Later Mughals v1.c8.s8: Sec. 8.—Account of the Barha Sayyids.
Later Mughals v1.c8.s8
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Sec. 8.—Account of the Barha Sayyids.
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The Sayyids of Barha claim to be descended from Abul-farah, of Wasit in Mesopotamia. Several hundred years ago, at a date which cannot be fixed exactly, Abul-farah and his twelve sons came from Wasit to India, settling at first in four villages near Patiala, in the sarkar of Sarhind and subah of Dihli. From these villages the four branches, into which they are divided, derive their names.§ Then crossing the Jamuna, they formed a settlement on the eastern side of the upper Duaba, half way between Mirat and Saharanpur, in a sandy, unproductive piece of country, possibly at that time very sparsely inhabited. The etymology of the name Barha is disputed; perhaps it is from the word bara (twelve), with some allusion to the number of their villages.* From the time of Akbar, the men of this clan of Sayyids were famous as military leaders, and by their bravery had acquired a traditional right to lead the vanguard of the imperial troops. Until the reign of Farrukh-siyar they seem to have been little distinguished outside the profession of arms, and judging from what we know of their descendants in the present age, they probably had little love of learning. Brave, proud, lavish, they always were; and in our day, when their swords have been perforce beaten into pruning hooks, they have succumbed only too completely before the wily money-lender. In Muzaffarnagar many is the story current of the ‘Sayyid Sahib’s’ reckless improvidence and ignorance of the commonest rule of business. In the 18th century a Barha ka ahmaq, or ‘Barha blockhead’, was a common saying, and there was a rhyme to the effect that all the asses there were Bahadurs, and all the Bahadurs, asses. [S. M. iii. 441.]
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∗ At Dihli on the 27th September 1712 (26th Shaban 1124 H.), it was reported that Khan Jahan Bahadur and Murshid Quli Khan were marching to Patna to reinforce Azz-ud-din against Farrukh-siyar, (Valentyn, iv. 301). This report was quite unfounded.
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³²⁸ Daya Bahadur was killed on Azim-ush-shan's side at Lahor in Safar 1124 H. (March 1712).
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§ Chat-Banur is still a large town. Kundli has a few huts, Tihanpur is a petty hamlet, Jagner uninhabited, (Alan Cadell, Proc. As., Soc. Bengal, 1871, p. 261). I find Chat and Banur, two separate places in the n. e. of the Patiala territory, on sheet No. 47 of the Indian Atlas, the former about 16 m. n. and the latter 12 m.n.n.w. of Ambala city.
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The two Sayyid brothers, who now come into such prominence, were not the mere upstarts, men of yesterday, that it was too often the fashion to make them out to be.† Besides the prestige of Sayyid lineage, of descent from the famous Barha branch of that race, and the personal renown acquired by their own valour, they were the sons of a man who had held in Alamgir's reign first the subahdari of Bijapur in the Dakhin and then that of Ajmer, appointments given in that reign either to Princes of the blood or to the very foremost men in the State. Their father, Sayyid Abdullah Khan, known as Sayyid Miyan, had risen in the service of Ruhullah Khan, Alamgir's Mir Bakhshi, and finally, on receiving an imperial mansab, attached himself to the eldest Prince Muhammad Muazzam Shah Alam.
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∗ There seems to be no town or village in the Sayyids' country, or connected with them, bearing the name of Barha. Sir H. M. Elliot (Supp. Glossary, 110) speaks of the town of Barha as one plundered by Safdar Jang in 1748. On a subject so peculiarly his own, it is dangerous to contest any of that writer's statements, but unless I am much mistaken, the place so plundered was really Marahra (now in the Etah district), which lay in the course of Safdar Jang's march from Dihli to Farrukhabad, and also contains a well-known colony of Sayyids. Elphinstone (4th ed. p. 650) makes the same mistake. The Siyar-ul-mutakherin, Calcutta printed text, ii. 32; has, however, Marahra plainly enough. The error, no doubt, began with Mustapha, Siyar, iii. 83, who reads "Barr."
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† For instance, see Khafi Khan's remarks, ii. 730.
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Hasan Ali Khan (afterwards Abdullah Khan Qutb-ul-mulk) and Husain Ali Khan, two of the numerous sons of Abdullah Khan Sayyid Miyan were now men of about forty-six and forty-four years of age respectively.* About 1109 H. (1697-8) the elder brother was faujdar of Sultanpur Nazarbar in Baglana, subah Khandesh, after that, of Siuni Hoshangabad also in Khandesh, then again of Nazarbar coupled with Thalner in sarkar Asir of the same subah. Subsequently he obtained charge of Aurangabad. The younger brother Husain Ali Khan, who is admitted by every one to have been a man of much greater energy and resolution than his elder brother, had in Alamgir's reign held charge first of Rantambhor, in subah Ajmer, and then of Hindaun Biana, in subah Agra.
