SINDH OBSERVED

Seleetion from the .Journal of Sindh

mstorieal Soeiety

Edited by

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"

To,

Nadeern Orner, Bilal Ahmad, & .

Muhamad Amjad

CONTENTS
Page No.
1.

Sapta-Sindhu in the Rig Veda

11

By N.M. Billimoria
2.

The Iranians in Ancient India

41

Especially in Sindh and the Punjab

By N.M. Billimoria
3.

Two Minor Invasions of Sindh

71

By AB.Advani, M.A, LLB.

4.

The English Missions of 1808,

79

1809 & 1820 to Sindh

By AB.Advani, M.A, LL.B.
5.

Sindh in 1809: Extracts from

91

Henry Ellis' Account

By B.D.Mirehandani,LC.S
6.

Did the British Introduce

99

Christianity into Sindh

By Rev. AchillesMcersman,O.F.M.
7.

Commercial Navigation of the Indus,

101

1820-1832 AD.
By c.i, Mariwalla,B.A
8.

The Mirs and the Indus Tolls

By. H.T. Lambriek, LC.S.

] 31

9.

The Scinde Irregular Horse, in its

147

earliest days
By H.T. Lambrick, I.C.S.
10.

The Sindh Battles, 1843

165

By H.T. Lambrick, I.C.S.

11.

The Lion's Last Roar

205

By AB. Advani M.A., LL.B.

12.

The 50th Anniversary of Meanee

209

13.

The Indian Navy--- A review of its

213

Activities in Sindh and on the Adjacent

Coasts 1615-1863
By CommanderR.D. Merriman,R.I.N.
14.

Sindh and the Indian Mutiny of 1857

225

By c.i, Mariwalla,B.A
15..

Two Great Occasions in British History

233

in Sindh
By c.L. Mariwalla,B.A.
16.

Karachi Town, its Trade and Taxation

245

in the First Half of the 19th Century

By C.L. Mariwalla,B.A.
17.

Historical Development of Education

255

in Sindh
By Miss Sarla J. Narsian
18.

The Mazaris of Sindh

275

By MuhammadYasin, M.A
19.

The History of Dress

By Dr. Omar Rolf Baron Ehrenfels

281

INTRODUCTION
_ The early political history of Sindh is shrouded in mystery and
mostly. remains unknown. The excavation of Moenjo Daro brought .
to light the existence of highly developed urban culture in Sindh
(2500-200 Bq. The discovery of Moenjo Daro smashed the myth
that the Indian subcontinent has no history and civilization. The
discovery of highly urbanized and developed civilization refuted
these charges and brought the ancient Indian civilization parallel to
the Egyptian and Mesopotamian,
II gave pride and confidence to
the people of the Indian subcontinent and strengthened the freedom
movement against the Britishcrs.
The significant aspect of the history of Sindh is the constant
invasions of the foreign powers and its occupation by them. In 520515 B.C, the Persians invaded Sindh and after the conquest
incorporatcd
it into !he Persian empire.
Next was Alexander of
Macedonia (326-25 BC). Then came Sakus and the Kushans (120
Be 200 AD). It was again conquered by the Sassanid Empire and
Sindh hecame one of its province- ..
Under
The
Rai dynasty Sindh attempted
to become
independent but the defeat of the Rai ruler by the Persians scaled
the fate and Sindh remained occupied by the Persians. When Chuch
came into power; he made Sindh independent from the Persian
empire. But the independence was short lived and during the reign
of Raja Dahar, Sindh was invaded by the Arabs who, after the
victory, made it a part of the Arab Empire. Nearly two hundred
years (712-105R) the Arab ruled over Sindh.
The later history of Sindh is the history of the ruling dynasties.
The Sumras (I05H- 1:\71); the Sam mas (134IJ-f520); the Kalhoras
(1700-1782):
and the Talpurs
(1782-IH43) ruled over Sindh
successively. In 1843. it was conquered by the British and became a
part of the Bombay presidency.
In 1937, after a vigorous poliliral_
campaing, it was separated and became an independent provinl'c)-

'

The tragedy of the political history of Sindh is that mostly it was

ruled hy the foreign dynasties unsympathetic to the locul people.
They ruled over the country with force and military power and thus
brought immense suffering to the people andthe country.
The foreign ruling classes throughout the history resided mn
the cities which nourished al- the expense of the pcascrus and the
workers,
They kept the local people backward and ignorant.
Consequently
the local culture could not prosper and remained
overshadowed
hy the foreign urban culture.
Their rule of the
foreign dynasties, the constant invasions from the outside, and the
civil wars between the claimants of the throne devastated the country
and reduced the majority of people to poverty. this made them
culturally bacbackward.
Sindh":.\,as'visited by the different European nations in the 16th
and the 17th cent pries for trade. The Portuguese wen: first. They
, were followed by the English and the Dutch. The first English
factory was established at Thatta in 1615, It appears from the.
Factory records that during the 17th century Sindh was f.."lOUS for
its textiles and Bhakkar, Rohri, Darbclo, Gambat, KanJiaro,
Schwan. Sann. Dadu, Nasarpur, and Thalia were famous for cotton
manufacturing
industry.
The chief articles which were exported
Irom Sindh were rice, hides, Sharkfins, saltpetre, tmtash, assafoetida,
colton. silk cloths, horses and indigo.
Sindh was rich in agriculture products. Dates, mangoes. apples,
pomegranates,
oranges, mulberries, tamarinds, and melons were
abundant.
The common vegetables were onions, spinich, turnips,
radishs. carrots, garlic, pumpkins, beans, peas and eggplants. The
wheat and rice were produced in large quantity.
Inspire of the
fertility of soil, the condition of the peasants was miserable because
the best lands were occupied by the foreign ruling classes and the
local peasantry eitber cultivated the worst land or worked manual
labours and lived in squalid and wretchcdnes.
The burden of
I.ltiserie~ was lessened by the common people in observing festivals,
and engaging in dancing and singing.
The partation of 1947 brought political. social and economic'
change to Sindh. The urban Hindu population left Sindh in a frenzy
of communal riots and the refugees from various parts (If India
arrived and selllcd in cities. When the early cnthuusiasm cooled

down. the problems between Sindhi and refugees were multiplied.

The political situation was further deteriorated when West Pakistan
was declared One Unit.
It was the beginning of nationalist
I1W\,Cl11cntin Sindh in order to preserve their identity. Though one
Unit was abolished in 1970 hut in the absence of democratic process
the small nationalities felt exploited hy the majority province. Sindh
is st ruggling very hard Ior betterment
of its future socially,
economically, culturally and also striding fur its FUTURE, to win
the status it has always DESERVED.
In order to understand

the history of Sindh, the articles written

hy eminent historians and Scholars arc selected from the journal of

Sind Historical Society. These articles were written by prominent
historians and scholars who. after painstaking research, brought to
light the ancient as well a~ modern history IIf Sindh. As the journal
ceased to publish: and its complete record is not available ill any
library; it is decided to publish the collection Ill' best of articles and
make them available 10 scholars and general readers.
Mubaruk Ali
I.II/um', Augus, /'N'>.

Sapta-Sindhu

in the Rig Veda

By N. M. Billimoria

(Read before tile Sindh Historical Society, Karachi, 011 l lth Dec. J938)
I must first mention about the Sapta Sindhu and about the Rig
Veda before I take up the proper subject of the paper.
Arya signifying honourable, in ordinary speech, and derived
from arya, which means lord in the Vedas, is the most ancient name
of the Indian people.
In Rig Veda I, 51, 8 we read "Distinguish
between the Aryas ami those who are Dasyus; chastizing those who
observe no sacred rites, subject to them to the sacrificer." The term
"Malecha", an impure barbarian, is the opposite of Arya. The same
is the case among the Persians. According to the Persian law of
euphony, arya had to be changed airya, a name which the Persians
long applied to themselves, and out of which the more modern Iran,
has arisen; a name too with whict! Herodotus
had become
acquainted. Anairya, non-Iranic is opposed to the word airya.
Ananda K. Coomaraswamy in his recently published book The
Rig Veda as L~nd-Nama Bok says about Arya, Arya thus:Arya, "noble" or "gentle" (as in "Gentleman") is form r, to go,
rise up, reach, obtain; cognate forms are ariya, airya, Irna, Erin,
and Germ. Ehrc; for the root, cf. Zend ir, Lith ir-ti (to row, of.
Skr. aritra, "oar"), (ired'
or-nu-rni, 'aro-o etc. and LaL or-ior,
or-lens.
Any connection with LaL ar, to plough, may be
doubted. The root meanings give the sense of going forward
ami taking possession.
The root meaning of arya is that of
"pioneer", in the American sense, where the first settlers arc
most highly honoured (one might almost speak of an "ancestral
cult" in this connection), and where it represents the height of
social distinction to be descended from these first comers from
the other side. From this point of view, there develops the
secondary meaning of "noble" and that of "right", d. rta "law"
and ari "loyal"; the procedure of the first settlers being thought
of as an establishment of law and order where savagery (anrta)

II

Sindt, Observed

had previously prevailed. Thus he, Agni, who purvam arta

(R V. IV, 1, 12) is not only rtaya and rtayus, but also rtavan and
rtvij or in short and in every sense of the word, arya or arya.
It need hardly be pointed out that the term arya is applied by
the Aryans themselves to themselves in this laudatory sense, and by
way of distinction from others whose descent and behaviour are
relatively abominated, and of whose point of viewViehear little.
Rg. Veda IV, 1, 12.
Wonderously first he rose aloft, defiant, in the Bull's lair, the
home of holy order.
Longed-for, young. beautiful, and far-resplendent; and seven
dear friends sprang up into the mighty.
The original Arian race from which later the Indians and the
Persians separated cannot have lived as one community in India or
Persia. The Indians who spoke Sanskrit were not the original
inhabitants of Hindustan. The oldest scats of the Indians mentioned
arc to be placed in the Punjab. In the first Fargad of the Vendidad,
verse 73, Hapta Hindu or India is mentioned, which is called Hindus
in the cunei-form inscriptions. For a long time the meaning of
Hapta Hendu, seven Indias, was not understood. The Vedas gave an
explanation, for in the hymns of the Rig Veda, we find SaptaSindhvas, the seven rivers, often mentioned; this is the country of the
Indians. From the Punjab, the Indian advanced towards the cast,
first as the Sarswati; after that, they spread over the whole of north
India; they went to the south only in the later period.
The Sanskrit, or what may be called the indigenous name of the
river Indus is Sindhu, not Hindu from which the word Indus has
come. The Rig Veda speaks of the Indus.with its tributaries as SaptSindhavas (i.e., country of the Seven Sindhu 'rivers) not as HaptHindavas. See Rig Veda, IV, Hymn 28.
With you as his, companion and in friendship with you, oh
Soma, Indra set the waters fItlwing for man. He slew the Serpent,
set free the seven rivers and opened up the gates which were closed
as it were.
12

Sapta-Sindhu

ill the Rig Veda

(Translated by H. D. Velankar, in the journal of the Bombay

University, Vol. VI, Part VI, May 1938).
Great discussion has arisen toassign the original country of the
Arian family. There are many opinions on the subject. One says
that India was the original country of the Arian family, from which
its different' branches emigrated to the north-west and in other
directions.
Some very famous men state that the original abode is to be
sought in the extreme east of the Iranian country, in the tract where
the Oxus and Jaxartes take their rise. The great affinity between the
Sanskrit and the ancient Bactrian languages and the resemblances
between the mythologies of the Vedas and the Avesta should show
that the Iranians had spent a great part of the Vedic period with the
Indians. This opinion is supported by Prof. Max Muller; and he adds
that "the Zoroastrians were a colony from Northern India. They had
been together for a time with the people whose sacred songs have
been preserved to us in the Veda. A schism took place and the
Zoroastrians migrated westward to Arachosia and Persia. They gave
to the new cities and to the rivers along which they settled the names
of cities and rivers familiar to them, and reminding them of the
localities which they had left. Haroyu in Persian would be Saroyu in
Sanskrit; this river of the Punjab is mentioned in the Veda; IV, 30,
18; "Arna and Chitraratha, both Aryas, thou, Indra slewest swift, on
yonder side of Sarayu." Turvasa and Yadu may perhaps have
crossed the river and under the pzorecrion of Indra conquered two
Aryan chiefs whose lands lay beyond it. This same river is
mentioned again in the tenth book, 64 hymn, 9th verse;". Let the
Sarasvati, the Sarayu, the Sindhu, with their waves; let the great
rivers come swiftly strengthening us with their succour, etc,"
M. Pictct in his "Lcs Origines Indo-Europeennes", says:
"Assuming Bactria to have been the centre of the region
peopled by the primitive Atryas, the Iranians must have
possessed its North-East corner, bordering on Sogdiana,
towards Belurtag, and have at first spread towards the cast, as
far as the high mountai I v..lleys, from which they afterwards
descended to col()ni~e ~ran .. Alongside of them, to the southeast, probably, in the fertile regions of Badakshan, dwelt the
Indo-Arians. occupying the slopes of Hindu-Kush, which they

"'II""

Obscr. -cd

had afterwards 10 cross. or 10 round, in order to arrrvc 111

Cabul, and penetrate thence into Northern India.
To the
south-west, towards the sources of the Artamis, and the
Bactrus, we should place the Pelasgo-Arians (the Greeks and
Latins). who must have advanced thence in the direction of
Herat and continued
their migration by Khorasan
and
Mazenderan to Asia Minor and the Hcllaspont."
I

The period when the Arian emigrations

cannot be placed al less than 3()(X) B.C.

took place the earliest

Lassen Ind. Ant. 1,527 remarks as follows: _

'The opinion that the original scats of these (the Indian and
Iranian) nations arc to he soughthere
in (the extreme cast of
the Iranian highlands) receives great confirmation from the
fact, that we lind hranches of these nations on both sides of the
lofty range; for the ancient inhabitants of Casghar, Yarkhand,
Khoten, Aksu, Turfan, and Khamil arc Tajkis and -spcak
Persian; it is from this point only that they are diffused towards
the interior of upland Asia; so that their 1110S1 powerful germ
seems to have been planted on this range."
And Prof. Wilson says:
"Without extending the limits of India, however, too far to the
north, there is no reason to doubt. that the valleys of the Indian
Caucasus were properly included within them, and that their
inhabitants. as far as Pamer mountains and Badakhshan, were
Indian", who may have been 011 first tributary 10 Persia. and
afterwards subject 10 some branches of the Greek race of
Bactrian kings" Ariana Antiqua, p. IJ-t.
Badakhshan is the countrv on the hanks of the OXliS ncar its
...uurccs situated between lat. .V," and 3X" north, and lying eastward
from Balkh. Pamer lies in the same direction.
I may say ih.u none of the most ancient Sanskrit hooks has any
reference or allusion 10 I he foreign origin of the Indians.

14

Sapta-Sindhu

ill the Rig Veda

In several verses in the Rig Veda we lind words which show

that the composers of the verses still retain some recollection of
their having occupied a colder country:
R. V. I. (l~. 17:

May we cherish sons and descendants a hundred

years.

R. V. V. 54.15;

Be pleased, 0 Maruts, with this hymn of mine, by

the force of which may we pass through a
hundred winters.

R. V. VI~. 8;

May we rejoice, living a hundred winters, with

vigorous offspring.

The mention of Uuara (northern) Kurus may be reminding

them of countries north of the Himalaya. Ptolemy is also acquainted
with Uuara Kuru. He speaks of a mountain, a people, and a city
called Ouorokorrathis place may he sought for to the cast of
Kashgar.
As stated before, Ahura-rnazda
created several regions, it
mentioned in the First Fargard of the Vcndidad. The.first region is
Aryano-vacjo Dr. Haug remarks about this that Airyana-vaejo was
originally the only cultivated country, and that all other countries
were waste. As it was to he feared that the inhabitants of the waste
would overrun this fertile region, other countries were also made
habitahle by Ahura-mazda,
In the 72-73 verses Sapta-Sindhuvas is
mentioned, the country of the seven rivers of the Punjab. Spiegel
places Airyana-vaejo in the furthest cast of the Iranian plateau, in
the region where the Oxus and Jaxartes take their rise.
Cashmere, which has the sources of one of the tributaries of
the Indus, the .Ihclumthe Hydaspes of the ancient Greeks, the
Bydaspcs of Ptolemy ,IIlU the Vitasra of the Vl.:uas- was then
included
in the
above
named
country
of Hapia-Hindu.
Unfortunately, the Iranian names of the Indus have not come down
to us in the extant Iranian literature. But still, the names, Hydaspcs,
the Greek name or the Jhclum, and Bydaspcs, the name given to it
hv Ptolemy, clcarlv show thcir-Jranian oriuin. We know. that M)II1L'
oi the rivers of ancient Pcrxia d2rivI.:d Ihl'i; name!'. 1'0:'"aspa", i.c .. the
horse. because their -pccd was considered In L,L' as great a!'.lhal "I' a
IHH'!'.l', Tnkc 1,)1' example Ihl' Hvaspa, t.r., till' gl)()(I-hor~e which I!'.

15

thought to be the same as the Choaspes of the Greeks. The name

Hydaspes or Bydaspes is another instance of a river deriving its
name from Avesta, Aspa, Sanskrit, Ashwa, Latin, Equus, a horse.
Even later Arab and Mahomedan writers speak of Kashmir as
being a part of Hindu or India. According to Masudi, Kashmir
together with Sindh and Kanauj formed part of India.
We have seen that Bactria or its ncighourhood was the country
- which the different branches of the Indo-European race occupied in
common before they separated. By what route did they enter India.
Lassen says:
"There is only one route by which we can imagine the Arian
Indians to have immigrated into India; they must have come'
through the Punjab and reached the Punjab through western
Kabulistan. The roads leading from the country on the Oxus
into eastern Kabulistan and the valley of the Panjkora, or into
the upper valley or the Indus down upon Gilgit and from
thence either down the course of the Indus or from Gilgit over
the lofty plateau of Dootsu down on Kashmir, are now known
to us as the roughest and most difficult that exist, ... All the
important expeditions of nations or armies which are known to
us have proceeded
through
the western passes of the
Hindukush, and if we suppose the Arian Indians to have come
into India from Bactria, this is the only route by which we can
assum'e them to have arrived."
Schlegal slates:
The western side of India appears to be more open, as from
Kashmir 10 the Delta of the Indus the boundaries arc not

()Ih<.:rwi~emarked than hy that river itself. But in its upper

course the Indus is 110tnavigable owing to its rapidity and irs
cataracts: and in addition ih right hank is flanked by mountains.
Towards Ihe sea if spreads out into, or is surrounded by,
marshcv; more in the interior. and even above the confluence of
the !IW rivers, it is boundetrby sandy deserts. From that point
to Ik place where it enters the plains near Attock a tract
intervenes where the ra~sage may be more easily effected.
Accordingly il j~ on this side that India has always been entered

Sapta-Sindhu

ill 'he Rig Veda

by foreign conquerors, by Samiramis, if her Indian expedition is

authentic .... by Alexander the Great, Seleucus, and the Greek
kings of Bactria, by the Indo-Schythians, or nomad races, who
invaded certain provinces during the century preceding our era;
by Mahmud of Ghazni, by the Afghans, the Moghuls, and the
Persians under Nadir Shah. Thus all probabilities are united in
favour of the supposition that the ancestors of the Hindus came
from the same side ..... The Punjab would consequently be the
first country occupied by the colonists"
.
Coming to the present writers, G. R. Hunter in the New
Review for April 1936 writes in a paper on the "Riddle of Mohenjo
Daro:"
It seems fairly certain that at some time prior to the Aryan
arrival the Dravidians held the Indus Valley, For on no other
hypothesis is it easy to account for the present position and
speech of the Brahui 'of Baluchistan. . Further evidence to
suggest that they were actually in Moheqjo Daro at the time of
our texts is afforded by the discovery of what appears to.be a
variety of the Indus script on pottery recovered from cairn
burials in Hyderabad and Madras (see Journal+ of the
Hyderabad Archaeological Society, 1917, p. 57) in country that
one supposes was Dravidian-speaking at the date of those
burials. A further argument might be drawn rrom the presence
at Mohenjo Daro of a high proportion of skulls of the
Mediterranean type.
But until more is known of the
anthropological antecedents of the Dravidian-speaking races it
would be wiser to omit this argument."
Rev. Heras in his paper on "Light on the Mohenjo Daro
Riddle", in the July 1936 number of the New Review writes:
"Accustomed as we are to associate the Dravidians from very
ancient times with South India, it is indeed a little difficult to
persuade ourselves that they occupied the whole 01 Jl'ldia at any
time 'of her history. Even Dravidian scholars have never
claimed that their ancestors were at any time masters of
Northern India. But the Rig Veda itself speaks of the light
between the Aryas and the Dasyus from the moment they
crossed the Hindukush,
(I do not speak of the Asuras who
apparently were not Dravidians). During the epic period

17

Sindt: Observed

Northern India,
the Gandharas,
the Mahisis, the Matsyas, the Nagas, the
Garudas, the Bakhlias, point to the presence of the much
Dravidian blood in the veins of Northern Indian people.
I3rahui and Uraon, two Dravidian languages now spoken in
Northern India also suggest the domination of the ancient
Dravidians over the whole of Northern India."
"Who were these Dravidians and from where did they come?
The answer to this question will help us a great deal to solve
the Mohenjo Daro riddle. The opinion now prevalent among
historians and ethnologists is that they formed a part of the
great Mediterranean
race. Their original home was probabaly
Libya, whose people spread over the southern countries of
Europe and Egypt in its pre-dynastic days, and which seems to
have been an important centre of culture in ancient times. This
culture was brought to India by Lybians who were later called
Dravidians, and it improved by its mixture with the negritoes
and Kolarians who were inhabiting India at the time of their
arrival.
This mixture is proved by its results.
Though the
Dravidians belonged to the white race they were described by
the Aryan invaders as "blacked faced and noseless." If they
mixed so freely with the negritoes as to acquire some of their
characteristics, they must have mixed much more freely with
the Austric people who were racially less different from them.
A mixture of two races improves the new race and
consequently its cult ure. That the culture of the Dravidian
people received a new impulse after their mixture with the
earlier settlers, the script of Mohenjo Daro is an evident proof.
For though brought into India from outside it developed so
much here as to become the parent script of some of the most
famous scripts in the history of the world."
The words "blacked faced and noscless", used by Rev. Hcras I
have traced 111 verse 10, hymn 29 to Agni, in Book V, of the Rig
Veda.
"One car-wheel of the Sun thou rollcdcst forward, and one thou
scucst free to move hi Kutsa. Thou slowest nosclcss Dasyus
with thy weapon and in their home overthrcwest
hostile
speakers:'

Sapta-Sindhu

in tlte Rig Veda

Griffiths comments:
an eclipse of the sun appears to be
referred to. Noseless, that is the flat-nosed barbarians, a-nasah : or
the word may be as Sayana explains, an-asah, i.e., mouthless,
voiceless, unintelligibly speaking. Asya, face or mouth, being put by
metonomy for sabda, the sound that comes from the mouth,
articulate speech, alluding possibly to the uncultivated dialects of the
barbarous tribes, barbarism and uncultivated speech being identical,
in the opinion of the Hindus, as the familiar term for a barbarian,
'mlechha' which is derived from the root mlechh to speak rudely.
(Of. Muir, Sanskrit Texts, Vol. II, p. 377-78).
Prof. Max Muller says that "at the first dawn of traditional
history we see these Arian tribes migrating across the snow of the
Himalaya, southwards towards the seven rivers (The Indus, the five
rivers of the Punjab, and the Sarasvati) and ever since India has been
called their home."
All the writers agree that India is not the
original country of the Hindus.
The immigration of the Arians was from the north-west is
supported by the fact that the composers of the Vedic hymns appear
to be very familiar with the North West parts of India itself, as well
as with the countries bordering on, or beyond the Indus; they were
familiar with the rivers which flow through this region. On the other
hand places, rivers in the central and eastern parts of India are rarely
mentioned; and no allusion is made to the southern region.
The Sindhu is very often celebrated in the hymns of the Rig
Veda, while the Ganges is mentioned only once. In RV. X., 75, we
read "Ganga, Yamuna, Sarasvati, Saturdi, with Purushni, receive
graciously my hymn Marudvridha, hear with Asikni, the Vitasia;
Arjikiya, hear with the Sushorna". Ganga is the Ganges. Yamuna,
the Jumna.
Saturdi, the Satlaj, Parushni, the Ravi; Asikni, the
ancient Accsines, the vedic name of the Chandrabhaga, the present
Chcnab.
Arjikiya is Vipas or Becas; Vitasta is the Hydaspas,
Kophen is the Kabul river. According 10 Arrian, Alexa nc , : crossed
four rivers before he reached the Indus; the Kophen, Khocs,
Euaspla, and Garocus: we have still in the Punjshir, Alishung,
Khonar and Pinjkora.
TI,c River KlI1l11l. - The country through which the river Karun
passes is very interesting.
It was Oil the shores of this river Karun
tl1:lt Daniel. according In the Old Tcstam~nl has his cclchrarcd
J ()

Sind" Observed

dream in the palace of Shushan. It i~'the river down which, we learn

from Arrian, Alexander
the Great sailed in his journey from
Pcrsipolis to Susa, and it is the river which his admiral Ncarchus
ascended with the fleet placed at his disposal. It is the river spoken
of in the celebrated march of Taimur, in later times, as the Chahar
Dangah.
To a Parsi, the region traversed by the river is interesting,
where the foreign Parthian dynasty under the last king Ardvan (the
Artabanes of the Greek writers) was overthrown by the well known
Ardeshir Babegan (Ardeshir I). It is the region where Shapur, the
son of Ardeshir, had after his victory at the battle of Edessa,
imprisoned his royal Roman prisoner Valerian, whose prison house
is even now shown in a castle of Shuster on the banks of the Karun.
Horrnuz, the grandson of Ardeshir, here had founded the wellknown city of Ram Hormuz (Aram-i-Horrnuz, the rest of Hormuz).
This region has many signs of the greatness of the Sassanian dynasty.
Garois, the ancient name was Gauri, the present is Panjkora. I
cannot resist the temptation
of quoting from Sir Aurel Stein's
Archaeolo_gical Tour in the Western and Northern Baluchistan.

