A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, Volumes I & IISleeman, W. H. (William Henry), Sir
History
A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, Volumes I & II
Sleeman, W. H. (William Henry), Sir
Oudh (India) -- Description and travel
At Salone resides a holy Mahommedan, Shah Puna Ata, who is looked up
to with great reverence by both Mahommedans and Hindoos, for the
sanctity of his character, and that of his ancestors, who sat upon
the same religions _throne_, for throne his simple mattress is
considered to be. From the time that the heir is called to the
_throne_, he never leaves his house, but stays at home to receive
homage, and distribute blessings and food to needy travellers of all
religions. He gets from the King of Oude twelve villages, rent free,
in perpetuity; and they are said to yield him twenty-five thousand
rupees a-year, with which he provides for his family, and for needy
travellers and pilgrims. This eleemosynary endowment was granted,
about sixty years ago, by the then sovereign, Asuf-od Dowlah. The
lands had belonged to a family of Kumpureea Rajpoots, who were ousted
for contumacy or rebellion, I believe. He was plundered of all he
had, to the amount of some twenty thousand rupees, in 1834, during
the reign of Nuseer-on Deen Hyder, by Ehsan Hoseyn, the Nazim of
Byswara and Salone, one of the sons of Sobhan Allee Khan, the then
virtual minister; but some fifteen days after, he attacked the
tallookdar of Bhuderee, and lost his place in consequence. The
popular belief is, that he became insane in consequence of the holy
man's curses, and that his whole family became ruined from the same
cause.
Bhuderee, which lies a few miles to the south of Salone, was then
held by two gallant Rajpoot brothers, Jugmohun Sing and Bishonath
Sing, the sons of Zalim Sing. In the month of October, A.D. 1832,
Dhokul Sing got the contract of the district, and demanded from
Bhuderee an increase of ten thousand rupees in its revenue. They
refused to pay this increase. At the established rate they had always
paid the Government demand punctually, and been good subjects and
excellent landlords. Dhokul Sing was superseded by Ehsan Hoseyn, in
March 1833; and he insisted upon having the increase of ten thousand.
They refused to pay, and Ehsan Hoseyn besieged and attacked their
fort in September. After defending themselves resolutely for five
days, Bishonath Sing consented to visit Ehsan Hoseyn, in his camp, on
a solemn assurance of personal security; but he no sooner came to his
tent than he was seized and taken to Rae Bareilly, the headquarters,
a prisoner, in the suite of the Nazim. He there remained confined, in
irons, under charge of a wing of a regiment, commanded by Mozim Khan,
till February 1834, when he effected his escape, and went back to
Bhuderee. In March, a large force was collected, with an immense
train of artillery, to aid the Nazim, and he again laid siege to the
fort. Having sent off their families before the siege began, and
seeing, in the course of a few days, that they could not long hold
out against so large a force, the two brothers buried eight out of
their ten guns, left the fort at midnight with the other two, cut
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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