Chapter 3 : Family Livelihood
Leading up to the 1857 Revolution my family was in charge of thirteen to fourteen villages. Other families also resided in these villages in peace and comfort. The Delhi Authority distributed seventy two villages amongst three families; our family in Al-Haddadpur were gifted land-ownership of twenty four villages. The loss of family documents made it difficult to ascertain the era in which these villages were gifted or why they were gifted. However, my father has mentioned that a document that was seen in the possession of the Delhi Ruler, suggested that the village land was gifted to them so that the village land could be utilised as khanqahs aswell. (Allah knows Best)
During 1857, no trace of the Khanqahs remained, maintenance costs of the villages were ongoing and eleven villages had already left the family ownership because of unrecorded occurences. It was during the British rule that the value of property and land had risen considerably to unprecedented levels. It had become increasingly easy for Muslims, especially for the richer Muslims; to sell off their property for basic needs, to mortgage their lands or gift it to others. Many villages were given away as gifts in exchange for basic services. Consequently, only thirteen villages remained in our family ownership; Al-Haddadpur, Jarawanpur, Chandpur, Gawbhardinpur, Mehripur, Fareedpur, Rasulpur, Beheknapur and so forth.
Furthermore, during the time period, the administration of the villages was under my real maternal grandfather Akbar Ali Sahib (Marhoom). In the latter days of 1857, he was returning, by boat across the River Ghagra, from some villages in the district areas having already sent ahead his associates in an earlier boat. A strong storm capsized his boat in midstream, forcing him to jump overboard and attemp to swim to safety. The strong water current caused his drowning and all efforts made to save him were unsuccessful. His body was also never recovered.
The Raja of Beti had deep enmity and hatred towards my grandfather and he used this occurrence as an opportunity to surround his property and take posession of it. He threatened that he would kill the son of Akbar Ali Sahib. My grandfather had three sons named; Tasadduq Hussain, Tafaddhul Husain and Abdul Gafoor and one daughter (who was my respected mother). The womenfolk took the decision to leave the property in the night dressed as servants and travelled to the nearby village in the city of Tanda. The women of the household realised that these enemies were intent on killing the children who were still of tender age and there was insufficient security - no authoritative figure was present in the neighbourhood, powerful enough to confront the Raja and his soldiers in the circumstances. The women of the household had long established relations in Tanda and the Raja of Beti was incapable of carrying out an attack there.
The Raja realised the property was empty, so for a whole month he looted and transported all its possessions and goods. He assumed power over the villages that were in my grandfather’s possession. Al-Haddadpur and Jarawanpur were the only two villages that had remained safe from his aggression, and these were distributed amongst different inheritors within our family. When my maternal uncles grew up, they put forward a claim at the civil court for the villages that were taken from them. However, their limited funds and the excessive fees of the civil court were no match against the rich Landowner Raja Beti. In order to raise the fees for the court case, they had also pledged their existing land as mortgage, hoping that they would win their case and regain their assets. Instead, they lost everything and there was no escape from the interest-based loan; and it resulted in poverty and a life of continued hardship.
My paternal grandfather was the inheritor of two annas and eight (land measurement) within the two afore mentioned villages. When my Father left Bangarmau and came to Tanda, this inheritance was also seized by the bank as part of the mortgage repayment. What only remained was one seer (measurement) of land, which my Father’s eldest brother used for cultivation.