"Rivers mentioned ill Rig Veda. - In the light of what modern

conditions here show us it becomes possible for us to recognise
the true significance of the oldest record that relates to this
ground. I mean the mention of the river Krumu and Gomati in
the famous Vedic hymn the "Nadistuti" of the Rig Veda (X. 75).
Their identity with the present Kurram and Gumal has been
established ever since the study of India's oldest literary
remains started in Europe.
But it scarcely appears to have
been adequately realized that the mention of these IWO rivers
both comparatively small except when sudden spates fill their
beds, suggests such acquaintance
with Waziristan as only
prolonged occupation by Aryan tribes of the early Vedic period
is likely to account for. It is by the Kuram and Gumalthat the
whole drainage of Waziristan and the Afghan uplands adjoining
westwards finds its way to the Indus. There is ail the more
reason to attach a quasi-historical interest 10 their mention
because acquaintance also with the hill tracts' immediately to
.thc south seems implied hy the reference with another hymn of
the Rig Veda makes to the river Yavyaati; for this I believe has
been rightly identified hy Professor l lillchrant with Gumal's

20

Sapta-Sindhu

in 111(' R~!.{Veda

main tributary, the Zhob, the modern name of which can easily
be accounted for as the direct phonetic derivative of the vedic
form.
The change of initial Y into .I and the subsequent one of .I into
ZH is well known in lraniarf dialects the usc of which in the
present Baluchistan is well attested from the early period; in
the southern dialect of Pushtu the pronunciation of initial J as
ZH is quite common.
The change of A VY A into 0 can also he accounted for by the
frequent assimilation of VY into V and by the weakening
process which reduces medical V to D, resulting in the
subsequent normal contraction of A VA into 0."
River Sarasvati is celebrated
111.23.4.

VI. 61.2

in several passages: -

On an auspicious day I place thee on the most

sacred spot of Ilia (the earth). Shine, 0 opulent
Agni, in the assembly of men on the banks of the
Drishadvati, the Apaya, the Sarasvati.
By her force and her impetuous waves she has
broken down the sides of the mountains, like a man
digging lotus fibres, For succour let us with praises
and hymns, invoke Sarasvati who sweeps away her
banks.

The same epithet "most copious of streams" is applied to

Sarasvati and the Sindhu. Hymns C)5and <)(i of the 7th book of the
Rig Veda arc devoted to the praises of the Sarasvati and her male
corclaiivc Sarasvat.
The Rig Veda docs not contain hymns in
celebration
of the Ganga, such as we lind Ior the Sindhu and
Sarasvati.
The river Sarayu is mentioned three times, in R. V. IV, 30, lR,
"Arna and Chitraratha, hoth Aryas, thou Indra, slowest swift, on the
yonder hank of Sarayu." This river is the Punjah river (not one ncar
Oudh) Turvasa and Yadu may perhaps have crossed the river and
under the protection of Indra conquered two Arijan chiefs, whose
land lay beyond it.

21

Sindh Observed

In RV, X, 75. several other rivers are mentioned, viz;

Trishtama, Susatu, Rasa, Sveti, Kubha, Gomati, Krumu and
Mehtanu; also Siamvat and Urnavati. According to Sayana (the
commentator) about the last two rivers, the words are epithets of
Sindhu and mean respectively, 'abounding in Silama plants' and said
to be used for cordage, and 'rich in wool,'
The river Rasa is .famous; . in RV. X, 108, the Panis the
avaricious merchants of Sapta Sindhu, had stolen the cows of the
cultivators. Indra wished to go in search himself; but first sent his
watch-dog Sarama to reconnoitre. When she meets the Panis, they
ask her "how didst thou cross the waters of the Rasa"? This river is
mentioned in the Zoroastrain literature as Rangha; in Pahlavi
Bundesh it is called Arang. Different scholars assign it to different
rivers: Darrnestcter takes it for the !igris.
Harley takes it for the Oxus.
Spegal, Justi, Geiger, for the Zarzates.
Geiger lakes il for Vedic Rasa.
Windischmann takes it for Sindhu.
Martin Haug in his "Language, writings and Religon of the
Parsis" quotes from Pahlvi Vcndidad I.
The eleventh of places and districts produced perfect by me,
me who am Auharmazd, was Het Homand the illustrious and
glorious; busy and diligent is the spirit which it subdued (1) some say
that of the Vch River (2)
(1)

Some modern mss. alter the word into Sistan, because

Hctrnund River is in Sistan.

(2) The Veh (or good) river is one of the two chief rivers of
the word according 19 the Bundahish which states that
"these two rivers flow forth from the north part of the
Eastern Albroz, one towards the west that is the Arang,
and one towards the cast that is the Veh river. The spirits
(If the two rivers arc also mentioned and further
particulars arc given thus (Bundcsh, p. 50) "the Veh river

22

Sapta-Sindhu

ill the R~~Veda

passes by on the east goes through the land of Sind, and

flows to the sea in Hindustan, and they call it there the
Mehra River." It is said that the Veh river is also called
the Kasak in Sindh.
Haug further states at p. ~M "The 16th of places ami districts
produced perfect by me, me who am Auharmuzd was on the waters
of Arang stan (Eastern Empire of the Romans) which is Arum
.
That is the country of the Arang river, one of the two chief rivers of
the Iranian world. It is likewise said in the Bundahish.
'The Arag or Arang river is that of which it is said that it comes
out from the Albroz in the land of Surkak which they also call
(or in which they also call it Ami and it passes on through the
land of Speros which they also cail Mcsr and they call it there
the Niv."
Rasa is mentioned in RV. I. 112,12- "wherewith yc made
Rass swell Iull with water-flood, and urged to victory 1he car wit hout

a horse;
V.41.1S

..

V, 5~. ()...

"May the great Mother Rasa here befriend

us .." also
"So let not Rasa, Krumu, or Anitabha
Kubha, or Sindhu hold you hack. Let not
the watery Santy obstruct your way."

Anitahha is an affluent of the Indus. Another river Sivastu, an

affluent or the Indus is mentioned in RV. VIII. 1'), ~(1-~7. "A gift or
lifty female slaves hath Trasadasyu given me, Parukutsa's son. most
liberal kind, lord of the brave. And Syava too Ior me led forth a
sl rong sl ccd at Suvast u's ford." The hard Sohhari is recounting the
presents which he received on the banks of the Suvastu. According
to Arrian the Soasios and Garios now into the Kophcn. Suvastu is
the same as the modern river Suwad, a stream which llows into the
Kabul river from the north, alter first joining the Pnajkora.
\Ve may sfacly say that at the time of the composition of the
Rig Veda the Arian Indians dwelt chiefly in eastern Kabulistan and
the Punjab as far as the Sarasvati; they had not spread further than
to North-West
Bengal on the south hank of the Ganges.
No

2~

Sind" Observed

mention is made of the rivers Narmada,

Kavcri, well khown for their sanctity.

the Godaveri

and the

Hymn 33,. Book III, is a dialogue between Visvamitra and the

rivers Vipas al'ld Sutudri; the first is the Beas, and the second to the
south-east of Amritsar, The legend is that Visvarnitra the purohit or
family priest of king Sudas obtained wealth by means of his office
took the whole of it and came where the two rivers met. In order to
make the rivers fordable he praised them with the first three verses
of the hymn. The hymn has some poetical beauty and is interesting
as a relic of the traditions of the Arians regarding their progress
eastward in the land of the live rivers.

The Himalaya mountains are mentioned in X, 121, 4; He

whose greatness these snowy mountains and the sea with the aerial
river declare etc. But no allusion to the Vindhaya range is to be
found in the Rig Veda.
The hymns addressed to Soma were intended to be sung while
the juice of the plant, said to be produced on Mount Mujavat was
heing pressed out and purified. The first verse of R. V. X, 34 runs
thus: These dice that roll upon the board
To me intense delight afford
Sweet Soma-juice has not more power
To lure me in an evil hour.
The passion for gambling prevailed very extensively at the time
when the hymns of the Rig Veda were composed. Thus in R.V. VII,
S6, (I dice arc mentioned along with wine, anger, thoughtlessness as
causes of sin.
In the first hook, 7lh hymn, 9th verse it is sung: "Indra who
rules with single sway men, riches, and the fivefold race of those who
dwell upon the cart h." Here the Aryan settlements Of tribes arc
meant. In the 108th hymn, these five arc named: "If, 0 fndra and
Agni, yc arc abiding among the Yadus. Turvasas, Druhyus, Anus,
Puruscome hither. vigorous heroes, from all quarters, and drink
the soma. which has been poured (lUI."

24

Sapta-Sindhu

ill the Rig Vee/I;

Vasishtha was the hard of the Tritsu, the thief Aryan nation,
and Vishvamitra was the bard of the Bharastas th~.ir great cncmcis
and one of Ihe most powerful native tribes. Tritsu were perhaps the
original invaders of the Punjab. Their first king, Divodasa was
engaged in continuous warfare with some fierce mountain tribes of
the north, whose chief was Shambara: he had buill a number of forts
into Himalayan fastnesses; these forts were buill of wood, so that the
usual mode of attack and destruction was by fire. That is why in
many passages in which the exploits of Dividasa are glorified, the
credit of the victory was given to Agni and Indra. The forts arc
mentioned as 90 or 99- to express great number. The poet sings in
one place "0 Lightning bearer these are thy deeds that thou
destroyedest 99 castles in one day, and the 100th at night." Victories
arc recorded of Divodasa and his son or grandson, Sudas over the
Yadu and Turvasu, twin tribes always named together, who lived
south of seven rivers between the Indus and the Jamna. These two
tribes were of Aryan stock, connected with the Aryas of the Indus
and Sarasvati. The Purus, a powerful originally a Dravidian race,
who lived in the west and had an unending light with the Gandharas,
who lived in the Kabul valley and bred horses, was for a long time a
firm ally of the Tritsu. The bard sings "From fear of thee the black
people ned; they dispersed, leaving behind their goods and chattels,
when thou. Agni, blazing for the Puru, destroyed their forts (VII, 6,
:\). In the 19th hymn of the same book, Indra is praised for giving
the victory over the Yadu-Turvasu to the Tritsu, for helping Kutsa,
the Puru king, in his battles, and giving his enemy a prisoner in his
hands. Thus the War of the ten kings went on Purukutsa standing at
its head. Tritsu had some allies; we lind names of Prithu and Parsu,
Parthian and Persians; two chief Eranian tribes may have wandered
smilh of the Himalayas.
In the txth Hymn, Book VII, the following lines occur.
Together came the Pakthas, the Bhalanas, the Alinas, the Sivas,
the Vishanins,
Yet to the Tritsus came the Aryas' comrade, through love of
spoil and heroes' war, to lead them.
Fools, in their folly fain
inexhaustible

10

Parushni ..

25

waste her waters, they parted

\in,lh.Oh,-,,,ed

The tribes mentioned above arc non-Aryan tribes opposed to

the Tritsus. The confederates who were on the right or further bank
of the Purushni (the Ravi), intending to attack Sudas and the Tritsus,
tried to ford the river hy digging channels and to divert the waters;
hut the waters rush back and drowned the mcn. The Tritsu victory
. wa-, wmplctc and there was nothing to hinder them from proceeding
eastward towards the Yamuna. Ragozin in the Vedic India on page
32)0\writes: _
"A people named Vishanin, i.e., followers of Vishnu is also
mentioned almost certainly Aryan sun-worshippers, showing
that Vishnuism as a distinctive worship- a sect- had its roots
in a remoter past than was hitherto suspected. (Vishnuism is
probably originally connected with the transition from the
oldest calendar of thirteen lunar months to the reformed solar
year of twelve months, presided over by the twelve Adityas_
see Mr. Hcwiu's Early History of Northern India). As though
to complete the connection, we find in the list of Tritsu allies
the Vishanin brackeled with the Shiva, which is thought to be a
name of the Tugra, one of the oldest aboriginal Dravidian
peoples whom the Aryas had specially nick-named "sons of the
Serpent" and who under the religious designation of Shiva, were
very probably the originators of the worship of Shiva under the
form or with the attribute of a snake.
Arattii. - This is a Prakrit form of the Sanskrit Arashtra, who
were a people of the Punjab; in fact the name Aratta is often
synonymous with the Punjab in Hindu literature.
Arachosii, - This people occupied the countrv around the
modern Kandhar,
McCriiHlle (Ancient India, ~S) says "Arachosia
extended westward beyond the meridian of Kandhar, and Was skirted
on the cast by the river Indus. On the north it stretched to the
Western section of the Hindu Kush and on the south to Gedrosia.
The province was rich and populous, and the fact that it was
traversed by one of the main routes by which Persia communicated
with India added greatly to its importance."
Gandaraei, - (Sanskrit, Gandhara). This people lived on both
sides (If the Cabul ri\'c r, ahove its junct ion wit h the Indus: Ihe
modcrn Peshawar dislricl. In earlier times they extended east of the

Sapta-Sil1dllLl ill 111('Rig Veda

Indus, where their eastern capital was located=- Takshasila, a large

and prosperous city, called by the Greeks, Taxila.
Sir Henry Elliot in his "Appendix to the Arabs

In

Sindh",

writes:-.
Annals of Rajisthan Vol. I p. 85-88.
"Tod exalts the Taks to a high and important rank amongst the
tribes which emigrated from Scythia to India making them the
same as the Takshak, Nagbansi or serpent race, which acted a
conspicous part in the legendary annals of ancient India." p.
124.
In the 7th book of RV., hymn 33; two tribes arc mentioned: "Indra heard Vasishtha when he uttered praise, and opened up
a wide space for the Tritsus, Like stakes for driving cattle, the
contemptible Bharatas were lopped all round.
Tritsu was the tribe of which Sudas was king; the Bharatas was
the hostile tribe.
The Kambojas spoke an Arian language, and their country was
situated to the North West India, on the other side of the Indus; we
may state that Sanskrit was spoken at some distance to the west of
that river.
In R.V. 1., 126, 7, the ewes of the Gandharis arc spoken of as
famous for their wool. "I am all hairy like an ewe of the Gandharis."
The country of Gandhara is to the west of the Indus and to the south
of the Kahul river. King Darius in a rock inscription mentions the
Cia(n) dara together with the Hi(n)du as people subject to him ami
the Ganarii, Parthians, Khorasmians, Sogdians, Dadikac, arc said by
Herodotus to have formed part of the army of Xerxes. The name of
the country is preserved in the modern Kandhar.
Though Balkh was conterminous with the most ancient abodes
of the Arians in India, it is curious to note that the Bahlikas arc nol
mentioned in the Rig Veda. But in other 'places this tribe is
mentioned:
'")~

_I

Sindt, Observed

"Let everyone avoid those impure Bahikas, who are outcasts,

from righteousness, who are shut out by the Himayat, the
Ganga, the Sarasvati, the Yamuna, and Kurukshetra, and who
dwell between the live rivers which arc associated with the
Sindhu (Indus) as the sixth."
Their women an: thus described: _
"The women, drunk and undressed, wearing garlands, and
perfumed with unguents, sing and dance in public places, and
on the ramparts of the town."
"In the region where these five rivers now after issuing from the
mountains dwell the Bahikas, called Arattas; let no Arya dwell
there even for two days.."
In the Raja Tarangini,
described: -

the Gandhara-brahmans

are thus

'Then the Gandhara Brahmans seized upon rent-free lands for

these most degraded of priests were of the same disposition as
that tyrannical prince. These sinners, sprung from Melchhas,
as so shameless as to corrupt their own sisters and daughtersin-law and to offer their wives to others, hiring and selling
them, like commodities for money. Their women heing thus
given up to strangers are consequently shameless."
Wilson in the Vishnu Puran says about the Gandharas;
"These are also a people of the north-west, found both on the
west of the Indus, and in the Punjab, and well-known to
classical authors as the Gandarii and Gandaridae."
(See
Herodotus, IV, pr. 2]6-217.)
Kings arc frequently mentioned in the hymns of the R.V. The
country occupied by the Aryas was no doubt inhabited by various
tribes and divided into numerous principalities. In R. V. 1, 126, 1 a
king called Bhavya is celebrated who dwelt on the banks of the
Sindhu or Indus;
"With my intellect I produce ardent praises on Svanaya, the son
of Bhavya, who dwells on the Sindhu; the invincible prince,

Sopta-Sindbu

ill the Rig Veda

who, desirous of renown, has offered through me a thousand

oblations."
In RV. VIII, 21, 18, Chitra and other chiefs arc mentioned as
living near the Sarasvati. Ten kings arc alluded to as having fought
against Sudas. Mention is made of rulers or governors under the
title of Purpati a lord of a city or fortilied place (RV. 1, 173, ]0) and
gramani ruler of a village or tribe or band of men.
In the hymns we find distinct traces of the existence of
polygamy as an exception, but the rule was monogamy. In some
places the husband appears as having only one wife - because the
latter is mentioned in the singular. In some cases, plural is used, 1,
62, ] 1 "our' hymns touch thee, strong god, as loving wives a loving
husband."
.
From the following lines we can infer that women were allowed
to select their husbands in those times. "Happy is the female who is
handsome; she herself loves (or chooses) her friend among people
(X. 27).
A widow was allowed to re-marry her husband's brother (RV.,
X., 40) "who draws you to his house, as a widow does her brother-inlaw to the couch, or as a woman does a man?" The ancient law of
India corresponded in this respect with the law of the Jews, I quote
from XXV, 5, Deuteronomy. "If brothers dwell together and one of
them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry
without unto a stranger her husband's brother shall go in unto her,
and take her to him to wife and perform the duty on an husband's
hrother unto her.": also Mathew, XXII, 24.... " Saying, Master,
Moses said, if a man die, having no children his brother shall marry
his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother."
Cutting lip of flesh for sacrificial purposes is mentioned in 1,
161, 10 "another trims the flesh hrought on the carving board."
Cooking of a Bull and hundreds of buffaloes being eaten is
mentioned e.;.:. V. 29, 8, "when thou three hundred buffaloes' flesh
had'st c.atcn'. As these animals were offered in sacrifice, they also
formed a part of human food. Indra is said to eat the flesh of hulls or
buffaloes, at the same time that he drinks the 'draughts of soma.
Several passages show that wine was in usc. "When drunk they

29

Sind" Observed

(soma-draughts)
contend
wine" (VlIl, 2, 12).

In

thy stomach,

as men maddened

with

The Vedas are the oldest of all Indian books. They are the
most authentic source of information regarding the earliest language
of the Indians. The Vedic hymns have been preserved unchanged
from a very remote period and faithfully exhibit the social, religious
conditions of the time in which they were composed.
Let us see
what profession and trades were followed in the old Punjab and
Sindh.
That man is said to be a skilled physician and both a slayer of
Rakshases and a repeller of diseases, by whom all plants are
collected, like kings in an assembly (X, 1)7, 6). The carriage-builder
is mentioned for chariots were in use. Weapons of war, spears,
swords and knives are mentioned constantly shows there were
skillful artizans. Weaving was universally practised. The art of boat
and ship building was well known; for boats are mentioned to be
propelled by oars; ships arc spoken of as going to sea. Rope-making
must have been practised. as ropes are mentioned in I, 162, 8.
Working in leather must have been also common, as hides and skins
for holding water and wine are constantly referred to. (I, 191, 10;
IV, 45, 1,3, ctc.)
To the gambler agriculture is recommended;
R.V. X, 34, 13.
"never play with the dice; practice husbandry, rejoice in thy property,
estimating it sufficient". As Watercourses, natural or artificial are
mentioned, we can inlet- that the irrigation of lands under cultivation
may have been practised. In R.V. X., 142,4, we have clear allusions
to shaving; "As when a barber shaves, a beard, thou shavest earth
when the wind blows on thy flame and fans it."
Gaming or gamhling was a frequent amusement;
or actors afforded amusement.

also dancers

Thieves or robbers arc mentioned in some passages as infesting

the highways or stealing secretly.
The Rig Veda sanhita contains the most extensive collection of
the most ancient Vedic hymns in thcir complete form. It is divided
into ten mandals, and contains in all 1017 hymns.

30

Saptn-Sindhu

ill the U~~Veda

We will add something to the geography of the Veda, then we

will take up the races and tribes.
Two rivers Hariyupiya and Vavyati are mentioned in Bk. VI,
'].7.5 and 6 Sayana, the commentator says they arc the same; if so, as
I have said above, it is the Zob river.
Sarasvati, Drishdavati

and Apyya, III, 23, 4.

The Sarasvati appears to have been to the early Indians what

the Ganga became to their descendants.
"I place thee, Agni, on the abode of lla, on the most excellent
spot of the earth, on the most auspicious of days. Shine, so as to
enrich us in a place of human resort, on the banks of the Drishavati,
the Apaya, the Sarasvati.
Apaya is not mentioned elsewhere app'ears to have been a little
stream in the same neighbourhood,
near the earlier settlement of
the Aryan settlement.
Kurukshctra,
the country west of the Jamna and stretching
from the Sarasvati on the north towards Vindravana and Mathura.
Arjika, Sushoma, Saryanavau.
VIl. 7, 28. - Sushorna, Saryanavan and Arjika, full of homes,
have they, these heroes, sought with downward car.
IX, II~, 1 & 2. - Let Vritra Saryanavan's side, etc.
Lord of the Quarters,
land, etc.

slaying Indra drink soma by

now thou on, boon soma from Arika

In X, 75, 5. The poet invokes the ri\'ers:-

Favour ye this my land, 0 Ganga. Yam un a, 0 Saturdi,

Purushni. and Sarasvati with Askini. Vit asta, 0 Marudvridha. ()
Argikya, with Sushoma hear my call.
Argiky., and Sushonu, are "tid to he Vipas (Bcas) and Sindhu.

Sindh Observed

Argikya is the district in N. W. India where the river flows and

the people Arjikas, are a non Aryan people.
Saryanavan is a lake and district in Kurukshetra near modern
Delhi.
Moroudvribha, ou Rawi, la riviere de. Lahor.
Let us see the tribes, races and their kings, mentioned in the
Rig Veda:

VII. 18-19.- Yamuna, and the Tritsus, aided Indra. There he

,
stripped Bheda of all his treasures.
The Ajas and the Sigrus and the Yakshus brought into him as
tribute heads of horses.
Bheda was the king of these three non-aryan tribes.
Tritsu the tribes of which Sudas was king. The ten kings of the
confederate tribes opposed Sudas. Bharatas are the same as
the Tritsus.
V,30, 12. Rusamas. This good deed have the Rusamas done,
Agni, that they have granted me four thousand and cattle. We
have received Rinanchay's wealth, heroes the most heroic,
which was freely offered.
Rinanchya, king of the Rusmas, Babhru, a Rishi, assisted the
Rusmas, a neighbouring people, in a successful foray, and to
have been rewarded with a large portion of the booty.
Srindjaya (Srinjaya). IV, J5, 4. He who is kindled eastward for
Srinjaya, Devavata's son, resplendent tamer of the foc.
VI. 47, 25. Thus Srinjaya's son honoured the Bharadvajas.
recipients of all noble gifts and bounty,
Srinjaya, a certain soma-sacrifice;'. The Srinjaya arc also a
people in the west of India. Bharadvaja is a very celebrated
Rishi.

