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Majumdar
PronunciationMojumdar
Origin
Word/nameBengali (from Arabic and Persian)
MeaningRecord keeper
Region of originBengal
Other names
Variant form(s)numerous
[1][2]

Majumdar (Bengali: মজুমদার, romanized: Mojumdar) is a title, also used as a family surname.

Etymology and history

The name literally translates to ‘record keeper’ or ‘archivist’, from the Arabic language ‘‘majmua’’ (مجموع/মজমুয়া) ‘collection’ + the Persian suffix ‘‘-dar’’ (دار/দার) ‘possessor’. The surname has evolved from this title.[3]

The surname is found among Bengalis and should not be confused with the similar "Mujumdar" or "Muzumdar", found among Marathis, and to some extent among the peoples of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.

Majumdars of Cachar

The Muslim Mirashdars living in the Kachari Kingdom (predominantly Sylhetis) were given titles by the Kachari Raja which had a hierarchy, and in modern-day acts as a surname for the Bengali Muslims of the Barak Valley. The title was seen as a lesser rank than Choudhury but higher than Bhuiyan.[4]

Mazumdars of Sylhet

The Mazumdar family of Sylhet was founded by a Bengali Hindu man called Sarbananda from the village of Barsala. Sarbananda became a Muslim, changing his name to Sarwar, and worked as a minister under the Sultan of Bengal. Under the instructions of Sultan Alauddin Husain Shah, Sarwar Khan went to the Pratapgarh Kingdom to negotiate with Sultan Muhammad Bazid to return Sylhet to the Bengal Sultanate.[5] After being rejected by Bazid, Sarwar defeated him in a war also fighting Bazid's allies, the Zamindars of Ita and Kanihati.[6] Bazid gave up his title as the Sultan of Pratapgarh and Sarwar became the Nawab of Sylhet and granted the title of Khan.

Sarwar's son, Mir Khan was the next Nawab of Sylhet.[7] Mir Khan, was made the Qanungoh (revenue officer) of Sylhet, and the family continued holding this office until the abolishment of the Qanungoh system. Lodi Khan is said to have won a battle against Khwaja Usman, incorporating Ita into the Mughal Sylhet, and then his son Jahan Khan established Jahanpur, named after himself. In the 17th century, Keshwar Khan , the Qanungoh of Sylhet under Emperor Aurangzeb, dug a canal which he called Keshwar Khal. His son, Mahtab Khan, is also known to have established a Haat bazaar in the Sylhet region named after himself.

Mahtab Khan's son was Masud Bakht who was made the Head Qanungoh of Sylhet. Masud played an important part in maintaining peace during the Muharram Rebellion of 1782. He was succeeded as Qanungoh by his nephew, Muhammad Bakht in 1793. Muhammad Bakht founded the village of Muhammadabad.[8]

In the late 17th century, Syed Bakht Mazumdar and his family migrated to Makkah, under the Ottoman Empire, where he joined the council of the Sharif of Mecca and was awarded the Star of the Mejidhi. On the 1st of April 1867, Syed had a son called Muhammad. Following Syed's return to Sylhet, he and his son, Moulvi Hamid Bakht Mazumdar, became one of the only people in their province to be exempted of civil court attendance.[9] Hamid was the Deputy Collector of Sylhet and assisted in the Lushai Hills expedition. Hamid was fluent in Persian and wrote the prose Ain-i-Hind, a history of the Indian subcontinent. Ala Bakhsh Mazumdar Hamed was known to have written Tuhfatul Muhsineen and Diwan-i-Hamed. Collectively, the works of these two are regarded amongst the most creative literary works in the Sylhet region.[10]

Hamid's younger brother, Majid Bakht Mazumdar was made the Deputy Collector and Magistrate of Rajshahi in 1878. He then became the Assistant Comissioner of the Assam Province. He assisted the government in the battles of Lushai and Manipur. Majid was awarded the title of Khan Bahadur by King Edward VII for his efforts and invited to the King's coronation at the Delhi Durbar of 1903. The wrestler, Ashrab Ali Mazumdar was also from this family.

In the early eighteenth century, Syed's other son (who was born in Makkah), Muhammad Bakht Mazumdar, was made the Honorary Magistrate of Bengal and the Extra Assistant Commissioner in Assam. He was an important visitor of the Civil Jail and Leper Asylum in Sylhet and a member of the District's Local Board council. He is known to have established a madrasa in Sylhet as well. In 1857, he presented six pieces of military equipment to the British Raj. He had a keen interest in the tea industry and in 1904, he opened the Brahmanchara Tea Estate alongside Syed Abdul Majid, Ghulam Rabbani and Karim Bakhsh.[11] He was given the title of Khan Bahadur in 1909.[12] Muhammad was also one of the prominent leaders of the Sylhet-Bengal Reunion League formed in 1920 to reunite the Sylhet District with Bengal, which it had been separated from. However, in September 1928, Muhammad proposed a resolution, during the Surma Valley Muslim Conference, opposing the transfer of Sylhet and Cachar to Bengal and this even gained support from Syed Abdul Majid and his organisation Anjuman-e-Islamia as well as the Muslim Students Association.[13]

Variations

Variations of the surname Majumdar also remain very common. These include different English transliterations and regional pronunciations of the term. Different English spellings include: Mojumdar, Majumder, Mojumder, Mazumdar, Mozumdar, Mazumder, Mozumder, Majoomdar, Mojoomdar, Majoomder, Mojoomder, Mazoomdar, Mozoomdar, Mazoomder, Mozoomder, Mazumder and Muzumdar.

List of people with the surname

Majumdar

Mazumdar

Majumder

Mazumder

Other spellings

See also

References

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference BRN was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "1990 Census Name Files". Web.archive.org. 30 March 2005. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  3. ^ "Majumdar Name Meaning & Majumdar Family History at Ancestry.com". www.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  4. ^ E M Lewis (1868). "Cachar District: Statement No. XVIII: Glossary of Local Terms.". Principal Heads of the History and Statistics of the Dacca Division. Calcutta: Calcutta Central Press Company. pp. 406–408.
  5. ^ Choudhury (1917, p. 483)
  6. ^ Bangladesh Itihas Samiti, Sylhet: History and Heritage, (1999), p. 715
  7. ^ Choudhury (1917, p. 484)
  8. ^ Achyut Charan Choudhury Tattanidhi (1917). শ্রীহট্টের ইতিবৃত্ত - উত্তরাংশ  [History of Sylhet] (in Bengali). Calcutta: Mustafa Selim. pp. 102–103 – via Wikisource.
  9. ^ B C Allen (1905). "Chapter III: The People: Leading Families". Assam District Gazetteers. Vol. 2. Calcutta: Government of Assam. p. 94.
  10. ^ Islam, Sirajul (1992). History of Bangladesh, 1704-1971. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  11. ^ "Tea Industry". Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  12. ^ Who's who in India. Vol. II: Eastern Bengal and Assam Part V Title Holders. India: Newul Kishore Press. 1911. p. 285.
  13. ^ Bhuyan, Arun Chandra (2000). Nationalist Upsurge in Assam. Government of Assam.
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