Birjesh Kumar at 18:03, 27 February 2026

2026-02-27T18:03:27Z

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{{Short description|Bengali diplomat and traveller (1730–1800)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific-prefix =
| name = I'tisam-ud-Din
| image = I'tisam-ud-Din.png
| caption = A portrait of the Mirza smoking [[hukka]]
| location =
| father =
| spouse =
| children =
| relatives =
| birth_name = Syed Muhammad I'tisam al-Din
| birth_date = 1730
| birth_place = [[Kalyani subdivision|Panchnur]], [[Nadia district|Nadia]], [[Bengal Subah]], [[Mughal Empire]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1800|1730}}
| death_place =
| resting_place =
}}
'''Shaikh Mīrzā Muḥammad Iʿtiṣām ad-Dīn Panchnūrī''' (or '''Itesham Uddin''' and '''Syed Muhammad I'tisam al-Din'''; 1730–1800) was a Bengali diplomat for the [[Mughal Empire]]. He became the first South Asian to travel to Europe in the [[early modern period]], in 1765.<ref name="ananda">{{Cite web|url=http://archives.anandabazar.com/archive/1110822/22south-letter.html|title=পর্যটন-পরিকল্পনা কোথায়?|language=bn|last=Sarkar|first=Bipulranjan|date=22 August 2011|website=Anandabazar Patrika|access-date=14 February 2017|archive-date=15 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215031134/http://archives.anandabazar.com/archive/1110822/22south-letter.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="bpedia" /> He was also a [[munshi]] serving the [[Nawabs of Bengal]] as well as the [[British East India Company]].<ref name=storey>C. A. Storey, Persian Literature: A Bio-Bibliographical Survey, Volume 1, Part 2, Psychology Press, 2002, p.1142</ref> He had also written the text of the 1765 [[Treaty of Allahabad]].<ref name=christian>{{cite book|title=Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History. Volume 12 Asia, Africa and the Americas (1700-1800)|year=2018|pages=544–548}}</ref>

==Early life and ancestry==
[[File:Chakdah_mosque.jpg|thumb|left|The ancient Kazipara mosque in I'tisam-ud-Din's birthplace at Chakdah]]
Syed Muhammad I'tisam-ud-Din was born in 1730, to Sheikh Syed Taj-ud-Din, at the local Kazipara Masjid near his village. He belonged to a [[Bengali Muslim]] family of [[Sayyid|Syeds]] from the village of Panchnur, they had been a respected family who had been [[Sheikh]]s, near the town of [[Chakdaha]] within [[Nadia district]] in the Mughal Empire's [[Bengal Subah]]<ref name=buckland>C.E. Buckland, Dictionary of Indian Biography, Haskell House Publishers Ltd, 1968, p.217</ref> The contemporary Bengali historian Shabnam Begum equates her grandfather, Sheikh Syed Shahab-ud-Din, to [[Shihabuddin Talish]], author of the ''[[Fathiya-i 'Ibriya]]'', an account of [[Mir Jumla's invasion of Assam]].<ref name=begum>{{cite thesis|title=Bengal's contribution to Islamic studies during the 18th century|publisher=[[Aligarh Muslim University]]|year=1994|chapter=Arabic and Persian literature in Bengal during eighteenth century: Shaykh Itisamuddin|pages=103–107|first=Shabnam|last=Begum}}</ref>

His birthplace, Kazipara Masjid, still stands today and his forefathers moved to Panchnur following the Battle of Pandua in [[Pandua, Hooghly|Pandua]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Nadia-kahini|last=Mallik|first=Kumud Nath|year=1910}}</ref> His ancestors settled in [[Bengal]] after fleeing the [[Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire|Mongol invasion of Persia and Mesopotamia]].<ref name=bpedia>{{cite Banglapedia|author=[[Kaiser Haq]]|article=I'tesamuddin, Mirza Sheikh}}</ref>

==Education==
I'tisam-ud-Din came from a privileged background, in which he was well educated and fluent in the [[Bengali language|Bengali]], [[Arabic language|Arabic]], [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]] and [[Persian language]]s.<ref>{{cite news|title=Stepping on to different shores|last=Hossain|first=Ghazi Shahadat|newspaper=[[The Daily Star (Bangladesh)|The Daily Star]]|date=6 Oct 2012}}</ref> His elder brother was a ''[[mufti]]'' and adviser to the [[Nawab of Bengal]], [[Alivardi Khan]]. Munshi Salimullah and Mirza Muhammad Qasim, who worked under [[Mir Jafar]], trained I'tisam to also become a [[munshi]] and taught him Persian.<ref name=bpedia/>

==Career==
He began his career as a munshi to Mir Jafar in [[Murshidabad]].<ref name=storey/> On the accession of [[Mir Qasim]] (r. 1760–1763), he entered the service of the [[British East India Company]]'s Major Martin Yorke and Major Mark and took part in a campaign against Raja Asad uz-Zaman Khan of [[Birbhum]].<ref name=buckland/> After the battle, Emperor [[Shah Alam II]] recognised his efforts during a visit to [[Azimabad]].

