Tag Archives: Rampur Raza Library – Rampur

Unraveling The Rich History Of Noor Mahal Palace With Nawab Kazim Ali Khan

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Rampur, UTTAR PRADESH :

Nawab Kazim Ali Khan tells the tale of the dynasty, its Raza Library, and years of progressive thinking that expanded the region and its many enterprises.

Luxury realtor Sush Clays takes us to a royal wedding in the Noor Mahal Palace, home to the Nawab of Rampur.

Nawab Kazim Ali Khan tells the tale of the dynasty, its magnificent Raza Library, and years of progressive thinking that expanded the region and its many enterprises.

His obsidian eyes halt you till you reach the twinkle in their midst. You look again, and those deep dimples flanking his wide smile reach right into your heart. And then he speaks: he tells you tales of conquering heroes and lands won and lost; princesses from far lands who made India’s sons and daughters; gemstones and swords that filled coffers; a land, united and forged as one by the many layers of the legacy of the past.

Nawab Kazim Ali Khan, much loved among his friends as Navaid bhai, is one of the most precious custodians of India’s history and some of its invaluable treasures.

Raza library in Rampur is one of the most important repositories of Indo-Islamic learning in South Asia

I met him first as Nawab Sahib, in his full reglia, when he leaned down with his statuesque Pathan grandiosity and said gently, “Call me Kazim.” I was facetiously outraged. “I love calling you ‘Nawab Sahib’,” I spluttered laughing. That didn’t last long. The bonhomie that the nawab exudes makes it hard to retain deference and address him by his title.

This was also the first of many conversations on the history of the Rampur dynasty, rewinding its track through accession and succession, the British Raj and India’s Independence, right back to the Marathas and the Mughals.

The Rampur royal family bedecked in heirlooms at the wedding

The Rampur state was created by the Rohila Afghan Pathans of Kandahar. The Yusufzai clan were originally traders. Their leader had two sons, Dawood and Kaisaf Khan. This was when the Marathas, a Hindu warrior sect, were fighting back the Mughal dynasty in the subcontinent. They had reached up to what is now northern Uttar Pradesh in victory.

By the 1700s, the Mughals engaged the services of the Pathans and the first battle pitted the Marathas against the Pathans in Fatehganj. The Maratha Peshwas were defeated and pushed down to Gwalior. In honour of this victory, the Mughals gave the Pathans eight districts in Rohilkhand. Dawood Khan moved to India, and this marked the beginning of the Rohila family saga in India. Faizullah Khan, one of the eight grandsons of Dawood Khan, inherited the kingdom of Rampur and was established as its first nawab.

The drawing room in Noor Mahal

During the British Raj, as the city of Rampur expanded, a new undertaking of building the Khas Bagh palace was begun. Built over several years and completed in 1930, it marries a variety of architectural styles. With India’s Independence came a new strain of history into the Rampur family. Nawab Raza Ali Khan was the first to merge his state into the Indian Union in May 1949.

The Raza Library is ensconed in acres of manicured gardens

And finally, in 1960, Noor Mahal, formerly the Viceroy’s representative’s palace, was turned into a haveli—as it stands now—for the birth of Nawab Kazim Ali Khan. He grew up there surrounded by his governess and staff, was fed food cooked in copper vessels, and had a daily appointment between 6 pm and 8 pm with his grandfather in Khas Bagh.

Noor Mahal, where Navaid bhai lives to this day, stands surrounded by his lush never-ending acres of farmland. The haveli holds priceless treasures: intricate vases, jade pieces of pottery, and photographs of the family beautifully installed by Queen Mother Begum Noor Bano and the current queen of Rampur, Begum Yaseen Ali Khan. Built in the classic British Raj style of architecture, with open verandahs circling the palace, Noor Mahal is where the heart of the family resides.

A painting of Bahadur Shah Zafar from the collection of the library

The Raza Library is the crown jewel of the Rampur dynasty. It stands tall and imposing, a precursor to the Indo-Saracenic architectural style, ensconced in acres of manicured gardens. The erudite Rampur nawabs had a passion for learning and collected over 22,000 manuscripts since the library was established in 1774 by Nawab Faizullah Khan.

They were also great promoters of women’s education. Begum Noor Bano, a descendant of Uzbekistan royalty, brought several manuscripts to Rampur as her bridal gift to the family. Today, the Raza Library remains one of the most important repositories of Indo-Islamic learning in South Asia. Its range of manuscripts stretches from Persian to Arabic, Pashto, Sanskrit, and Urdu. The collection includes the al-Qurani Majid, a priceless manuscript dating to the seventh century AD, and an illustrated Ramayana translated to Persian around 1715 AD.

