4,000-year-old coins and the world’s first stamp
Inside the collection of a 93-year-old connoisseur of history
In the depths of the capital's Agargaon, stands a pastel-green walled house. The guard dogs, although reassured by one of the residents at the house that they do not bite, do not take well to visitors. Past them and up some stairs, was Md Noorul Islam, with his walker, standing by the open door into his home.
A frail man with unbrushed grey hair and unsteady on his feet, he said, "It is a recent accident [a few months ago], I broke bones and ever since, I use the walker." His words were drowned by the meowing of one too many cats frolicking out the door now.
Once seated, Noorul's voice became clear and assertive. Most likely because we were broaching a subject very close to his heart. In fact, it is one that managed to pique his deep interest for at least 82 long years.
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After at least 60 minutes, he stood up. With his walker, he made the journey up one floor. There was an urgency in his unsteady feet, a spirit that was anything but frail.
We came across a locked door. This one was a two-part, large, wooden door at the end of the three-storey building. Once unlocked, his at least 2,500 square feet large museum came into full view.
The walls are lined with ceramic tiles, chronologically placed, and printed on them are pictures of kings who ruled the subcontinent dating back to 4,000 years.
The whole museum is divided into two parts and correctly labelled. On one side is the common era (aka CE or current era) and the other is BCE (before the current era). Under the latter, the tiles trace back to the Mughal, Maurya, Kushan empires and much more.
Below the tiles are descriptive plaque-like paper. So, technically, you can stand in the centre of the museum, and trace rulers of the subcontinent back to the earliest empires, starting from Bangladesh's current regime, in one big sweep.
For a layperson, pretty unique, and for a history buff, it is fascinating.
The tile work, all made under Noorul's close supervision, is intricate and detailed. And the viewing of the tiles comes with a walking guide.
But this is not even the main event.
Noorul's life work and love for all things historical transcend forms and artifacts. His museum proudly hosts at least 20,000 to 25,000 coins - coins from ancient empires also rest in his collection. The coins date back to beyond 4,000 years. His stamp collection, which includes the first stamp ever made, number in around at least 3,200.
"It is hard to tell you exact numbers. I am working on it though, to maintain records. In the case of stamps, let us say if an A4 size paper fits 100 stamps, then I have about 32 of them," explained Noorul.
Coins, stamps, history on the walls and stones - lots and lots of stones. "'Back in the day, mudra (currency) would be made into jewellery," he said, "so, for example, you will have necklaces that have coins attached to it."
At one point, Noorul quipped, "In my museum, you will find every stone except the Koh-i-Noor."
It is a treasure trove, both literally and figuratively, that cost Noorul approximately Tk2.5 crore to build. He said that it was 15 years ago that he started the construction of the museum, which took around three years to complete.
And only earlier this year, an inaugural event of sorts was organised by Noorul where, he estimates, about 70 doctorates attended.
The museum, what one can see today, is a result of decades-long commitment, search and interest, which, with Noorul's age, turned into a responsibility.
"I have contacted the National Museum a few times, I wanted them to have some of the rarest things from my collection many years ago, but no heed was paid," he lamented.
"Yes, yes the coin collector," said Professor Shahnaj Husne Jahan, PhD, over the phone, at the first instance when Noorul's name was mentioned.
"He told me stories of those incidents as well when he was not quite given the proper attention [when Noorul approached the National Museum]," the professor said, adding, "but that is the thing you see, when an individual is not from the discipline [archaeology], they are not quite valued as experts in the field, disregarding their deep interest and research in the subject."
Currently, Jahan is a professor of archaeology, founder and director of the Centre for Archaeological Studies and head of the Department of General Education at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB).
And Jahan and Noorul go back some decades. "I met Noorul Shaheb informally actually. I noticed him attending different seminars on history, starting from my days as a Master's degree student [1990s]," said Professor Jahan, adding, "he handed me his card and asked me to visit to see the collection. It finally happened when he invited me along with others for his [home] museum inauguration."
Professor Jahan strongly believes that the country's private collectors in the likes of Noorul are making huge contributions, because "we are all aware of the illicit trade of antiquities, the wealth of our country being stolen," she said, adding, "they are the ones who keep it in the country."
From AKM Zakaria (an English literature graduate from Dhaka University who dedicated his life to research and archaeology, and later was awarded the Ekushey Padak), Habibullah Pathan and his father (Hanif Pathan, a local teacher in the 1930s) who created a local museum called Bateshwar Sangrahashala at Wari to store and exhibit their collection, and more recently, Nazrul Islam who established a rock museum in 2000, at Panchagarh Government Women College premises as the college's principal at the time — all are noteworthy "enlightened" individuals who took initiatives on their own and created or built so much at their own cost, out of their love for history and heritage, explained the professor.
Students of history and archaeology from Dhaka University and Jahangirnagar University, over the last decades, have come to Noorul to study his collection for their respective thesis dissertations.
He said he always wanted to make sure that the artefacts go into the right hands. A bitter experience in the late 1950s made Noorul more sceptical about who to trust with his findings.
A graduate of Ahsanullah Engineering College (batch of 1952), Noorul was working a government job as a senior engineer who was sent out to build an irrigation system in Shahebganj, Rangpur, in the late half of the 1950s.
After the jungle was cleared and the crew started to dig, Noorul's men, unknowingly, came across statues. Noorul said he contacted ABM Habibullah, the then-chairman of the Department of Islamic History and Culture at Dhaka University. He said he was tagged with a PhD student under the chairman and his irrigation site became an excavation site, studied by at least 30 scholars.
"I handed them the 3-foot height statues, and it was the lead student who insisted that they be returned to the people of the local area," recalled Noorul, adding, "and after months, I got word that those statues were sold to foreigners by the locals."
This experience left a bitter taste, one that could not be washed off. And over time, Noorul built a web of networks.
"You see these [handing miniature statues which he collected from the excavation site in the late 1950s], you can find similar statues in your average antique Gulshan shops. In the recent past, I made it a point to buy these off of them. They do not know the value," said Noorul.
A life well-lived
A connoisseur of artifacts and all things historical, Noorul lost his father at the age of 19, in 1948. He said after his father's death, life was not easy.
Noorul lived a stingy life into his university days. It took him years to establish a well-fed and warm family life. And in the midst of harshness, it was his collector's knack that brought him joy.
He started to collect stamps in 1940 (at the age of 11) and coins in 1947. Statues, stones and other artifacts soon followed after the 1957 by chance find. Although an engineer by profession, the retiree spoke at great lengths how his career came with scope and windows to work as an architect, and more importantly, an excavator.
Now frail but zesty when a topic of history is broached, Noorul finds it difficult to pay off his medical bills. "The accident and the treatment alone cost me a lot of money," he said, who built a 11-katha property in Agargaon and distributed it among his one son and three daughters.
"I have clear instructions. Once I die, my museum becomes their responsibility. They are to be caretakers and allow students to study it; and hold discourses," he concluded.
