The Institutes of Akbar 330: 99. Shaikh Farid i Bukhari.
The Áín i Akbari (Blochmann, Jarrett) 330
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99. Shaikh Farid i Bukhari.
330.1
The Iqbalnamah, according to the Maasir, says, he belonged to the Ahisawat Sayyids; but this is extraordinary, because the Bukhari Sayyid’s trace their descent to Sayyid Jalal i Bukhari, seventh descendant of Imam Ali Naqi Alhadi. The fourth ancestor of Shaikh Farid was Shaikh ’Abdulghaffar of Dihli, who when dying desired his family to give up depending on Sayurghal tenures, but rather to enter the military service of the kings. This they seem to have done. Shaikh Farid was born at Dihli (Tuzuk, p. 68). He entered Akbar’s service early. In the 28th year, when M. ’Aziz (No. 21) resigned from ill-health the command of the Bihar army, S. F. accompanied Vazir Khan (No. 41) to the neighbourhood of Bardwan, where Qutlu of Orisa had collected his Afghans. Qutlu having made proposals of peace, S. F. was ordered to meet him. In doing so he nearly perished through Qutlu’s treachery (vide Stewart’s Bengal). In the 30th year, he was made a Commander of 700, and gradually rose, till the 40th year, to a command of 1500. He was also appointed Mir Bakhshi, and had also for some time the Daftar i Tan in his charge, i. e., he had to settle all matters relating to the grants of Jagir holders.
330.2
His elevation under Jahangir, was due to the decided support he gave Jahangir, immediately before his accession, and to the victory he obtained over Prince Khusrau at Bhaironwal. When Prince Salim occupied Ilahabad during his rebellion against his father, appointing his servants to mansabs and giving them jagirs, Akbar favoured Prince Khusrau so openly, that every one looked upon him as successor. Soon after, a sort of reconciliation was effected, and Salim’s men were sent to Gujrat. When Akbar lay on the death-bed, he ordered Salim to stay outside the Fort of Agrah; and M. ’Aziz Kokah (No. 21) and Rajah Man Singh, who from family considerations favoured Khusrau’s succession, placed their own men at the gates of the fort, and asked Shaikh Farid to take the command. But Sh. F. did not care for their arrangements and went over to Prince Salim outside, and declared him emperor, before Akbar had closed his eyes. On the actual accession, S. F. was made a commander of 5000, received the title of Çáhibussaif wa-lqalam, and was appointed Mir Bakshi. A short time after, on the 8th Zi Hajjah, 1014, Prince Khusrau suddenly left Agrah, and went plundering and recruiting to Lahor. Sh. F., with other Bukhari and many Barha Sayyids, was sent after him, whilst Jahangir himself followed soon after, accompanied by Sharif Khan Amir ul Umara, and Mahabat Khan, who were hostile to Sh. F., and took every possible opportunity of slandering him.
330.3
Sultan Khusrau had gone to Lahor, and besieged the town, when he heard of Sh. F.’s arrival with 12000 horse at the Abi Sultanpur. He raised the siege, and arrived at the Biah, which Sh. F. had just crossed. Khusrau was immediately attacked. The fight was unusually severe. The Barha and Bukhari Sayyids had to bear the brunt of the fight, the former in the van under the command of Saif Khan, son of Sayyid Mahmud Khan Kundliwal, (p. 392) and Sayyid Jalal. There were about 50 or 60 of the Barha Sayyids opposed to 1500 Badakhshi troopers, and had not S. Kamal (p. 397) come in time to their rescue, charging the enemy with loud cries of Padishah salamat, the Barha Sayyids would have been cut down to a man. Sayyid Saif Khan got seventeen wounds, and S. Jalal died a few days after the battle. About four hundred of Khusrau’s troopers were killed, and the rest dispersed. Khusrau’s jewel-box fell into the hands of the Imperialists. The fight took place in the neighbourhood of Bhaironwal. In the evening Jahangir arrived, embraced S. F., and stayed the night in his tent. The District was made into a Parganah of the name of Fathabad, and was given Sh. F. as a present. He received, besides, the title of Murtaza Khan, and was appointed governor of the Çubah of Gujrat.
