Baghbanpura (Zaildari)

Information

DynastyArain
StatePakistan (Punjab Prov.)
ReligionMuslim
Urdu Nameباغبان پورہ
Last Updated17th Aug, 2022

Short History

The Arain or Mian family of Baghbanpura was a notable family in Lahore, Pakistan. They were originally agriculturalists and market cultivators.

Muhammad Ishaq, the progenitor of the family, founded a village named Ishaqpur. In conformity with the wish of the Royal Engineer, Mehr Manga (fourth lineal descendant of Muhammad Ishaq) gave the site of the village of his ancestors to the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, and in return, custodianship of the Shalimar Gardens, Lahore, as well as a village named Baghbanpura, was granted to him. Members of this extended family resided at Lahore, Montgomery (now Sahiwal), Sheikhupura, Lyallpur (now Faisalabad), Muzaffargarh, Mianwali, Dera Ismail Khan, Simla and Delhi, as well as in the Bahawalpur State.

The Mian family ceased to be the custodians of the site in 1962, after the imposition of martial law in Pakistan by Ayub Khan.

Predecessors

  • Muhammad Ishaq, the founder of the village Ishaqpur.
    • generations
      • Mian Muhammad Yusaf alias Mehr Manga, gave the site of the village of his ancestors to Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in conformity with the wish of the Royal Engineer, whose choice for the site of the garden had fallen upon that flourishing village. This won him favour of Royal Family. In lieu of the village, the Emperor granted him village of Baghbanpura. Shah Jahan appointed him custodian of the Shalimar Gardens, Lahore, and conferred upon him title of “Mian.” He died in 1669.
        • Mian Muhammad Fazil, send to the Deccan on important duty where he rendered services which secured him the title of Nawab from Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.
          • Mian Muhammad Lutfullah, married and had issue, two sons.
            • Mian Azimullah, leading zamindar in the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, married and had issue.
              • Mian Rahimullah, man of letters and possessed the gift of eloquence, on which account Maharaja Ranjit Singh called him Nawab Dana Beg Khan of the Punjab, married and had issue.
                • Mian (?Maulvi) Qadir Baksh, a physician, profound Arabic & Persian Scholar, had a taste for poetry, his nom de plume being Nadir. At the desire of Maharaja Ranjit Singh was sent to Ludhiana where he learnt the art of European artillery and gunnery from General Cortland, the French officer in the Sikh employ. Authored “Miftah-ul-Qila”, a work in Persian on Gunnery as well as works on the science of medicine. He married and had issue.
                  • Mian Nizam-ud-Din, married and had issue, three sons.
                    • Maulvi Zaheer-ud-Din, a Pleader of the first grade and had a large practice in Dera Ismail Khan and the Derajat.
                    • Hon. Mian Shah Din, born 2nd April 1868; received his early education in his own village, excelled himself at High School, educated at Government College, Lahore from where he got his B.A. degree in 1887, proceeded to England to study for the Bar as a member of the Middle Temple, and won three lecture prizes awarded by the Council of Legal Education in Roman Law, Jurisprudence, International Law, Constitutional Law, and Constitutional History. He also gained the Campbell-Foster Prize and a Scholarship from his own Inn. He returned to Lahore in September 1890, and enrolled as an advocate at the Punjab Chief Court in January 1891. He held for some time the office of Assistant Legal Remembrancer to the Punjab Government, a position to which no other Indian had been appointed in the Province before him. He was appointed a member of the Punjab Legislative Council in 1908 for a term of two years and was renominated in 1905 but had to resign his seat in 1906, owing to his appointment as an Additional Judge of the Chief Court. He reverted to the Bar in August 1907 and was appointed a third time a member of the Punjab Legislative Council, but again had to resign his seat in 1908 on re-appointment to the Chief Court. Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick nominated Mr. Shah Din a Fellow of the Punjab University in 1893, and in 1895 he was elected a Syndic, a position which he held for about ten years. He was for several years Secretary of the Law College Committee, of which the President was the Vice-Chancellor, which controlled the affairs of the Law College, the sole institution for teaching Law in the Province. He also acted for some years as Secretary of the Standing Committee for the preparation of approved vernacular books, which had been constituted by the Senate with the object of encouraging vernacular literature by means of translations from English, and the production of original works in the vernacular. He also represented the Punjab University on the Punjab Text Book Committee for several years and took an active part in the Departmental Educational Conference in the Punjab. He was one of the members of the Simla Deputation in 1906. After the All-India Muslim League was established, an active provincial branch was organized in the Punjab in November 1907 and Shah Din was elected its president, a position he held until his appointment as the Judge of the Punjab Chief Court towards the end of 1908. From that year right up to the time of his death in 1918, he was a Judge of the Chief Court, Punjab. He performed the duties of his high office with such marked distinction and success that the Governor-General-in-Council was pleased to sanction his appointment as Chief Judge sub-protem during the absence on leave of Mr. Justice Rattigan —the first time that an Indian was appointed to that high office in the Punjab. He was a strong advocate of higher female education, and he and Sir Muhammad Shafi (see below) were the first Muslims in the Punjab to send their daughters to be educated in Queen Mary’s College, Lahore. He died on 2nd July 1918.
                    • Mian Muhammad Taj-ud-Din
                • Mian Karim Baksh, a physician of good reputation.
            • Mian Hafiz Muhammad, leading zamindar in the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, married and had issue, six sons.
              • Mian Muhammad Bakhsh, an illaqadar and land-owner, married and had issue.
                • Mian Chanan Din, married and had issue.
                  • Mian Nizam-ud-Din, an Extra Assistant Commissioner, received a khillat of honor from Sir Thomas Douglas Forsyth for service rendered to the Yarkand Mission. He married and had issue.
                    • Hon. Khan Bahadur Mian Sir Muhammad Shafi, K.C.S.I., C.I.E., born 10th March 1869; received his early education from Maulvi Allah Din. He entered the village school, from which he passed the Vernacular Middle School Examination. Proceeding thence to Lahore, he joined the Central Model School. In 1886, having passed the Matriculation Examination of the Punjab University, he joined the Government College at Lahore; and two years later, being attracted by the magnetic personality of Dr. J.C.R. Ewing, Principal of the Forman Christian College and Vice-Chancellor of the Punjab University, he transferred himself to the latter Institution, where he received instruction under that great educationist for a period of 18 months. In 1889, he went to London to study for the Bar and was admitted at Middle Temple. Having been called to the Bar in June 1892, he returned to India in August of that year and began his legal career in Hoshiarpur, whilst also enrolling at the Allahabad and Lahore High Courts. In 1897, he was nominated by Sir Thomas Gordon Walker, the then Lieut.-Governor of Punjab, as a Fellow of the Punjab University and when Lord Curzon’s University Act came into operation, he was elected as a Fellow, securing the largest number of votes in the elections held on that occasion. He continued to be a Fellow of that University throughout his non-official career and even after his appointment as Member of the Executive Council. President, Punjab Muslim League, and President, All-India Urdu Conference, 1911, All-India Muslim League, 1913, All-India Muhammaden Educational Conference, 1916. He served as a Member of the Punjab Legislative Council (1909-1916) and Imperial Legislative Council (1911-1919), and then on the Viceroy’s Executive Council (1919-24), also serving as Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Council of State from 1922-1925. He died on 7th January 1932.
                      • Begum Jahanara Shahnawaz, born 7th April 1896; Queen Mary College, Lahore; a remarkable female politician; member of Muslim League; married Sir Muhammad Shahnawaz. She died on 27th November 1979, having had issue, one son and two daughters.
                        • Dr. Ahmad Shahnawaz
                        • Nasim Shahnawaz (Nasim Jahan), married Major.-Gen’l. Akbar Khan and later became a politician of the Pakistan Peoples Party.
                        • Mumtaz Shahnawaz, born 1912, died 1948.
                  • Mian Din Muhammad, held an appointment in the Office of Inspector General of Registration, Punjab.
                • Mian Badr-ud-Din, married and had issue.
                  • Mian Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din
                  • Mian Ilm-ud-Din
                  • Mian Siraj-ud-Din
              • Mian Nabi Baksh, held the management of the Shalimar Gardens. For his services during the Mutiny, he was munificently rewarded by the Government. He married and had issue.
                • Mian Jalal-ud-Din