Navaid bhai takes his daughter-in-law on a tour of the treasures of Rampur

Firm believers in the value of secularism and progressive thinking, the Rampur Nawabs were the only Islamic kingdom where the coronation ceremony was performed by a Hindu Brahmin pandit. With the advent of industrialisation, the far-sighted rulers realised that agriculture alone could not sustain the economy. Hence, the land was leased out to several manufacturers, including a distillery that produces the fabulous Rampur Single Malt Whisky today. With the birth of democracy in India, the instinct of the sovereign ruler of the time was to enter politics or the armed forces. Navaid bhai’s grandfather, Nawab Raza Ali Khan, was the honorary colonel of two infantries and an armoured regiment that participated in World War II to protect what was to become Indian territory post Independence.

Nawabzada Haider Ali Khan and his bride Shaukat Zamani Begum

Queen Mother Begum Noor Bano was the first female member of the family to successfully contest elections and win the seat of Rampur. This began a new era in the lives of the Rampur family. The seat of the nawabs was then moved to Noor Mahal so that they could move a little away from the swiftly expanding city of Rampur. This brings us to the present day when I find myself at this stunningly historic haveli to celebrate the wedding of Nawab Kazim Ali Khan’s second son.

The wedding portrait of Nawab Kazim Ali Khan and Begum Yaseen Ali Khan

The year 2020, with all its woes, brought this one joyous occasion for Navaid bhai to gather an intimate group of family and friends and celebrate the nikah of his second son, Haider Ali Khan, to the beautiful Shaukat Zamani Begum. Sufi music composed by Navaid bhai’s grandfather fills the haveli. An incredible performance of a whirling Sufi dancer puts us in a delicious trance. The exotic aroma of Rampur’s extraordinary cuisine titillates our olfactory nerves. And the melting flavours of the famous chapli kebab make our palates spiral into ecstasy. As our senses are soothed into sublime languor through three days of feasting, dancing, laughter, and love, we awake to the nikah on the final morning.

The pure pageantry of the ceremony is a joy to behold. Begum Zamani is clad in an intricately embroidered sharara that requires three bridesmaids to carry it; Nawabzada Haider is dressed up in his Pathan grandeur, with the family’s bejewelled heirloom sword; Navaid bhai is in a stunning rose ensemble and Begum Yaseen in delicate beige—the scene belongs to a different time, a few thousand years before 2020.

The dynasty is inclusive as always, and the rites are performed in Shia and Sunni traditions. And then the gentle, lilting sound of “Qubool hai” from the bride’s veil confirms her assent to the marriage to Nawabzada Haider, sending the guests into raptures.

The Pathani nawabs of Rampur have always adopted the Hindu rituals of their homeland, so they include a henna ceremony and an evening of dancing to celebrate the union.

Begum Zamani clad in intricately embroidered sharara for her nikah

The ceremony verifies everything the nawab has told me about his family, “Of the 300-odd sovereign states of the Union of modern India, there are only a dozen Islamic royal families. Ours has always believed in educating our women, and we have forever held a deep passion for art, literature, and music.” Rampur sparkles as a shining example of myriad traditions evolved into a singular culture, which spans thousands of years and retains a resplendence of its own in modern India.

The writer is the founding partner of  Welcome Home Luxury Real Estate Services in New Delhi.

source: http://www.travelandleisureasia.com / Travel and Leisure / Home> Hotels / by Sush Clays / January 20th, 2021

Darul Musannefin – Azamgarh’s Pride

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Azamgarh, UTTAR PRADESH :

Darul Musannefin, an institute established to propagate the rich cultural heritage of Urdu, Arabic and Persian texts through the institute’s publications and magazine, was established in 1914 by Maulana Shibli Nomani

Darul Musannefin, an institute established to propagate the rich cultural heritage of Urdu, Arabic and Persian texts through the institute’s publications and magazine, was established in 1914 by Maulana Shibli Nomani.

However, over the years like many other institutes associated with the Muslim community in India, this institute has fallen on bad days courtesy the apathy of the governments and the community’s disinterest with anything associated with its cultural and academic heritage.

When we talk about the rich heritage of Urdu books, then every Urdu lover bemoans that the government is not doing enough for saving and promoting the Urdu language – a language which binds at least 70% of Indians, socially and literally.

Yet, few of us ponders that what the Urdu lovers themselves are doing for saving and promoting the language. Their concern becomes abundantly clear by the everyday decreasing sales of Urdu books and newspapers. Further, what they are doing to save institutions which have been the flagbearers in propagating and saving the language by publishing books on different topics in Urdu. The answer is pretty obvious: nothing concrete except bemoaning and using hollow words.

One such institution is Darul Musannefin or Shibli Academy, just like the Rampur raza library of Rampur or the Khuda Baksh Library of Patna, in addition to a vast repertoire of books in private collections of individuals and organisations throughout India.

