{{Short description|Bengali mystic poet (1854–1922)}} {{For|the films|Hason Raja (2002 film)|Hason Raja (2017 film)}} {{EngvarB|date=July 2020}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Hason Raja | image = হাসন রাজা (ঊর্ধাংশ).jpg | native_name = হাছন রাজা | native_name_lang = bn | birth_name = Dewan Hason Raja Choudhury | birth_date = {{Birth date|1854|12|21|df=y}} | birth_place = Sunamganj, Bengal, British India | death_place = Sylhet, East Bengal and Assam, British India | death_date = {{Death date and age|1922|12|6|1854|12|21|df=y}} | occupation = Raja, Landlord, Musician, Songwriter, Mystic Poet | children = 4 | relatives = D. M. H Obaidur Raza Chowdhury (grandson) {{ubl|Dewan Taimur Raja Chowdhury (grandson)|Dewan Mohammad Azraf (grandson)<ref>{{cite book |script-title=bn:সিলেটের কাব্য সাধনা |author-last=খাতুন চৌধুরী |author-first=রাবেয়া |year=1993 |page=101 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WysFAQAAIAAJ |language=bn}}</ref>||Dewan Shamsul Abedin (great-grandson)}} }} '''Dewan Hason Raja Choudhury''', or simply known as '''Hason Raja''' ({{langx|bn|হাছন রাজা}}; 21 December 1854 – 6 December 1922), was a Bengali mystic poet and songwriter from Sylhet, Bengal Presidency (now Bangladesh).<ref name=Banglapedia>{{cite Banglapedia |author=Tasiqul Islam |article=Hasan Raja}}</ref> His unique style of music made him one of the most prominent figures in Bengali folk culture.
==Biography== thumb|150px|Family Tree of Hason Raja
===Early life=== Raja was born on 21 December 1854 in Teghoriya village of Lakshmansree parghana, now Sunamganj to a Bengali Muslim zamindar family. His father was Dewan Ali Raja, the grandson of Birendraram Singhadev. His great-grandfather later converted from Hinduism to Islam and changed his name to Dewan Raja Babu Khan.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Hasan Raja - Banglapedia |url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Hasan_Raja |access-date=2020-11-08 |website=en.banglapedia.org}}</ref><ref>BanglaAcademy-Publication-Jan1998-/Prashanga-Hason-Raja/book/Moromio Kobi Hason Raja-ProvathKumarShorma</ref> Hason Raja's mother was Hurmat Jahan Bibi, the last and fifth wife of Dewan Ali Raja Chowdhury of Kauriya. Hurmat was previously a widow after the death of her former husband, Muhammad Asim Chowdhury. Hason Raja spent most of his childhood in Lakshmansree with his mother as his father married the widow of his first cousin late Amir Baksh Chowdhury who was living at Lahshmansree (Sunamganj) the most north-eastern part of now Bangladesh. His father started on and off living in Lakshmanshree of Sunamganj, 33 miles away from Rampasha, for at least three or four months of the year. Ali supervised and managed his wife's properties at Lakshmansree. That is why Lakshmansree was the birthplace of the poet.<ref>openlibrary.org/books/OL24244644M/Loker_Raja_Hason_Raja</ref>
The death of Raja's elder half-brother, Ubaidur Raja, followed by the death of his father approximately 40 days later, made Hason the primary caretaker of his family from a relatively young age.<ref name="multiply1">{{cite web |url=http://sylhoti.multiply.com/journal/item/7/Hason_Raja |title=Hason Raja |date=21 November 2007 |publisher=Sylhoti.multiply.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714132136/http://sylhoti.multiply.com/journal/item/7/Hason_Raja |archive-date=14 July 2011 |access-date=20 November 2010}}</ref> His sister Sahifa Bano would also become a poet, the first female poet from Sylhet; she wrote in the Urdu language.<ref>{{cite news |language=bn |url=https://thikana.us/%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%82%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BE-%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B9%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A7%87-%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%B2%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%9F/ |work=Thikana |script-title=bn:বাংলা সাহিত্যে সিলেট |author=Husam, Shamshad}}</ref>
===Later life=== Raja practiced Sufism.<ref name=":0" /> Raja established schools and religious centres like mosques and he is said to have been widely engaged in charities within his immediate communities. He donated vast land properties for the well-being of the people. He was interested in the well-being and protection of birds and animal life. He spent a large quantity of his money on those lives. The 12 June 1897 Assam earthquake was one of the biggest earthquakes that occurred in the Assam and Sylhet area. The largest known Indian interpolate earthquake (at 8.0 on the moment magnitude scale) resulted in the destruction of structures over much of the Plateau and surrounding areas, and caused widespread liquefaction and flooding in the Brahmaputra and Sylhet floodplains. He found out many of his kin and relatives as well as his people wounded and killed. His thatched house was fully damaged. He lost many of his tamed birds and animals.<ref name="ReferenceA">Khan Bahadur Dewan Ganiur Raja, "Din Panjika" Manuscript Diary, Sunamganj, 1932</ref>
