the descendants of Sabarna Roy Choudhury had given the right to rent of three villages — Kolikata, Sutanuti and Govindapur to Charles Eyre, son-in-law of Job Charnock in 1698. A museum has been set up at Barisha where the original deed between the descendants of Sabarna Roy Choudhury and the East India Company has been kept. The family hosts an annual exhibition in February every year.

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