Person · governor of Khalifatabad under Nasir-ud-din Mahmud Shah of Bengal (1442–59); d. 863 AH / 1459 CE

Khan Jahan Ali

Governor of Khalifatabad, the tract of country round Bagerhat, under Nasir-ud-din Mahmud Shah of Bengal (1442–1459), credited by local tradition with building the mosque at Bagerhat now called the Satgumbaz, and remembered as one of the earliest reclaimers of the Sundarbans; buried separately in his own mausoleum there under a tomb inscription dated 863 AH (1459 CE).

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Governor of Khalifatabad, under Nasir-ud-din Mahmud Shah

Little is known of Khan Jahan beyond legend and the plain words of his own tomb. The Bengal District Gazetteer states: "It appears certain, however, that he was the Governor of this part of the country in the time of Nasir-ud-din Mahmud Shah (1442-59)" (p. 27). The tract he governed, centred on Bagerhat, took its name from his own office: "The tract of country round Bagherhat, over which Khan Jahan ruled, was known as Khalifatabad, i.e., the clearance of the Viceroy (Khalifa)" (p. 28). Beyond this the gazetteer credits him, by popular tradition, with the mosque at Bagerhat itself: "we may accept as true the popular tradition that, besides his own mausoleum, he erected the mosque at Bagherhat which now goes by the name of the Satgumbaz" (p. 27).

The tomb inscription, 863 AH

His own tomb carries a dated record of him. A triangle on the south side of the sarcophagus stone reads: "This tomb is a part of the garden of Heaven for the great Khan, Khan Jahan. God be merciful to him. Written on the 26th Zil Hijjah in the year 863" (p. 165) — a date the gazetteer converts to "the 23rd of October 1459" (p. 165). A second inscription gives death and burial as separate days: "He left this world for a better one on the night of Wednesday, 26th Zil Hijjah, and was buried on Thursday, the 27th of the same month in the year 863" (p. 166). The name popularly given him, Khan Jahan Ali, is not what the tomb itself records: "in the inscription on his tomb he is simply referred to by his title Khan Jahan" (p. 27).

What they built

built · 1459Sixty Dome Mosque — Sixty Dome Mosque, Bagerhat · Sixty Dome Mosque (Wikipedia article)

Sources

p. 27 · read as page image Even the name popularly given to him (Khan Jahan Ali, corrupted by the rustic tongue into Khanja Ali) is not warranted, for in the inscription on his tomb he is simply referred to by his title Khan Jahan. It appears certain, however, that he was the Governor of this part of the country in the time of Nasir-ud-din Mahmud Shah (1442-59); ... we may accept as true the popular tradition that, besides his own mausoleum, he erected the mosque at Bagherhat which now goes by the name of the Satgumbaz, and that he was one of the earliest reclaimers of the Sundarbans.
p. 28 · read as page image The tract of country round Bagherhat, over which Khan Jahan ruled, was known as Khalifatabad, i.e., the clearance of the Viceroy (Khalifa), and bore this name up till the end of the 18th century.
p. 165 · read as page image Within a triangle on the south side of this stone the following is inscribed—"This tomb is a part of the garden of Heaven for the great Khan, Khan Jahan. God be merciful to him. Written on the 26th Zil Hijjah in the year 863." This date corresponds to the 23rd of October 1459.
p. 166 · read as page image He left this world for a better one on the night of Wednesday, 26th Zil Hijjah, and was buried on Thursday, the 27th of the same month in the year 863.