View source for Titumir

{{Short description|Bengali revolutionary (1782–1831)}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Titumir
| birth_name         = Syed Mir Nisar Ali
| native_name_lang   = bn
| image              = Titumir_portrait.jpg
| image_size         = 200px
| image_caption      = A portrait of Titumir
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|df=yes|1782|01|27}}
| birth_place        = [[Chandpur, Basirhat|Chandpur]], [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]], [[Company Rule in India|British India]]
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1831|11|19|1782|01|27}}
| death_place        = [[Narikelbaria]], Bengal, British India
| movement           = Tariqah-i-Muhammadiya<ref name="bpedia">{{cite Banglapedia|article=Tariqah-i-Muhammadiya}}</ref><br/>[[Indian independence movement]]
| spouse             =
| children           =
| mother             = Abida Ruqayya Khatun
| father             = Syed Mir Hassan Ali
}}
{{Islam in Bangladesh}}
'''Syed Mir Nisar Ali''' (27 January 1782 – 19 November 1831), better known as '''Titumir''', was a [[Bengalis|Bengali]] revolutionary in [[British India]], who developed a strand of [[Muslim nationalism in South Asia|Muslim nationalism]] coupled with agrarian and political consciousness. He is famed for having built a large [[bamboo]] fort to resist the British, which passed onto Bengali folk legend.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Dasgupta|first=Atis|date=1983|title=Titu Meer's Rebellion: A Profile|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3517042|journal=Social Scientist|volume=11|issue=10|pages=39–48|doi=10.2307/3517042|jstor=3517042 |issn=0970-0293}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sarkar|first=Sumit|date=1985|title=Social History: Predicaments and Possibilities|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4374537|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=20|issue=25/26|pages=1083|jstor=4374537 |issn=0012-9976}}</ref>
Titumir was ranked number 11 in the BBC's poll of the [[Greatest Bengali of all time]].<ref name="ISB1">—{{Cite news|date=14 April 2004|title=Listeners name 'greatest Bengali'|work=BBC|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3623345.stm|access-date=16 April 2018}}<br />—{{Cite news|last1=Habib|first1=Haroon|date=17 April 2004|title=International : Mujib, Tagore, Bose among 'greatest Bengalis of all time'|url=http://www.thehindu.com/2004/04/17/stories/2004041703001700.htm|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]}}<br />—{{Cite news |date=16 April 2004|title=Bangabandhu judged greatest Bangali of all time|url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/2004/04/16/d4041601066.htm|work=The Daily Star}}</ref>
==Early life==
Titumir was born as "Syed Mīr Nisār ʿAlī" on 27 January 1782 ([[Bengali calendars|14 Magh 1182]]), in the village of Haidarpur or [[Chandpur, Ghola|Chandpur]] per some sources — to Syed Mir Hasan Ali and Abidah Ruqayyah Khatun.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> The family claimed an [[Sayyid|Arabic ancestry]], tracing their descent from Caliph [[Ali]]; Syed Shahadat Ali had migrated to [[Bengal]] to preach [[Islam]] and his son, Syed Abdullah was appointed as the Chief [[Qadi]] of [[Jafarpur]] by the [[Mughal Empire|Emperor of Delhi]].<ref name=":0" />
Titumir was educated in a local [[madrassa]] where he became a ''[[Hafiz (Quran)|hafiz]]'' of the [[Quran]] by the age of twenty, beside being accomplished in [[Bengali language|Bengali]], [[Arabic language|Arabic]], and [[Persian language|Persian]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3">{{cite book |author=Khan, Muin-ud-din Ahmad |title=Titu Mir and His Followers in British Indian Records, 1831-1833 A.D. |publisher=[[Islamic Foundation Bangladesh]] |author-link=Muin-ud-din Ahmad Khan}}</ref> A good wrestler and gymnast, he served as the bodyguard of a local [[zamindars of Bengal|zamindar]] for some time.<ref name=":1" /> However, Titumir was jailed on account of a conflict and upon release, in 1822, left his job to embark upon ''[[Hajj]]''.<ref name=":1" />
==Religio-political activism==
=== Islamic resurgence ===
In [[Mecca]], Titumir was influenced by the [[Islamism|Islamist]] preacher [[Syed Ahmad Barelvi]], an [[Islam in India|Indian Muslim]] [[Mujaddid|revivalist]], who advocated for [[Jihad]] to purge all non-Islamic corruptions and accretions from sociopolitical life purportedly caused by the decline of the Mughal Empire and strict enforcement of [[Sharia]],<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> whose followers founded the [[Barelvi movement]].