Darul Musannefin or Shibli Academy is a research academy based in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh. Its aim was to add authentic historical literature in Urdu so that people could have easy access to history. It was started as Darul Musannefin but later it was named after its founder Shibli Nomani.

Maulana Shibli Nomani, a Sunni Muslim scholar established it in Azamgarh in February 1914; after failing to establish the Academy in Lucknow, it was established in Azamgarh at Nomani’s mango orchard. It started working on 21 November 1914, 3 days after Maulana Nomani’s death under the guidance of Maulana Hamiduddin Farahi. Other founders included Maulana Syed Sulaiman Nadvi, Maulana Abdus Salam Nadvi and Maulana Masood Ali Nadvi.

Established just three days after Shibli’s death in 1914, the Academy is a leading institution of Oriental, Islamic and Mediaeval Indian Studies, and Azamgarh’s pride. It occupies nine acres donated by Shibli and his relatives. The centrepiece is a beautiful whitewashed building housing a massive library of over 1.5 lakh books and around 700 manuscripts, some of them rare, and an office.

Staff residences, the mosque and a conference hall stand apart.

Shibli Academy: A Treasure Trove

The Academy’s library is a treasure trove. Its spacious central hall is furnished with sofas and chairs, which have been graced by personalities ranging from Mahatma Gandhi, to Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandi or in other words virtually every Indian Prime Minister and President, except the present dispensation, and scores of other Indian and foreign dignitaries. “Here have sat dozens of famous dignitaries,” Academy’s senior fellow Mohammed Umair Siddique Nadvi, told me on my recent visit to the acclaimed institute.

Mohammed Umair showed me rare books and manuscripts, including Persian translations of Ramayan and Mahabharata, and Sirr-e-Akbar, Persian translation of the Upanishads by Mughal prince Dara Shikoh, a great scholar. The excellent condition in which most of these rare books have been preserved over the years shows the dedication of the institution’s staff despite meagre resources. The gold embossed titles and pages decorated with gold border still retain their sheen.

[Akbar Nama (L) and Monsiual Arwah]

Another gem is Monisul Arwah, a book on Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti by Dara’s sister Jahanara. “This is our most prized possession which Maulana Shibli found at an old bookshop in Lucknow and bought for Rs 100 in 1906. It was very dear to him and travelled to an international exhibition of rare manuscripts in Paris,” says Nadvi.

There’s a section where testimonies of some famous visitors, including Mahatma Gandhi, Madan Mohan Malaviya and Maulana Azad, are kept. Motilal Nehru and Jawaharlal Nehru, stayed at the Academy several times during their visits to Azamgarh. When Gandhi first visited it in the 1920s, the Academy’s founding secretary, Maulana Syed Sulaiman Nadvi, showed him the library by lantern light since electricity supply was erratic.

Another famous visitor was Bi Amma, mother of Muhammad Ali Jauhar and Shaukat Ali, freedom fighters and Khilafat Movement leaders better known as the Ali brothers. But while the Academy is Azamgarh’s pride, it faces a severe financial crunch. It has only one librarian, 48-year-old Saleem Javed, son of the Academy’s former director Maulana Ziauddin Islahi, to look after the vast collection.

“I do whatever I can, but it is not possible for one person to look after so many books. I opened my eyes on this campus and have been working here for around 25 years, and will continue to do so.” says Javed, apparently resigned to his and the institute’s fate.

The funding crunch prevents the management from hiring more staff and expediting translation and digitisation of titles from Arabic, Persian and Urdu into other Indian languages and English.

Future of Darul Musannefin

The Academy’s primary purpose is to protect and propagate the scientific, authentic history and rational interpretations of Islam. It also upholds Hindu-Muslim harmony, or the much talked about Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb, and sheds light on the life and times of Maulana Shibli, yet so far no one has come forward to help the institute and its committed staff to restore the institute to its former glory. Before Independence, it received grants from Nizam of Hyderabad, Nawab of Bhopal, and others. But now that those streams have dried up, many say the cash-starved institution should look beyond its four walls.

Maulana Shibli had donated his own land with a mango orchard and persuaded close relatives to donate parcels of their land for Darul Musannefin, the library, printing press and publication of Maarif, the monthly journal founded in July 1916.

Since Urdu is shrinking, the library’s patrons have dwindled over the years.Today, it would help if more people started subscribing to Maarif for Rs 10,000 as a life member or even if subscribing to the same for Rs 400 or Rs 1800 towards annual or five years subscription, as a corpus of Rs 10 crore can bail out the institution and help implement its future development plans. In this regard any of the big business houses can also help, as part of their CSR responsibility.

(The writer, Asad Mirza, is a New Delhi-based senior commentator on national, international, defence and strategic affairs, environmental issues, an interfaith practitioner, and a media consultant.)

source: http://www.ummid.com / Ummid.com / Home> Special Report / by Asad Mirza / February 25th, 2025