Twelve Men of Bengal in the Nineteenth Century/Nawab Bahadur Syed Walayet Ali Khan
Nawab Bahadur Syed Walayet Ali Khan
NAWAB BAHADUR SYED WALAYET
ALI KHAN, C.I.E.
1818—1899
Loyal in the dark days of mutiny, a generous helper in times of famine and distress, and an eager promoter of learning, Syed Walayet Ali Khan has left a memory that is still alive for beyond the limits of his native city. Throughout his long life of over fourscore years he was universally beloved as one of the leaders of the Muhammadan community in Patna and Behar. The story of his life is one of consistent rectitude, steadfast loyalty and high endeavour.
It was at Patna on the 23rd of September 1818 that the future Nawab Bahadur first saw the light. He came of a Sayed family of considerable local importance, claiming descent from Imam Ali Reza, the 8th Imam. His father Syed Mehdi Ali Khan was himself the son of Syed Abdulla Sahib, who was a rich banker of Patna and who like many another had found his way from the north-west towards the close of the Moghul Empire, seeking fresh fields for enterprise in Bengal. His original home had been at Karamanikpur in Oudh and his ancestors had held honourable posts at the Moghal Court. Coming to Patna with a considerable sum of money, he settled there, acquiring large landed properties and carrying on a banking business with eminent success. It was on the maternal side, however, that the Nawab could claim his most distinguished descent. His father had married the Nawaba Hafizun-nissa Begum who herself was the great grand -daughter of Nawab Basher-ul-Mulk Asad Jung, for many years Deputy Governor of Behar in the time of the Emperor Shah Alum. The latter had four sons of whom the most distinguished was Nawab Syed Gholam Hosein Khan, the well known author of the famous history of the Moghul Court, the "Seirul-Mutakerin" which throws so strong a light on the causes of the decay of the Moghul Empire during the reigns of the last seven monarchs. The second son of Nawab Basher-ul-Mulk was Syed-ud-dowlah Syed Ali Khan Shumser Jung, the grandfather of Hafizun-nissa Begum. The third son was Fakirud-dowlah Syed Najim Ali Khan Zafar Jung on whom the Pergana Japla in the district of Palamau was conferred as a revenue free gift in recognition of his services to the Moghul Empire, a grant which was confirmed by the East India Company on the 5th August, 1815, three years before the birth of the subject of this memoir. Having no son, Fakirud-dowlah had adopted his brother's grand-daughter, Hafizun-nissa Begum who thus acquired by adoption a share in the property. Nawab Syed Walayet Ali Khan thus came of stock which had done good service to the state and which in so doing had acquired considerable wealth and position.
Of the early years of the Nawab but little is recorded. He was brought up under the immediate supervision of his grandfather Syed Abdullah, and so well did he profit by the old man's teaching that at the early age of eighteen he was placed in charge of the family property in Tirhoot. Thrown largely upon his own resources there, he quickly proved himself worthy of the trust that had been placed in him. Turning a deaf ear to all the temptations of youth he set himself diligently to master business methods and all the work of an extensive Zeminadri with such success that he had the satisfaction of seeing the property enormously increase in value under his personal supervision and management. From the first he was distinguished by his remarkable tact and winning manners, and it was not long before he began to take an active interest in public affairs beyond the limits of his own Zemindari. Although unable to speak English, he early in life won the esteem of European officials, who recognised in him one of the best types of the Muhammadan gentleman of the old school. While remaining strictly orthodox he was eager to accept western ideas where they tended to the greater well-being and prosperity of his countrymen. Of western methods in medical science and hygiene he was quick to see the advantage. The old saying that cleanliness is next to godliness had in him a firm believer and in season and out of season he preached greater cleanliness and better sanitation as one of the chief needs of the day.
