M.Jaffer Tungekar

• General Notes
  • Mohammed Jaffer Tungekars ancestors came to Uran (near Bombay, India) somewhere in or around 1737. This person was traced as Shaikh Mulla Hu ssein Mia from an old document published in 1932. He is the forefathe r s of the present generation, which is 12th. He seemed to be religiou s from his name, i.e. Mulla, and may have helped in spreading Islam du ri ng those times. He built the first Jama Masjid of Uran in 1754.
    
    In the early 19th century i.e. around 1808 in Uran among the Muslims t here were three prominent families. Thakur , Mukri (Indian filmstar) a nd Makooji (no survivals but it seems they migrated to Makkah).
    
    Mohammed Jaffer Tungekar was born in or around mid 1800. Mohammed Jaff er married to a lady from Bombays Tungekar family, named MARYAM. She i s the great grand mother of Tungekar family. Tungekars got rich due th eir Salt Works and business reached heights due to the efforts of M oha mmed Ebrahim s/o Mohammed Jaffer (http://www.tungekar.com/ebrahimt unge kar.html) who spread the business to other countries. They were n amed the 'King of Salts' by Times of India at that time.
    
    There were and are lots of Tungekars in Uran and Bombay who are not re lated to any Ancestral line of M. Jaffer Tungekar. It is a custom amo n g Maharashtrians (Marathas) to add KAR to the place from where they be long in order to make a surname. Tunge is a small village in Raigad Di strict (former name Kolaba) mostly inhabited by Brahmins.
    
    AbdulAziz s/o Mohammed Ebrahim Tungekar and his younger brother Abdul Majeed were running the family business at the time of India and Pakis tan's partition in 1947. It was decided that AbdulAziz along with his youngest brother Mohammed Akbar will migrate to Karachi and establish the business there. Tungekars were among the top 10 richest families o f Karachi at that time and build a house by the name of 'Tungekar Ma ha l Abad' in 'Garden East' of 'Karachi', (http://www.tungekar.com/tun gek armahal.html). The business suffered heavily due to its dis-honest man agers who fled to South Africa after stealing most of the family money . The downfall started and soon there was no business and proper ty lef t after the death of AbdulAziz in 1965. In India the government took o ver the Salt Works and just recently in 1990's the family in I ndia was compensated by the government after winning the case in court .
    
    Currently the descendants of M. Jaffer Tungekar are spread across the globe. Over 12 generations with 900 individuals and 300 marriages have been recorded so far. Search for more is still on.