===Death=== thumb|Grave of Raja thumb|Hason Raja Museum, Sylhet, Bangladesh Raja died on 6 December 1922.{{refn|group=note|Sources vary regarding the month and day of his death. ''Banglapedia'' (Second edition) says he died in November.<ref name=Banglapedia/> The Hason Raja Museum Trust, Dewan Muhammed Azrof and ''Dhaka Tribune'' say he died on 6 December.<ref>BanglaAcademy-Publication-Jan1998-/Prashanga-Hason-Raja/book/Dewan Hason Raja-DewanMuhammedAzrof</ref><ref name=hasonraja.org/><ref>{{cite news |date=6 December 2014 |title=Hason Raja's 92nd death anniversary today |url=http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2014/dec/06/hason-rajas-92nd-death-anniversary-today |newspaper=Dhaka Tribune |quote=Hason died on December 6, 1922}}</ref> ''Banglapedia'' (First edition) says he died on 7 December.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bpedia.org/H_0076.php |title=Hasan Raja |publisher=Banglapedia (First edition) |access-date=20 December 2013 |author=Tasiqul Islam |quote=He died on 7 December 1922. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220053922/http://www.bpedia.org/H_0076.php |archive-date=20 December 2013 |url-status=usurped}}</ref> ''The Daily Star'' says he died on 8 December.<ref>{{cite news |date=6 December 2009 |title=Musical programme on Hason Raja on Banglavision |url=https://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-116517 |newspaper=The Star |quote=Hason Raja died on December 8, 1922. |access-date=6 June 2015}}</ref>}} Two museums were established in his name in two places. One, ''Hason Raja Museum'' sponsored by "Hason Raja Museum Trust" at Sunamganj<ref name=hasonraja.org>{{cite web |url=http://www.hasonraja.org/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714232317/http://www.hasonraja.org/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 July 2011 |title=Hason Raja |website=Hason Raja Trust |quote=– 6 December 1922}}</ref> at his birthplace, Lokkonshri, Sunamganj, and another, Museum of Rajas' at RajaKunjo, Sylhet, sponsored by "Educationist Dewan Talibur Raja Trust".<ref name="multiply1"/>
==In popular culture== In 2002, the film ''Hason Raja'' was released, detailing his life and times, where Raja was played by Helal Khan. It was reported by ''Washington Bangla Radio'' in May 2013, that an epic Bengali feature film ''Hason Raja'' is under production, based on the life and music of Raja played by Mithun Chakraborty, directed by Ruhul Amin, and produced by Galaxy Films between UK, India and Bangladesh.<ref name="washingtonbanglaradio">{{cite news|last=Uddin|first=Romuz|date=8 May 2013|title=Interview-Film-Maker Ruhul Amin on HASON RAJA Bangla Movie Starring Mithun Chakraborty and Raima Sen|work=Washington Bangla Radio|location=Washington|url=http://www.washingtonbanglaradio.com/content/54727713-interview-film-maker-ruhul-amin-hason-raja-bangla-movie-starring-mithun-chakraborty|access-date=1 May 2015|archive-date=14 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220214235109/http://www.washingtonbanglaradio.com/content/54727713-interview-film-maker-ruhul-amin-hason-raja-bangla-movie-starring-mithun-chakraborty|url-status=usurped}}</ref> In 2017, the film was released.
Raja's songs are collected in books ''Hason Udas'' and ''Shaukhin Bahar''<ref name="Banglapedia" /> A volume called ''Hason Raja Samagra'' was also published. It contained 500 poems and songs.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mahammad|first=Deoyan Ed|url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.458148|title=Hasan Raja Samagra}}</ref>
== Critical response == Author Humayun Ahmed brought Hason Raja's work in limelight again in modern days after using Raja's various popular folk songs in his movies and television dramas.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thedailystar.net/humayun-ahmeds-musical-creations-under-spotlight-33754|title=Humayun Ahmed's musical creations under spotlight|date=18 July 2014|work=The Daily Star|access-date=20 December 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.daily-sun.com/magazine/details/267413/Humayun%E2%80%99s-Love-For-Music/2017-11-10|title=Humayun's Love For Music |work=Daily Sun|access-date=20 December 2017}}</ref> Author Rabindranath Tagore quoted on Hason Raja, 'We realise it through admiration and love, through hope that soars beyond the actual, beyond our own span of life into an endless time wherein we live of all men.' and 'It is a village poet of East Bengal who preaches in a song the philosophical doctrine that the universe has its reality in its relation to the Person.'<ref>Rabindranath Tagore, "The Religion of Man: The Man of My Heart, Being The Hibbert Lectures for 1930", The MacMillan Company, New-York, 1931</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist|group=note}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book |last=Raja |first=Dewan Mohammad Tasawwar |date=2006 |title=Museum of Rajas' |trans-title=Hason Raja Museum |language=bn |location=Sylhet, Bangladesh |publisher=Educationist Dewan Talibur Raja Trust}} * {{cite book |last=Raja |first=Dewan Mohammad Tasawwar |date=2009 |orig-year=First published 2000 |title=Hason Raja Shomogro |script-title=bn:হাছনরাজা সমগ্র |trans-title=Hason Raja's Oeuvre |language=bn |location=Dhaka, Bangladesh |publisher=Pathak Shamabesh |isbn=978-9848120323}}
==External links== {{commons category|Hason Raja}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raja, Hason}} Category:1854 births Category:1922 deaths Category:People from Bishwanath Upazila Category:Bengali male poets Category:19th-century Bengali poets Category:20th-century Bengali poets Category:19th-century Indian songwriters