HAZRAT KHAN JAHAN ALI MAJAR

Khan Jahan  local ruler and celebrated sufi saint. Khan Jahan (popularly known as Khan Jahan Ali) was entitled Ulugh Khan and Khan-i-Azam and flourished at

khalifatabad

(Bagerhat) in the first half of the fifteenth century AD when the Later Iliyas Shahi Sultan nasiruddin mahmud shah was ruling at.
Khan Jahan, a noble under the Tughlaqs, seems to have come to Bengal just after the sack of Delhi (1398) by Timur. He acquired the forest area of the Sundarbans as jagir (fief) from the sultan of Delhi and subsequently from the sultan of Bengal. He cleared up the dense forest in the Sundarban area to set up human settlements.
Khan Jahan was a great builder. He founded some townships, built mosques, madrasahs and sarais, roads, highways and bridges, excavated a large number of dighis in the districts of greater Jessore and Khulna. Besides his fortified metropolis of  Khalifatabad (modern Bagerhat) he built three townships, such as Maruli Kasba, Paigram Kasba and Bara Bazar. He is said to have built a highway from Bagerhat to Chittagong, a twenty-mile long road from Samantasena to Badhkhali, and a road running from Shuvabara to Daulatpur in Khulna. The most notable of his architectural monuments are shatgumbad mosque (c 1450) at Bagerhat, masjidkur mosque (c 1450) at village Masjidkur, his own tomb (1459) near Bagerhat and a single-domed mosque attached to his tomb. Of the large number of dighis and ponds excavated by him the most notable are the Khanjali Dighi (1450) near his tomb and Ghoradighi (measuring 1500´x750´) to the west of Shatgumbad Mosque.
Khan Jahan died on 25 October 1459 (27 Zilhajj 863 AH) and was buried in the tomb built by himself. He is revered by people and numerous people visit his tomb. An annual fair is held on the dargah premises in the bright half of the lunar month in the Bengali month of Chaitra.


A cycle-rickshaw from the bus stand to the Shait Gumbad Mosque should run around Tk 10. unless you're in a hurry, you may want to just walk to the sights from the bus stand. Head west along the main road, a fairly nice walk save for the speedy honking buses. The first sight you'll come to is the dargah; start asking around for it after about 5km or so. Shait Gumbad is another 2km or so west along the main road from the dargah turnoff.