Observations on the Mussulmauns of India: Descriptive of Their Manners, Customs, Habits and Religious Opinions Made During a Twelve Years' Residence in Their Immediate SocietyMeer Hasan Ali, Mrs.
Islamic
Observations on the Mussulmauns of India: Descriptive of Their Manners, Customs, Habits and Religious Opinions Made During a Twelve Years' Residence in Their Immediate Society
Meer Hasan Ali, Mrs.
India -- Social life and customs; Muslims -- India
I was induced to visit the mukhburrah of the great-great-grandfather of the
present King of Oude,[4] who, at his death,--which occurred at Delhi, I
believe,--was one of the Soobadhaars[5] of the sovereign ruler of India.
This nobleman, in his time, had been a staunch adherent to the descendants
of Timoor, and had been rewarded for his fidelity by public honours and
the private friendship of the King. The monument erected over his remains,
is in a costly style of magnificence, and in the best possible condition,
standing in the centre of a flower-garden which is enclosed by a stone
wall, with a grand gateway of good architecture. The mukhburrah is
spacious, and in the usual Mussulmaun style of building mausoleums; viz.,
a square, with a dome, and is ascended by a flight of broad steps. This
building stands about three miles from the city, in a good situation to be
seen from the road. I was told that the family of Oude kept readers of the
Khoraun in constant attendance at the mukhburrah; and I observed several
soldiers, whose duty it was to guard the sacred spot, at the expense of
the Oude government.
In explanation of the word Soobadhaar, it may not be uninteresting to
remark in this place, that when the government of Hindoostaun flourished
under the descendants of Timoor, Soobadhaars were appointed over districts,
whose duty, in some respects, bore resemblance to that of a Governor; with
this difference, that the soobadhaaries were gifts, not only for the life
of the individuals, but to their posterity for ever, under certain
restrictions and stipulations which made them tributary to, and retained
them as dependants of, the reigning sovereign:--as for instance, a certain
annual amount was to be punctually transferred to the treasury at Delhi;
the province to be governed by the same laws, and the subjects to be under
the same control in each Soobadhaarie as those of the parent sovereignty;
the revenue exacted in the very same way,; each Soobadhaar was bound to
retain in his employ a given number of soldiers, horse and foot, fully
equipped for the field, with perfect liberty to employ them as occasion
served in the territory which he governed, whether against refractory
subjects, or encroachments from neighbouring provinces; but in any
emergency from the Court at Delhi, the forces to be, at all times, in
readiness for the Sultaun's service at a moment's notice.
The gift of a Soobadhaarie was originally conferred on men who had
distinguished themselves, either in the army, or in civil capacities, as
faithful friends and servants of the Sultaun. In the course of time, some
of these Soobadhaars, probably from just causes, threw off their strict
allegiance to their Sovereign, abandoned the title of Soobadhaar, and
adopted that of Nuwaub in its stead, either with or without the consent of
the Court of Delhi.
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