Later Mughals v1.c8.s8.1

v1.c8.s8.1

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.]