West Bengal continues Nawabi Ramzan legacy

Wasif Ali Mirza, the erstwhile Nawab of Murshidabad, may have passed away over half a century ago, but the feeding of some local people during the holy month of Ramzan that his father, the then Nawab of Murshidabad Hassan Ali Mirza, started over a century ago as his expiation, continues to this day.

Mirza (1875-1959), who became the Nawab after the death of his father Hassan Ali Mirza in 1906, was sent to England when he was in his early teens to study. During his stay in England in 1890s Wasif Mirza did not fast and following the Islamic tradition of the Shias, his father fed 60 people every day during the holy month as his son’s kaffarah (expiation).

The practice that began during the senior Nawab’s time continued even after Wasif Ali Mirza returned to India and succeeded his father. Significantly, it is now being carried forward by the West Bengal government that bears the expenses for the iftar and sehri held every year. Iftar (the meal with which the devout break their fast) and sehri (the pre-dawn meal eaten before the fast) are provided to about 200 to 250 people during the entire month of Ramzan at the Imambara in Murshidabad today.

According to Syed Raza Ali Mirza, Nawab’s grand, as many as two-dozen items, including sherbet, are served at the feast. The government floats an annual tender for catering for the grand Ramzan feast. Chhote Nawab’s son Syed Mohammad Fahim Mirza adds, “Delicious mutton biryani is usually served on the 15th and 29th Ramzan.”

Biryani is served twice due to a shortage of funds. “The food is cooked in big cauldrons at the Imambara and the distribution begins after 3 pm. An integral part of Ramzan meal distributed from the Murshidabad Estate is tandoori roti-chane ki daal,” says Raza sahib who is popularly known as Chhote Nawab.

The government floats an annual tender for catering for the grand Ramzan feast. Chhote Nawab’s son Syed Mohammad Fahim Mirza adds, “Delicious mutton biryani is usually served on the 15th and 29th Ramzan.” Though sehri is distributed only among those whose names were listed in the register of the Estate, anyone could participate in the iftar. “The iftar is served at Chawk Shahi Masjid where roze daars/namazis sit in long rows and an array of dishes are spread before them. At dusk when they eat the first morsel and take the first sip of water following the muezzin’s call for maghrib (prayer), it is an amazingly uplifting sight,” says Fahim, the head master of a primary school in Murshidabad.

West Bengal took over Murshidabad Estate through a legislation titled Murshidabad Estate (Management of Properties) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1980. “The Murshidabad Estate makes arrangements for 23 festivals in and around Hazarduari Palace - Imambara every year and Ramzan is one of them,” Soura Mondal, manager of Murshidabad Estate informs.

Seventy-four year old Chhote Nawab, whose mother was the daughter of Wasif Mirza, fondly recalls the time when his grandfather was alive. “The fragrance of the mouth-watering delicacies which were prepared during Ramzan at the Imambara cannot be described in words. Those were the days,” he reminisces with a tinge of nostalgia.