Page:The Oriental Biographical Dictionary.djvu/250

 Sarwat 238 Sayyad Muhammad Khan Bahadur, a son of 'Azim-uddaula Ahu'l Kasim Muzaffar Jang. He died in 1834 A. D., Shawwal, 1250 A. H., and left besides the Tazkira called " Umda- e-Muntakhiba," a thick Diwan. Sarwat, *^JJ*"} vide Jugal Kishor. Sata, f -l='-"j takhallus of a poet. Satesh Chandar Rae Bahadur, J^^^c^ ijbj'^'i- oSj^*", Maharaja of Nadea, the gTeat-grandson of Eaja Kishan Chandar Eae who aided the English in despoiling Siraj-uddaula, died November, 1870 A, D. Sayadat Khan, ci).5U*o, brother of Islam Khan, a nobleman of the reign of Shah Jahan ; he died in the month of July, 1669 A. D. His son's name was Fazl- ■ nllah Khan. Sayyad Ahmad Kabir, '^■;;-^5 grandfather of Sayyad Jalal Bukhar'i, and a Musalman saint, whose tomb is in Bijaimandil near the tomb of Shah Muham- mad Khayali at Dehli. Sayyad Ahmad, (J-^^ iSuiLk Ci-^a.] o^.^^ Munsif of Dehli in the British Government service, was the son of Sayyad Muharomad Muttaki Khan Bahadur', and author of the work called " Asar Sanadid," containing a de- scription of old Dehli and Shahjahanahad, and also of another work, entitled " Silsilat-ul-SIaluk." The native place of his ancestors, is Arabia. They removed after- wards to Hirat, and during the reign of Akbar the Great, they came into India, Ever since that period, they have enjoyed royal titles and dignity. He was living in 1857 A. D., 1273 A. H. Sayyad Ahmad, <^*'^^ brother of the celebrated Sayyad Jalal Bukhari. He was left in charge of Gujrat by Dara Shikoh in 1659 A. D. His elder brother's name was Sayyad Jafar Khan. His tomb is near Tajganj at Agrah. Sayyad Ahmad Khan, "^^^^ vide Ahmad Khan (Sayyad). Sayyad Ahmad, cf^^ir? of BareiH, who raised & religious war with the Sikhs in the Panjab and was killed at Balakot. He began life in an indifferent school for the character of reformer and saint, which he ultimately assumed, as a sawar serving with Amir Khan's fi-ee-booting horse in Malwa. Quitting that service, he repaired to Dehli, and became a disciple of Shah 'Abdul 'Aziz, a very celebrated devotee of the city ; the fame of whose knowledge and piety has been widely extended throughout this side of India. It is frequently said by natives, that it was from Shah 'Abdul 'Aziz, that Sayyad Ahmad derived the peculiar opinions which he subse- quently promulgated, and the design which he adopted of preaching up a religious war. It is at least certain, that the chief of his first disciples, and the most constant associates of all his fortunes, were two near relatives of 'Abdul 'Aziz, one his nephew, Maulwi Muhammad Isma'il, author of the Sii-at-ul-Mustakim, the other his son-in-law, and also partially a contributor to the book, named Maulwi 'Abdul Hai. By these persons, Muhammad Isma'il is generally esteemed to have been a man of much talent and learning. The extreme honour which he and his brother Maulwi paid to Saj-yad Ahmad, who was himself nearly illiterate, had a powerful effect in attracting towards him the respect of the vulgar. They rendered him almost menial offices, running, it is said, with their shoes off, by the side of his palankeen, when, he moved out with his servants. From his first leaving Dehli, ha assumed the name of a religious teacher, and commenced spreading his religious doctrines. The general spirit by which these were animated (identical nearly with that of the tenets of the Arabian Wahabis, of whom the sect of Sayyad Ahmad may perhaps be accurately termed an Indian imitation) was the ardent profession of Muham- madanism in its primitive simplicity and fervour, and - the utter rejection of all idolatrous or superstitious in- novations, whencesoever derived. The manner in which they were at first actually received was, however, highly favourable. When Sayyad Ahmad at last came down to Bengal, he had got together many followers, and had established an extensive reputation. He arrived in Calcutta with a considerable retinue towards the end of 1821 A. D., and immediately a great majority of the Muhammadans of the place, of all ranks and stations, flocked to become, or to profess themselves, his disciples. In the early part of 1822, he proceeded with his friends, the two Moulwis, to Mecca, from whence he returned in October of the next year, having touched for a few days at Bombay, where, with reference to the shortness of his stay, his success, in gaining numerous followers, was nearly as remarkable as in Calcutta. In December, 1823 A. D., he again started for Upper India. The next important event of his career, his commencing a religious war in the Labor territories, did not occur till after a considerable interval, though the enterprise was one in which he had long openly announced his intention to engage. Its date is given in the " Targhib-ul-Jihad," or " Incitement of Eeligious War," a little treatise written in Hindustani during the continuance of the struggle, by a Maulwi of Kanauj, with the view, as its name piu-ports, of rousing the Faithful to rally round the standard which had been raised in the Panjab. "The tribe of Sikhs," says the indignant Maulwi, " have long held sway in Labor and other places. Their oppressions have exceeded all limits. Thousands of Muhammadans they have unjustly killed, and on thousands have they heaped disgrace. The 'Azan, or summons for prayer, and the killing of cows, they have entirely prohibited. When at length their insulting tyranny could no longer be borne, Saj'yad Ahmad, going to the direction of Kabul and Kandahar, roused the Muhammadans of those coun- tries, and nerving their courage for action in the service of God, some thousands of believers became ready at his call to tread the path of God's service ; and on the 21st December, 1826 A. D., 20th Jumada I, 1242 A. H., the Jihad against the Kafij Sikhs began." The events of this war were watched with a natural interest by the Muhammadan population of India generally, whether followers of Sayyad Ahmad or not. Many of the inhabitants of our Western Provinces went in bodies to range themselves under his standard ; and his emis- saries gathered large contributions of money and jewels, even from our own distant Presidencies, and from the princii^al Muhammadan towns of the Dakhin. The prominent occurrences of the war, the perseverance with which it was kept up, the temporary and occasional successes which Sayyad Ahmad met with, and his ultimate death in battle, are well known. With his death, the struggle appears to have entirely ceased. — Journal Asiatie Society of Bengal,o. I, p. 480. Sayyad 'Ali or Sayyad 'Ali Hamdani, l5^'«*^*l5^ a famous Sayyad who fled to Kashmir from his native city of Hamdan where he had incurred the wrath of Amir Taimilr. Seven hundred Sayyads are said to have accompanied his flight to Kashmir in the reign of Sultan Kutb-uddi'n. He arrived in that province in 1380 A. 'D.', 782 A. H. He remained at Kashmir six years and named it the " Garden of Solomon" (Bagh Sulaiman). He died at Pakli whilst on his return to Persia. His son Mir MiJhammad Hamdani, also a fugitive, brought in his train ihree hundred Sayyads to Kashmir,