Munshi Sadeq Ali |
| Munshi Sadeq Ali is a famous poet of Nagri literature. There is no disagreement on the place of his birth, that is village Daulotpur near Longla, but the opinions are different regarding the year he was born-1798,1800 or 1801. According to ‘Sylheter Nagree Lipi O Bangla Shahitya’ by Syed Mortuza Ali, this poet was born in 1801. Dewan Nurul Anwar Hossain Choudhury’s opinion is that birth of Munshi Sadeq Ali happened in 1800 A.D. or 1207 B.E. (Bengali Era). On the contrary Dr. S.M. Golam Quadir has said Sadeq Ali was born in 1798 A.D. He is in favor of considering 1205 B.E. instead of 1250 as appears in the brief identity given by the poet in his book Haltunnabi, a narrative account of the Prophet Muhammad (SM). Dr. Quadir apprehends that 1250 is a printing mistake rather it should be 1205 otherwise other events do not qualify the timeline. Last one has also been supported by Choudhury Golam Akbar Sahityabhushon. |
| The poet was a Hindu by birth. His name was Gour Kishore and Govind Sen was his father. He served as Munsef of the then Hingazia collectorate under Moulvibazar for eight years from 1823 to 1830. He lost his parents early and was brought up by his paternal uncle whose death influenced him so much that he finally converted himself to a Muslim in 1235 B.E. He married daughter of Hazir Thakur, a noble man and settled in Lamu village of Ita porgonah where his descendants are still living. |
| His famous books are-Haltunnabi, Hashor Micheel, Roddey Kufur and Mohabbat Naama. The poet composed Roddey Kufur probably at the age of fifty and Halunnabi at fifty seven followed by Mohabbat Naama and Hashor Micheel. Famous Haltunnabi was composed while he was staying in Tahaarlamua village near Rajnagar. |
| Deen Vobananda |
Vobananda was born at Nortton under Longla more than two hundred years ago and attained extraordinary learning in Hindu scripture. Truly, his scholarly virtue is apparent from the language and details of his songs. |
Vobananda was a henpecked man; was so attracted to his wife that he used to become extremely eager and restless on her absence even for a day. So, he avoided sending her to his in-law’s house. Once she was send there by his mother while Vobananda was out of home. On return he learnt that and madly reached her with wet clothes by swimming across a river in the dark night. Observing such deep affiliation for her, she told him that if he had similar attraction for the God then he would have found His closeness. Vobananda was moved with her words and had upsurge emotion for God. Having outburst of emotion he asked his wife, “what have you said, mother?” She repeated same words. Then Vobananda went into hidings in that dark night. He was seen for few days by some people singing while floating on a tree-trunk along the river Juri. Thereafter he was not seen for a long time. |
Deen Vobananda is a famous devotee poet. A Brahmin and learned, proceeding the way of devotion, ultimately chooses Islam as his religion. His tomb still exists at Kashimnagar mouza under Dharmanagar subdivision of Triperra State. However, Poddyanath Bhottacharjee Bidyabinod and Md. Abdul Bari differ with his becoming a Muslim by analyzing different words; feelings, situations and other aspects of his lyrics. Moreover, there are several words found in his famous ‘Hari Bongsho’ which bear meaning and sense with the words used in southern part of Sylhet only. These words express different meanings in Sylhet and Karimganj areas. With this finding the scholars are definite that he was a man from southern Sylhet. |
| Whatever may be the debate regarding his place of birth and his ultimate religion, everyone is unanimous that he was an extraordinary poet. |
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