Dewan Munawar Khan

Dewan Munawar Khan a zamindar of East Bengal. He was the son and successor of masum khan and grandson of musa khan Masnad-i-Ala of Bhati. Munawar Khan distinguished himself as the chief of Bengal zamindars' flotilla in the Mughal invasion of Chittagong in 1666 AD. In recognition of his service and valour in the battle he was granted a mansab (rank) of 1000 with 500 sawar (horse) by the Mughal emperor. He appears to have been an unruly and turbulent officer, and local tradition asserts that he was often at conflict with the Mughal subadars in Dhaka. After the death of Masum Khan, Munawar Khan was vested with the responsibility of management of the zamindari estate. Since the settlement of Bengal in Akbar's time, this family is said to have possessed 22 parganas in modern greater districts of Dhaka, Mymensingh, Comilla, Rangpur, Pabna and Bogra, which seems to have been apportioned among four brothers during the time of Munawar Khan. Munawar Khan got his property in the modern Tappa Hazradi in Mymensingh. Since that time, Munawar Khan established himself in Jangalbari. The surname of diwan seems to have been assumed by the family from this time onward. Munawar Khan seems to have transferred his family residence to Dewanbagh, later named as Munawar Khan Bagh, now a village in Bandar upazila of Narayanganj district.

Munawar Khan is said to have built the original edifice of the kadam rasul Shrine at Nabiganj, now in Bandar upazila of Narayanganj district. Munawar Khan died at Dewanbagh, and was buried on the east of a mosque (present Dewanbagh Mosque). [Muazzam Hussain Khan]