The Institutes of Akbar 301.6

301.6

Abul Farah is said to have arrived in India with his twelve sons, of whom four remained in India on his return to his country. These four brothers are the ancestors of the four branches of the Sayyids. Their names are— 1. Sayyid Dáúd, who settled in the mauza’ of Tíhanpúr. 2. Sayyid Abulfazl, who settled in the qasbah of Chhatbanúrí (چھتبنوری). 3. Sayyid Abulfazáil, who settled in the mauza’ of Kúndlí. 4. Sayyid Najmuddín Husain, who settled in the mauza’ of Jhújar. These four places are said to lie near Patiálah in the Panjáb, and have given rise to the names of the four branches. Instead of Chhatbanúrí, the name of the second branch, the MSS. have also Chhátraudí, چھتروڑی, or چھتراوڑی, and Jágnerí (جاگنیري) instead of جھوجھري Jhújarí, although no explanation is given of these alterations. From Patiálah, the four brothers went to the Dúáb between the Ganges and Jamnah, from where a branch was established at Bilgrám in Audh. The etymology of bárha is stated to be uncertain. Some derive it from báhir, outside, because the Sayyids encamped outside the imperial camp; some from bárah imám, the twelve Imams of the Shi’ahs, as the Sayyids were Shi’ahs; some derive it from twelve (bárah) villages which the family held, just as the district of Balandshahr, Tahsíl Anúpshahr, is said to contain a bárha of Pat’háns, i. e. 12 villages belonging to a Pathán family; and others make it to be a corruption of the Arabic abrár, pious.