Although their aristocratic status was lost with the East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act of 1950, the Dhanbari estate remains an important part of the history of Tangail and tourist attraction.

Dhanapada has been described as an obdurate and extortionate autocrat whose predatory usurious exactions resulted in the homelessness of hundreds of Dhanbari's tenants.

During this period, Bayazid Khan of nearby Santosh, a member of the Baro-Bhuiyan confederacy was killed by the forces of Akbar's general Man Singh I whilst defending his territory.

His son and successor, Raza Ali Khan Chowdhury, married Sayyidah Talibunnesa Khatun Chowdhurani, daughter of Shah Khoda Bakhsh.

This family claim descent from Shah Atiqullah, a Muslim preacher from Baghdad, who had migrated to Delhi in the Mughal period.

[1] It is argued by the British-Bangladeshi historian Muhammad Mojlum Khan that "there is no conclusive evidence" of the family's descent from Shah Atiqullah.

[2] Nevertheless, from among Atiqullah's descendants was Shah Sultan who was awarded jagirs from the Mughal emperor, settling down in the village of Nakalia in Pabna.

As a result of the Jamuna river erosion, Sultan's offspring moved to the village of Hasmelan in Harirampur, Manikganj.

The Shah family of Hasmelan were not accustomed to exogamous marriage and as a result, Bakhsh was expelled from his village and lived with his wife in Baniara.

[4] The waqfnama claims that because of this spiritual nature, the family did not bother to preserve the sanads (land grants) received from the emperor.

[1] After Bakhsh's death, his son and successor Syed Muhammad Shah became the Gaddi nasheen of Dhanbari Estate.