Mir Mosharraf Hossain

Mir Syed Mosharraf Hossain (Bengali: মীর মশাররফ হোসেন; 1847–1912) was a Bengali writer, novelist, playwright and essayist. He is considered to be the first major writer to emerge from the Muslim society of Bengal, and one of the finest prose writers in the Bengali language. His magnum opus Bishad Sindhu (Ocean of Sorrow) is a popular classic among the Bengali readership. Mir Syed Mosharraf Hossain was born in the village of Lahinipara in Kumarkhali Thana under Kushtia District. He spent most of his life at his ancestral Padamdi Nawab Estate in Baliakandi in erstwhile district of Faridpur (now part of Rajbari District). His widely accepted date of birth is 13 November 1847. But some researchers also claim his date of birth is 26 October 1847. His father was Nawab Syed Mir Moazzem Hossain, a Muslim aristocrat and the Zamindar of the Padamdi Nawab Estate. His mother was called Daulatunnesa Begum. Mosharraf Hossain learned Arabic and Persian with a teacher at home and then Bengali at a pathshala. He began his formal education at Kushtia School and then studied up to Class V at Krishnanagar Collegiate School. He was admitted to Kalighat School in Kolkata but could not complete his studies. Mosharraf Hossain began his career looking after his father's landed property. Later he served the Faridpur Padamdi Nawab Estate with relative Mir Nadir Hossain grandfather of Mir Tajrul Hossain whose son is Mir Muqtadir Hossain and, in 1885, the Delduar Zamindari Estate. He lived in Kolkata from 1903 to 1909.