32

'Sapta-Silldhu

in the Rig Veda

Chedi (Tchedi) VIII, 5, 38-39. He who hath given me for mine

own ten kings like gold to look upon. At Chaidya's feet are all
the people round about, all those who think upon the shield No
man, not any, goes upon the path on which the Chedis walk.
No other prince, no folk is held more liberal of gifts than they.
"Who think upon the shield" means "who are practised in
wearing armour of leather."
One chieftan Kasu, son of Chedi, is even said to have given to
the Rishi ten Icings,brilliant as gold.
"

Saint Martin in "Etude sur la Geographie du Veda" writes:Translation, - Such are also the Rousama and the "Gongou,
who did not perhaps attach themselves to the Aryan people except
by the adoption of religion, as well by other tribes of the race of
Yadou, of whom it is always said as of the Aryan tribe, friends of
Indra, although by their origin they belonged to the rlce of the
Dasyous, that is to say (i.e.) to the aboriginal people. We shall say of
them as much as about of the names of Srindjaya and of Tchedi or
Tchedya, who appear in several hymns, as those of princes friends of
Indra. These names, as in several other cases could belong at the
same time to the chief and to his tribe for the Srindjaya and Tchedi
figure in all the following heroic history of India. But they figure as
the tribe as tribes of the race of Yadou a race whose aboriginal
origin or non-aryan there is no doubt that they have even this day
descendants, with their ancient name first the people inhabiting the
mountains of the north of India and the central Himalaya. We shall
find these two people and we shall follow their ethnological history
in our studies on the population of ancient India.
Ikchvakou is the name of an Aryan tribe in a hymn of the Vedic
collection; this hymn which ought to belong to later years of the
Veda, celebrates a prince named Asamati, under whom Ikchvakou
grew "wealthy and foe-destroying." Later the name of lkchvakou
holds a great place in the legendary traditions of the heroic epoch, as
tbe founder of the solar race of Ayodhya. Of the other states,
governed by the princes of the same family they established
themselves in very ancient times on the plains of the Ganges,

33

Sind" Observed

especially at Vaicali, upon the lower Gandaki, and at Mithila in the

country of the same name.
Ikshvaku's name occurs in R V. X, 60, 4. He was the former
king of Ayodhya.
Gungus. A non-aryan people, occurs in RV. X, 48, 8.
Muir in Vol. II of Sanskrit Texts devotes pages 397-405 to the
march of the Brahmans (as the Aryans are called with their worship
from the Sarasvati eastward to Behar and Bengal. "Departing from
Kurus (from Indraprastha) they passed through the middle of
Kurujangala, and came to the lovely Padma lake. Then passing .
Kalakuta, they crossed successively on one mountain (or in
Ekaparvataka?)
the rivers Gandaki, Mahasona and Sadarina.
Having then crossed the beautiful Sarayu and seen the eastern
Kosala they rossed the river Mala Charmanvati and came to Mithila.
Nicol Macnicol in his Hindu Scriptures writes: _
"Scholars in the West incline to suggest for the composition of
the earliest of these hymns a date ranging between 1500 B.C.
and 1200 B.C. Indian tradition, on the other hand claims for
them a much earlier antiquity. Any judgment on this matter
has to be based entirely, it must be remembered, on internal
evidence derived from the hymns themselves, and is, in
consequence, uncertain.
It is, however, obvious that this
literature is earlier than that of either Greece or Israel, and
reveals a high level of civilisation among those who found in it
the expression of their wroship. The view may be said still to
hold the field that the hymns represent the experiences of
Aryan tribes as they establish themselves among hostile
aborigines in the north-west of India.
The collection comprises ten hooks, and a total of 1017 hymns.
These grew into their present form, it is surmised, during a long
period - perhaps eight centuries - and it is possible to see
some indications of change and development when we consider
the characteristic of the deities worshipped and the ideas that
are associated with one god or another:'
In Rook I, 108,8 the poet mentions the Aryan races:-

34

Sapta-Sindhu

ill the Rig Veda

"If 0 Indra and Agni, ye are' abiding among the Yadus,

Turvasas, Druhyes, Anus, Purus - come hither, vigorous heroes,
from 'all quarters, and drink the Soma which has been poured out."
Though these Aryan tribes are mentioned separately in the Rig
Veda, this is the only text in which they are all connected with one
another.
.
The poet begins to recount the events of Sudas' victorious
expedition, VII, 18, 5. "What though the floods spread widely, Indra
made them shallow and easy for Sudas to traverse. He worthy of
our praises caused the Simyu, foe of our hymn, to curse the river's
fury. Eager for spoil was. Turvasa Purodas, fain to win wealth, like
fishes urged by hunger.
The Bhrigus and the Druhyus quickly
listened; friend rescued friend IIflidthe two distant peoples." In this
!!tanza Sudas, king or chief of the Tritsu tribe has, with the aid of
Indra, crossed a deep river (Purushni i.e., the Ravi) and put 'the
Sirnyus to flight, some of the fugitives were drowned in the waters.
The Simyus are mentioned together with the Dasyus in I, 100, 18, as
hostile barbarians slain by Indra, Professor Roth in his Lexicon,s. v.
dasyu defines that word as denoting 1, a class of superhuman beings,
who are maliciously disposed both to gods and men and are
overcome by Indra and Agni in particular." The word is (2) - he
goes on to say - an opprobrious designation of hostile, wicked and
barbarous men.
,

KRIVI. ~ The emponymous of a warrior tribe in the Punjab,

in later times combined with or identical with the Panch alas. R V.
VIII, 20, 24; also II, 17,6 and II, 22, 2.
The seven rivers are mentioned often in the RV. VIII, 24, 27.
"Who delivered us .from the destroyer, from calamity, who, 0
powerful God, did'st avert the bolt from the Dasa from the Arva in
the land of the seven streams. According~ to Prof. Max Mulle~ , the
Indus, the live rivers of the Punjab, and the Sarasvati; Lassen and
Ludwig_put the Kubahin the place of the last named.
Four rivers are mentioned in I, 104, 3 and 4. The two wives of
Kuyava bathe with water: may they he drowned in the streams of the
Sipha.: This hath his kinship checked who lives beside us; with
ancient streams forth speed and rules the Hero. Anjasi, Kulisi, and
Vir.ipatni, dl'li!-!htin1! him, hear milk upon (heir waters." Kuyav ()'1~

Sirdh Observed

of the non-aryan chiefs. Sipha is the name of the river; about this
and the other three rivers, St. Martin in his "Geographie du Veda"
writes on page 53:
"Pour suivre l'ordre d'anciennete de leur mention dans les
hymnes nous citerons d'abord la Cipra, puis l'Andjasi, la
Koulici, et la Virapatni, nominees en meme temps dans un
hymne du premier livre, a une epoque ou tout semble indiquer
que les tribus n'habitaient pas loin encore des bords du Sindh.
Mais ces quatre noms ne se retrouvent nulle part ailleurs, ct
nous n'avons absolument aucune donnee qui nous permette
d'enhasarder I'application
.
Le mot compose Virapatni Signiferait litteralment, en sanscrit,
maitresse des heros,
TRANSLATION. - In order to follow the order of the
ancientness of their mention in the 'hymns, we quote at first the
Cipra, then the Andjasi, Koulici, and the Virapatni, mentioned at the
same time in a hymn of the 1st Book, of one epoch or always deem
to appear to indicate that the tribes did not live far from the border
of Sind. But these four names are not found in any part, and we
have absolutely given any data which permits us to hazard the
application.
The word Virapatni literally means in -Sanskrit "the heroes'
wives."
Since writing the above I have come across a paper by Sir Aurel
Stein published in the Journal of the R. A. Soceity, Great Britain and
Ireland in 1917 "On Some River Names in the Rig Veda". He
translates the verse in Hymn X, 75: "attend to this my song of
praise, 0 Ganga, Yamuna, Sarasvati, Saturdi, Parusni; together with
Asikni, 0 Marudvrdha, and with Vitasta, 0 Arjikiya, listen with
Susoma."

He continues:
the identity of the first four nvers here
enumerated and also the Vitasta is subject to no doubt. They
correspond to the present Ganges, Jumna, Sarsuti, Sutlej and Jehlam
(the ancient Hydaspes still called Vyath in Kasmiri.) The order in
which the first four are mentioned exactly agrees with their
geographical sequence from east to west.

36

Saptn.S;~.t

ill the Rig Veda

Hence Professor Roth ... was justified in looking for the three
rivers Parusni, Marudvrdha, and Asikni, which figure in the list
between them and the Vitasta, among those of the "Five Rivers" of
the Punjab that intervene between the Saturdi; Sutlej in the east and
the Vitasta; Jehlam in the west. Guided by this sure indication he
succeeded in correctly identifying the Asikni with the Chenab or
Chandrabhaga ....
No such definite evidence is available regarding the Parusni ....
The main argument in its favour is that the Beas, the only other
Punjab river of any importance between the Sutlcj and the Chenab is
repeatedly mentioned in other hymns of the Rig Veda under its
proper ancient designation of Vipas.
If we pay attention to the position occupied by the name
Marudvrdha in the list and bear in mind the fact that the narrow
Doab between the Chenab and the Jehlam leaves no room for any
stream to descend independently to the Indus, it is obvious that we
have to look for the Marudvrdha either among the western main
tributaries of the Chenab or else among those which join the Jehlam
from the east. Now among all the affluents in question there is none
comparable in importance and volume to the glacier-fed river which
joins the right bank of the Chenab or Candrabhaga, as it is still
known in the mountains in the alpine territory of Kishtwar, and
which, in the Survey of India m aps is shown as the "Mroowardan
River." In its course of about one hundred miles it gathers as can
clearly be seen in sheets 28, 45, 46 of the "Atlas of India," the
greatest part of the drainage from the almost continuous chain of
glacier-girt peaks which stretches from the big snowy massif of
Amarnath (17, 900 feet above the sea) in the extreme north-east of
Kashmir proper, to the head-waters of the Bhutna River culminating
in the ice-clad Nun-Kun Peaks well over 23,000 feet high. Narrow
and deep-cut in its lowest portion the valley of Maruwardwan open
out above the point (eire. 75 46' long. 33 40' lat.) where its tWO
'main branches meet, and throughout a total length of about forty
miles affords ample space for cultivation at an elevation of between
6,000 and 9,000 feet. On the west this portion of the valley
immediately adjoins the water-shed towards the eastern part of the
great Kashmir valley watered by the Jehlam or Vyath (Vitasta).

Simi" Observed

It is equally easy to account for the addition of the determinant

wan, Skt. vana, at the end of the compound. The name Maruwardwan applies primarily to the valley, and it seems quite
appropriate that the latter should be designated as the "forest of the
Marudvrdha" seeing that its lower and middle portions have their
sides clothed with dense forests of deodars and firs duly marked in
the Survey map.
Of the river names mentioned in our verse there remain two
for discussion. The last of them is Susoma found likewise in a few
other Rig Veda passage and for this Vivien de Saint-Martin has long
ago indicated what appears to me the right indications. He took it to
be the present Sohan River (also spelt Suwan) which flows from the
outer Hazara Hills through the Rawalpindi district and reaches the
Indus north of the Salt Range. With the Susoma; Sohan we have
reached the extreme west of the Pancanada or Punjab Proper.

Mr. Sobhraj Nirmaldas has kindly made the following addition

to the above paper

THE INDUS
In the mountains bordering on the kingdom of Kayabish, i.e.,
Kabul, rises a river which is called Ghorwand, on account of its many
branches. It is joined hy several affluents: _
1.

The river of the pass of Ghuzak.

2.

The river of the gorge of Panchir, below the town of

Parwan.

3,4. The river Sharvat and the river Sawa, which latter flows
through the town of Lanbaga, i.c., Lamghan; they join the
Ghorvand (it the fortress of Druta.
5.(1.

The rivers Nur and Kira.

Swelled hy these afflucnts, the Ghorvand is a greater river

opposite the town of Purshavnr, being there called the ford from a
ford near the village of Mahanara, on the eastern banks of the river,

38

Sapta-Sindhu

in the Rig Veda

and it falls into the river Sindh ncar the castle of Bitur, below the
Capital of Alkandahar (Gandhara), i.e., Vaihand.
The river Biyatta known as Jailem, from the city of this name
on its western banks, and the river Gandhara join each other nearly
fifth miles above Jahravar, and pass along west of Mullan.
The river Biyah flows east of Multan, and joins afterwards the
Biyatta and Gandhara.
The river Irava is joined by the river Kaj, which rises in
Nagarkot in the mountains of Bhatul. Thereupon follows as the fifth
the river Shatladar (Salej).
After these five rivers have united below Multan at a place
called Panchanada, i.e., the meeting place of the five rivers, they
form an enormous watercourse. In flood times it sometimes swells
to such .a degree as to cover nearly a space of ten farsakhs, and to
rise above the trees of the plains so that afterwards the rubbish
carried by the flood is found in their highest branches like bird nests.
The Muslims call the river, after it has passed the Sindhi city
Aror, as a united stream, the river of Mihran, Thus it extends,
flowing straight on, becoming broader and broader, and gaining in
purity of water, enclosing in its course, places like islands, until it
reaches Almansura, situated between several of its arms, and flows
into the ocean at two places, near the city, Loharani and more
eastwards, in the province of Kacch at a place called Sindhu-Sagara,
i.c., the Sindh Sea.
As the name union 01 the five rivers occurs in this part of the
world (in Panjab), we observe that a similar name is used also to the
north of the abovementioned mountain chains, for the rivers which
flow thence towards the north, after having united ncar Tirmidh and
having formed the river of Balkh, arc called the union of the seven
rivers. The Zoroastrian of Sogdiana have confounded these two
things: for they say that the whole of the seven rivers is Sindh, and its
upper course Baridish. A man descending on it sees the sinking of
the sun on his right side if he turns his face towards the west, as we
see it here on our left side (sic.).

Sind" Observed

Saptu Sindhu
Names of the seven rivers that merged in the Indus, Biyas,
Sutlej, - Chenab, Lindo, Ravi, Jhclum and Atok.

40

The Iranians in Ancient India Especially in Sindh and the Punjab'

By N, M. Billimoria
(Read before tire Sindli Historical Society, Karachi,
011 (he 20th December 1936).
The sources of ancient history are: 1. Prehistoric Archeology;
2. Ancient literature; 3. Foreign writers; 4. Inscribed monuments
and coins; 5. Ancient alphabets; and lastly progress of research. I
wish to show the sway of the Persians in North West India before the
invasion of India by Alexander the Great and the fall of the
Achaemenian Empire of Iran in the latter part of the fourth century
before Christ. The Veda and the Avesta are the earliest literary
monuments of India and Persia; they prove the relationship between
the Hindoos and the Persians through ties of common Aryan blood,
close relationship in language and tradition, and through near
affinities in matters of religious beliefs, ritual observances, manners
and customs.
Cuniform tablets which the German Professor Hugo Winckler
discovered in 1907 at Baghaz-koi in North-East Asia Minro give
additional evidence to these similarities. These tablets give a record
of treaties between the Kings of Mitani and of Hittites about 1400
B.c.; among the gods called to witness are deities common in part to
India and Persia. The Rig Veda refers to certain districts indicated
by the rivers Kubha (Kabul). Krumu (Kurram) and Gumati
(Gumal). The allusions in the Veda to Gandhara and Gandhari may
be interpreted as referring to the districts of Peshawar and
Rawalpindi South East from Kabul. A part of these districts
belonged rather to Iran than to India.in historic times.
In the Encyclop. Brit. in his article
states 'The dividing line between Iranian
Hindu-Kush and the Soliman mountains
valley of the Kabul (Cophen) is already
~1

on Persia, Edward Meyer

and Indian is drawn by the
of the Indus district. The
occupied by Indian tribes,

Sindh Observed

especially the Gandarians; and the Salaygydae (Pr. Thatagu) there

resident were presumably also of Indian stock."
The first chapter of the Avestan Vandidad contains an allusion
to a portion of Northern India in a list which it gives of 16 lands or
regions, created by Ahura Mazda, and apparently under the Iranian
sway. The 15th of these regions was Hapta Hindu, seven rivers, a
region of abnormal heat probably the territory of Sapta Sindhu,
seven rivers, the Rig Veda, mentions in the 8th Book, Hymn 24, line
27 "Who will set free from ruinous woe, or Arya on the seven
streams, 0, valiant hero, bend the Dasa's weapon down" that is from
any Aryan enemy in the land of the seven rivers, probably the Indus.
The district in question must have included the lands watered by the
Indus and its branches in the north and North West of Hindustan,
viz. Vitasta (Jhelum); Asikni (Chenab); Purushni (later named
Iravati, hence its present name Ravi); Vipasa (Beas); and the
easternmost Sutudri (Sutlej). Some interpret this "overIordship is
seven" for Firdusi mentions seven princes of.India, namely the lords
of Kabul, Sindh, Hindh, Sandal, Chandal; Kashmir, and Multan.
The Avestan fragment "from the Eastern Indus (India) to the
Western Indus (India)" is explained by Spiegel that in Sassanian
times and doubtless earlier there prevailed an idea of an India in the
west as well as an India in the East. This is supported by a passage
which is metrical and therefore old." The long arms of Mithra seize
upon those who deceive Mithra; even when in Eastern India catches
him even when in Western India he smites hirri down; even when he
is at the mouth of the Ranha river, and even he when he is in the
middle of the earth." The same statement repeated in part in Yasna
LVII, 29, regarding the power of Sraosha, the guardian genious of
mankind as extending over the wide domain from India on the east
to the extreme west even when in Eastern India he catches his
adversary even when in Western India he smites him down."
The river Ranha of the Avesta is the river Rasa of the Rig
Veda for in Book I, Hymn] 12, line 12, we read "Wherewith ye made
Rasa swell full with waterflood and urged to victory the car without
the horses. "In the Bundahish we read "These two rivers flow from
the north part of the eastern Albroz, one towards the west, that is
the Arang, and one towards the east, that is the Vch river... The Vch
river passes by on the east goes to the land of Sindh, and flows to the
sea in Hindustan, and they call it there the Mehra river." It is stated
that the Veh river is also called the Kasak in Sindh.

42

The lranians ill Ancient India -

One more allusion to the Indian connection. In Yast VIII, 32

mention is made of a mountain called Us-Hindva, meaning beyond
or above India, or it may mean, "the mountain from which the rivers
rise." It may mean the Hindu Kush or the Himalaya.
We have the following three authorities
kings who came to India.

10

show the Persian

1. Firdusi narrates that Franak the mother of Farudin sent

her young son Farudin to Hindustan to save him from the cruel
hands of Zohak who invaded and conquered Persia .
.The same poet gives the story of Asfandiar, son of Gustasp,
who came to India and persuaded the Indian Ruler to venerate fire
and accept the Zoroastrian religion. Firdusi is supported by a
statement in a Pahlvi book that "Prince Asfandiar and Zarir his
brother roamed about out of their country 10 the country of the
Hindus for the spread of religion." This shows that from the very
time of Zoroaster and immediately after, the Zoroastrian religion
was believed to have begun exercising some influence on India.
2. In the Ain-i-Akbari we find that Hoshang the founder of
the Pesdadian dynasty was the first king of Persia to come to India.
Jamshed was the second person to visit India. He went to China viz
Bengal Both Dr. Sir Jivanji Modi and Prof. Darmesteter state that
when they visited the fort of Jamrud in the Khyber Pass, they heard
that the fort was connected with the name of King Jamshed of the
Pesdadian dynasty of Persia.
Nariman son of Kcrsasp, Sam Nariman Zal son of Sam,
Framroz son of Rustom, Behram son of Asfandyar also came 10
India for conquest. Kersasp was told by some soothsayers that his
rule over Zabulistan would be overthrown, and his own, and those of
his heirs, dead bodies would be disintercd by his enemy. In order 10
avoid this, he asked that his body may be buried at Kanauj in India.
His' followers Nariman, Sam ;md Rustom also made the same
request and their request was complied with. Rustom had killed
Asfandyar, father of Behman, who conquered Zabulislan and came
10 Kanauj 10 disgrace the tomb of Kersasp. 11 was believed that
great wealth was also buried with the dead -hodies of the Persian

43

Sind" Observed

kings. Behman carried away the treasure but did not disturb the
corpses of the Persian Rulers.
3. According to Ferishta, Indian Ruler Krishna and Persian
Shah Tehmurarp were great friends. Krishna's nephew and his
uncle were not on good terms; so at the request of the nephew,
Kersasp Atrart was sent to India to induce Krishna to give a portion
of his territory to his nephew. After this time Sam Nariman invaded
Punjab. He was opposed by one Mulchand, who at last submitted.
From this time Punjab remained in the hands of the descendants of
Faridun. It was governed by Kersasp and by the members of his
family, the ancestors of Rustom. It formed part of the country of
Kabul, Jabul, Sindh and Seistan, which was under the federal sway of
Rustom's family. Kesurai the successor of Mulchand had asked the
help of King Minocher against some of his rebel kings. Minocher
sent Sam Nariman to his help. He met Kesurai at Jallandcr and
helped him in subduing his tributary kings. Firujrai came after
Kesurai. He turned ungrateful to Iran. After the death of Sam
Nariman, when Afrasiab invaded Iran; he rebelled against the
sovereignty of Persia and freed Punjab from its yoke. He took
Jallandcr under his sway, and offered allegiance to Afrasiab. Upto
the time of King Kekobad, Punjab remained independent under
Indian rulers, Rustom then invaded India, and Firouzrai the Indian
ruler fled to Tirhoot. Rustom then placed Surajrae on the throne.
Later on Kedar Raja paid tribute to Kaus and Kaikhusroo.
Severa learned persons have shown that the Persians had come
to India and lived there from the vedic times:
Several learned persons have shown that the Persians had come
to India and lived there from the vedic times:
1.
Prof. Spiegel in his introduction to Avesta says "The
original abode of the Indo-Germanic race is to be sought in the
extreme east of the Iranian country, in the tract where the Oxus and
the Jaxartes take their rise ... It might be imagined that not only the
Indians along with them had migrated to the countries on the Indus
and that Iranians, perhaps owing to religious differences, had
retraced their steps to the westwards."

2. Prof. Maxmuller says: It can now be proved even by

geographical evidence that Zoroastrians had been settled in India

44

The Iranians in Ancient India -

before they migrated into Persia .... That the Zoroastrians and their
ancestors started from India during the Vedic period cart be proved
as distinctly as that the inhabitants of Massilia started from Greece.
Prof. Maxmuller in his Lectures. on the Science of Language repeats
the same opinion: The Zoroastrains were a colony from North
India. They had been together for a time with the people whose
sacred songs have been preserved to us in the Veda. A schism took
place and the Zoroastrians migrated westwards to Arachosia and
Persia."
The Parshus and Prithus are mentioned in the Rig Veda; either
they were inhabitants or invaders. of India.
hi Rig Veda I, 105, 8, The Parshus (Persians) harass me all
round like Rival wives. In VlII-6-46 "I wrested from the Yadva tribe
100 cattle in the province of Tirindira and 1,000 cattle in the
province of Parshu. The third reference is in VII, 83-1 "0 you men,
looking to you and to your wealth the Prithus and Parsus fain for
spoil, march forward. 0 Indra- Varuna you smote and slew the Dasa
and Aryan enemies and helped Sudas 'with favour."
Cyprus appears to have subjugated the Indian tribes of Hindu
Kush and in the Kabul valley especially the Gandarians. Darius
himself, advanced as far as the Indus. Cambyses was more occupied
in Egypt than in India.
Darius ruled from B. C. 522-486; from the three inscriptions
executed by his command and other sources we find what the
general outline of Persian Dominion in his time, and we can even
infer that he annexed the valley of the Indus early in his reign. The
three records in stone are; (1) the famous Bahistan rock inscription;
520 and 518 B.C. may be assigned to this incription; (2) Two old
Persian block tablets at Persepolis; carved between B.C. 518-515;
and (3) Two inscriptions chiselled around the tomb of Darius in the
cliff at Naksh-i-Rustom, this' must have been engraved some time
after 515 B.C.
The Bahistan inscription does not mention India in the list of
23 provinces which obeyed Darius. It can be inferred that the Indus
region did not form part of the empire of Darius at that time. The
Indus conquest is assigned to the year 518 B.C.

45

Silld" Observed

Herodotus while gIVIng a list of 20 satrapies or governments

established by Darius expressly states that the Indian realm was the
29t h division. About the amount of tribute he states:'
"The Indians who arc more numerous than any other nation
with which we arc acquainted paid a tribute exceeding that of
every other people to wit, three hundred and sixty talents- of
gold-dust. This was the twentieth satrapy."
On page 40(, he adds "The way in which the Indians get the

plentiful supply of gold, which enables them to furnish year by year

so vast an amount of gold-dust to the king is the following: _
Eastward of India lies a tract which is entirely sand. finally it was
constructed hy the great satrap Rudra Daman in A. 0 -.150.
Dr. Bhau Daji a great scholar said that the actual builder of the
bridge on lake Sudarshana ncar Girnar was the Pahlava minister of
Rudradarnan,
named Suvishakha, a sanskrit adaptation of the
Persian name Siavaksha; his father's name was Kuaipa and
Siavaksha appeared to be the governor of Anarta and Saurashtra
(Kathiawar).
The writer of the Bombay Gazetteer says "The name of
Suvishakha, as Dr. Bhau Daji suggests, may be a sanskritised form of
Siavaksha. One of the Karli inscriptions gives a similar name
Sovaska, apparently a corrupt Indian form of the original Persian,
from which the snnskritised Suvasaka must have been formed.
S()v~ka
is mentioned in the Karle incription as an inhabitant of
Ahularna, apparently the old trade mart of Obollah, at the head of
the Persian Gulf.
On page :'i51 of Rawlinson's
(find: -

Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy

The most important city of the southern region was at the time
Oboll, which was situated on a canal or backwater derived from the
Euphrates, not far from the modern Busrah.

