Husainabad

Husainabad named after the great Husain Shahi sultan, Alauddin husain shah, is the name of three cities, now vanished. Of them Husainabad buzurg (the great Husainabad), existed in the present Maldah district of West Bengal, and is to be distinguished from the one in the Murshidabad district and the other in the district of 24 Pargana of the same state. Of the latter two very little is known except legends. Husainabad buzurg was founded by Alauddin Husain Shah and flourished during the reign of the great sultan and his successors nusrat shah, Firuz Shah and ghiyasuddin mahmud shah. The name appears on the coins and inscriptions of Husain Shah, but only on the coins of the other three sultans. It is not certain if it was identical with Gaur-Lakhnauti, in which case it was renamed after Husain Shah, or if it was a suburb of the city actually built by the sultan himself. The second opinion, however, appears to be more probable. According to Ghulam Husain Salim, Husain Shah transferred his seat of government to ekdala adjoining the city of Gaur.

This Ekdala was situated near the village of Ramkeli on the northwestern outskirts of the city. It is possible that Husain Shah later renamed this Ekdala as Husainabad buzurg. The existence of the bara sona mosque built by Alauddin Husain Shah himself to the north of the walled city of Gaur-Lakhnauti at a reasonable distance, point to a place which once must have been very flourishing. Could it be that this Bara Sona Mosque was the central focal point of the city of Husainabad now no longer in existence? The recent discovery of an inscription, now preserved in the Maldah State museum, proves beyond doubt that Alauddin Husain Shah and not his son Nasiruddin Nusrat Shah built the Bara Sona Mosque. [ABM Husain]