330.4
In the 2nd year, S. F. presented Jahangir an immense ruby made into a ring, which weighed 1 misqal, 15 surkhs, and was valued at 25000 Rs. As the relations of the Shaikh oppressed the people in Gujrat, he was recalled from Ahmadabad (Tuzuk, p. 73). In the 5th year, he was made governor of the Panjab. In 1021, he made preparations to invade Kangrah. He died at Pathan in 1025, and was buried at Dihli (Tuz. p. 159). At the time of his death, he was a Commander of Six Thousand, 5000 horse. Sayyid Ahmad, in his work on the antiquities of Dihli, entitled Asdrussanadid, No. 77, says that the name of S. F.’s father was Sayyid Ahmad i Bukhari. Of Farid’s tomb, he says, nothing is left but an arcade (dálán). But he wrongly places the death of the Shaikh in the 9th year or 1023 A. H., instead of the eleventh year, or 1025. Sayyid Ahmad also mentions a Sarái built by Shaikh Farid in Dihli, which has since been repaired by the English Government, and is now used as a jail (jel khánah). According to the Tuzuk, p. 65, Salimgadh (Dihli) belonged to S. Farid. It had been built by Salim Khan the Afghán during his reign in the midst (dar miyán) of the Jamnah. Akbar had given it to Farid. When Shaikh Farid died, only 1000 Ashrafis were found in his house, which very likely gave rise to the Táríkh of his death— dád, khurd burd (1025, A. H.). ‘He gave, and left (carried off) little.’
330.5
Shaikh Farid was indeed a man of the greatest liberality. He always gave with his own hands. Once a beggar came to him seven times on one day, and received money; and when he returned the eighth time, Farid gave him again money, but told him not to tell others; else they might take the money from him. He gave widows a great deal, and his jágír lands were given as free land tenures to the children of his servants or soldiers who had been killed. When in Gujrát, he had a list made of all Bukhárí Sayyids in the province, and paid for every marriage feast and outfit; he even gave pregnant women of his clan money for the same purpose for the benefit of their yet unborn children. He never assisted singers, musicians, or flatterers. He built many saráis. The one in Dihli has been mentioned above. In Ahmadabad, a mahallah was adorned by him and received as a memorial of him the name of Bukhárá. In the same town he built the Masjid and Tomb of Sháh Wajíhuddín (died 988; Badáoní III, 43). He also built Farídábád near Dihli, the greater part of the old parganah of Tilpat being included in the parganah of Farídábád (Elliot’s Glossary, Beames’ Edition, II, p. 123). In Lahor also, a Mahallah was built by him, a large bath, and a chauk, or bazar. The Government officers under him received annually three khil’ats; to his footmen he gave annually a blanket, and his sweepers got shoes. He never made alterations in his gifts.
330.6
His contingent consisted of 3000 picked troopers. Neither in the reign of Akbar, nor that of Jahángír, did he build a palace for himself. He always lived as if on the march. He paid his contingent personally, little caring for the noise and tumult incident to such offices. One of his best soldiers, an Afghan of the name of Sher Khan, had taken leave in Gujrát, and rejoined after an absence of six years, when Sh. Farid was in Kalānūr on his march to Kangrah. The Shaikh ordered Dwārkā Dās his Bakhshī, to pay the man his wages, and the Bakhshī wrote out the Descriptive Roll, and gave the man one day’s pay. But Farid got angry, and said, “He is an old servant, and though he comes rather late, my affairs have not fared ill on account of his absence; give him his whole pay.” The man got 7000 Rs., his whole pay for six years. “Night and day,” exclaims the author of the Maāsir, “change as before, and the stars walk and the heavens turn as of old, but India has no longer such men. Perhaps they have left for some other country!”
330.7
Shaikh Farid had no son. His daughter also died childless. He had adopted two young men, Muhammad Sa’īd and Mīr Khān. They lived in great pomp, and did not care for the emperor. Though often warned, they would noisily pass the palace in pleasure boats to the annoyance of the Emperor, their boats being lighted up with torches and coloured lamps. One night they did so again, and Mahābat Khān, whom Jahāngīr had given a hint, sent one of his men and killed Mīr Khān. Sh. F. demanded of the emperor Mahābat’s blood; but Mahābat got together several ‘respectable’ witnesses who maintained before the emperor that Mīr Khān had been killed by Muhammad Sa’īd, and Shaikh F. had to remain quiet. Muhammad Sa’īd was alive in the 20th year of Shāhjahān, and was a Commander of Seven Hundred, 300 horse (Pādishāhn. II, 743). Sayyid Ja’far, Sh. F.’s brother, was also in Akbar’s service. He was killed in the battle of Patan (p. 397, l. 5). The Pādishāhnāmah (I, b., 316, 313; II, 739) also mentions Sayyid Badr, son of Shaikh Farīd’s sister, a Commander of 700, 500 horse; and Sayyid Bhakar, son of Sh. F.’s brother, a Commander of Five Hundred, 300 horse.