Later, I'tisam served under Captain Mackinon as paymaster for an orphanage. He fought alongside Mackinon and the Company against [[Mir Qasim]] in 1763 during the [[Battle of Giria]] and the [[Udhwa#Battle of Udhwa nala|Battle of Udhwa Nala]]. Bardette also made I'tisam the [[Tehsildar]] of Kutubpur.<ref name=bpedia/>

===Travel to Europe===
In 1765, he entered the service of [[John Carnac]] and had another audience with the Emperor Shah Alam at Jahazgarh. He assisted Colonel Carnac in a battle from [[Faizabad]] to Shora-Shapur. Following the battle, Shah Alam II offered I'tisam the title of [[Mirza (noble)|Mirza]] if he was willing to work under him as a Munshi as well as the opportunity to travel to Europe. In [[Murshidabad]], he set off with Captain Archibald Swinton on a diplomatic mission to the court of King [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]] to send a letter from Shah Alam II and one [[lakh]] [[taka (currency)|taka]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The journals of Archibald Swinton|author=Evan Cotton|author-link=Evan Cotton|year=1926}}</ref> I'tisam was also accompanied by his servant, Muhammad Muqim.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fisher|first=Michael|title=Counterflows to Colonialism: Indian Travellers and Settlers in Britain, 1600–1857|year=2004}}</ref> After three weeks at sea, Swinton revealed to I'tisam that neither the letter from Shah Alam nor his tribute of a lakh of takas was on board as it had been seized by [[Robert Clive]].<ref name=franklin>Michael J. Franklin, 'Orientalist Jones': Sir William Jones, Poet, Lawyer, and Linguist, 1746-1794, OUP Oxford, 22 Sep 2011, p.63</ref> I'tisam taught Swinton the Arabic tales of [[Kalīla wa-Dimna|Kalila and Demna]]. Clive later on sent the money to the English king, on his own behalf to suppress contact between England and the Mughals. As such I'tisam never ended up meeting George III and instead accompanied Swinton to [[Nantes]] in [[France]] via the southern coast of Africa.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ghulam Murshid|author-link=Ghulam Murshid|title=Kalapanir Hatchhani: Bilete Bangalir Itihas}}</ref> He also visited [[Mauritius]], [[Madagascar]], the [[Cape of Good Hope]] and [[Ascension Island]].<ref name=bpedia/> In Nantes, Swinton left for England while I'tisam remained in France for a month travelling to [[Calais]] as well.

From Calais, I'tisam took a ship to [[Dover]], reaching [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Britain]] in 1766. He remained in [[London]] for three months before reuniting with Swinton in [[Oxford]], where they assisted [[Sir William Jones]] with South Asian manuscripts, the translation of the Persian book ''[[Farhang-i-Jahangiri]]'' into English and Jones' book, ''A grammar of the Persian language''.<ref name=christian/> During his time, he also taught [[Farsi|Persian]] to those who intended to work with in the [[Mughal Empire]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Bengalis in London's East End|url=https://www.swadhinata.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Bengalis-in-Londons-East-End-Book.pdf|author=Ansar Ahmed Ullah|date=2010|page=11}}</ref>

===Return to Asia===
He returned to Bengal after a three-year absence due to food problems. He was later employed by the [[British East India Company]] in negotiations with the [[Maratha Empire]]. He travelled with [[Sir John Hamilton, 1st Baronet, of Woodbrook|John Hamilton]] to [[Pune]] and drew up treaties and settled peace.<ref name=buckland/> Locals gave I'tisam-ud-Din the nickname of ''Bilayet Munshi'' due to him being the first to travel to what was known as the Vilayet.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.peepaltreepress.com/authors/mirza-itesamuddin|title=Mirza I'tesamuddin|website=Peepal Tree Press}}</ref>

In 1785, he published the ''Shigurf-nama-i-Wilayat'' (or 'Wonder Book of England'), in the Persian language, detailing his travels.<ref name=buckland/> He was the first South Asian to visit [[England]] and describe the journey.<ref name=buckland/><ref name="bpedia" /> The work has been translated into [[Bengali language|Bengali]], English and [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]].<ref>{{cite news|title=For casual reader and connoisseur alike|last=Alam|first=Shahid|newspaper=[[The Daily Star (Bangladesh)|The Daily Star]]|date=12 May 2012|url=https://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-233759}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=May 2021|sure=y|reason=This source states [[Ram Mohan Roy]] is "generally thought to be the first Indian to visit Britain and write about it", which would be impossible if I'tisam-ud-Din visited in 1765 and Ram Mohan Roy was born in 1772.}}

==Written works==
*[[Treaty of Allahabad]]
*Shigurf Namah i Vilayat (Excellent intelligence concerning Europe)
**"The wonders of Vilayet : being the memoir, originally in Persian, of a visit to France and Britain by Mirza Sheikh Iʼtesamuddin, an eighteenth century Indian gentleman"
**"Shigurf namah i velaët, or, Excellent intelligence concerning Europe : being the travels of Mirza Itesa Modeen, in Great Britain and France"
*Nasab Namah (Family tree of Itisam Uddin)

==Death==
It is estimated that he died in 1800.<ref name="alo">{{cite news|url=http://archive.prothom-alo.com/detail/news/77170|title=মির্জা শেখ ইতেশামুদ্দীন: লন্ডনে বাদশার বাঙালি দূত|language=bn|editor=Mahbub Alam|date=9 July 2010|access-date=17 July 2019|archive-date=17 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717185726/http://archive.prothom-alo.com/detail/news/77170|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Itisam-ud-Din}}
[[Category:18th-century Bengali people]]
[[Category:People from the Bengal Subah]]
[[Category:People from British India]]
[[Category:18th-century Mughal Empire people]]
[[Category:18th-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:1730 births]]
[[Category:1800 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century Indian Muslims]]
[[Category:British Indian history]]
[[Category:Indian travel writers]]
[[Category:People from Nadia district]]
[[Category:Diplomats]]

I'tisam-ud-Din - Revision history

Birjesh Kumar at 18:03, 27 February 2026