It was in the dark days of the mutiny that Syed Walayet Ali Khan first came prominently forward and won golden opinions from government for his loyalty and practical assistance. Patna, the second city in Bengal, was looked upon at that time as the centre of disloyalty. A large number of Muhammadans there hankered after the old regime, refusing that strong support and loyalty to the British Government which they have since accorded. Syed Walayet Ali Khan's loyalty thus stands out all the more conspicuously, as being one of the first to see in what direction the true interests of his co-religionists and fellow-countrymen lay. From the first he followed his own convictions without thought of fear or favour. "With regard to Walayet Ali Khan," wrote the Commissioner of Patna at the time of the Mutiny, "the following extracts from one of my official reports will show the opinions I held regarding his loyalty and the valuable assistance I had received from him during the most critical period of danger."—
"It is also gratifying to me to be able at this time to record the assistance I have received from several of the respectable native residents of Patna, more especially from among others, Walayet Ali Khan has been conspicuous from the very commencement of the disturbance; and the bravery and frankness with which he has, at a very great risk to himself, cast his lot on the side of the authorities, is deserving of special recognition at the present time, and has been in itself of great use."
"A few days after the news of the Mutiny reached us, he presented to me a petition, stating that he was ready to devote life and property to the service of the state, and from that day he has incessantly exerted himself in the cause of Government, seeking for information, ferreting out bad characters, watching the city and obtaining good information through emissaries employed at his expense from the neighbouring villages. Walayet All Khan has accordingly taken possession of an English house at the west end of the city near my compound and began living there day and night at a considerable scale of sacrifice to his life."
It was not only in time of emergency, however, that he showed his loyalty to the crown and his earnest desire to serve his country. At a time when Muhammadan influence and education were at their lowest ebb, he came to the front as a leader in every movement of social progress in Behar. There was no public spirited enterprise of any kind from this time forward with which his name was not associated. Of the Patna College, which now occupies so prominent a place among educational institutions in Behar he was one of the chief promoters. The Temple Medical School, named after the Lieutenant-Governor of the day and the Behar School of Engineering also met with his generous support. These, however, are but a few and the best known instances of his generosity and the encouragement he gave to all works of public utility. There are innumerable unrecorded gifts to schools and colleges, hospitals and dispensaries, clubs, societies, mosques and public buildings, to all of which he liberally subscribed. Those donations that have been recorded form a long list and it was typical of the large-heartedness and public spiritedness of the man that his charities were not confined to his own country and his own co-religionists. He was ready to subscribe as generously to relieve distress abroad as in Behar.
During the famine of 1874, he took a prominent part in relieving the distress, contributing no less than a lac of rupees to the relief funds and himself taking an active part in their distribution. In 1874, Lord Northbrook, the Viceroy of India, paid a visit to Behar and, granting Syed Walayet All Khan a private audience, he consulted him in a long conversation concerning the condition of Behar. In the cold weather of 1875-6 His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales paid his memorable visit to India, and among those invited to Calcutta to meet him was Syed Walayet Ali Khan, who took part in all the festivities of welcome as one of the leading men of Behar. Immediately afterwards he returned to Patna to receive His Royal Highness there also, being one of the few privately presented to the Prince during his visit. His Royal Highness received him most graciously, eulogising him for his past services and especially for his courage and loyalty during the Mutiny. A year later a certificate of honour was presented to him on the auspicious occasion of the assumption by the Queen of the title of Empress of India.
On the 1st of January 1878 came further recognition. The Companionship of the most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire was conferred upon him on account of his prominent and devoted services rendered during the Mutiny and of his munificent liberality. His investiture took place at a Durbar held by the Commissioner of the Division at Sonepur on the 13th of March, 1878. In presenting to him the insignia of the order, the Commissioner paid this glowing tribute to his services—
'Syed Walayet Ali Khan, you have always been a most devoted and loyal subject of Government. During the Mutiny you have eminently distinguished yourself by displaying remarkable and inflexible loyalty. Your services during that crisis were invaluable........Professions of loyalty are valuable in proportion as they are voluntary and timely and their sincerity is tested by acts. "The proffer of Walayet Ali Khan's services was made in our darkest and most dangerous crisis and the proffer throughout was supported by deeds.
"This character has ever since been laudably maintained by you.
"You have also been conspicuous in your liberality and public spiritedness, having hitherto contributed no less than Rs. 70,000 towards Charitable and Public Institutions. During the late famine you exhibited marked generosity, having unostentatiously spent about 40,000 Rs. or 50,000 Rs. in relieving the distressed people. Your services have now received the recognition of Her Majesty the Queen-Empress of India and it gives me great pleasure to be the medium of conveying to you the, token of royal favour and I sincerely hope that you may long enjoy the honour thus graciously conferred on you."