I.

Rawlinson's Hcridotus Vol. II p. 41H

million pounds sterling.

O\cT a

The Iranians ill Ancient lndia -

Sir H. Rawlinson places Obelia twelve miles below Busrah,

between that city and the place where Shat-e1-Arab divides into two
streams. He conjectures its identity with the ancient Teredon or
Diridotis. (see also Rawlinson's Herodotus, Vol. I, p. 525).
This trade connection between the Persian Gulf and the
~estern India sea board must have led to a settlement from very
early times of Pahlavas, who gradually became converted to
Buddhism.
Karli Inscription. _ Parthian or Persian artists seem to have
sculptured the rock temples in the Thana district - this dates from
centuries before and after Christ. Harpharan of Abulama (Obollah
a port near Basra on the Persian Gulf) whose name appears in one
of the Karli inscriptions was a Parthian or a Persian. The inscription
reads "In the 24th year of the King Shri Pudumava, son of Vasava
this beautiful religious assignation is made of the mendicant
Harapharana, son of Satru-parana, the devoted inhabitant of
Abulama. Dr. Burgess says "the names of Upasaka Harapharna and
his father Setapharna are unlike any in use in India and may possibly
be of Parthians.
The name of their family Sovaska has a
resemblance to Syavaka, but their native place Abulama has not an
Indian name. As the word Upasaka is generally used for Buddhist
mendicants it appears that Harapharana was a Zoroastrian at one
time, but subsequently became a convert to Buddhism. The animal
capitals of the pillars at Karli Bedsa, and Nasik arc so closely alike to
those at Persipolis and Susa that according to Fergusson, the early
Buddhists of Western India either belonged to the Persian empire or
drew their art from it.
Inscriptions of Nahapana's Family
There are six inscriptions of Nahapana's family in the cave at
Nasik, 'one at Karli, and one by Nahapana's minister at .Iunnar. In
the inscriptions the names of Khaharata and Nahapana occur they
were either Persians or Parthians. Ksahharata may be equal to
Phrahtes a satrap of the Parthian Dynasty. Dr. Fleet says: "I hold
that the Saka era was founded by the Kshaharata king Nahapana,
who reigned in Kathiawar, and over some of the neighbouring
territory as far as Ujain from A.D. 78 to aboiu A.D. 125 and held for
a time Nasik and' other parts north of Bhinbitl and who seems to
have been a Pahlava or Palhava or Parthian extraction."

47

Sind" Observed

Nasik Inscription. _ In this inscription King Gotamputra,

(Ruled in 120 A.D. of Andhra dynastry) is mentioned as ruler of
Mundaka, Surashtra, Kukura, Aparanta, Anupa, Virdarbhha, and
was the lord of the Vindya and Paryatra (western part of the Vindya)
mountains, the Sahya (western Ghauts) and Kanha (Kanheri) hills.
He subdued Sakas, Yavanas, and Pahlavas.
Manikiala Stone Inscription - Manikiala was one of the most
famous places in the Punjab in very early period. It was called
Manikpur or Maniknagar; it was in the South East of Peshawar and
Taxila; 34 miles from the latter place. The stone inscription was put
up in a market place, close to the object of donation, which was most
probably an instrument for measuring time. The present was a joint
gift of a Zoroastrian donor and a Buddhist priest. The translation of
the inscription runs thus: "In the year 18 the King Puru-aspa, the son
of an aggrandiser of the Kushan race of Kanishaka, the noble-men
of the people establishes in the market place of the Satrap Vespashi,
who is fond of the hours, for clear announcement through the
ringing or proclamation of the hours - along with Vespashi, with
Khudenti and with Buritra, the priest of the Vihara (Buddhist
monastry) and with all attendants.
May the useful gift by its
meritorious foundation with the aid of Budha and Spenta (the Holy
one) be always true."
Kshathra is an avestan word meaning king; Paru-aspa may be
for Pourushashpa. The Iranian word Karapan is applied to teachers
and priests hostile to the Zoroastrian religion.
Parthians in Gujrat and Sindh
Ferishta writes about the Indian king Sinarchand who paid
tribute to the Iranian King Godrej, who was a Parthian.
Cunningham in his Ancient Geography of India writes "Thatha
was the actual position of the Minhabari of the Arab Geographers
and of the Min-nagar of the author of the Periplus ....The Name
Manhabari is variously written as Mehabari and Manjabari; for
which we might perhaps read Manabari or Mandawari, thy city of
the Mand tribe. This Mand tribe is referred to by Edrisi, Ibn
Haukal, Rashid-ud-ciin and Masudi. The name is variously written
as Mer, Med, Mand, Mind. The Mand tribe occupied lower Sindh in

48

The Iranians in Ancient India _

great numbers Irom the beginning of the Christian era. To this

people I refer the name Min-nagar or city of Min, which was the
capital of lower Sindh in the second century of the Christian era;
Min was a ~Sythi~n name.
The appearance. of the name in Sindh
would alone be sufficie"t,to suggest the presence of the Scythians;
but its connection with them is placed=beyond all doubt by the
mention that tke rulers of Min-nagar were rival Parthians who were
mutually expelling each ~ot her.
(NOTE. -These
contending
Parthians must have been the remnant of the Karen Pahlavas who
joined with the Kushans to attack Ardeshir Papakan).
These
Parthians were Dahae Scythians from the Oxus who gave the name
of Indo-Scythia to the Valley of the Indus."
Tod in his Annals and Antiquities of Rajesthan states that
"Arrian who resided in the second century at Barugaza (Broach)
describes Parthian sovereignty as extending from the Indus to the
Nerbadda. Their capital was Minagara.
Indo Parthian Dynasty ruled in the Punjab from B. C. 120 to
A.D. 60. Mithridates I of Parthia annexed the country between the
Indus and" Jhclum, or in other words the kingdom of Taxila in B.C.
138. The western Punjab formed the integralpart of the Parthian
dominion for a time; but at the death of MithridatesI,
B.C. 136 the
control relaxed. And about B.C. 120 a chieftain Maus made himself
king of Taxila. He was quite independent as appears from his coins
which bear the inscription Rajadhirajas Mahatsa Mous, "of Moa the
great king of kings."
The coins of Moa's isuccessors Vonones,
Spalahores etc. were found at Peshawar and in districts on the west
bank of the Indus.
Mithridates
II suprressed
the independence of Sistan and
joined these provinces in the Parthian empire. Azes or Aya who was
deprived of Kandhar was allowed to rule at Taxila after Maus; he
established a kingdom there inB.C. 90. The legend on his coins
reads "Maharajasa Rajrajsa Mahatasa Ayas," of Aya the great, the
great king. the king
kiags (Ph. 586-92, Cambridge, History of
India, Vol. I.)
.

eOr

Aziliscs came after Azcs in B.C. 40; _.RJ1ed for 25 ~

He
was followed by Gondopharcs;
he ruled
-A.D. 20 to 60; He
ruled over Araohosia,
Sistan and vallev Ol rhe lower Indus.
Ahdagascs ruled after him-fur a short time.' In the latter part of the

r_

49

first century of the Christian era the valley of the Lower Indus was
under Parthian cheifs. At this time the Sakas, the Tartars, and other
wandering hordes (rom 'Central Asia were coming down in great
numbers upon .thc North West frontier of India. The family of
Volones ruled in Seistan, Kandhar, and North Baluchistan; and the
descendants of Maus ruled in Punjab and Sindh until A.D. 25.
The coins of' Gondopharnes and his successors are found in
Seistan, Kandhar and Sindh. This is the ruler who had put St. Judas
Thomas to death. The passage relating to this is quoted by Rapson
in his Ancient India, p. 579, from The Apocryphal Acts of the
A.post lcs,
The date of the reign of Gondopharncs may be definitely fixed
from a monument of this king's rule in the Peshawar district
commonly known as the, Takht-i-Bahi inscription.
It is dated the
26th year of the king's reign and OJ) the Sth day of the month of
Vaisakha in the year 103. There is no doubt that the era is the
Viknim Samvat which began in B.C. 58, and that therefore
Gondolpharnes began to reign in A.D. 19 and was still reigning in
A.D.4S.
To Azes I, has been attributed the foundation of the Vikrama
era beginning in 58 B.C. and according to Sir John Marshall Indeed
of all the inhabitants of Asia concerning whom anything is known,
the Indians dwell the nearest to the cast, and the rising ofJhe sun.
Beyond them the whole country is desert. on account' of the sand.
The tribes of Indians arc numerous and do not speak the samo
language - some arc wandering tribes, others nol. They who dwell
in the. marshes along the river live on raw fish, which they take in
boats made of reeds each formed out of a single. joint.
These
Indians wear. a dress of sedge, which they cut in the river and bruise;
afterwards they weave it into mats, and wear it as we wear a breastplate."
By the sandy desert Herodotusmeans
the-desert of Cob! 01""
Shamoo and the crivcr. is surely meant the Indus. He did not know
the existence orGallgc~which
only became.known 10 the Greeks hy"
the expedition of Alexander,
Vincent Smith gives the summary thus: Although the eXiH.:I
limits of thl.! Indian satrapy under Darius cannot he determined we

50

Tire Iranians ill Ancient India _

know that it was distinct from Aria (Herat), Arachosia (Kandahar)

and Gandaria (North West Punjab). It must have, comprised
therefore the course of the Indus from Kalabagh to the sea,
including the whole of Sindh and perhaps included a considerable
portion of the Punjab cast of the Indus.
Expedition under Scylax
There is a passage in Herodotus which gives proof of the
annexation or control of the valley of the Indus from its upper course
to the sea. including therefore the Punjab and Sindh; it showed that
it was possible to navigate by sea from the Indus to Persia. About
517 B.C. Darius sent a naval expedition under Scylax, a native IIf
Caryanda in Caria to explore the Indus. The squadron embarked at
a place in the Gandhara country called Kaspatyros, The exact
location is unknown but Sir A. Stein suggests Jahangir an ancient
sight on the left bank of the Kabul River, some six miles above the
point where it flows into the Indus at Attock. The fleet succeeded in
making its way to the Indian Ocean and finally reached Egypt two
and a half years from the time that the voyage began. It is doubtful
whether this expedition was sent before or after the Indian conquest';
it must be after, otherwise Scylax would have experienced the same
trouble from unsubdued tribes as did Alexander the Great,
Sway exercised ~y Darius over the peoples 01" Indian Borderland
Of the 23 tributary provinces named on the stone inscriptions
three provinces, Bakhtri (Bact ria), Haraiva (Herat) and Zaranka
(Drangian, a' 'portion of Seistan) form part of the present
Afghanistan lie more remote from the Indian frontier.
The
following frve are connected with the region of the Indus; l.
Gandara (region of the Kabul valley as far as Peshawar); 2. Thatagu
(either Ghilzai territory to the South West of Ghazni or the Hazara
country further to the west and north west); 3. Harahuvati (the
district about Kandahar); 4. Sah (Seistar) and 5 Maka, (Makran).
During all the reign ~f Cyrus, and afterwards when Camhvscs
ruled there were no fixed trihules, hut the nations scvcrallv brouuht
gifts to'the king. On account of this and other like d(~inl!~.thL'
Persians say that Darius Was ;i huckster, Caml)vsl:~ it master, and
Cyrus, a father: for Dariuslookcd'.(n making a g;.tin in every Ihin!:!:

51

.'iiI/eli, Oh'I'/"C:c/

Cambyscs was harsh and reckless; while Cyrus was gentle. and
procured them all manner of goods.'
Reference to Parsis and Persians in Sanskrit Books
The Hindu writers used the word Parasika for the Parsis and
Pahlavas for the Parthians or Iranians generally.
In the Shanti Parva and Bhisman Parva of the Mahabharata,
the Pahlavas are mentioned. According to Pandit Bhagwanlal, the
Pahlavas came to India about B.C. 150. According to a writer of the
Bombay Gazetteer seven. leading hordes entered India from the
North West and West. The Yavanas or Bactrian Greeks came to
India from B.C. 2..'50to 125; The Pahlavas or Parthians from B.C.
170 to 100; From a paper by Dr. Bhau Daji on the Junagar
inscriptions it appears that the Pahlavas were in India in about 120
A.D.
In the Vishnu Puran the tribes inhabiting Bharatavarsha, are
mentioned; among them are the Parasikas, It is stated in the
sanskrit drama Mudra Rakshasha, written in the 8th century A.D.
that the Pars is helped Chandagupta in his invasion of Northern
India. On the authority of the same book we know that "Parsiko
Meghnad". The Parsi named Meghanada was a Raja and friend of
Chandragupta. The same name occurs in another passage, thus "Among these the fifth is one of name the Megha the great king
of the Parsis who has got a large cavalry. (compare Moghistan, land
of Moghs or Magi another name of Hormuz Island).
In the Raghu Vamsa written by Kalidas in A.D. 550 we read
about Raghu the great grand-father of Rama: "thence we set out by
an inland route to conquer the Parasikas." This is correct for the
poet further says that the horses of Raghu relieved their fatigues by
rolling on the banks of .the river Sindhu. He adds that Yavanas,
Kambojas and Hunnas.werc defeated by Raghu. According to Dr.
Hoernle the Persian king was Kobad who with ihe help of the Huns
removed his brother Jarsasp from the throne '(A.D. 499). The huns
fought with the Indian king Yashodbarman. They were assisted by
Kohad who lost Sindh and some eastern provinces. This is the loss
.referred to by Kalidas when he speaks ofthe defeat of the Parsikas,
Firdusi does not mention this loss-in the time of Piruz or Kobad but

52

111('Iranians ;11 Ancient India _

Tabari the Arabic writer says that a part of the Indian frontier
belonged to the Persians in Beramgor's time. It passed back into the
hands of an Indian King he fore the time of Noshirwan.
In the Katba-sarit ~ngra, written by Somadeva in the 12th
century we findthe
storyof
Udayana; he was king of Vasta and
defeated the king of the Chola {the Tamil people of South India
from whom the Coromandal
coast (Chola MandaI) receives its
name, they were the ancestors of the Chaldeans.)
Having subdued
the king of Siridh at the head of his cavalry, he destroyed the
Malechhas. The cavalry squadron of the Turks were broken on the
masses of his elephants .... The august hero received the tribute of his
foes and cut off the head of the wicked king of the Parasikas."
Cunningham in his Ancient Geography of India refers to the story of
Udayana thus "The story of Udayana, king of Kosarnbi is referred to
by the 'poet Kalidas in his Mcgha-duta or cloud-messenger where he
says that Avanti (or Ujain) is great with the number of those versed
in the talc of Udayana.
Now Kalidas nourished shortly after A.D.
500: If Udayana was a contemporary of Budha, the wicked Parsi
king referred 10 above lived in about the 5th century B.C. Could this
be Xerxes who was killed in B.C. 465 who was according 10 some
writers cruel and wicked.
Al-Biruni mentions the names of the people of India on the
authority of Vayu Puran placing the Pahlavas among the people of
the north. In the same book he says that one of the names of the
people in the South West was Parasava, i.e.. Persians.

Persians mentioned in lnscrlptions

Taxila Inscription, - The ruins of Taxila lire situated about 24
miles from Rawalpindi.
Sir .Iohn Marshall excavated it: in these
excavations was the ruins of Mound of .Ihandial, so called [1"11111 a
neighbouring village. Sir John Marshall here excavated a temple
which he calls the Temple of .Ihandiala, and which he thinks to be an
ancient fire temple of the Parsecs of Parthian times. There J~ it
tower of solid masonry with a foundation of about :1() Iect.
Dr. Sir Jivanji .I. Modi says that he is not a student of
Archaeology "but as an humble student of Zoroastrianism, knnwing
something about its fire temples, and the customs of the firccult ami
having examined very carefully the structure :)f the Jhandiala temple
)~

Silld" Ol)sc,,.('d

I venture to say that I observed nothing that could be said to go

against Sir John's views about the building _~ing a Zoroastrian
temple of God. On the other hand in main principles the structure
even resembled some of our modern fire-temples. But there is one
point on which I have my doubts. The learned archaeologist thinks
that the tower is the seat of a lire-altar at the top and takes as the
ground for this view the fact that the Persians had their fire altars in
high places. Of course he has the authority of Herodotus (Book I,
I). But I think that thai view would not apply to later Parthian
times about 500 years after Herodotus - to which Sir John Marshall
attrihutcs the temple on archaeological grounds. If some further
researches lead him to attribute the temple to more ancient times _.
say the lime when Darius the Great invaded India with his large
army of Persians and when he passed through this part of the Punjab
- then his view (If the usc of the Tower may possibly, though not
assuredly, he held to he stronger ..... Of all the modern lire-temples
of India, the one at present in the old Parsi centre of Naosari seems
to suggest this view and seems to come nearer to the Taxila lower.
There ncar the place of t he sanctuary wherein the sacred lire is
burning there is a small two-storied building, reminding one of a
lower. though not exactly a town on which the worshippers went to
have a look at the disant Purna river and to say their Ardvisura
Nyaish, and even the Khorshcd and Mchar Nyaishes, It was a place
which gave them a more open look of the whole of the surrounding
nature.
The Taxila tower may have been intended for a similar
purpose."

Gimar Inscription. - On a bridge ncar Girnar at Junagadh in

Kathiawar, known as Rudra Daman's hridge there is a remarkahle
inscription of the Shah kings. The ancient bridge was swept away by
a flood, that it was ~repaired
hy Pushpagupta,
whose sister
Chandrugupta had married: it was subsequently repaired by Tushapa
the Yavana raja. an oflicer of Asoka and inscription discovered by
him at Taxilla is actually dated in the year n(i of Azes." This
interpretation may he correct in ~ite of the tradition that this era
was Ioundcd hy King Vikrarnaditya of Ujjain to commemorate the
defeat of the Sakus: and whatever may have been origin of this era
the assignment of the reign of Azes I to this period is justified, It is
consistent with the date ascribed independently to his predecessor
Maus (8.C. 75) and with the date of his third successor
Gondopharncs who certainly began to rule in A.D. 1'>.

54

"J he

lnuiians ill And""i lndia _

Gondopharncs was reigning in the year 45 A.D. and Virna

Kadpiscs was reigning in 78 A:D. Sir John Marshall discovered a
Kharoshti inscription in the Chir Tope ai Taxilla; it is dated the 5th
Ashad year n6: the era which hegins in B.C. 58, this daje would be
equivalent to A.D. 77-78, this is the last year of the reign of Virna
Kadophiscs: his successor Kanishka began to reign in A.D. 78.
The history of the Kushana empire has been preserved by
Chinese writers -. Wc find that the Tartars who drove the Sakas out
of Bactria consisted of five tribes. After a settlement of 3}>8\1t10n
wars in Bactria the chief of one of these tribes, the Kushan has
gained thc supremacy over the Tartars and founded a kingdom
called Kushan. The Kushanas became masters of territory to the
south of Hindu Kush, i.e., the modern South Afghanistan, the
ancient province of Kabul and Arachosia that is Kandhar. huvishka
was the successor of Kanishka, the legend on his coins is Maharaja
Dcvputra Huvishka; Huvishka is a Persian word; but he could not
have been a pucca Zoroastrian.
for no Zoroastrian would connect
his name wit h dcva.
Before I come to the Sassanian period the rulers of which
dynasty were on terms of close friendship with the rulers of Western
India, I should like to explain the Brahmi and Kharoshthi alphabets.
Both the alphabets arc of Semitic origin, i.c. they are ultimately
derived from the same source as the European alphabets. Brahmi
has been traced back to the Phoenician type of writing.
It was
probably brought into India through Mesopotamia as it result of the
early commerce by sea between Babylonia and ports of Western
India. It is the parent of all the modern Indian alphabets.
.
Kharoshthi is derived from the Aramaic script which was
introduced into India in the 6th century B.C. when the North West
was under Persian rule and when Aramaic was used as a Common
means of communication for the purpose of Government throughout
the Persian empire,
That originally the Aramaic language and.
alphabet pure and simple were thus imported into Gandhara has
been proved bv Sir John Marshal's discovcrv
an Aramaic
inscription at T;~xilla. In the third ccntury A.D .. Kharoshti appears
more fully developed in Chinese Turkestan, when its existence must
he attributed to the Kushana empire. In this rcgiorr <t!i in India it W<lS
evidently superseded by Brahmi.

or

SilldIrOhw"'l'd

The Sassanian dynasty was on terms of close friendship with the

rulers of Western India and became the leading traders.
I will
narrate further on the visit of Bcgram Ghor to India and his
marriage with a Hindu Princess, Sa pi nuda. Firdusi says that when
Bchram Ghor carried away his Indian wife, and came to sea he saw
a group of Iranian traders "because they were Iranian traders they
were hold in travelling hy land and sell." This shows that the Iranian
traders went' to India horh by land and sea.
Tabari states that Shapur II built cities not only in Sagistan but
actually in Sindh. Again King Phiroz founded two cities in India
proper - Ram Phiroz and Roshcn Phiroz.
There arc several towns of Persia which have a prefix RAM.
desire,
Ram Ardeshir, a town situated formerly between the province
of Isphan and Khuzisial') ..and also named Tawaj or Tawaz.
Ram shirist;~~t~iMc.ient
capital of Sijistan before the Arab
conquest, at present :in ruin~.~nd replaced by Zaranj.
Noshirwan Adal, the Just (A.D. 5~1-579) and his grandsom
Parviz (A.D. 590-(28) were united by treaties and by 'interchange of
presents with the rulers of South India and Sindh.
About A.D. 5(15 the dominions of the White Huns, namely
Kashmcre, Ghandhara and Peshawar, passed. into the hands of the
Persians. Tabari states that King Khusru II of Persia received an
embassy from King Pulikessin II in about 625 A.D. and an embassy
was in return sent to India, which was received with due honour at
the Indian Court. In the caves of Ajanta there is a painting which
depicts the court of the Raja, where these Iranian ambassadors arc
sitting on a gadi welcoming the foreign arnirs who have brought a
message and some presents.
The dress and manners of the
messengers clearly show that they were Persians. In another room
at Ajanta an Iranian Ruler and his Queen are depicted, surrounded
hy tWI) Iranian servants, Fergusson is of opinion that this picture
depicts Khusru Perviz and his queen Sherin, and the Indian Raja is
Pulukcsh Ill' Malwa. Tahari the Arab Historian states that Pulukcsh
of Malwa had sentinA.D.
(,;!6 a leiter to the son of Khusru Parviz
and the picture der.i<;ts)hc Iranian Messengers hringing a reply to

J he'lmn;l/1I\ in .'1116('11/ india -

that letter.

The picture

show that the Ajanta school of art was

derived from Persia.

On the authority of Mr. G. K. Nariman I state that in the time
of Shri Harsha of Sindh, Persian army came to Sindh. The ruler fell
in the battle, hut the Persian contended themselves with devastating
a portion of Sindh and returned; the son of the slain ruler occupied
the rule of Sindh. He was himself overthrown in 621 - this shows
that the event happened in the reign of Khusru Pcrviz, Coins found
in North7West India with Indian and Pahlavi legends prove that this
territory was under the Persian rulers.
Barzuya, the physician of Noshirvan was sent to India who
<obtained a copy of Panchtantra or the original of Hitopdcsha, which ,
he got translated into Pablavi; also game of chess was obtained from
the same source,
'
Early in the 7th century a large body or Persians landed in
Western India and from one of their leaders, possibly a son of
Khusru Pcrviz, the family of Udcpur have sprung.
Cunningham in his Archaeological Reports has noted that the
influence (If the Sassanian was most strongly felt in Sindh and
Western Rajputana where India and Persia came into direct 'contact;
hut in North West India and the Punjab it was ovcrthorwn hy the
White ifuns and Little Yuchi who successively held the Kabul valley.
The former were certainly lire-worshippers
and the latter were
apparently Brahmanists, hut hoth had adopted the style of Sassanian
coinage; he calls this lndo-Sassanian period, extending down to AD.
700; shortly after that date the direct Persian influence came to an
end in Western India by the Mahorncdan conquest of Sindh and
Multan byMahorncd Kasim in AD, 711.
There is a tradition that the Ranas of Mcwar were connected
with the Sassanian king of Persia; in support, Abdul Fazal (A.D.
1500) say!ol that the Ranas consider themselves descendants of
Sassanian Naushirwan
(AD. 5~1-579); there is no evidence to .
support this. But the marriage between a Valbhi Chief and Mah
Banu daughter
of ~the fugitive lust Sassanian Yazdgard ',is' not
impossible. (AD. (lSI).