Upon return from Mecca, he began to mobilize the Muslim peasantry of his native place by preaching against aspects of [[Islam]] that were seen as deviations from the Quran and Sunnah —charging of [[riba|interest]] on loans, etc. were all frowned upon — and declaring the [[zamindar]]s — who were mostly, [[Bengali Hindus]] — to be in cahoots with the [[Company rule in India|Company regime]],<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite thesis|last=Bose|first=Neilesh|title=Anti-colonialism, regionalism, and cultural autonomy: Bengali Muslim politics, c.1840s–1952|date=2009|publisher=Tufts University|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/305004747|page=58-59|id={{ProQuest|305004747}} }}</ref> who was blamed for promoting these deviations by overthrowing the Islamic rule. Titumir's [[fatwa]]s penetrated into the social life, as well: men were to have [[Beard#Islam|beards]] with [[Moustache#Islam|trimmed moustaches]] and women adorn [[burqa]]s instead of [[sari]]s; those who did not abide by were to be boycotted.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
The [[Caste system among South Asian Muslims|lowest classes]] of the [[Bengali Muslims|Bengali Muslim]] society responded favorably but his emphasis on [[Islamic fundamentalism]] ensured negligible support from Hindu peasantry.<ref name=":1" /> However, the Zamindar community, irrespective of religion, objected to his activities.<ref name=":1" />
=== Confrontation with zamindars ===
In June 1830, Krishnadeva Rai, the Zamindar of Punra — in some sources, alternately described as the Talukdar of Sarfarazpur — imposed an annual tax  similar to [[jizya]] on all bearded Muslims subjects to combat increase in radicalism among them caused by Titumir's preaching.<ref name=":1" /> On Titumir's advice, the peasants refused to pay and an enraged Krishnadeva led a bevy of armed men on a spree of arson, even destroying a local mosque.<ref name=":1" /> The Muslims reciprocated but the melee remained inconclusive; complaints were filed at the [[Baduria]] police station by both sides and eventually, the subdivisional magistrate of [[Barasat Sadar subdivision|Barasat]] dismissed the issue but only after getting a declaration from the peasants about committing to peace.<ref name=":1" />
Buoyed up by the lack of any punishment for Krishnadeva, fellow Zamindars — Ramnarayan Nag Chaudhuri of Taragonia and Guru Prasad Chowdhury of Nagarpur — instituted similar tax-regime on their subjects and imprisoned dissenters.<ref name=":1" /> The peasants organised themselves and sued the Zamindars but to little avail.<ref name=":1" /> This led Titu to advocate for a full-fledged armed resistance against what he felt to be the nexus of Zamindars and Company; Atis Dasgupta, a scholar of peasant rebellions in early colonial India, notes that here onward, what was essentially a socio-religious agitation against misrule of Hindu zamindars morphed into a political-economic class-struggle against British rule.<ref name=":1" />
=== Confrontations with the Company and Zamindars ===
Titumir shifted his base from [[Chandpur, Ghola|Chandpur]] to [[Narikelbaria|Narikelberia]], and began organizing an armed militia.<ref name=":1" /> In October 1830, one of his declarations proclaimed him to be the natural sovereign of the country, who — rather than the Company — had a unilateral right of remittance on local revenues collected by zamindars; a Muslim landholder was raided in the same month for having disobeyed him.<ref name=":1" />
On 31 October, Titumir set to avenge a Bengali Hindu zamindar called Krishnadeva along with 300 armed followers; his residence was ransacked, establishments of Hindu moneylenders in the local market were set on fire, and a [[Cattle slaughter in India|cow was slaughtered]] in front of a Hindu temple in an act of desecration to avenge the previously mentioned demolition of the mosque.<ref name=":1" /> In response, the Hindu zamindars outraged at the inflammatory activities of the Muslims formed an alliance with the British [[Indigo plantation|indigo planters]] to render mutual assistance in case of assaults by Titumir's militia.<ref name=":1" /> Soon Kaliprasanna Mukherjee, the Zamindar of [[Habra]]-[[Gobardanga]] and a key member of the alliance, was targeted and though Davies, manager of a nearby plantation at Mollahati, came to aid with about 200 men, they were soundly defeated.<ref name=":1" /> Davies escaped narrowly and was sheltered by Debnath Roy, the Zamindar of Gobra-Gobindapur; this precipitated a confrontation between Titumir's militia and Debnath's forces at Laughati in [[Nadia district|Nadia]], where the latter was killed.<ref name=":1" /> Several Indigo plantations were subsequently set on fire.<ref name=":1" />