Only four years later he received the title of Nawab as a personal distinction. A special Durbar was held at Bankipur on the 11th of November 1882 by the Lieutenant-Governor Sir Rivers Thompson in order to invest him with the insignia of the new title. His Honour in handing him the Sanad spoke as follows—
"Syed Walayet Ali Khan—It is at the instance of His Excellency the Viceroy that I am present here to-day to confer upon you in this public Durbar the title and dignity of Nawab. In any career of life, apart from the testimony of a good conscience, that a man has striven honourably to do his duty, the highest reward which one can secure is the esteem and approbation of one's fellow-countrymen. I believe that element of contemporary approval is not wanting in your own position: but it is quite fitting that where an eminent citizen has used unostentatiously and disinterestedly the wealth his hands have gained him, to advance the public good, government should not be backward in recognising such efforts. This is not the first occasion upon which it has fallen to your lot to receive at the hands of official authority the approval which government desires to express to a loyal and liberal subject. I note that, on the auspicious occasion of Her Majesty's assumption of the title of Empress of India, among the natives who were selected for marks of distinction, you were one of those who received a Certificate of Honour. I note that at a more recent period you were enrolled as a companion of the Order of the Indian Empire, and now it devolves upon me, both as a pleasure and privilege to confer upon you to-day the rank and title of Nawab. We may be sure that they could be no light services for which such accumulated honours were reserved, and speaking in the presence of those who know you best, I indulge in neither extravagance nor flattery when I say that in view of the prominent and devoted services rendered by you during the Mutiny and your munificent liberalities for the good of your people and district, the bestowal of such titular distinctions as these brings honour alike to the government and to yourself. You stand forward in this city as an example of loyal patriotism, you have shown in cases of danger and difficulty the reality and sincerity of that patriotism, and in times of peace and order you have proved that the responsibilities of wealth and lofty position have been rightly appreciated by you in the co-operation you have given to the advancement of every useful and good work. I congratulate you therefore in the presence of this large and distinguished audience upon your accession to a dignity so well merited: and I wish you sincerely many years of health and future usefulness in the enjoyment of the honour which the Viceroy of India has confered upon you."
On the occasion of his receiving the title of Nawab, his fellow-countrymen of Patna both Hindu and Muhammadan presented him with an address on the 17th of April 1883 which forms a splendid tribute from those amongst whom he had lived and worked. It ran—
"We, the undersigned residents of Patna, in presenting this address to you only give expression to the sincere feeling of pleasure and satisfaction which we experience in seeing you deservedly honoured. The benevolence which has distinguished your career has elicited from Government its due recognition in the shape of honours conferred, and this, while it serves to perpetuate the memory of that benevolence, furnishes a strong and lasting incentive to others to follow your philanthropic example.
"Believe us, you are as thoroughly esteemed as you are widely known, both for your moral worth and your kindly disposition, and your name is known to fame even in the more distant parts of the world.
"In the dreadful Mutiny of 1857 you consistently and firmly displayed to a just and watchful Government the pleasing spectacle of a subject unhesitatingly honest when his conscientious dissent was based upon personal experiences and peculiar means of knowledge, and throughout all, disinterestedly loyal, regardless of the extreme personal risk involved; and it was for this right loyal service at a most critical time, that His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales perosnally thanked you, for it was admittedly owing in a great measure to your cool vigilance, wise moderation and unswerving loyalty that Patna owed its escape from overwhelming disaster. Nor have matters of great individual, and social, if of less general political importance, escaped your notice; and notably in the cause of education has your liberal hand been at work, so long back as the year 1856 when you made over to the Government a large estate for the establishment and support of an Industrial and Agricultural School, a scheme which we regret has not yet been carried into completion, and again in 1862 you were first to give a large donation for the purpose of assisting the establishment of the Patna College, an institution that has steadily progressed, and whose sphere of useful influence it is hard to overestimate, and which can be compared only as to the good it has done with the Temple Medical School, with which also you are identified by the large donation given by you at its institution in 1874. These contributions, the spirit that promoted them, and the universal good that has resulted from them, are the results on which is based the gratitude of the people of Patna of whatever creed, sects, caste or class. Again in connection with the late famines in India and in Ireland (your contribution aggregating the sum of Rs. 1,20,000) your subscription to the fund for the relief and support of the wives and children of the soldiers who fell in the Afghan Campaign, your gifts to the Zoological Garden at Calcutta and the Mangles Tolah in this city, all witness how wide and how generous were your sympathies, how liberal and how universal your philanthropy.