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After Prince Muizz-ud-din, the eldest of Shah Alam's sons, had been appointed in 1106 H. (1694-5) to the charge of the Multan province, Hasan Ali Khan and his brother followed him there. In an expedition against a refractory Biluch zamindar, the Sayyids were of opinion that the honours of the day were theirs. Muizz-ud-din thought otherwise, and assigned them to his then favourite Isa Khan Main. The Sayyids quitted the service in dudgeon and repaired to Lahor, where they lived in comparative poverty, waiting for employment from Munim Khan, the nazim of that place.†
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∗ If, as Rieu, 783, suggests, two of the portraits in B. M. Add. 18,800 are those of the Sayyid brothers, they were rather short men of a burly build, both with rather large heads and prominent noses, that of H. A. K. being especially beak-like. They have close-cropped beards, that of the elder brother quite white, the other's still a little black at the corners of the mouth.
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† Masir-ul-umara, iii. 130; Khafi Khan, ii. 456; Warid, 90, 91. For Baglana see Ain, ii. 208 and M.U. i.
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⁴¹⁴ Akbar (Ain 1. c.) placed
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When Alamgir died and Shah Alam, Bahadur Shah, reached Lahor on his march to Agra to contest the throne, the Sayyids presented themselves, and their services were gladly accepted. They were (Safar 1119 H. May 1707) promoted to the rank of 3,000 and 2,000 horse, respectively, with a gift of kettle-drums. In the battle of Jajau on the 18th Rabi I. 1119 H. (18th June 1707), they served in the vanguard and fought valiantly on foot, as was the Sayyid habit on an emergency. A third brother, Nur-ud-din Ali Khan, was left dead on the field, and Husain Ali Khan was severely wounded. Though their rank was raised in Zul Qada 1119 H. (Feb. 1708) to 4,000, and the elder brother received his father's title of Abdullah Khan, they were not treated with such favour as their exceptional services seemed to deserve, either by the new Emperor or his Wazir.*
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The two Sayyids managed to quarrel with Khanazad Khan, the Wazir's second son, and though the breach was healed by a visit to them from the Wazir in person, there is little doubt that this difference helped to keep them out of employment. Husain Ali Khan is also said to have offended Muizz-ud-din Jahandar Shah. The morning after the battle of Jajau, the Prince visited their quarters to condole with them on the death of their brother, Nur-ud-din Ali Khan, and in so doing launched out into praises of their valour. Husain Ali Khan met these overtures in an aggressive manner, saying that what they had done was nothing, many had done as much, their valour would be known when their lord was deserted and alone, and the strength of their right arm had seated him on the throne. Muizz-ud-din was vexed by this speech, and refrained from
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Nazarbar in subah Malwa. It was transferred again to the Khandesh subah about 1609, Bom. Gaz. xii. 458, where the name is given Nandurbar. Sultanpur is a town to the n. e. of Nandurbar town, ibid 471. Thalner, an ancient town in Khandesh, situated on the Tapti, 28 m. n. e. of Dhulia, ibid, 473. Siuni and Hoshangabad are two well-known districts in the Central Provinces, C. P. Gaz. 206 and 468. As to Muizz-ud-din's dealings with the Biloch tribes, see Masir-i-Alamgiri, 432 (year 1112 H.), ibid, 470, (year 1114 H.); Khafi Khan, ii. 462,463; Khush-hal Chand, 392a; Warid, pp. 86-88 (my copy, episodical account introduced in reign of Mhd. Shah). Also M. U. i. 825,826, under Khuda Yar Khan Lethi.
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∗ Khafi Khan, ii. 575; Kamwar Khan, 20; M. U. i. 321, iii. 130.
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making any recommendation to his father in their favour. Nay, he did his best to prevent their obtaining lucrative employment, and we read of their being obliged to rely upon the Emperor's bounty for their travelling expenses, which were necessarily great, as they were kept in attendance on the Court while it was constantly on the march.*
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In Shaban 1120 H. (Oct. 1708) Abdullah Khan had been named to the subah of Ajmer, then in a disturbed state owing to the Rajput rising, a condition of things with which Sayyid Shujaat Khan seemed hardly capable of dealing. Sayyid Abdullah Khan had barely more than reached Dihli, in order to raise new troops and make other preparations, when the Emperor, Bahadur Shah, changed his mind and Shujaat Khan was received again into favour and maintained in his Government. At length, by the favour of Prince Azim-ush-shan, Abdullah Khan on the 21st Zul Qada 1122 H. (10th Jan. 1711) became that Prince's deputy in the province of Allahabad. About two years earlier (11th Muharram 1120 H., 1st April 1708), the same patron had nominated the younger brother Husain Ali Khan, to represent him in another of his Governments, that of Bihar, of which the capital was at Azimabad Patna.