Fazl Ghazi

Fazl Ghazi zamindar of Bhawal and one of the renowned Bara-bhuyas of Bengal. Fazl Ghazi belonged to the renowned Ghazi family which had originally settled at Chaura on the western bank of the Lakhya, about a mile north of Kaliganj in Ghazipur district. He was eighth in descent from one Pahlwan Shah who came to Bhawal for preaching Islam and settled there about the beginning of the fourteenth century. Pahlwan Shah's son Karforma Sahib was also a saintly person who acquired the pargana of Bhawal as fief through a sanad of the ruler of Delhi.

Fazl Ghazi was the most outstanding figure in the train of zamindars in Ghazi Family. He maintained a standing land force and a strong fleet of war-boats. Fazl Ghazi maintained diplomatic relation with Emperor Sher Shah (1540-1545). In 1542 AD (945 AH) he sent gifts to Sher Shah, which included a cannon now preserved in the Dhaka Museum. This was one of the seven cannons discovered from underground at Dewanbagh. The cannon bears the engraved text `Az Fazl Ghazi' (from Fazl Ghazi) along with the name of Sher Shah. Fazl Ghazi was in close alliance with isa khan Masnad-i-Ala and is said to have had friendly relations with the Afghans in Bengal. Fazl Ghazi was the bhuiyan when the armies of Akbar first entered Bengal (1574). It is not known whether Fazl Ghazi was ever in direct conflict with the Mughal army, but his son bahadur ghazi excelled himself in fighting the Mughals with his war-boats as a close associate of musa khan Masnad-i-Ala.

The principality ruled by him consisted of the parganas Chand Pratap or Chand Ghazi, Talipabad or Tala Ghazi and Bhawal or Bara Ghazi. Under Fazl Ghazi there were a number of dependent talukdars paying revenue to his exchequer. Fazl Ghazi seems to have enjoyed a long rule and probably died in 1588 AD. [Muazzam Hussain Khan]