"In the discharge of your duties as a Municipal Commissioner and as a member of different other societies connected with the social and moral improvement of the people of this city, you have shown us how private and selfish individual prejudices must be made to yield to a sense of what is most conducive to the public good.
"In presenting this address, allow us to express the hope that you will continue to take the keen interest you have hitherto done in the welfare of this city and its inhabitants, and we sincerely trust that the Almighty may prolong a life conspicuous for its energy in the cause of good and its activity in the cause of liberality and philanthroppy."
The Nawab replied as follows:—
"Gentlemen,—To-day my dearly beloved Hindu and Muhammadan fellow-citizens (whom I affectionately greet) have made me feel both very happy and very proud; happy that you approve of what I have done, in the belief that I was doing right, and proud in that I have gained your esteem and your regard. Believe me, I am keenly and deeply sensible of the honour you have now conferred on me by the address you have just presented to me, and that the pleasing memory of it will remain in my recollection as long as it shall seem fit to the Almighty to spare me. You estimate too highly the poor services that I have been able to render, and I attribute the high praise that you are pleased to accord to them rather to the liberality of the Government in marking their sense of them and to the kindly sentiments you entertain towards me, than to the inherent value of the services themselves. With particular reference to what I have been enabled to do on the occasions of public calamity and disturbance, and in the cause of forwarding our social and moral progress, I regard it in the one case as my duty, and in the other as the expenditure of a little Capital to secure a great amount of good (as we say in the vernacular 'a little word in a big mouth'). Gentlemen, do not be offended if I say that the money which has been spent in connection with the presentation of this address might have been productive of some infinite good if wisely employed in some public works. But I will not deny that you have this day made me very happy, while you have nevertheless accorded to my services a higher merit than they deserve. May you all be spared to enjoy every honour, reward and prosperity that I sincerely wish you, and may I be spared to witness such a consummation of a life acceptable to man and pleasing in the sight of God. Again, gentlemen, I heartily thank you."
The very great popularity of the Nawab among officials and non-officials, among Hindus and Muhammadans alike was evidenced by the number of congratulatory letters that poured in upon him on the occasion of each new honour. Officials without exception placed entire confidence in him and freely consulted him upon all matters relating to Behar and the Muhammadan community. Sir Ashley Eden, as Lieutenant-Governor, honoured him on several occasions by asking his opinion and on his visit to Patna in 1880 finding that he was too ill to pay his respects to him, he paid him the compliment of calling upon him to enquire after his health. On two other occasions he had the rare honour of receiving a visit from a Lieutenant-Governor at his own house. In 1889 he received a visit from Sir Stuart Bayley, and in 1896, when again seriously ill, he was visited by Sir Alexander Mackenzie. From the highest to the lowest in the land the straightforwardness of his character, his personal disinterestedness and public spirit won universal confidence and esteem.
At a time of life when he might justly have contemplated withdrawal from public duties to enjoy a well-earned leisure, the Nawab was ever ready to incur fresh responsibilities in a good cause. The number of public offices that he held makes a long list. He was for many years an Honorary Magistrate, -a Municipal Commissioner, and a member of the District Board as well as of many other local societies connected with the social and moral improvement of the people. He was an active member of the British Indian Association, of the Central Committee of the Imperial Institute in India, a Vice-Patron of the Lady Dufferin Fund, and a life member of the Zoological Gardens and of the Agricultural-Horticultural Society of India at Calcutta. He was also at one time President of the Behar Text-Book Committee. All these offices were to him no mere sinecures. In each he put forward his best efforts, playing a leading part and endeavouring to make a success of whatever he undertook.
