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Fathabad identified with the modern town of Faridpur,
is situated on the bank of an old channel of the Padma (called mara
Padma), about twenty miles away from Goalanda steamer ghat.
The town first emerged as a mint-town during the reign of Sultan jalaluddin
muhammad shah (1415-1433). It continued its status as a mint-town
throughout the period of the Independent Sultans (up to 1538) with a short
interval during the reigns of ruknuddin
barbak shah (1459-1474) and his son shamsuddin
yusuf shah (1474-1481). The ain-i-akbari
mentioned it as haweli mahal Fathabad. It has also been mentioned
as Fatiabas in the Dutch-Portuguese maps of De Barros and Blaiv
drawn in the sixteenth century. Van den Brouck put it wrongly as Fathur.
The earliest reference to Fathabad in Bengali literature is seen in laily-majnu
(1560-1575) of Daulat Wazir Bahram Khan. Later on, Fathabad was renamed
Faridpur after Shah Fariduddin Masud, a renowned saint and a disciple
of Muinuddin Chisti (1142-1236) of Ajmeer, who established his seat in
this town.
It appears that the town had strategic importance; it
was used as a base of operations against the south and southwestern territories
of Bengal. The evidence of the residence of a high Mughal official attests
to its growth into a developed town with all urban amenities. It is learnt
that Murad Khan (1574), the Mughal General, settled in Fathabad and died
there. About 13 miles from the modern town of Faridpur, there is a village
and railway station called Khankhandapur, which was probably his
residence. Some famous Zamindars, namely Mukund and his son Satrajit,
who gave much trouble to Emperor jahangir
(1605-1627), had their base in this town.
[Md Akhtaruzzaman] |