Silld" Oh..-e'1'('d

There was connection between Persia and Western India; the

fact is that a subsequent deteriorated
issue from some mint in
Gujcrat now known as Gadhia Paisa has plainly been imitated from
the coins of Ihe Sassanides.
Princep in his Essays on Indian
Antiquilies says "The popular name of these rude silver and copper
coins is in Gujrat Gadhia ka paisa, equal to ass-money or rather the
money of Gandhia, a name of Vikramaditya.
The king was a
powcrfu] king of the western provinces, his capilal being Cambal or
Cam bay; and it is certain that the princes of these parts were
Iributary to Persia from a very early period.
Scholars have
di~c()vered on Ihe coins the prolile of face after the Persian model
Oil one side and the Sassanian
lire altar on the other. If this is
admilled as proof of an Indo-Sassanian dynasly in Saurashtra, we
may find the date of its establishment in the epoch of Yazdgird the
. son of Behram Ghor. This is supported by the testimony of tho Agni
Puran that Vikram son of Gadha-rupea
(Behram Ghor) ascended
the throne of Malaya (Ujjain) in A.D. 441."
Tod in the Annales of Rajasthan assigns the fall of the Valabhi
empire to an army of Parlhians and Scythians, but Elphinstone has.
suggested that the invaders may have been Sassanians probably
under Nallshirwan; and in this event we have an explanation of the
occurrence of the Gadhia coins. Deteriorated as they are the bust
and lire-altar of the Sassanides are apparent; we can conclUde that
cit her the Sassanian monarchy obtained a footing in Gujerat or that
an off-shoot of the dynasty succeeded in establishing an empire
there.

A Pahlava prince in Kathiawar in A.D. 720 built the fort of

Elapur; in it he established an image of Siva adorned with a crescent;
Cunningham thinks this may be Somnath. This Elapur or Elawar by
Ira!lSposition would become ErawaJ, Ihe present Wcrawal.

Dr. SJ)ooner's Excav~tion of Patliputrcl and his paper on

Zoroastrian period of Indian History
Patliputra the modern Patna is the Palibothra of Megaslhencs
who was the ambassador
of Seleucus Necator in the reign of
Ch'andragupta about B,C. 300. It is situated on the confluence of the
rivers Ganges and Son or Scna, It was the capital of the ancient
kingdom. of Magadha, or South Bchar.
It was form!!r1y called

'/IIC

Iranians in Ancient India ,-

Kusurnpur and Pushyapur, city of flowers.

Bigroia suavcolcns.

Pat ali is the flower

The Chinese travellers, Fa Hien who 'visited it in B.C. 399-414

and Hiucn Tsiang, about A.D..629,speak very highly of this city.
Mcgcsihcncs about B.C. 300-302, the ambassador of Se1eucus
Necator at the court of Chandra Gupta and Chanakya, the minister,
left us some account of the magnificence of the royal court.
I

Strahl) in his Geography mentions this city; so also Arrian in his

Indica: I may mention that Chandragupta is Sandrakottos of the
Greeks, Sandrakoptus of Athenaens, and Andro-kottos in Plutarch
life of Alexander the Great. They city rose to its zenith in the time
of Asoka (B.C. 250), the grandson of Chandragupta.
Pliny among the ancients, French Geographer D'Anville (16971782) English Geographer Rennel (1742-1830),Thomas Pennant, an
antiquary (1726-1798), Col. Wilford, William Franklin, Dr.
Buchanan Hamilton, and several others have tried to identify the
city.
Dr. Spooner began his excavations in January 1913. As the
work was expensive, the late Sir Ratan Tata made a generous offer
to pay every year Rs.10,OOOto the Government of India.
Dr. Spooner first located eight rows of monolithic polished
pillars. Afterwards he found the ninth row; each row has ten pillars.
Dr. Spooner's wife gave him great help; it was she who first drew the
attention to the fact that the pillars of the Mauriyan building
resembled the plan she had seen at Persepolis.
The meaning of "Mauryan replica of Pcrsipolis" was that the
intluence of Iran upon India was much mOTCthan it is ordinarily
supposed. The excavations were on a monumental scale. The
learned doctor produced numisiatic, literary, and other evidence to
show the certainty of a very powerful intluence of Iran upon India.
Ancient Persia had its influence on Greece, Rome, Egypt, and
other adjoining countries; the greatest intluence was of their religion
and that is they arc called 'The Puritans of the Old World."

"'inc/IIObserved

It was Cyrus the founder of the Achaemenian dynasty who

paved the way for the subsequent influence over India. Cyrus laid
.thc foundation of Persia by taking Media in B.C:-SSO; Lydia in~546;
Babylonia in 538; Egypt was added by CambysS~)11 ~2;:and Darius
organised the Great Persian possessions in his It)ng reign~ioll1 528486 before Christ.
Dr. V. A. Smith the best authority on Ancient India has shown
that Achaemenian Iran had a strong influence on Mauryan India
such as1.

Influence of Iranian architecture on Indian architecture.

2. The Achaeminian practice of inscribing on. pillars and rocks

and style ur-the inscripli(;-ns'-which. were followed by Asoka in his
inscriptions.
,,_
3. The Kharoshth! script came to India from the Aramaic clerks'
of the Achheminians.
4. Some of the features of the Mauryan administration and polity
and court customs were taken from the Iranians.
The style of some of the sculptured capitals of Asoka had its
origin in the capitals of the palace of Darius at Persipolis. The style
of the huge monolithic sandstone and other pillars of Asoka is also
Persian; The bas-relief sculpture of-some of the Mauryan buildings
resemble that of the Persians at Persipolis.
Fergusson specially points to the capitals in the caves at Bedsa,
.about ten miles south of Karle, ncar Lonavla, and says Bedsa, about
ten miles south of Karle, near Lonavla, and says "their capitals are
more like the Persepolitan type than almost any others in India and
are each surmounted by horse and elephants bearing men and
women."

The other similar caves are at Bhaja about 4 miles south of the
Karle caves ncar .Lanovla; 2, At Jamalgarhi some 40 miles N.E. of
Peshawar; here the capitals of the old Pcrso-Indian type have new
Iorrns given to them the animal figures being whilst the pillars
themselves are placed on the backs of crouching changed, figures
with wings. The 3rd type is found at Tavagumpha caves near the
fiO

711cIranians ill Ancient India _

Khandgiri hill in Orissa where "the doors are flanked by pilasters

with capitals of}he Persopolitan types."
.
The debt of India to Perso-Assyrian art is strikingly apparent
-Irom two observations; 1, The sculpture of India proper - the India
of the Gangetic valley - is mainly bas-relief. The Indians apply
their bas reliefs after the Persian fashion. Their sculpture is
bestowed chicfy on doors and vestibules, and as in Persia, the most
important single figures guard the entrance of gateways in India.
Even the unique bas-reliefs of Barhut have their counterparts at
Persepolis and Nineveh. 2. the decoration of the Vihara caves was
Persian.
Asoka followed Darius in the matter of his edicts. It was the
practice of Darius to erect pillars in the countries which he
conquered or through which he passed. We learn from Herodotus
that in his march against the Scythians he "surveyed the Bosphorus
and erected upon its shores two pillars of white marble, whereupon
he inscribed the names of all the nations which formed his army."
While digging the modern Suez Canal, some pillars of Darius have
been discovered in Egypt. Asokain-his pillar edicts has followed this
practice of Darius.
Darius inscribed on the sides of rocks and mountains. The best
instance is that on the rock at Behistan, Asoka has also some of his
inscriptions on rocks; one at Jungadh at the-foot of the Girnar.
Darius commences every edict with the words "Thus sayetP
Darius the king: Asoka also begins in'the 'Sameway: "thus saitlLHisSacred and Gracious Majesty the King."
The idea of inscribing ethical dissertations on the rocks.in the
guise of royal proclamation seems to be of Persian origin.
..
The Kharoshti script was introduced in India by the
Achaemenian kings through their Aramaic clerks. The Kharoshti
writing seen on the coins of the western Satraps of Saurashtra
(Kathiawar) point to the northern origin of the kings.
Dr, Vincent Smith says that the civil and miiitarv institutions of
the Mauryan Empi,re as d~cribed hy Asoka in .his edicts and by the

oJ

Sillel/, Ob.\<'I, 'eel

Greek writers were essentially Indian modified in some particulars

by imitation of Persian practices.
As for Court customs, I give two examples; one of these is the
custom of observing birthdays by the kings. Herodotus Vol. IV p.
3S1-R2 when writing about Amestris the wife of king Xerxes says that
"she Waited therefore till her husband gave the great royal banquet a
feast which takes 'place once every year in celebration of the king'S
birthday. Tykta the feast is called in Persian tongue which in our
language may _!Jerendered perfect and this is the only day in all (he
year in which the king soaps his head and distributes gifts to the
Persians. The law of the feast required 'that no one who asked a
boon that day at the king's board should be denied his request. The
Indian custom referred to hy Strabo. "Historians also relate that the
Indians worship Jupiter Ombrius (or the rainy) the river Ganges and
the indigenous deities of the country; that when the king washes his
hair, a great feast is celebrated and large presents are sent, each
person displaying his wealth in competition with his neighbour:
When Megasthcnes was in India, Strabo speaks of the Indians
of that time. "The Indians wear white garments white linen and
Muslim contrary to the accounts of those who say that they wear
garments of a bright colour; all of ttem wear long hair and long
beards, plait their hair and bind it with a fillet. The Indian custom of
keeping long hair among the Maruyan kings is believed by Dr. Smith
to have been taken from the Achaemanian Iranian. The ancient
Iranians kept their hair long. They seldom cut them. Old Iranian
sculptures show that the Iranians kept long beards. Even now the
Parsi priests keep -beard which they cannot trim or ~~I.
Dr. Spooner wrote a paper in 19]5 in the Journal of the R.A. S.
of Gr. Br. & Ireland entitled "a Zoroastrian period of Indian
History."
This paper threw a homh-shell in the camp of the
oricntnlisn,
He advances a good deal of literary evidence in support
of the discovery that the Mauryan huilding at Patliputra was copied
from an Iranian huilding. He showed that upon the threshold of the
historical period, a dynasty of almost purely Persian type ruled over
India. That dynasty Was the Mauryan dynasty, the founder of which,
Chandragupta, the first great Indian Emperor Was a Persian Aryan,
a Parsi. He had Pcrscpolis as his ancestral home. The Mauryan
dynasty was Zoroastrian.
NOI only that but the Dr. says that Budha,
the founder of Budhism, was an Iranian sage and as such was a
()2

111eIranians in Ancient India -

Persian. He affirms that the palaces referred to in the Mahabharata

are the Mauryan buildings at Pataliputra, that the Asura Maya to
whose supernatural power the construction of the palaces is
attributed is the Ahrura Mazda of the Zoroastrians whom Darius
often invoked in his inscription at Persepolis. The influence of Iran
over India was much more than ordinarily believed. It was not
confined to architecture; it was in matters of religion. Budha,
Chandragupta, and his minister Chandakya were Persian, if not by
birth, at least by descent.
Dr. Spooner, on the evidence of Indian literature, proves that
the ancient Persians had, long before the Mauryan dynasty, settled in
various parts of North India, from the frontiers of Punjab in the
West to Assam and Orissa in the cast, and from the valley of the
Nerbudda in the south to the valley of Kashmir in the Himalayas in
the north.
I had quoted a passage, from the Vandida, from which we learn'
the following facts about India; h That India was the 15th out of the
16 Aryan countries known to early Iranians, as created by God, 2. It
was known as Hapta-Hindu. 3. The country watered by the Indus
formed India, and its boundary literally extended further both W\IYS,
towards the East and the west; 4. It had two curses, heat and
premature maturing of women. The age of Vandidad is B.C. 1200.
Next-to the Vandidad we have the authority of Cuniform
inscriptions of Darius at Persipolis and Nakhs-i-Rustom. Darius
mentions amongst the .conquered countries 'the name of India as
Hidush or Hindush. With this conquest Persia must have exercised
great influence upon India.
I have quoted above from Herodotus to show that India was
the 20th Satrapy. Darius was not a' flying conqueror of India. He
wanted to retain the country for the good of India and Persia. He
directed to retain the country for the good of India and Persia. He
directed his admiral Scylax to explore the whole country watered bv
Ihe Indus from Cashmere down to the sea. He developed commerce
between india and Persia. With this object he connected the Red
with the Mediterranean Sea by a canal, ending at its extremity at
Suo..

Sinat Observed

The Punch-marked

coins point Iranian inflUence in' India. They

nrc so called because the devices were impressed on the'coltls not by

m~atts of a die, but by separate punches applied irregularly at

various points on the surface. Vincent Smith thinks that thc,'ie coins
were a private coinage issue.l hy guilds and silversmiths ~[h the
permission of the ruling powers.
The obverse punche~~.~ere_
impressed by the different moneycrs, and the reverse marks were the signs of approval hy the controlling authority. Dr, Spooner does
not agree.
He thinks that they 'were Mauryan coins ha"ving the
symbol of the sun, a group of suns, a branch, a bull and 'a chaitya.
He asserts that th~ sun was worshipped by the Zoroastrians; the
branch is Homa hranch; the hull was the Mithraic bull; the Chaitya
which signified a hill was the mount Maru, situated in Merv in Iran.
Hence from this evidence of the Mauryan coins Dr. Spooner thinks
thai the Mauryan were Zoroastrians.
We have the tradition of a Brahmin Changragach who went to
Persia 10 oppose Zoroastrianism;
he returned to India fully
convinced and in his turn converted about HO,!XlO Indians into the
religion of Zoroaster.
Besides the evidence of coins, other proofs arc adduced; one of
them I will give when Chandragupta
invaded Magadha .hc was
assisted hy Persian troops. This is narrated in' a Sanksrit drama,
Chandragupta
beseiged Kasuma-pura J~at is.Patliputra with his
troops consisting of the Scythians .....
-Xavanaswr"'the Greek Kiraias,
people .Iiving below the Himalay.AA.~Kamtx)ja),':-:Kahulis, Parasikas,
'. Persians, .aop Balhikas, Bactrians,
At the same time the- enemies
~ad also
army of mixed races. Both the sides raised armies of

.'tb

mcrcenarscs.
The Parsis are iAdchlcd to Dr. Spooner for bringing the
following facts; that a few centuries before Christ, the Persians
fousht in India for their Maurian ma.~te~ that their masses lived as
subjcd-raccs
ill Nord,,:rn India long before the Arab conquest of
P-er,ua, Ihill tlJcir:-1eadcF5WCre made chiefs and even petty Rajas and
I.hat (raaian ..~
IUM)a hand ia the erection of the Maurvan

flU_iii aflct {~st~

ofthc
~

H~at

Pe~liCpof~.

Since writing the a~we I have <;nmc across a paper in French

written ~, Mr. F.OJ. Paruck, ~I weil known numismatist of Bombay.

Jill' lrunians in Ancient lndia _

The paper is "Observations sur cinq monnaics Sassanides", published

in the Revue Numismatique, 1936.
Five coins are described; from the inscriptions on the first three
coins he shows that Pirouz was a viceroy of Khorasan in the reigns of
Sapor I and Horrnisdas. Shapor f was sovereign from A.D. 240 to
2271, and his son Horrnisdas ruled for one year and ten days; Sindh,
Mullan and Rajputana were under the Kouchans, and their ruler was
a vassal of Hormisdas I, and perhaps of Sapor I. T will give the
original French, lest I may be making a wrong translation. "ScIon le
Kitab-al-Fihrist. Pirouzfut Ie vice-roi de Khorasan; il Ie fut sous les
rcgnes de Sapor ler et d'Horrnisdas ler. Aussi estil dcfficile de
decider sous quel rcgne ses diachmes furent frappees. Ces pieces,
cependant, nous autorisent a declarer que Ie Sindh, Ie Multan et le
Rajputana etaient alors aux mains des Kouehans, et que leur roi fut
vassal de Hormisdas Ier et peut-etre aussi celui de Sapor." Icr.
Translation .... According to Kitah-al-Fihrisht, Pirouz was the
viceroy of Khorasan. He was such during the reign of Sapor I and
Hormisdas 1. Also it is difficult to decide in whose reign the coins
were minted. These coins, then, authorise us to decide that Sindh,
Multan and Rajpatana were at that time in the hands of the
Kushans, and that their king was a vassal of Hormisdas I or perhaps
of Sapor.I.
On these coins Mr. Paruck reads the words MALKA INDI
JRAI?A (TI) Maika is the king, and Inde signifies Sindh. For I
translate what he writes. "It appears to' me certain that the name
Inde on these coins signify Sindh. The Phelvi form of this name is
Hind, but by Greek influence the first word H is omitted. These
coins were struck in the rule of the Kushans, where the Greek
influence was at that lime .... The short legend Maika Inde on ihe
right depicts the personage sitting on a throne as being the King of
Sind: Indc Iradati signifies Sind and Mullan.
About lRADA (TI), that the name is given to the valley of the
River Ravi, one of the live rivers of the Punjab, in the centre of
which is Multan, which according to old Arab Geographers, was
;'1duded in the kingdom of Sindh.
Rawlinson in his "Seventh Great Monarchy" docs not mention
Pheroz as I-he son of Artcxerxes or brother of Shapor ,., because , I
65

Si"d" Ob'<(,/"cd

believe he never came to the throne of Iran, but was the king of the
Kushans, For on his coins we read. Mazdesn bage Peroze wazung
Kushan shah," that is, Mazda-worshipping divinity Firoz, the great
king of the Kusans." Kushan was the name of the dynasty of Yuechi,
who for centuries occupied Transoziana, cast-Iran, the south of the
Hindu Kush and the North-cast India.
The most ccleb~ated and interesting coin of Hormazd II (A. D.
303-310) is a piece of gold coin struck on the occasion of his
marriage to the daughter of the Kushan king of Kabul. Rawlinson in
his "Seventh Monarchy" confirms this and says "Among his other
wives, Hormisdas, we are told married a daughter of the king of
Cabul, ' It 'was natural that after the conquest of Seistan by
Varaharfn II, about A. Q.28, the Persian monarchs should establish
relations with the chieftains ruling in Afghanistan. That country
seems from the first to the fourth century of our era, to have been
.under the government of princes of Scythian descent and of
considerable wealth and power. Kadphises, Kanerki, Kenorano,
Ooerki, Baraoro, had the main seat of their empire in the region.
about Cabul and Jalalabad; but from this centre they exercised an
extensive sway which at times probably reached Candahar on the
one hand and the Punjab region on the other. Their large gold
coinage proves them to have been monarchs of great wealth while
their use of the Greek letters and languages indicates a certain
amount of civilization. The marriage of Homisdas with a princess of
Cabul implies that the hostile relations existing under Varahran II
had been superseded by friendly ones. Persian aggression had
ceased to be feared. The reigning Indo-Scythic monarch felt no
reluctance to give his daughter in marraigc to his western neighbour,
and sent her to his court (we are told) with a wardrobe and
ornaments of the utmost magnificence and costliness."
It would not be out of place to give a short table of the rulers of
Eran. Shapor I, son of Artcxcrxes or Ardashir I, ruled for 31 years
from A.D. 24 (-271, Shapor had three brothers, Ardesar, Firoz, king
of the Kushans, and Narscs. After Shapor I, his son Hormuzd 1, or
Hormisdas, ruled from 27 -272, one year and ten days. His brother
Varahran I, or Bahram I, ruled from 272-275. His son Bahram II
ruled from 275-292. Bahram III ruled only for a few months,
Narscs son (If Shapor I ruled from 292-3f)], His son Hormisdas II
ruled from 301-30<), The las: ruler was Yezdcgerd Shahriyar. The
defeat of Nchavcnd in (,41 terminated the Sassanian Pl)Wt:r. The

66

711t!

Iranians in Ancient india _

Arabs call the battle of Nehavend "Fattah-hu-Fuuuh,

Victory of
victories; Isdigerd wandered from place to place from 641 to 651; at
last he was murdered for the sake of his clothes.
.
In
Scistan
Paruck,
coin on

the above quoted extract from Rawlinson the conquest of

is mentioned.
On one of the five 'coins described by Mr.
there is a monogram SKSIN (Sakastan). This is the only
which this monogram is struck in full on the Sassanian coin.

One of the coins adds the word Hrezi. According

geographers Haras was an old name for Rajputana.

to Arab

As I said above Bahram conquered Sakastan which included

the whole of the N.W. India.
The' Pahlvi inscription at Paikuli
mentions several princes of India who had proceeded to Persia to
offer allegiance to King Narses (292-3 1) on his succession. Among
the princes were' the prince of the Kushan, the prince -of Saurastra
(Kathiawar) and Avanti (Malwa) and other Saka princes.
'I may add that Saki! is modern Seistan.
The Saccae are
undoubtedly Scyths, They may have dwelt on the Oxus or possibly in
Afghanistan.
Mr. Parruck in his "Sanian coins" writes:
A fine piece of silver in the Vienna Museum represents on-the
obverse the bust of Khusru II and on the reverse the bust of. the
Solar city, Aditya, both facing .... Dr. Nutsel of the Berlin Museum
kindly procured for me the casts of this coin in the Vienna Museum
and with the help of the three goldpieces, one in the Berlin Museum,
the other in the British Museum, and the third specimen in the
Bibliotheque Nationalc, Paris, I read this legend as Airan afzutaneti
"May he cause Eran to prosper." These gold pieces bear the year 21
of reign whereas the silver one is of the year 37. Ouselcy proposed
to read the word Airan as the name of Queen Sherin, the celebrated
consort of Khusru II, whose bust he believed to be on the reverse
based on the analogy which exists in Pahlavi between sh and a.
Mordtmann also believed that the bust on the reverse was that of the
consort .of_Khusru II. On comparing other coins of Mullan, whose
reverse docs not represent the bust of a female, but the figure of the
sun ai '.I young man it will be seen that it is the bust of the solar dcitv
Aditya. It was CunninghCLm who first demonstrated that the figure

67

Sindh Observed

on the reverse was none other than that of the solar diety, Aditya,
whose temple was at Multan. It is probable that these coins were
stuck at Mull an.i at Ihc time of the expeditions of Khusru Il to lndia
or during his occupation of the country. The bust of the solar deity
was worshipped at that time in Multan, as it is represented on other
Indo-Sassanian coins also. But historians mention nothing precise as
to Khusru " having been to India in the years 610 and ('26, the dates
of these pieces. Although the Huns were mainly instrumental in
introducing coins of Sassanian type into India, it seems c~rtai~ that
shortly after the invasion of the Huns the Sassanian power or a
dynasty acknowledging the Sassanian suzerainty was established in
India; [or coins of Sassanian type and fabric bearing inscriptions in
Nagari, Sassanian Pahlvi, and an alphabet hitherto unread, which is
probably a development, of the modified form of the 'Greek alphabet
used by the Scytho-Sassanians, are found in the north-west of Indian.
These coins have been attributed by Cuningham to the later Huns,
but apparently without sufficient reason. Rapson (Indian Coins) is'
, however of opinion that they were almost certainly stlVck by some
Sassanian dynasty or dynasties ruling over Sindh and Multan, which
later the ancient Arab geographers include in the kingdom of Sindh,
as is shown by the style of the coins and by the use of Sassanian
Pahlvi. It may be noted that this region had been in the hands of
Persian conquerors during the Parthian period. These coins are
closely connected with the particular issues of Khusru II mentioned
above, by the use of the same reverse type, representing the sun-god
of Multan.
The adventures of Bahram V, (420-438,A.D.) in India and the
enlargement of his dominions in that direction by the act of the
Indian king, who is said to have ceded to him Makran and Sindh and
to have given him his daughter in marriage cannot be regarded as
fiction. Firdusi calls this Indian king Shankal. His native name is
Vasudevc of the dynasty of the Maharajas Adhiraja of Magadha and
Kanoj.
Malkan Maika has been the title of Persian kings from the most
ancient times; the meaning is "king of kings". The words Malkatan
Malkata, Queen of Queens is found on the beautiful gem of Queen
Dinak, wife of Yczdcgcrd II, (440-457).
Mr. Paruek in his "Sasanian Coins" writes that this form is
particularly interesting to note as it gives us the proof that if the

68

The Iranians in Ancient India -

expression Malkan Maika was sometimes pronounced Shahan Shah.

it was simply done on the ground of the dialect of the province
where the word was spoken." In the first century of the Christian era
we find the legend shahnano shah on the coins of Kanishka (A. D.
78-1(0) and his successors and the title of Shahi in their inscriptions
in Sanskrit. The inscription of Samudra Gapta at Allahabad shows
the title in the form of Shahi Shahanashahi. There is another notice
to same effect about the middle of the 4th century. Persis Saporcrn
ct Saansaan ndpcllantibus ct Pyroscn, quod rex rcgibus imperans ct
bcllorum victor interpretatur.
The translation is:
The Persians called Shapor Shahn Shah and Peroch, that is the
king ruling over kings and victorious in W;IL

Literature Consulted
Herodotus,

translated

by Prof. Gco. Rawlinson, 4 vols.

Rawlinson. George.

The Seventh Oriental Monarchy.

Rapson E. J.