On January 1st 1896 came the final honour to crown his well spent life. He was now seventy-eight years old and the bestowal of the title of Nawab Bahadur came as a fitting close to the long list of honours and distinctions that had been conferred upon him. Once more the heartiest congratulations came from all sides and the Hindu and Muhammadan residents of Patna again presented him with an address expressive of the affection and esteem in which he was universally held.
The Nawab Bahadur lived only three years to enjoy his latest honour. He had lived a long and strenuous life, using his energies both physical and mental to the full in the casue of progress, never sparing himself in his devotion to his Queen and country. The death in January 1899 of his only son Syed Tajamul Hussain Khan, who promised worthily to follow in his father's footsteps was a severe blow from which he never fully recovered. He gradually sank and died five months later on June 3rd 1899.
Perhaps no funeral has ever so stirred Patna or given occasion for such an outburst of popular feeling as that of the Nawab Bahadur. Had there been any room for doubt as to the esteem and affection in which he was held, the crowds who flocked to do him this last honour would have been sufficient proof. Among those who followed his remains to the grave were the Commissioner of the Patna Division and the Collector of Patna, both of whom wrote letters of condolence to his grandson in terms that showed the high respect in which they held him. "I have heard with the most profound regret," wrote the Commissioner, "the sad news of the death of your illustrious grandfather, my esteemed friend, this morning, and beg you to accept my most sincere sympathy in this sad event. Your grandfather had been the trusted friend of all the officials for nearly half a century and his death will be a serious loss to Government as well as to the many friends he numbered among the Europeans in this country. The public has lost a trusted and recognised leader. His memory will long survive and it will be difficult for many years to fill his place."
The Collector wrote in no less appreciative language. "I have just received with great grief the news of the death of my honoured friend the Nawab Bahadur, your illustrious grandfather. For upwards of seven years that I have known Patna I have been indebted to him for advice and assistance and for a kind and continued friendship, which has been one of the things I have been most proud of in my service. He has gone full of years, wisdom and honour, not long surviving the son to whom he was so deeply attached. It will be many years before his place will be filled and we see the like of him again. The Muhammadan nobles of Patna have lost a recognised leader and the Government and the cause of law and order a prominent supporter. I beg you to accept the assurance of my deepest sympathy and condolence in your sorrow. The Commissioner and myself will come and join the funeral. We accept this opportunity of showing this last mark of respect to our departed friend. The offices of the Commissioner and my own have been closed as a mark of respect."
To devise means to commemorate his memory a public meeting was held in Patna on the 2nd July, 1899. It was presided over by the Commissioner and all the leading men of the neighbourhood were present. It was resolved to raise funds to add a wing to the Muhammadan Anglo-Arabic school to bear his name, and subscriptions were invited for the purpose. They flowed in from all sources, from Europeans and Indians alike, and the building that resulted was a fitting memorial, a tablet perpetuating the memory of him in whose honour it was raised.
It is not, however, in memorials of brick and stone that the memory of the Nawab Bahadur will chiefly live. The influence for good that, throughout his long life which covered nearly the whole of the century, he exercised over the fortunes of his fellow-countrymen is a more enduring monument. In strengthening the loyalty of his co-religionists, in setting them an example of straightforwardness and rectitude, in promoting every social and educational movement of the day that tended towards the general advancement and prosperity of the people, his chief work lay, and in them lie his claims to be regarded as one of the greatest figures among the Muhammadan community in Bengal in the nineteenth century. At a time when all was change and uncertainty, when the people of Bengal after long years of oppression and unrest had at length time and opportunity for social, moral and educational advancement, the strong and courageous figure of the Nawab Bahadur was a tower of strength to his co-religionists. The Muhammadans of Behar, not yet in the earlier days of the nineteenth century fully reconciled to British supremacy and not yet recovered from the period of decadence into which they had fallen in the last days of the Moghul Empire, were neither in the mood nor had the equipment wherewith to play a leading part in public life. It is to the lasting credit of the Nawab Bahadur that, beginning in their darkest days, he consistently showed them the better way of loyalty and high endeavour. His own success in public life and the honoured position he rose to occupy in the opinion of all who knew him were themselves sufficient proof of the wisdom of his teaching, and might well serve as an example to inspire each one of his co-religionists to follow in his steps.