The month of November was replete with such cases and the local police proved to be of little use in the face of increasing peasant resistance; many of the Zamindars fled to [[Kolkata]].<ref name=":1" /> The Commissioner of Presidency Division was solicited to tackle the situation and accordingly, on 15 November 1830, Alexander, the Joint Magistrate of [[Barasat Sadar subdivision|Barasat]] — along with Ramram Chakraborti, Officer-In-Charge of [[Baduria]] Thana — set out for Titumir with a force of 120 policemen.<ref name=":1" /> Outnumbered by a 500-strong militia, they were defeated; Alexander barely escaped to a neighboring village while Ramram perished alongside 14 others.<ref name=":1" />
=== Self-rule ===
By 1831, there was a political vacuum in large parts of the Parganas, and Titumir capitalized on it, styling himself as the ''[[Padishah|Badshah]]'' and having thousands of [[Dalit|low caste Hindu]] and Muslim peasants among his followers.<ref name=":1" /> People loyal to him were installed in official positions — his nephew Ghulam Masum Khan served as the ''[[Senapati]]'', Muizz ad-Din as the ''[[Vizier|Wazir]]'' etc. — and zamindars were compelled to either submit to his rule or vacate the land-holdings.<ref name=":1" />
With passage of time as the prospects of an all-out conflict with [[Company rule in India|Company]] forces grew inevitable, he had a bamboo-fort (''Banser Kella'') constructed at Narkelberia.<ref name=":1" /> On 17 November 1831, upon receiving instructions from [[Lord William Bentinck]], the incumbent governor general of India, Smith, the district magistrate of Nadia moved towards Narkelberia with four other magistrates and accompanied by a 300 strong armed police force alongside several hundred private guards sourced from zamindars.<ref name=":1" /> Yet, the plan went astray; Golam Masum became aware of the troop movement and outflanked Smith with a 500-strong militia at Baraghar, northeast of Narkelberia; Smith's forces fled to a plantation crossing the [[Ichamati River|Icchamati]] and urging Lord Bentinck to take aid from the Army.<ref name=":1" />
==== Final battle ====
On the evening of 18 November 1831, Major Scott, Lieutenant Shakespeare, and Major Sutherland led a military column — composed of a cavalry unit and infantry unit, having 300 armed personnel and two cannons — to lay a siege to Titumir's fort.<ref name=":1" /> Nothing of significance transpired until the next morning when a concerted ammunition charge was mounted.<ref name=":1" /> The resistance was breached in about three hours, with the fort giving way to cannons.<ref name=":1" />
Titumir was [[bayonet]]ed to death, as were 50 fellow soldiers.<ref name=":1" /> About 800 others were arrested and tried at [[Alipore|Alipur]] Court; Golam Masum was hanged in front of the ruins of the fort and about 140 had to serve prison terms of varying lengths.<ref name=":1" /> The commanding officer of the British forces not only noted Titumir's bravery in dispatches to London, but also commented on the strength and resilience of bamboo as a material for fortification, since he had had to pound the fort with artillery for a surprisingly long time.<ref name=":0">{{cite Banglapedia|author=Khan, Muazzam Hussain|article=Titu Mir}}</ref>
== Contemporary reception ==
The newspapers and journals run by Englishmen and Christian missionaries took the government-line.<ref name=":1" /> Other media controlled by the Bengali Hindu [[Bhadralok|middle class]] like the ''[[Samachar Chandrika]]'', Reformer, ''Jnananveshan'' etc. sided with the zamindars and denounced Titumir as a law-and-order nuisance.<ref name=":1" />
==Legacy==
In 2004, Titumir was ranked number 11 in the BBC's poll of the [[Greatest Bengali of all time]].<ref name="ISB1"/>
;Bangladesh