Ancient India from the earliest time. Vol. I.

Ancient India.

Rapson, EJ.

Ancient India from the earliest times to the

Ist Century' A.D.

Hodivala, S.K.

Parsisof Ancient India.

Modi, Dr. Sir .l..J.

Asiatic Papers Part I!.

Fardunji 0 . .1. Paruck Sassanian Coins.

Fardunji, 0 . .1.

Ohscrvat inns sur cinq monnaies Sassanidcs,

I<JMi. (cxtrait de la Revue Numismatiquc,
I'nh. p. 7I-~(,.

Two Minor Invasions Of Sindh*

BY A.B. Advani, MA, LLB.
(Read before tile Sind Historical Society

011

25tll Sept em bel; 1940.)

From times immemorial, Sind has been the lodestar, ever

attracting the foreigners to plunder and invasion of this unhappy
valley of the Indus. The Sumerians, the Sabaeans, the Greeks, the
Arabs, the Pathans, the Moghuls, the Afghans, all have penetrated
the Indus valley, ruthlessly ravaging its towns and u-rnplcs,
massacring its peaceful sons of the soil, and going back loaded with
the wealth of its rich towns. For centuries Sind has groaned and
bowed its head before the sword of the conqueror. Its ruined towns,
and broken temples are a mute evidence of the heavy hand of
vandalism on the bleeding head of Sind.
In this paper we will briefly account for two minor invasions of
Sind in the 16th and l8th centuries. They arc called minor, in the
sense that the invaders after satisfying their revenge and cupidity,
departed, leaving this unhappy valley of the Indus to lick its wounds.
They !ire also minor, as the invaders stayed in Sind for a very short
time.
(1) The Portuguese Invasion of Thuttu
The Samma dynasty in Lower Sind was displaced in 1519 A.D.
by a Moghul adventurer Shah Beg Arghun. The Arghun dynasty
lasted for 35 years. Shah Beg Arghun died in 15221 and was followed
by his son Shah Husayn, Shah Husayn was a wise ruler ami he gave
his attention to the establishing of order in Sind. It was during his
rule that Emperor Humayun ned to Sind and mel with a series of
misfortunes. Shah Husain continued to rule peacefully till. 1555,
For Fuller Account Of These Two invasions. The Reader Is Referred
To Advani, A.B .Sack Of 111{/1/a. The Young Builder (Karachi). July
19~2. pp. 21-23. and Nadir Shah's Invasion
Sillll, DJ. Sind College
Miscellany. Vol. XXXV. No.2. pro 21-25.
Haig, M.R .. The Indus Della Country. p.~7.

or

I.

71

Silld" Observed

when he died. Shah Husayn left no heir, the only son born to him
ha"ing died in infancj, During the long reign of Shah Husayn,
lasling for .n years, Sind had been divided into two subordinate
uovcmmcnts.
The upper Sind from Bakhar to Sehwan was
administered by Sultan Mahmud, son of Shah Arghun's favourileFazil Kokaltash. The lower Sind was in the able hands of Shah
Husayn. After the death of Shah Husayn, the most influential
persof! in Lower Sind was Mirza Isa Tarkhan who had accompanied
Shah Beg Arghun when he had come to Sind. Although Mirza Isa
Tarkhan had secretly agreed with Sultan Mahmud that in the event
of Shah Husavn's death, Sind would be administered by both of
them separately, yet on succeeding the last Arghun Prince, he
planned to constitute himself as the sole ruler of the whole of Sind.
Due to the unsettled condition. of the country, consequent on the
death of Shah Husayn, some local chiefs had wrested the possession
of Schwan, from Sultan Mahrnud, who retired to north and could do
no more than hold the country to the north of Sehwan. Mirza Isa
having a strong army, marched to Sehwan and SOonoverthrew the
local chiefs there. After having annexed Sehwan to Lower Sind, he
decided to inv~de Sultan Mahmud's country, and advanced as far
north as Bakhar-'. Finding his army for this task insufficient Mir7A
Isa Tarkhan sen! his ambassadors to the P(iftuguese governor at
.l3assein, for military aid, in return for which, he stipulated to defray
all the expenses of the Portuguese military aid and to allow special
commercial advantages to the Portuguese.
The Portuguesc
(iovcrnment looked upon this as a very strong inducement to comply
with the Sind Prince's request and despatched 700 soldiers in 28
~hips under the command of Pcdro Barreto Rolin. The fleet of 2S
ships arrived safely at Thalia. In the meanwhile Mirza Isa Tarkhan
lame 10 terms with Sultan Mahmud, and Pedro Barreto Rolin was
informed that his services would no longer be required. The
Portuguese commandant askld Mirza Isa's son Jan Baba, who was
in charge or Thalia 10 pay him the expenses of filling out the fleet
for service in Sind. The answer to this natural request was not
~alisfaclory and aroused the lire of the Portuguese who invaded the
lawn of Thaua, The account of this minor invasion is given in a line
or IWo,in TlIIikh-i-Maa' .I'lIl11iand Tarikft-i-Tahiri. We however get a
fuller account of this auack on thalia in a Spanish work byManuel
de Fariay Souza, Iranslilled as "The His/Of)' oJ the Discovery and
2

H:lig. tv1.R. Ihid .. p. ')(1

.big, 1\1.1{. Ibid; fl. ')(,-'17

72

Two Minor Invasions of Sind).

Conquest of India hy rile Portuguese" hy Captain .Iohn Stevens

(London, IWS) and in "Histoirc des Dec()I/\"(~I1CSct Conquctcs des
Ponug is dans 1(' NOIII'e II Mondc" par Ie Perc Joseph Francois
Lafiian, de la Compagnie de Jesus. Paris 17334 We learn that on
not gelling a satisfactory answer regarding the payment of money to
the Portuguese soldiers, Barreto landed his men in Thalia, and
sacked the lOwn. 'Some I:moo people were killed with inconceivable
fury; even the dumb animals were not spared. For eight days
Barreto went on destroying everything on both sides of the Indus.
The wealth consumed by fire is said to have exceeded two millions of
.gold. Everywhere the Portuguese left frightful traces of their fury.
They loaded their ships with one of the richest booties ever taken in
Asia" including .even the blue glazed tiles from the mosques and
tombs at Thatta", But the Portuguese vandals did not enjoy their illgotten plunder. On their return voyage, a violent storm arose on the
sea, and Pedro Barreto Rolin Was obliged to throw over-board
practically all the spoils of his frightful pillage, reaching Chaul, with
utmost difficulty. The sacking of Thatta could have been prevented,
if Pedro Barreto Rolin had only waited for the return of Mirza Isa
Tarkhan from Bakhar to settle the payment of moneyaccording to
the agreement. Nowhere it is stated that Mirza Isa Tarkhan ever
repudiated the engagements entered by him through his
ambassadors with the Portuguese governor at Bassein. The young
prince at Thana, .Jan Baba, being pressed to satisfy offhand the
claims of the Portuguese, perhaps not having the authority to do so,
gave an unsatisfactory answer, giving the Portuguese an excuse to
invade and sack the unprotected town of'-Thatta and satisfy their
greed and ferocity. We are inclined to agree with the author of the
Tarkhan- Nama who says, "Intelligence arrived (at Bakhar) that the
Firing is who were coming from Lahori Bandar to the assistance of
4.
.'i.
(,

Quoted in Danvers The Portuguese in India, Vol. J, 00. 50R-509, and

Haig M.R., The Indus Delta Country, pp. 97-100.
Danvers, lbid., p. 5.~.
In December 19~1. I visited Goa, in connection with the Exposition of
body of SI. Francis Xavier.
In the Church of Hom Jesus,
constructed in 1594 A.D., I was greatly surprised to find some blue
tiles which are so peculiar to Sind, in the flooring of the said Church.
My theory is, that these tiles are the same which Pedro Barreto Rolin
must have taken from Thaua in 1556.
.
Elliot. Sir Hcnrv, Hisiorv (If India Vol. I., p.:l2A. and quoted by Haig.
II,LL. The In<lu~Delta Country. p.' JOI.
Ihe

7.

Shit 1/, Oh.\('J1 '('( I

Mirza Isa Tarkhan, finding the city of Thana unproteaed. had

plundered it. set lire to it and made the inhahitants prisoners:';

(2) Nadirshah's invasion of Sind

Nadir Shah's coming to Sind in 1740 forms the subject matter
of the second minor invasion of Sind, referred to above. Nadir
Shah's plunder of Delhi, the massacre of the innocent citizens of that
city in 173(), is too well known a chapter, in the chequered history of
our motherland. but it is not known that this tornado of bloodshed
and destruction rolled towards Sind as well, and struck it with its full
force and Iurv. A detailed account of Nadir Shah's invasion of Sind
is given in a iranslation of a Persian Ms., called "Histoirc de Nader

Chah,

COII1I11SOliS

Ie Nom De

7710mos

Kill; Khan, Empercrur De

PO;\';o': London, 177fJ8. Bearing in. mind, that Nadir Shah was
assassinated in 1747, this book may be looked upon as a reliable
source of information.
In April, '1739, after Delhi had experienced the worst acts of
vandalism and insensate fury at the hands of Nadir Shah's yahoos,
'Muhammad Shah, the Moghul Emperor of Delhi, concluded a treaty
with Nadir Shah by which he ceded to him all the territories to the
westward of the River Attock. He made over to him, "The Castle of
Buckar, Sunkar, and Khoudabad; the rest of the Territories, Passes,
and Abodes of the Chokias, 'Ballches, etc., with the Provin.ce of Tauk
ctc:OQ
Sind was at this time a part of the Moghul Empire, the Sind
Ruler Mian Nur Muhammad Kalhoro nominally acknowledging the
control of Muhammad Shah over Sind. When large slices of Sind
territory were ceded to Nadir Shah, without informing or consulting
Mian Nur Muhammad, the Jailer committed the blunder of refusing
to recognize Nadir Shah as his sovereign. The Sind ruler, "excited by
some groundless fears and foolish suspicions, instead of turning the
face of unanimity towards the Kabba of the great Conqueror,

8.
9.
10.

There is an excellent copy of this book in the library of Indian

Historical Research -lnstuutc, St. Xavier's COllege,Bombay.
Fraser James, History of Nadir Shah, pr. 22~-226, published in
England in 1742.
Jones M., 1/i.\loirede Nader Cflafl. Vol. II, p. ElK

74

1'11'0

ftfinorllll'a.~io/ls

of Sindtr

refused to come and kiss the bar of the Court of Heaven'? Nadir
Shah was rightly incensed at this piece of insolence and
foolhardiness, and leavng Cabul on 27th November, 1739, he
marched towards Sind. From Dera Ismail Khan, Nadir Shah wrote
to Mian Nur Muhammad to come with open confidence and pay his
homage to Nadir Shah. He promised that he would seat the Mian
on the gadi of Sind if the latter obeyed his orders, otherwise the
whole country would be plunged in an abyss of calamity".
On 1st February, 1740, Nadir Shah's royal tents were pitched at
Larkana and there the news was received that "Khuda Yar Khan'?
had verified the words of the Sacred Book "17IC advice will 1101 be
profitable," and he was carried away by the folly of his heart to the
coast of Gujerat and Surat+':
On hearing this report Nadir Shah leaving his baggage at
Larkana advanced to chastise the Mian, who finding Nadir Shah
approaching inconveniently near, fled with his treasure to Umar Kot.
He was under a happy delusion that the trackless desert, the thick
forests, and' the lack of good roads in Sind, would form an
impassable barrier between him and the Persian conquerer. The
bubble of this delusion was pricked by Nadir Shah and his hardy
nomads arrived in the neighbourhood of Umar Kot 011 16th
February 1740. Mian Nur Muhammad was captured by the Persian
advance-guard and was compelled to disgorge all his wealth which
he had hidden in the underground cellars and. subterranean passages
of the fort of Umar .Kot. This hidden treasure amounted to nearly
one crore of rupees. The invading army left Umar Kot with Mian
Nur Muhammad in chains and reached Larkana on 3rd March 17m.
Nadir Shah pardoned the Mian giving hack to him only the lower
and the central Sind. The country bordering Baluchistan was given
to Muhbat Khan, the chief of th~t territory and Shikarpur was given
over to the Daudpotas". This was not all. A penalty of an annual

II.
12.

u.
14.

tu.

p. 90.
Mian Nur Muhammad Khan's title, conferred
Emperor Muhammad Shah.
Jones 1'\"1..
p. 90.

Jones M.,

on him

bv the Mouhul

e-

tu,

Originally Shikurpur belonged 10 the Daudpoi as and 11<Id

been built bv
them.
Between 1722 _ 17.<1). Mian Nur Muhammad
had made

75

Sindt: Observed

tribute of twenty lakhs of rupees was also imposed on the Mian, and
his two-sons Muhammad Murad Yab Khan and Ghulam Shah were
taken away 'i;y Nadir Shah as hostages. The royal dignity of Nadir
Shahthe might)! warrior from the North. was thus restored. the
'Mian was soundly chastised, and Nadir Shah left Sind, having
thoroughly disorganized the peaceful government of the country.
Such is the historical account of the second minor invasion of
Sind. There are two other accounts, of anecdotal nature, which WI
feel tempted to give here. Sir Henry POllinger, who first visited Sir.,
in lR09, relates a curious anecdote regarding Nadir Shah whi;'.
incidentaly throws light on the fabled opulence of Tatta in rh :e
times, "When the monarch arrived at that city," writes POllinger. "'4e
ordercd-Meer Noor Mohummud, the governor of the province" ,do
his presence; who came with his turban round his neck, a wisp r nay
in his mouth, and his feet covered, all customary toke
of
submission, which the conqueror required; when he had pro. -ated
himself before the throne, Nadir called out in a loud voir and
asked him, if he had a well full of gold! .The governor
iplied
laconically. not one, but two. Nadir then demanded if he he a Lal,
a celebrated large ruby belonging to the Umeers of Sind", Meer
Noor Mohummud again made his former answer. The K:,'3 threw
up his handkerchief and desired to be informed what the ,':eer saw
on looking at it. He replied nothing but troops and ar ;;s, which
were naturally the ideas uppermost in his thoughts.
hen said
Nadir, "Produce your gold and rubies." The governor c, led for a
Koolec, or very large basket, made in divisions, and used f r holding
grain and flour, whieh he had filled, and placed on his righ 'Ihand; he
next ordered a skin of ghee or clarified butter, to be put ( I his left.
and said to the Shah, "I am a cultivator of soil and these ar my gok'
and ruL ,in which I shall not fail you." The king was gi tified by
the frankness of the answers he had received, and bestow: I on him
an honorary dress. Mccr Noor Muhammad afterwards el crtaincd
the whole army and followers, exceeding 500,000 people f "sixteen
days in the princely manner, and without a symptom of scar ity".

. IS
l(l

rep~.aIC.
d attacks on Shikurpu- ;~nd. ha~1ultimately sue l:edCd in
wfe'llng ro\~e"I"n
of II from Sadik Khan. the weak .audpola
chid'I:IIIl. IT Shahhmct Ali.lli,tw." n(llll//(/II'(lll'lII; pp. 19-2 '
Jonc-, 1\1.. lbid, P <J2 ,11111 IT.
Pottinger Henry. Inll'ds ill IJelo(}C//i\/fII/ and Silicic, Foot No ,3. pp.
352-353. Tlu anc~dfltl' lacks hi~lflrieul veracity, becauseNar . Shah

Two M;"or]"I'QS;01l5 of Sindt)

The other anecdote is equally amusing. When Nadir Shah

came to Upper Sind after returning from Umar Kot, a poor old
woman went before him and complained of various cruelties
p'rllctised upon her by Mian Nur Muhammad. She then sought
justice from Nadir Shah, who after patiently listening to this old
< woman's talc of woe, told her that he would pluck out the Mian's
eyes for his crimes. The woman went away satisfied. When the Sind
campaign was over and Nadir Shah was preparing to depart, the
same woman appeared in the royal presence and boldly accused
Nadir Shah of having failed in his promise to her. "Look oh! foolish
woman," replied Nadir Shah, pointing to the two sons of Mian Nur
Muhammad, whom he was taking with himself as hostages, "are
these not the two eyes of the Mian that I have plucked to satisfy
you'?"?

never visited Thana. nor did he bring an army of 50U.OOOsoldiers to

Sind. It appears to have emanated from the Ier tile bra-n of some
Thatta resident who wanted to impress POllinger with the glo!;' that at
one time was Thauu.
.
17. I heard this anecdote from an old Mahomedan, at Larkana in 1932.

77

~3

_The English Missions Of

1808, 1809 & 1820 To Sind
BY A.B. ADVANI, M.~., L.L.B.
(Read

011

31st May, 1936)

After overthrowing the Kalhora dynasty in 1783, the Talpur

Chiefs became the rulers of Sind. By mutual agreement Sind came
to be divided into three divisions among three chief Talpur families.
The Hyderabad fami1ywith Mir Fateh Ali Khan as the head, took
charge of lower Sind with Hyderabad as their capital. Mir Suhrab
Khan went to Upper Sind and made Khairpur as his capital. Mir
Thar~h Khan occupied a small territory in the east and Mirpur
became the capital of this family. The English Missions of 1808,
1809 and 1820 had their dealings with the Hyderabad family which
was considered as the most important and most powerful family of
Talpurs in Sind. The head of this family Mir Fateh Ali Khan, very
wisely associated with himself, in the government of the country, his
three brothers, Mir Ghulam Ali Khan, Mir Karam Ali Khan andMir
Murad Ali Khan. These four brothers owing to great attachment for
one another came to be known as Char Yar or "Four Friends." Thus
there arose ill Sind, the extraordinary scheme of a joint rule .. It was
however a joint rule only in name, for during the life time of Mir
Fateh Ali, Khan, all the sail ads and fJ"rwOIlOS bore his single seal. It
was during the rule of Mir Fateh Ali Khan that the English trade
with Sind which had languished and then ceased during the rule or
Mian Sarafraz Khan Kalhora, came to he renewed, at the desire of
Lord Wellesley, the Governor-General of IndiaJvlr. Nathan Crowe,
of the Bombay Civil Service, was accordingly sent 10 Sind in 17()R, to
establish English factories in Sind-, Mr. Crowe's slay in Sind was
most unhappy, though very promisingly begun. Trade affairs wellt
on well up to August 1800, when suddenly without the slightest hint,
a peremptory order was issued, directing Mr. Crowe to leave Sind
immediately, without fail or delay', It is believed, the Talpur Mirs
I.

2.

Cox, A Slum llistory of/he Bomhay Presidency, p. 2%,

Hughes. GazetteerojSind,2nd. Edi., p, 33,
Burnes,A'_ Navigation of the Hindus, p.2.

79

Silldh

O/J.I(,/1'<'d

got alarmed al the growing power of-the British Government in

India. Persian and French spies were also responsible for arousing
the fears of these Chiefs against the British agents in Sind, The
Honourable East India Company suffered in addition to this insult, a
loss of about one lac of rupees worth of property'. Serious notice
was not however taken of this affair in Sind at that time, as the East
India Company had sufficient trouble with the Mahrattas to engage
all its attention. But the matter was neither forgotten nor forgiven.
Napoleon Bonaparte's phenomenal rise to power and his
professed hostile sehemes to conquer India gave no peace of mind to
the English -ratesmen in India and England, in the beginning of 19th
Century. Mir Fateh Ali Khan had died in 1802, and when his
brother Mir Ghulam Ali Khan, soon after his accession to the Cadi,
sent an agent to the Bombay Government, apologizing for the
expulsion of Mr. Nathan Crowe from Sind by his late brother and
desiring the renewal of friendly connections with the British
Government, the British Government readily agreed.
The
Hyderabad Mirs sought this alliance with the British as they hoped
thereby to so strengthen their position, that they could defy Shah
Shujah of Kabul, an un-welcome visitor to Sind in 1803, whose
nominal sovereignty the Talpur Mirs acknowledged. On the other
hand the British Government deemed it expedient to renew friendly
connections with Sind and thus check the intended invasion of India
by the French and the Persian, by way of Afghanistan.
In July 1808, Captain David Seton was despatched by the
Bombay Government to the Court ofthe Mirs at Hyderabad. At the
time of Captain Seton's coming to Sind, there was actually a Persian
ambassador at the Hyderabad Court, inducing the Talpur Mirs, to
form a close alliance with Persia" "the bait being, military aid, to
throw off the yoke of the King of Cabul, and the possession of the
Afghan fortress of Candhar".
The Mirs willingly entered into an agreement with Captain
David Seton. on 18th July ]~O8. The Deed of Agreement reads
thus:-

4.

s_

POllinger. Travel ill 8"1,,,,('IIislcIlI1I11e/ Sinde, p_ ~02. Ln_ 2.

Kaye.llislo,, "(III .. W(/rill ,IJ.~//(l/Ii~/II/I,Vol. I, p. 9.\.

6.

I3<lSII.I?i.<c ofthe CI1I7.\/illlll'oll'crillllldin.

X()

Vol. IV. p. 53. I.n.

lIre Englislr Missk,

This Agreement has been drawn l,IPin consequence of

Captain David Seton, on the part of the Honourable
Jonathan Duncan, Esqr., Governor of Bombay, having
arrived at Hyderabad, and having formed a lirm alliance
between the Government of Sind and the Honourable
Company and Honourable Governor aforesaid.
ARTICLE 1
That a firm alliance shall exist between the two States, and
the friends of one the friends of the other, and the
enemies of one the enemies of the other; and this shall
remain for ever.
ARTICLE 2
HII,ellthe assistance of troops is required by either of the
it shall be granted when asked.

parties,

:\RTICLE 3
That the disaffected of one Government shall not be
protected by the.other.
ARTICLE 4
That when the servants.of the Sind Government shall wish
to purchase warliJ{estores in any of the ports belonging to
the Honourable Company, they shall be permitted to do
so, and be assisted in their purchases, and on paying their
value be allowed to depart.
ARTILCE5
That an Agent on the part of the Honourable Company,
for the increase of friendship and goodwill, shall reside at
the Court of the Mir of Sind.
.
ARTICLE 6
The claims on account of former loss in.the time of Mr.
Crowe shall he dropped.

RJ

ARTICLE 7
That a British factory in the town of Tatta only, on the
same footing as in the time of the Kalhoras, shall, after the
full satisfaction, perfect confidence, and with.the leave of
this government, be established.
And through the blessing of God there shall be no
deviation from this firm alliance.
Dated l st Jamadi-us-sani 1223 or 24th July 18087
The agreement was both political and commercial in nature.
Through misconception of his instructions from the Bombay
Government, Captain David Seton had bound the British
Government, according to Article 2 of the above agreement, to
render assistance of whenever required. The Mirs were overjoyed.
They believed that according to the agreement they were entitled to
seek military assistance from the British Government against the
State of Cabul, Captain Seton.now realized his folly. How could the
British Government assist the tributary State of Sind against the
King of Cabul, "whose good offices," the British Government "were
so anxious to conciliate"? This agreement therefore was not ratified
and Captain David Seton was officially recalled'.
To arinul Captain Seton's offensive and defensive alliance, to
debar the agents of the .French
from admission into Sind and to reI,
establish the proper relative rank of the British and Sindian
governments, another Mission was sent to Sind in the following year
under the leadership of Mr. Nicholas Hankey Smith. The Mission
consisted of seven members namely Mr. H. H. Smith of the Bombay
Civil Service as the Envoy, Henry Ellis, Esqr., of the Bengal Civil
Service as the first Assistant, Lieutenant Robert Taylor of the
Bombay Native Infantry and Lieutenant Henry Pottinger as the
second and third assistants, Captain Charles Christie to command
the escort, William Hall Esqr., surgeon and Captain Willam :
Maxfield of the Bombay Marine to act as marine-surveyor. The
7.

Aitchison, Treaties, 1:.:ngagel7lt'llIsand San ads, Vol. VIr, 4th Edi., p. 53,
f.n.

8.

Kaye, op. cit., I. pp. 93-94.

