Abdul Karim

Munshi Abdul Karim (11 October 1871 – 1953), known as Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad, was a Bengali littérateur, historian of Bangla literature and collector and interpreter of old Bangla manuscripts.

Early life Munshi Abdul Karim was born on 11 October 1871 to an upper middle class Bengali family of Muslim Malla-Sheikhs in the village of Suchakradandi in Patiya, Chittagong District, Bengal Presidency (now in Bangladesh). His father, Munshi Nuruddin, died before his birth and his mother, Misrijan, died when he was seventeen years old. His paternal family were descended from Habilas Malla, who served as a soldier under the Sultan of Bengal. After suffering injuries in a battle, he retired to Chittagong, settling in the village of Habilas Dwip. Karim's paternal grandfather, Muhammad Nabi Chowdhury, was the grandson of Sufi poet Dost Muhammad Abdul Qadir Raja, who migrated from Habilas Dwip to the nearby village of Suchakradandi. His maternal grandfather, Musharraf Ali, was a descendant of Daulat Hamzah, the Pathan tarafdar of Hulain near Habilas Dwip.

Legacy The Government of Bangladesh conferred Independence Day Award to Karim posthumously in 1995.