A play-drama ''Titumir-er Basher Kella'', directed by [[Sheikh Kamal]] was broadcast in 1967 on [[Bangladesh Television]] (then PTV); a graphic novel of the same name was also popular in East Pakistan.<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 August 2020|title=OP-ED: The legacy of Sheikh Kamal|url=https://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/op-ed/2020/08/15/op-ed-the-legacy-of-sheikh-kamal|access-date=8 February 2021|work=Dhaka Tribune}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=23 February 2016|title=Let's go graphic!|url=https://www.thedailystar.net/lifestyle/special-feature/lets-go-graphic-576181|access-date=8 February 2021|work=The Daily Star|language=en}}</ref> In Dhaka, ''Jinnah College'' was renamed to [[Government Titumir College]] in 1971.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Jagannath College |url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Jagannath_College|access-date=8 February 2021|website=Banglapedia|language=en}}</ref> On 19 November 1992, the 161st anniversary of his death, the Government of Bangladesh issued a commemorative stamp in his honor.<ref>{{cite web|title=Meer Nisar Ali Titumeer|url=http://www.bdstamps.com/Commemorative/1992/1992_Titumir.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120719211449/http://www.bdstamps.com/Commemorative/1992/1992_Titumir.htm|archive-date=19 July 2012|work=Bangladesh Stamps}}</ref> The principal base of Bangladesh Navy is named as 'BNS Titumir'.<ref>{{cite web|title=BNS TITUMIR|url=http://www.bangladeshnavy.org/titumir.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214160237/http://www.bangladeshnavy.org/titumir.html|archive-date=14 February 2012|website=Bangladesh Navy}}</ref>
;India (West Bengal)
[[Mahasweta Devi]] wrote a [[novella]] ''Titumir'' that sought to recover subaltern history.<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 July 2016|title=Mahasweta Devi lived like she wrote: Fearlessly and without restraint|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/books/mahasweta-devi-lived-like-she-wrote-fearlessly-and-without-restraint/story-ypNPCoE1gX1D0VDKjjaueO.html|access-date=8 February 2021|work=Hindustan Times|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dewan|first=Preeti Gupta|date=2013|editor-last=Jain|editor-first=Jasbir|title=Resistance in Culture and Literature|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43856378|journal=Indian Literature|volume=57|issue=3 (275)|pages=235|jstor=43856378 |issn=0019-5804}}</ref> In 1978, [[Utpal Dutt]] directed an [[agitprop]] drama ''Titumir'' which critiqued the crude representation of Titumir in colonial historiography; it received critical acclaim and was commercially successful.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Full of energy: Reviving 'Titumir'|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/culture/arts/theatre-review-howrah-based-theatre-formation-paribartak-revives-titumir/cid/1780448|access-date=8 February 2021|work=The Telegraph |location=Kolkata}}</ref> Titumir metro station on [[Kolkata Metro Line 6]] was named after him which was later changed to City Centre II in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |title=West Bengal govt renames nine New Town Metro stations |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/west-bengal-govt-renames-nine-new-town-metro-stations/amp_articleshow/80090047.cms |access-date=2024-10-16 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257}}</ref> The main bus stand at Chapadali intersection in [[Barasat]] town of [[North 24 Parganas district|North 24 Parganas]] has been named "Titumir Central Bus Terminal".<ref>{{cite web|language=en-US|title=Titumir Bus Terminal, KK Mitra Rd, Champadali, Barasat, Kolkata, West Bengal 700124, India|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/PFCP%2B4M2+Titumir+Bus+Terminus,+KK+Mitra+Rd,+Champadali,+Barasat,+Kolkata,+West+Bengal+700124/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x39f8a20f7ee7566f:0x8e2308dda40b0c27|access-date=2022-08-19|website=[[Google Maps]]}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Islamism}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1782 births]]
[[Category:1831 deaths]]
[[Category:Rebellions in India]]
[[Category:18th-century Bengalis]]
[[Category:19th-century Bengalis]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian Muslims]]
[[Category:Bengali Muslims]]
[[Category:Indian revolutionaries]]
[[Category:Indian Muslims]]
[[Category:Indian rebels]]
[[Category:Indian people of Arab descent]]
[[Category:People from North 24 Parganas district]]
[[Category:People from Basirhat]]
[[Category:People from Pirojpur District]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Bengal]]
[[Category:Indian Islamic studies scholars]]
[[Category:Quranic scholars]]
[[Category:Indian Islamists]]