82

The English Missions

Mission left Bombay on 27th April ]808, in Maria- a country-ship

hired for conveying the Envoy and his suite to Sind, attended by the
East India Company's cruiser the Prince oj Wales under the
command of Captain Allen. On 9th May 1809, the Mission reached
Karachi harbour and anchored in twelve fathom water. On the next
day the ships of the Mission crossed the sandy bar at the entrance of
the harbour, the Manora fort garrison saluting them with two guns
which salute the Prince oj Wales returned. The native governor of
Karachi soon after came on board and gave the Mission a halfhearted welcome. He seemed anxious to protract while waiting for
instructions from the Mirs of Hyderabad. Few days later tents and
stores of the Mission were landed on shore and with great eclat the
Envoy landed distributing generously money among the poor natives
on the shore according to Orienta] traditions. The party remained
for a month at Karachi and frequently experienced indirect~.hostility
from the governor of Karachi. The native servants who were serving
the Mission were for instance expelled from the fortified town of
Karachi, some P,f them were tied to a post and some lascars filling
fresh water for': the consumption of the crew were beaten. The
Envoy sent a letter of remonstrance to the governor of Karachi but
received an unconvincing and an unsatisfactory reply. The letters of
the Mirs to Mr. Smith were penned in a very arrogant style and Mr.
Smith was advised by the native governor to address the Chief Mir in
his correspondence as Hoozoor (the Royal Presence) which Mr.
Smith sturdily declined on the ground that the term Hoozoor was
only applicable to an independent soverign and not a tributary
government like that of Sind. Before sailing for Sind, Mr. Smith had
received pointed instructions from the Governor-general to repress
any attempts on the part of the Mir to claim equality with the British
Government and to claim from the Sind rulers the respect due to the
British power in India. It was apparent to the members of the
Mission that the Mirs were apprehensive of the British Government
having designs on their territories and that their arrogance and
buster were a mask to cover their dread. Political considerations
made the Envoy to overlook the affronts to which they were' all
subjected. On 10th June 1809, the Mission set out for Hyderabad
and after five marches reached Tatta where they took up their
quarters in the East India Company's factory", Delay in receiving
9.
\

In spite of my persistent inquiries made at Thalia' on several occasions,

I have been unable to locate the site of the East India Company's
factory at Thatra, of which no traces remain. The local scholars and

R3

Sind" Observed

permission to proceed forward, not coming of the state barge which

the Mirs wrote was to convey the Envoy and his party to, their
capital, heavy rains and other reasons caused the Mission to remain
at Tatta up to' the end of July 1809, affording the party leisure and
opportunity to study the surrounding district. The jumptee (state
barge) sent by the Mirs proving too small to accommodate all the
members of the Mission, two parties were made, one to travel by
water and tbe other by land-route. This was indeed welcome as it
did not necessitate the fabrication of some plausible excuse for
proceeding to Hyderabad by two routes and thus acquiring the utmost geographical knowledge of the country. Both the parties
reached Hyderabad safely and pitched their tents on the bank of the
Phulei canal, about one mile south-east of the fort of Hyderabad.
The second day after Mr. Smith's arrival at Hyderabad, the
permission for - audience was granted.
But here arose a little
difficulty. Mr. Smith was given to understand that the Mirs would sit
on the Musund or throne, considerably elevated from the ground.
He therefore deemed it proper that he should have 'a chair to sit
upon. He also insisted that the three Mirs should rise from their
seats on the entrance of the Mission. The stipulation regarding the
chair was however withdrawn on learning that the Mirs usually sat
on a carpet, not more than two inches above the ground. As for the
Mirs standing up a compromise was effected by Wali Muhammad
Khan, one of the trusted ministers" of the Mirs, by which the Mirs
were to "stand up on the first appearance of the envoy and remain in
that position till he had advanced to the spot at which he was to be
seated, on the right hand of the/Umeers; and that they were to
observe an equal token of respect when we took our leave: The
next day, escorted by Akhund Muhammad Buka Khan the Mission
went to the Hyderabad fort, the roads, the tops of the houses,
fortification, etc. all being covered" by curious and applauding
humanity. Inside the fort, the path was lined on both sides by fiercelooking matchlock men and the residents of the fort. Making their
way with difficulty through the vast crowd, Mr. Smith and others
entered the place where the audience was to take place. After
dismounting and" pUlling off their shoes the Englishmen advanced
and the Mirs stood up to receive them. The audicpce hall was soon
filled by IIia5S of attendants, matchlock mea and swordsmen who
unc:cn:moniously crowded everywhere and some of them placed
inhabitamli arc not only of no help but are even creduJou5 of the
6( such a factOJ}'.,

~_

"

..

'fir,' English Missions

their feet on the scabbards of the swords and the skirts of the coats
of the Englishmen. It is difficult to guess whether his was done
designedly or by accident. POllinger however felt that all this was
intentionally done, the Mirs fearing treachery. In fact before this
meeting they had suggested that the members of the Mission be
disarmed before entering the Audience Hall. This, Mr. Smith, flatly
refused to do. The first audience was merely an audience of
ceremony, where compliments and expressions of politeness were
exchanged. The members of the Mission were favourably impressed
with the jewels the Mirs wore, the costly swords and daggers they
carried, the rich carpets, the embroidered pillows, the genial
personality of the three Mirs. "The general splendour and richness
of the scene" Wrote one of the members of the Mission, "far
surpassed anything we had expected to sec at the court of
Hyderabad." A few days after this introductory interview, the
Mission had another audience. "at which everything Was conducted
with utmost regularity arid comfort." At the end of the second
audience, Mr. Smith had a private interview, the Mirs left aside their
tone of imperious superiority arid listened to Mr. Smith who
explained to them that the objects of the Mission were to annul Mr.
David Seton's agreement which had been concluded in the previous
year and to enter into a new treaty with the Sind Government. The
Mirs willingly assented and deputed three of their trusted official
namely (1) Wali Muhammad Khan, (2) Akhund Buka Khan and (3)
Mushtak Ram, to conduct on their behalf the consideration of the
various matters pertaining the proposed treaty. The results of these
discussions were quite satisfactory to both the parties and on i2itd
August 1809, the following treaty of four articles was concluded with
the Sind Governmentc-.
.
Treaty with the Ameers of Sindh, August 22nd, 1809.
ARTICLE 1
There shall be eternal friendship, between the British
Government, namely Meer Gholam Ali, Mccr Kurcem '
Ali, arid Meer Murad Ali.
ARTICLE 2
Enmity shall never appear between the two States.

Silldh Observed

ARTICLE

The
mutual
despatch
of the Vakcels
of
Governments,
namely the British Government
Sindhian Government, shall always continue.
ARTICLE

both
and

The Government of Sindh will not allow the establishment

of the tribe of the French ill Sind.
Written on the 10th of the month of Rujeeb-ool-Moorjub
in the year of the Hegira 1224, corresponding with the
22ml of August 1809.
The Mirs sent Mirza Muzahar, as their Envoy, to Calcutta and
the treaty was ratified by the Governor-general at Fort St. George,
on the 16th November 180910,
Mr. N. H. Smith and the other members of the 1809 Mission
now took leave of the Mirs of Hyderabad and embarked on the
jumptees for the return journey and reached Bomby at the end of
October 180911
In 1811, Mir Ghulam Ali Khan died on account of a wound
caused by a wounded buck grazing the Mir's foot with its horn. Of
the Char Yar only two remained - Mir Karam Ali Khan and Mir
Murad Ali Khan. Mir Karam Ali Khan was a genial sort of person
during whose reign prosody was more popular than politics. Though
known as Rais or Chief, yet the administration of the country was
mainly carried on by his brother Mir Murad Ali Khan.
After concluding a treay with the Rao of Cutch in 1816, the
power of the British Government had been steadily rising in Cutch 12.
As Sind borders Cutch, the British Government deemed it politic to
renew the treaty with Sind in 1820. An opportunity came along in
IH20 for negotiating a new treaty, when the soldiers of the Mirs of
JO.
II.
12.

Aithison, op. cit., Vol. VII, pp. 351-352.

The account of the Mission of 19()Ris mainly taken from Pottinger,
Travel10 BcloochiJ/OII and Silicic,p. 33[ and If.
Burnes. .I., Visitm the C01ll1 o] Sinde. p. 194.

86

The English Missions

Hydcrabad, attacked by way of retaliation, the British force, which
while pursuing a hand of plunderers of the Khosa tribe on the
eastern border of Sind, had fallen on a party of Sindian soldiers, by
mistake.
Taking
advantage
of this incident, the Bombay
Government
demanded
satisfaction
from the Mirs "for the
unwarrantable acts ~f hostility committed by the rulers of Sind!", A
. Mission consisting of Captain Sadlier, Mr. W. Simon, Dr. Hall and
Major Wood House was despatched to Sind, to conclude a fresh
treaty with the Mirs of Sind!', These four gentlemen were hospitably
received and the following treaty was concluded with Mir Karam Ali
Khan and Mir Murad Ali Khan, on 9th November 1820.
Treaty between the Honourable East India Company on the
one hand and the Amccrs of Sindh on the other, November (jth,

182()'
The British Government and the Government of Sindh
having in view to guard against the occurrence of frontier
disputes,
and to strengthen
the friendship already
subsisting between the two States, Mir lsmacl Shah
invested with full power to treat with the Honourable the
Governor of Bombay, and the following articles were
agreed on between the two parties:ARTICLE

There shall be perpetual friendship between the Biitish

Government on the one hand and Mccr Kurrecm Ali and
Mccr Murad Ali on the other.
ARTICLE

Mutual intercourse
hy means of vakccls
continue between the two governments.
ARTICLE

shall always

.,

The Amccrs of Sindh engage not to permit any European

or America" to settle ill 'heir dominion. If any of the
13.
14.

Malcolm. The l'olilicallli.'lo,, of India, Vol. I.p. 54i1.

Eastwick, Spccche Oil the Scine/' Question, p. 47.

X7

'ndh Observed

subjects of either of the two States should establish their

residence in the dominion of the other, and should
conduct themselves in an orderly and peaceable manner in
the territory to which they may emigrate, they will be
allowed to remain in that situation; but if such fugitives
shall be guilty of any disturbance or commotion, it will he
incumbent on the local authority to take the offenders into
custody and punish or compel them to quit the country.
ARTICLE 4
The Ameers of Sindh engage to restrain the depredations
of the Khoosas and all other tribes and individuals within
their limits, and to prevent the occurrence of any inroad
into the British dominions.
(Sd.) M. ELPHINSTONE.
Bombay, 9tll November, 1820.

In the name of the Merciful God. This is the Treaty which

I, Meer Isniael Shah, Vakeel of Shah Meer Kureem Ali
Khan Rookn-ood. Dowla and Mcer Shah Murad Ali
Khan
Ameer-ood-Dowla,
concluded
with
Mr.
Elphinstone, Governor of the populous port of Bombay,
in the month of Suffer 1236 Hegira. If it pleases God,
there will be no difference to a hairs breadth.
Seal of
Ismael SIIah

This treaty was aproved of hy the Supreme Government and

ratified on the 10th February ]R2tI5
A study of these three treaties shows that' they are all of a
political nature and were entered unto with the Sind Government 10
safeguard the interests of the British Government in India against
the French, the Americans and other Western powers. From
treaties of political nature it} commercial treaties was the next step
taken by the British Government - but I am anticipating my next
paper.
15.

Aitchison, op, cit. pp. 352-353.

88

nil: English Mission

The original of the Treaty of 1820is in the Victoria Museum at

Karachi. We are thankful to the Municipal Corporation for allowing
us to take a photo of the Treaty.

R9

Sind in 1809: Extracts from

Henry Ellis' Account

..,

<, .....

By B. D. Mirchandani, I.C.S.
Read before Tile Sind Historical Society 011 25-2-43
Crow wrote' his "Account" of Sind in 1800. After him, the next
contemporary account of the province is by Henry Ellis. Ellis was
Fiist Assistant to Nicholas Hankey Smith, the E. I. Company's envoy
to the Sind Court, who in 1809 concluded a treaty of friendship with
the Amirs, the object of which was to prevent the settlement of the
French in Sind rendered necessary by Napolean's designs on India.
After the return of the Mission, Ellis prepared a report containing "a
short and general account of the resources and political strength of
the State of Sind" based on personal observation which was
submitted through the envoy to' the Governor General in Council.
This report has never been published before. It is an important
contemporary document which throws considerable light on the
internal state of Sind and the external relations of the Amirs'
Government at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The
following extracts from the report, it is hoped, will prove of interest
tothe students of Sind history.
"Although the country of Sind has been since the Treaty of
Cession concluded between Nadir Shah and the King of Delhi
nominally a tributary province of the Kingdom of Cabul yet the
obedience paid by the Rulers of Sind to their Paramount has been
extremely remiss and the advance of an army has been generally
required to enforce the payment of the tribute. The present Rulers
relying on the. distracted 'state of Cabul openly declare themselves
independent of the Monarch of that Kingdom and confine their
demonstrations of respect to retaining a Wakeel at his Court.
"The internal government of Sind is, like that of most other
countries in Asia,.a military despotism and the supreme authority is
vested in a triumvirate composed of three brothers of the Talpooree
family whose names are ,Meer Ghulam Ulee, .Meer Kureem VIce
91

Sind" OhSC,,'('d

and Meer Murad Ulee; the eldest has the title of Hakim orRuler of
Sind and is considered as the head of the Government by foreign
states, but he enjoys no greater degree of actual authority than what
is procured by the larger share of the revenue that was assigned to
him at the demise of his elder brother, the late Meer Futteh Ulee."
"There are two other members of the reigning family Meer
Sohrab and Meer Thara who, although not ostensibly partakers in
the supreme authority, possess large tracts of territory in Sind,
'exercise every function of government within their respective limits
and are rather to he considered as federative branches of the State
of Sind than as Ieuderaiories of the principal Arneers."
"The Mahomedan inhabitants constitute the military strength of
the country in war and are employed as husbandnien, artificers and
menial servants during peace, while the foreign and inland
commerce of the country is almost exclusively carried on by the
Hiildoo part of the population."
"The Sindian armies are composed of levies from the military
tribes which form the majority of the population of the country;
there are forty two tribes under their respective chiefs who hold their
lands on a military tenure from the Ameers at whose requisition they
are compelled to bring their quotas into the field,"
"The Ameers of Sind when assisted by Meer Sohrab and Meer
Thara are able to bring an army of 36,000 men into the field. The
army is composed of irregular' cavalry armed with matchlocks,
swords and shields and intended tc act as infantry whenever
circumstances require it; it is not unusual for the whole of the
Sindian army to dismount and to engage the enemy on foot; the
Balochees are generally considered as good marksmen but do not
enjoy among other nations a high character. in point of courage or
discipline; the pay of a Sindian soldier including his provisions is five
pice per diem; during peace he only receives a daily allowance of one
seer of rice.
"The revenues of Sind amounted during the Government of the
Caloree family to SO lacs of rupees, 'but are now reduced in
consequence of the oppression and ignorance of the present Rulers
to 42 lacs and 78 thousand rupees which amount is divided among
the members (If tlte t~t1pun.:c family: the annual tribute of 12 lac.~

92

Sindlr in 1809:

due to the King of Cabul, the payment of which is liable to be

enforced, must be deducted from the above amount".
"After the death of Meer Fateh Alec his three surviving
brolfiC{s, the present Ameers, divided the revenues and territorial
possessions of their branch of the family into four shares of which
two were assigned to Meer Gholam Alee as the ostensible head of
the Government and the remainder in equal proportions to Meer
Kareem and Meer Murad Alee. The sum thus divided amounts to
34 lacs and 13 thousand rupees; in return for this larger share Meer
Gholam is bound to defray the permanent civil and military expenses
of the state, the former however under the present reduced
establishment are inconsiderable, and as during peace very few
soldiers are maintained at the public charge and their" pay is so
trilling the actual expenditure of the elder, Ameer cannot be
considered 'to exceed in a great degree that of his brothers. Meer
.Gholam Alee is also bound to paya double share of the tribute due,
to the King of Cabul in the event of payment being enforced."
"The policy of the Sind Government and the private inclinations
of the individuals composing it are directed to the accumulations of
money as the best securiry for their usurped authority against the
attempts of foreign hostility or internal disaffection, the amount of
the specie deposited in tile different forts throughout the country is
supposed to be considerable as a very small proportion of the annual
revenue is expended:
"The obvious necessity of union and the ties of the relationship
have not prevented amongst the Umeers the existence of the
dissensions and jealousies generally attendant upon it division of the
supreme authority; on the contrary the general causes of disunion
, have been aggravated by the particular defects of their characters
, which arc remarkable for the absence of almost any moral virtue:
"The river Indus runs in nearly a diagonal direction through tbe
Sindian territories and affords in irs course the means of successful
cultivation to' the husbandman and of secure and easy
communications with the most distant countries to the merchants;
for even under the pressure of an oppressive and ignorant
government whose barbarous policy by seizing an undue share of Ihe
profits of the native trader, and by levying an exorbitant duty upon
imports paralyzes the exertions
the mercantile speculator and

or

93

Si/ulh Observed
\

. destroys the sources of future revenue, commercial adventurers from

all parts of Asia are still to be seen in sind."
"Commerce and agriculture rapidly decrease under the
rapacious and ignorant government of the Ameers, the duties levied
upon foreign and domestic trade are estimated at two-thirds of the
capital of the merchants and mechanic, and the unjust
monopolization of grain which the Ameers compulsorily purchase
from the cultivators at low price and retail at an exorbitant rate
combined with the effects of their inordinate passion for hunting,
which has induced them to enclose large tracts of land on the banks
of the Indus for the purpose of preserving the gamc, have converted
fertile and well cultivated districts into desolate wastes and
impervious forests."
"The reduced amount of the customs levied at Carachee (the
only seaport in the territories of the Amecrs) which do not at
present exceed l,W,OOOrupees is a sufficient proof of the decline of
the maritime commerce of Sind; the scarcity of rain that has
prevailed in Sind during the last three years has prevented the usual
exportation of rice from the port of Carachee to India and .large
quantities have been imported during that period to meet the
consumption of the country."
"The City of Tatta, formerly the seat of government of
commercial industry, has rapidly decreased in population and
revenue under the present government; the sum received by Meer
Gholam Alec from this city under the heads of land revenue and
customs is estimated at 1,45,000 Rupees. The Sindian cloths
exported to India, Persia and Chorasan are manufactured at Taua."
"Hydcrabad the residence of the Umecrs and the present seat
of Government yields a revenue of (,0,000 rupees. Although no
encouragement is given to industry by the Umeers, the artisans of
Hydcrabud art: numerous and workers in leather arc particularly
celebrated for the excellence of their workmanship."
"The customs and the revenue of Sind in general arc farmed by
private merchants; as the Umccrs, with a view of increasing the
competition annually remove the farmers or the revenue the latter
have no interest in the general improvement of the country and
direct their attention exclusively to receive the greatest possible
94

Sindh ill J SO!):

profits within the period of their control; and the Umeers frequently
avail themselves of the extortions committed by the contractors in
attaining that object as a pretext for confiscating their property
conscious that no class of society will sympathise with their
misfortunes and that the rapacity of individuals will still obtain
purchasers for the revenue contract."
"The principal articles of home produce exported from Sind ar
rice, ghee, hides, sharkfins, potash. saltpetre, assafetida, delium,
madder, frankincense, Tatta cloths, horses, indigo oleaginous and
other seeds; alum, musk, saffrons and horses are imported from
Multan and the countries to the northward for the foreign market;
the other imports are tin, iron, lead, -steel, ivory, Europe
manufactures, sandal and other woods from India, swords and
carpets from Chorasan and Candhar and silk and other articles from
the Persian Gulph. The Mooltanee merchants settled in Sind arc
the principal shroffs (Bankers) and constitute the wealthiest part of
the monied interest of the country."
"The intercourse between Sind and the countries to the
northward is chiefly carried on by means of the Indus which is
navigable for small vessels to a considerable distance from the sea.
It docs not appear that caravans proceed regularly from Sind to
Multan and Cabul, although the route is frequented by travellers and
merchants."
"The relation of the State of Sind to the kingdom of Cabul has
been already noticed; the other neighbouring chiefs with which the
Umeers maintained a political intercourse are the Rajah of
Joudpore the Nawab of Bhawalporc, the Jumedar of Cutch and
Meerkhan Lais, the chief of the petty state of Somnuany."

"The Ummers appear anxious to cultivate friendly relations

with the Raja of Joudpore of whose designs upon the eastern
frontier of Sind they entertain the greatest apprehension; the
treacherous attempt made by the Wakecls of the former Raja of
Joudpore upon Meer Bihjur, the uncle of the Umecrs, appears to
have been forgiven:
"The recent death of Bhawalkhan and the tender age of his
successor have induced the Umecrs to contemplate the seizure of
the territory of Bhawalporc; as however Mcer Sohrab conceives that

95

'i"tf" O/J.\('IWtf

the proximity of his provinces to Bhawalporc gives him a superior

claim to avail himself of the present favourable opportunity. the
prosecution of the schemes of the principal Umccrs will probably be
attended with a rupture between them and Mccr Sohrab."
"An intimate and- friendly connection has subsisted for some
time between the Nawah of Kclat and the Umccrs: during the life
time of Nussccr Khan. the late Nawah of Kalat .. who was
distinguished by superior military talents and could command the
services of the numerous hordes of mountaineers subject to his
government. the connection with Sind rested upon principles of
equality and mutual advantage; but since the death of Nussccr Khan
the Umccrs have succeeded in acquiring a degree of influence in the
councils of his successor
Muhmood Khan. that will probably
terminate in the subversion of his independence. The dominions of
Gholurn Muhmood Khan arc situated on the north western frontier
of Sind and extend 10 the borders of the Cabul Monarchy."
"Futch Mahmcd, the .Iumadar of Cutch is of Baloochcc
extraction and has uniformly endeavoured to secure the friendship of
the state of Sind as a support to his usurped authority; the Urnccrs
have encouraged thi~ disposition in the hope of obtaining his consent
to the intended annexation of Lucpaut Bundcr to the Sindian
territories.
"The territories of Mccr Kh.1I1Lais occupy the sea coast to the
northward of Carachcc: he is .1 tribuiory of the Nawab of Kclat and
is very inimical to the Umecrs whose encroachments
he justly
apprehends:
"The progress of the connection between the King of Persia and
the Umccrs commenced
at the instigation of the French and
. direCted 10 the obtaining of their co-operation in the invasion of
British India has already been. brought under the notice of
Government and ali no change has taken place in the relations of the
Sin" Guvcrnmcnt to {hl1sc pt!wer~. it would be superfluous to repeat
the informali(m
upon the subicct contained
in the public
despatches."

-A Wtiked from Jcswant Ran Holkcr h:;::\ latclv arrived .11

Kitec" the residence of Mecr That-a, fur the purpose o(proposing. an
Ulliun between his MCt~ti3r. Ihe .Kinp. of Persia the French and the

..

Sindt: ill )809:

Arncers against the British Government; the Umeers do not appear :

to have received the proposition with any degree of satisfaction. The
Wakccl is eventually to proceed on a mission to the Court of Persia."
"The natural resources of Sind arc considerable and would
render an improved system of government, enable its Rulers to
annex the petty states in the vicinity to their dominions; no increase
of territory or augmentation of political 'strength is, however, to be
expected while the present-timed parasitous and ignorant Rulers
possess the management of public affairs; on the contrary the
sources of revenue arc rapidly diminishing and the misery and
discontent of the people in general have reached a height that must
soon terminate in the subversion of the existing Government and the
horrors of civil war:

Did the British Introduce

, Christianity into Sind
By Rev. Achilles Meersman, O.F.M.
It is an error to state that Christianity was first introduced into
Sind by the, British. Actually Christianity came to Sind, before it
went to Britain. In the first century of our present era S1.Thomas,
one of Christ's Apostles came to India, converted King Gondophares
of Taxila (near Rawalpindi) who at that time was ruler over the
'Indus Valley. 'Therefore Sind had a Christian King, long before
Britain had onc.'
'
Later as more and more' people in Iraq, Iran and' other
neighbouring countries embraced' Christianity, and these travelled
along the trade-routes to the Indus Valley, there grew up a Christian
community in Sind. There' are indications that such was the case,
but succeeding invaders have destroyed the manuscripts and
monuments, which might have contributed toward s a better
knowledge of this first Christianity.
This first Christianity wits, however, completely wiped out at
, the time of the Mahomedan'invasions and it was only later, chiefly
after Akbar had instituted a policy of, what we-may term; tolerance
, and the Portuguese had acquired. a goodly amount of power in the
Indian seas that Christianity returned to Sind. In the beginning
, there were some Christian senlers, chiefly merchants and military in
the Mogul army, but later priests arrived and chapels built. Later,
when the policy of tolerance was no 'longer foilowed the priests were
obliged to leave Sind and the. 'chapels ..they had erected at Tatta,
Lahri-bander, Bhakkar were demolished,
'
Later Christians returned once more to Sind. When this took
place; we have not been able to ascertain. All we know is that it was
necessary for a priest to come from time to time to Sind in order to
hold services for the Christians. This was done at least up 10 a few
years before the arrival of the British. Thus we read that at least
upto lR35 a Catholic priest of the Augustinian' Order came to
99

Sindt, ()hs<'/wd

Karachi for this purpose' . Then in 1840 a priest was stationed at

Hyderabad and since then there have always been Christians in Sind
with own churches and regular services. They have further
contributed to the development
Sind chiefly through their
educational work, which they initiated almost a century ago-.

of

.-

I.
2.

N. de Figueiredo. Os Rcligiosos Ercmitas de Santo Ogostinho no

Oriente. Bolcrim EclesiaMico da Orguidioccse de (ioa. I (1942) 57.
Regarding Chrisuanuy in Sind sec Ilur articles: Christianity in Sind
and BaluchiM,1Il ih. Pre-Portuguese
limes . .I.S.H.S .. l'n7; Christ ianitv
in Sind and Buluchistan. From the Portuguese invasions to the British
Conquest . .I.StH.S .. I'J.iN The Discalced Carmelites in Sind: .I.S.H.S ..
I'J~1.

