User:Jtungekar/sandbox

Mohammed Ebrahim Tungekar

History of the Tungekar family started in the year 1737, when the Shaikh Mulla Hussain Mia came to Uran (near Bombay, India). He is the forefather of the present generation, which is the 12th generation. He seemed to be religious as the name "Mulla" suggests, and may have helped in spreading Islam during those times. One of his early contribution was the first Jamah Masjid of Uran which was built by him in 1754.

In the early 19th century i.e. around 1808 there were three prominent Muslim families in Uran. Thakur, Mukri (Indian filmstar) and Makooji (They have no survivors in the subcontinent and it is deemed that they migrated to Makkah, Saudi Arabia). There were and are lots of Tungekars in Uran and Bombay who are not related to any Ancestral line of M. Jaffer Tungekar. It is a custom among Maharashtrians (Marathas) to add KAR to the place from where they belong in order to make a surname. Tunge is a small village in Raigad District (former name Kolaba) mostly inhabited by Brahmins.

Father of Mohammed Ebrahim Tungekar whose name was Mohammed Jaffer Tungekar was born in the mid 1800's. He was married to a lady by the name of Maryam from Bombay's Tungekar family. The couple was blessed with a baby boy on April 16, 1876 and he was named Mohammed Ebrahim after his grandfathers name. His father, out of love and affection, started calling Mohammed Ebrahim Bapu, and hence the name "Bapu Sahab" and "Babu Seth" became associated with him in his later years.

When Mohammed Ebrahim was 10 years old he was married and when he reached the age of 12, his formal Islamic education began. At the age of 25, he started his own business alongwith his brother, in Mangalore. Slowly the business spread to other parts of the subcontinent i.e. Calcutta, Rangoon, Colombo, Chittagong, Cochin and Kalikat etc. After the deaths of his brother Mohammed Ismail and father Mohammed Jaffer Tungekar, the entire responsibilities of the business, fell on the shoulders on Mohammed Ebrahim Tungekar. The Tungekar family became rich due their salt works. They were named the 'King of Salts' by Times of India at that time.

Mohammed Ebrahim was a generous man and a philanthropist. He contributed towards construction, and beautification of mosques, schools and madrassahs. As a tribute to his mother he established a school for girls by the name of "Baqiyaat Salehaat Maryam". He died in the year 1931.

His sons, AbdulAziz Tungekar Abdul Majeed Tungekar were running the family business at the time of Indo-Pak partition in 1947. It was decided that AbdulAziz alongwith his youngest brother Mohammed Akbar will migrate to Karachi, Pakistan and establish the business there. In the early years the Tungekar family were among the top 10 rich families of Karachi at that time. They built a house by the name of 'Tungekar Mahal Abad' at "24 Garden East", Karachi.

The business suffered heavily due to some dishonest employees who fled to South Africa after stealing most of the family's money. The downfall started and soon there was no business and property left after the death of AbdulAziz in 1965. In India the government took over the Salt Works and just recently in the 1990's the family in India was compensated by the government after winning the case in court.