100

Commercial

Navigation of the Indus,

1820-1832 A.D.

By. c.t, Mariwalla, BA.

Read before the Sindh Historical Society 011 10th December, 1942
The 18th century saw the establishment of the British Empire
in India and by the time the century was out the British had
successfully become the masters of the major portion of the Indian
sub-continent. But along with territorial acquisitions in India the
British aroused the anxious jealousy of powers both Asiatic and
European. By the time the new cnetury had dawned the dread of a
foreign aggression on the British Empire in India was like the sword
of Democles hanging over the heads of British Administrators in
India. And different men at the helm of Indian affairs tried to keep
off the sword. But there was a uniformity in the diverse policies
pursued by the different Governors General. An active British
interest in the countries beyond the Indus was the main feature of
the policy to stem the tide of foreign aggression. Till the coming of
-Lord William Bentinck as the Governor General of India, a policy of
active watchfulness was pursued: But Bentinck found the policy of
his predecessors unsuited for the task and hence initiated a more
progressive policy with peculiar and far-reaching results. His policy
necessitated a prior prying into the affairs of other's dominions
which tinally resulted in some concrete good for safeguarding British
interests in India. One such result was the opening of the Indus for
purposes of commercial navigation, with ulterior political motives.
And the co-operation of the Court of Sindh was an important factor
in this direction. In this paper an attempt will be made to trace the
incidents leading to the Ameers of Sindh agreeing to open up their
treasure trove-- the Indus-- for purposes of commercial navigation.
Inspite of the two treaties of eternal friendship between the
British Government and the Ameers of Sindh in 1809 and 1820
respectively there had heen practically a complete lull in the political
relationship of the two powers. Both of them Were anxious to treat
the Treaties as a dead letter the day they were signed. The English
101

Sindh Observed

never wished to cultivate friendship with the semibarbarous rulers of

Sindh, as not much useful purpose could be served by their
continued friendship. The Ameers on the other hand were ever
anxious to shake off the friendship of the Feringee as he was known
for his encroaching aptitude. Mere exigencies of circumstances had
compelled both sides to enter into friendly alliances. Upto 1820 the
British had never paid much attention to Sindh whether from the
point of view of their North-West Frontier Policy or its importance
as asource of wealth. Hence they avoided every hostility against
Sindh', as that might entail its conquest and subsequent
management.
Sindh was considered a barren land completely
devoid of yielding much profit. But border raids had compelled the
British to collect armed forces on the Kutch border to over-awe the
Ameers into orderly behaviour, specially during the time the British
were occupied in Bhurtpore and Burma operations in 18252 It was
in the period of this lull that on a fine morning in October 1827 the
British Resident in Kutch received a pressing requisition from the
Ameers of Sindh for a Doctor to attend on the ailing Ameer, Murad
Ali Khans, Private reports did not represent the disease of His
Highness as dangerous. And therefore everyone began to speculate
regarding the motive behind the immediate summons. Some at the
Kutch Residency maintained that as the Russians had entered
Persia, the Ameers had taken this mode of prudently making
friendly advances to the British Government'. But that was the
British point of view. The British themselves were alarmed at the
news of Persia joining Russia in an unholy alliance, which was likely
to affect their interests in India. Inspite of the British professing
friendship with Persia through treaties, they had failed to aid their
ally against its enemy, Russia, though there was a definite provision
for this kind of emergency in the treaty. This non-compliance was
tic result of the diplomatic policy pursued by the British at home.
When in 1826 Russia attacked Persia, the British could not help the
Persians as they did not like to antogonise the Russians, Such a
conduct would have adverse effect on them in the Greek question
which was pending solution at the time. The Persians having learnt
a lesson from past experience decided to make up with their arch
enemy on any terms. It was a war for the annihilation of Persia
which the Persians sought to avoid. Hence the dread to British India
from the west by the combined forces of Russia and Persia. And the
English thought that the danger to their dominions in India from this
combined effort must affect the Ameers of Sindh first. But there is
no evidence that the British surmise was correct. In reality the
102

Commercial

Navigation of the Indus,

. Ameers had an enemy nearer home who had been threatening them.
Maharaja Ranjitsing of the Punjab had an eye on Sindh and on the
trade. mart of Shikarpur in particular. By]809 the British put a stop
to the expansion of territory towards the Jumna by the Maharaja by
taking the Cis-Sutlej States under their protection. Soon after, it
appeared to the Sikh Maharaja that the only fruitful acquisition
which remained worth covering, under the peculiar circumstances
due to the effective British interference in his policy of expansion
and the sporadic rise of Sayed Ahmed in the north against him, was
the territory of the Sindh Amcers. Sindh was indeed the only
direction 'in which the territories of the ambitious Sikh Monarch
could possibly be extended", His regular contact with Sindh began
after his conquest of Multan in 18186 The connection began with
the usual exchange of presents and civilities annually. The Ameers
at first were not conscious of the coming danger. It was only when
the Maharaja came as far dO\,;11as Sultan Shahr and sent Allard and
Ventura to Mithan Kote in 1823 that it became a point of anxious
concern for the Sind Rulers to check the advance of the Sikh Chief.
During the latter part of the same year and the next two years
Ranjitsingh was engaged in making extensive military preparations
under the guidance of the French Officers he had recently employed
under him. The object of these preparations in the opinion of
Captain Wade, the British Agent at Ludhiana was the conquest of
Upper Sind and Shikarpur", The ostensible reason assigned for this
expedition against the Ameers oi Sind was to punish the Baluchee
tribes of Upper Sind for attacking Sikh troops near Multan. Though
the Maharaja had advanced towards Sind in right earnest in ]825 he
had to defer his conquest of the new territory due to the occurrence
of scarcity in Sind", The next year provided Ranjitsing with a fresh
pretext for falling on the territories of the Sind Rulers. During this
year he made a demand on the Vakils of the Ameers at his Court for
the tribute which Sind formerly paid to Kabul since he had
succeeded to the rights of the major portion of the Afghan l::mpire
in India. As was natural the Ameers' Vakils disputed the demand
though there had been a precedent for such a claim only recently'.
The British had claimed such a right in the Cis-Sutlej territory as the
successors of the Marahaias. Yet Ranjitsing kept quiet and did not
force the demand on the Ameers due to a political exigency. The
fanatic Sayed Ahmed. had once again started his armed interference
in the direction of Peshawar in the Sikh territory and Ranjitsing felt
that it was expedient not to rouse the Ameers .from their quietude.
The information regarding the demand for the tribute made by the
103

Siridh Observed

Sikh Ruler supplied hy their Vakils to the Ameers of Sind made

them nervous though no actual hostilities had yet taken place. And
the only solution for the Arnccrs lay in reviving their dormant
friendship with the British. On the other hand the British felt that
the opportunity afforded by the Ameers' invitation must be utilised
fully to obtain an insight into the Amccrs' dominions as it would
facilitate the furtherence of their fronticr policy against Russian
aggression. At the same time compliance with the wishes of the
Amcers would to a great extent minimise the doubts the Sind Rulers
entertained about the English. So Doctor James Burnes, Surgeon 'to
the Residency at Bhooj got ready to proceed to the Sind Court. He
was rather anxious to sec the classic rivcr- the Indus- and the
people inhahiting its valley. He left Bhooj on 25th October 1827
along with Gopaldas, the Arncers' Vakil at the Kutch Residency,
with an escort provided by a small detachment of the 21st N.l., a few
troopers of the Poona Auxiliary Horse and a dozen horse-men of
H.H. the Rao of Kutch, the choicest of Indian soldiers!", The party
crossed into the Sind Territory on 3rd November. At Ruree the
doctor was received by two Special Officers appointed hy the
Ameers namely, Nawah Hydcrkhan Lagharcc, the Governor of
Jatee, and nephew to the Chief Vazir of the Hyderabad Court and
Bahadur Khan. Fifty camels were sent by the Ameers to be in
attendance on the party and the honourable guest and his men were
to receive everything free of all cost thence forward. None.of them
were even allowed to set foot on bare ground. The party received
the best of treatment in every respect. The Ameers' nominees fully
catered to the needs of the Doctor and his party. Nothing in fact
seemed to be spared that could add to the Doctor's comfort or that
of his followers. This is how Burnes himself describes the treatment
he received from the Ameers' Officers, "nothing could exceed the
attention I experienced on the route from my Mihmandars who
themselves frequently sat up to watch me during the night. A large
cotton mattress, covered with crimson silk was always carried near
me in case I should feel disposed to alight; Ilaggons of cooled
sherbet and other luxuries were also liberally supplied. TheAmeers
had sent several hawks, which afforded an attractive sport on the
road and supplied my table with every species of winged game!'."
When the Doctor was nearing the capital he was met by the Chief
Vazir of the Hvderabad Court, Nawab Wulce Muham"mad Khan.
Lagharee, himself, heing deputed by his masters as an additional
mark of respect to the honourable guest. The Doctor had been mel
by Mahomcd Khan Thora, a relative of the Amccrs and Moosa
104

Commercial

Navigation of the Indus,

Cabitan, an officer of rank only 30 miles from Hyderabad to

compliment him on his safe arrival. At long last the Doctor and his
retinue reached Hyderabad on 10th November, early in the
morning". All this extraordinary treatment to Doctor Burnes, an
Englishman, stood in contrast to the one meted out to the British
Missions to Sind in 1808, 1809 and 1820. The reason for this
extraordinary hospitality is not far to seek. Mahomed Khan Thora
had made known to Doctor Burnes the reason why unusual
preparations were being made for his reception at the capital. It was
because other Europeans had come into Sind on their ~wn affairs
hut he had come by a express invitation from the Ameers themselves
and would therefore be made welcome in a different manner from
them". He was very-cordially received by the Ameers at Court and
he was much impressed by the scene before him. The Chief Vazir
was appointed the host to Doctor Burnes so long he was in Sind.
After the first interview. was over the Doctor proceeded to his camp
situated a quarter of a mile from the town, in a shady grove. His
camp was indeed a haven of repose. He was the recipient of the best
care which the host could show to a guest any where in the world.
For his breakfast alone came a dozen silver dishes filled with
prepared viands of different descriptions, all ornamented with gold
leaf; other trays with baked meats were meant for his muslim
servants and yet others bearing profusion of fruits, sweatrneats and
articles of food for his Hindu followers". A lot of waste was
occasioned due to this super-abundance. The Doctor remonstrated
with his host on the point and to please the honourable guest this
extravagance was partially discontinued. On the evening of the day
of his arrival Doctor Burnes was summoned to a private interview
with the Arnccrs. Mir Mooradali's illness was the main topic
discussed on this occasion. The Ameer had been ailing for the last
live months and all Sindhian Medical men had been consulted till
now. The Amecr had himself despaired of recovery and had written
down his will. The Doctor examined his patient and prescribed
medicine. And lo! within ten days all the dangerous symptoms of
t he disease had disappeared. This was mainlv effected through the
benign effects of the sulphate of quinine": From this s~Jdden
recovery of Muradali, Burnes secured a confidence of the Arncers
which no Englishman could ever secure at their Court. Many more
of royal blood sought his advice for their own ailments apart from
t he hundreds of common men he cured. But he did not succeed in
all cases. Mccr Noor Mahomed, son of Mcer Muradali, was
disappointed, for writes Burnes, "I did not possess the lamp of
105

Sindh Observed
Alladin or the wand of Prosprero
to transform his mean and
contemptible figure into the stately form of his brother Nasirkhan=."
Though Muradali was out or-danger in so short a time he did not
regain his health perfectly till January 1828. And so Doctor Burnes
had to be at the Sind Court for nearly three months. During this
period he utilised his time in studying the rulers of the land, without
prejudice. He studied their temperaments,
and abilities, their tastes
and aptitudes, their character in general and above all their attitude
towards the British. He also paid attention- to the organisation of the
Sind Court and the administration of the country; the wealth of the
rulers and the lot of the common man. He was afforded the best
opportunity to study Sind since he enjoyed the utmost confidence of
its chiefs. Hence his account of the country, its people and the men
at the helm of affairs is as sympathetic as it is correct. It is indeed a
highly commendable performance.
All other foreign writers were
greatly prejudiced as they could only gain a partial view of the actual
state of affairs due to their limited opportunities for studying their
subject. When for example Doctor Burnes explains the main defect
of Talpur ad~inistration
as underlying in their ignorance of the true
notions of policy and their being mislaid by the delusions of
prejudice than by their being wantonly cruel and inequitous in their
proceedings, he shows an insight into the affairs of Sind at this
period of its history which makes it evident that all other writers
were drawing conclusions from the things as they stood on the
surface and could not probe sufficiently deep into the matter to
know the exact state of affairs as Doctor Burnes could do". At long
last after much reluctance the Arneers gave Doctor Burnes his
audience of leave on 21st January 1828 and he flowed down the
Indus in a State barge flooded with many worthy presents.
The
Doctor proceeded by land from Tatta and reached the Kutch
Territory on 28th January", By the visit of Doctor Burnes to the
Court of Sind the British were not only afforded a pleasant and
realistic account of Sind but at the same time they won that
confidence of the rulers of the land which was of the utmost
importance to them in their exploits in the land of the Indus
undertaken during the foilowing few years.
This favourable account of Sind was preceded by a favourable
opinion of the Indus as a channel of Commerce. The Commercial
advantages had been brought out prominently by the famous
traveller Moorcraft)" and they had sounded so well that the
Government of India were induced to ascertain for themselves the
106

Commercial Navigation.of the Indus,

commercial value of the classic stream. But it was not mere trade
that lured the English to estimate its usefulness. It was something
more. The British Empire in India was threatened from the northwest as has been noticed earlier. An English army could easily go up
the Indus and check the on-coming enemy only if the Indus were
really navigable. The Sikh Ruler had been casting a covetous eye on
the lower valley' of the Indus. The English adminsitrators in India
felt that at some time it would be necessary to oppose the foe at the
North-West frontier of India. And in case Sind became a part of the
Sikh territory, British troops would never be allowed to proceed
north by the Indus. The Sikh Chief was- bound to actively oppose the
advance of a British army 'through. his. territory .. So if now the
capabilities of the Indus could be ascertained, the Sindhian territory
could he annexed and all would be well.' So the ball was set rolling.
Mooreraft ~uggested commerce and Malcolm, the Governor of
Bombay, though of defence.
The suggestion of Moorcraft could
easily answer Malcolm's desire as well. At Malcolm's suggestion the
"Memoranda on the North-West frontier of British India and on the
importance of the river Indus as connected with its d~f~fiEe'
'~ere
drawn lip. These Memoranda clearly hinted at the annexation of
Sind-", And it was favourably considered both at home and in India.
The Home Government were highly enamoured of the scheme. But
Charles Metcalfe, a. member of the Governor-General's
Council
deprecated thesteps to be taken rather vehemently. He wrote, "It is
stated in a late despatch from the Secret Committee that we must
not permit the rulers to obstruct our measures, in other words, that
we arc to go to war with them to compcll submission to our wishes.
With deference I should remark that such an assumption does not
seem to he warranted by the law of nations. But the assumption is
an amplification
of what I have often observed in our conduct
towards the Native States, and what appears to me the greatest hlot
in our character of our Indian policy. However much we may
profess moderation
and non-interference
when we have no
particular interests of our own concerned, the moment we discover
an object of pursuit we hecome impatient and over-bearing, insist on
what we require and cannot brook denial or hesitation.
We
disregard the rights of others and think only of our own convenience.
Submission or war is the alternative which the other party has to
choose,
Thus at the present time we have taken alarm at the
supposed designs of Russia. It would seem we. are to compell the
intermediatc states to enter into our views or submit to our projects,
although they cannot comprehend them and instead of entertaining

107

Sindh Oh~l'" ~'d

any apprehension of Russian designs, are more apprehensive of our

own, our character fen encroachment being worse than that of the
Russians, because the States concerned have a more proximate
sense of it from the realms of India21." Metcalfe honestly felt that
the Russian aggression. was yet remote and vague and therefore
urged a policy of wait and watch for, 'there is nothing that we can do
in our present blind state that would be of any certain benefit on the
approach of that evcm>.' He suggested the cultivation of a friendly
dispOsition with the intermediary States rather than antagonising
them. The suggestion of Malcolm, inspite of the opposition of
Metcalfe, particularly impressed Lord William Bentinck the
Governor General. "The obvious advantages which Great Britain
would derive frojn an extension of her commercial relations in the
hitherto almost unknown regions in the vicinity of the Indus; and
also the opening which it offered of cultivating friendly feelings with
the different nations in thisquarter, and which might hereafter be of
importance to our interests, could not escape the observation of the
eminent individual at the head of the Supreme-Government2.1: He
wanted to initiate a progressive policy of saving the British Empire in
India even if it involved armed interference. For this purpose 'a
survey of the Indus and a knowledge of the countries contiguous to
that nohle stream were vitally important; indeed more important
than any other acquisition2';".' So the Indus was to be surveyed. But
under what pretext? Such a pretext was ready at hand. His
Gracious Majesty, the King of Great Britain was greatly pleased with
the friendly overtures of the Punjab Ruler who had sent a Shawl-tent
as a present to His Majesty in 1828 through Lord Amherst>, And he
wanted to present the Sikh Ruler with one Stallion and four mares of
the Suffolk cart horse breed in the erroneous belief that Ranjitsing
was a great horse breeder>. The horses accordingly arrived at
Bombay. LI. Col. Henry POllinger suggested that it might allay the
fears of the Sind Government if a large carriage were sent along with
the horses as the size and hulk of it would render it obvious that the
Mission could then only proceed by water>, And Sir John Malcolm.
the Governor of Bombay, came forward to further the cause of His
Government hy giving his highly ornamented carriage, which he had
received as a present from Lord Minto in ]8]0, for the purposen.
Thus an ostensihle reason was at hand to undertake the navigation
of the Indus. Some demur was anticipated on the part of the Rulers
of Sind to allow this passage through their territories hut it was
assumed that the Ameers situated as they were to Ranjitsing on the
one hand and the British Government on the other would not readily
108

Commercial Navigation or the.

Indus.

incur the risk of offending both powers. Alexander Burnes, brother

of Doctor James Burnes, who was at the lime at the Bhooj
Residency was appointed to undertake the journey. Upto 1830 the
knowledge which the Europeans possessed of the Indus was 'vague
and unsatisfactory'". And so Burnes was expected to acquire full
and complete information regarding the Indus. A better colour to
the forthcoming venture was given by deputing Burnes on a political
Mission to the Sind Courts (those of Hyderabad and Khairpur) also,
though a Mission to these courts was hardly called for-". Once again
Metcalfe deferred from the proposed scheme for cogent reasons.
He wrote out a spirited note of dissent and earnestly appealed to the
Governmenl to consider fully the consequences of the scheme
before launching it. He wrote, "the scheme of surveying the Indus
under ~he pretence of sending a present to Raja Ranjitsing seems to
me highly objectionable.
It is a trick
unworthy, of our
Government which cannot fail when detected; as most probably it
will he, tu excite the jealousy and indignation of the powers on whom
we play it. It is just such a trick as we are oftenfalsely suspected and
accused of by the Native powers of India and this confirmation of
their suspicions generallyunjust}.'Wilrdo us more injuryby furnishing
the ground of merited reproach.Thanany advantage to be gained by
the measure can compensate.s It must: be remembered that the
. survey of the Indus. or any'~art ofvSind'.country may give' us the
power to injure t~t state, inay.even assist in conquering jt aridinthe
course of the events is as likely IJ,) beturned to usc for that purpose
or any other. l~he rulers of Sind: therefore, have the same right to
be jealous of our surveys of their river and their tcrritorcis that any
power of Europe has to protect its fortresses from the inspection of
foreign Engineers"."
This was however disregarded.
All
preliminaries were over and the British envoy received his linal
instructions and left M~ndvi on the 21st of January, lR31, along with
his lillie party comprising Ensign J.D. Leckie of the 22ml N.t, a
Surveyor, a Native Doctor and a suitable establishment of servants.'!'
Burnes and hi's party reached the Kerce or the eastern-most mouth
of the -Indus 011 the 24th and surveyed the Sind coast for Ihe next
Iour days without being detected", On the 28th instant the party
cast anchor in the Pineo or Western mouth of the river. No
intimation had been sent by the British authorities to the Arnccrs of
Sind lest they should reasonably and natly refuse permission for the
advance of the Mission, as it was violatinu the treaties which
affirmed that no whitcrnau would be allowed'to pass through their
territories. But, if the 'eternal friends' envoy h.id arrived within the

]09

Sindh Observed

Ameers' dominions they would have to deal with the matter

differently: Therefore Burnes apprised the Ameers' Officers at the
Indus Delta Port at Daraje of his plans when he had anchored some
thirty miles up from the sea33 Here the impediments to the advance
of the Mission began. The situation was hard to bear as the Ameers'
Officers would not allow the Mission to move forward an inch
without their receiving express orders 10 that effect from their
masters. So Burnes was compelled to get back to sea and inform
Pottinger of his fate. But soon he received a friendly letter from the
Ameers who as usual could not oppose the entry of a guest however
unwelcome! but made the guest conscious of the impracticability of
his plans.. They -enumerated the impossibilities of navigating the
great river. They said, "the boats are so small that only four or five
me,n can embark in one of them; their progress is likewise slow, they
have' neither masts nor sails; and the depth of water in the Indus is
likewise so variable as not to reach in some places the knee or waist
of a man>." This formidable enumeration of the physical obstacles
was coupled with no refusal from the Rulers in allowing Burnes to
undertake the journey. So Burnes made a second bid for the Indus
on the' 10th of February, but due to some natural causes he was
detained from eniering the Indus for about five days. He now
entered the Piteance mouth and addressed the Ameers' agent at
Daraje putting him in the wrong for treating them in an un-civil
manner but that officer no more enjoyed his office and the new man
knowing his doom if he encouraged the English to enter the Indus
refused the party not only landing but food and water as weIP.~.
Once again the Mission moved back to Mandvi Road. It was evident
that" the Arnecrs' conduct was unfriendly from the British point of
view and -yet they did not betray the feelings in their letters. The
Ameers had merely magnified the difficulties of navigating the Indus
and arrayed its rocks, quick-sands, whirl-pools and shallows and
wounded by.the fact that the voyage to Lahore had never been
performed in the memory of man.l6.
The Amecrs were
alarmed.They felt that this Mission was the precursor of an army
and therefore no permission could he granted to the English to enter
their dominions. The foreigners had known everything else about
Sind excepting the Indus and its navigability and that they had never
used the Amcers' territories for the passage of their army was due to
their h.ck of knowledge about the river.. Once the Fcringee had
known the Indus Sind would be a country lost to the Amccrs. Col.
POllinger having received news from Burnes had remonstrated with
the Amcers for ri:fusing 'so moderate a request'? and had apprised
J 10

.. _
<;

Commercial Navigation of the Indus.

-"

the Sikh Ruier through the British Agent of the despatch of the dray
horses for his capital by the Indus. The delay caused had created
doubts in the mind of the Maharaja and he asked the British Agent
the cause thereof who' at once '_narrated in the usual high flown
language the impertinence of the Ameers of Sind in refusing a
passage to the Mission". Ranjitsing was roused. He interrogated
Ihe Ameers' Agents, who apprised him of the purpose behind this
pretext of conveying his presents. They pointed out that the carriage
which was supposed to be bringing the horses for him was really full
of gold muhars for his enemy. Sayed Ahmed and the Ameers were
collecting a lac of Olen to oppose the advance of this mischievous
Mission". But the Maharaja feltthatthe Ameers were insulting him
by refusing a passage for his presents and at the same time their
conduct was likely to injure British feelings who might launch an
offensive against Sind and annex the territory which he so much
coveted. He, therefore, ordered' his French Commander Ventura to
make a demonstration from the Frontier of Dera Gazi Khan against
the Ameers'". By that time the Ameers had been conciliating with
the British Resident in Kutch, and assured. him that the passage
could not be allowed as it was in violation of tbe existing treaties
between them and the British, but if the British Resident gave an
assurance that this passage would not be taken as a precedent
Burnes may well pass, Pottinger gave the required understanding".
The Ameers certainly did not desire to antogonise the Sikh Ruler.
so both powers were informed that Burnes was permitted to go up
the Indus to deliver the presents from the Royalty of Great Britain
to Maharaja Ranjitsing of the Punjab. On 10th 'March Burnes and
his party once again set sail for the Indus-and now ascended the
Hujamree, one of the central mouths of the Indus ana after some
higgle haggle the Amecrs' orders were put into force a full and
unqualified sanction to advance by water. The party proceeded to
the capital, Hyderabad, on 12th April", "Our fleet consisted of six
flat bottomed vessels and a small English built pinnace which we had
brought from Kutclr"." As the little fleet went up the stream it was
heartily cheered by the people. At one spot a Sayad gazing
astonishingly at the new comers shrewdly remarked, "alas! Sind is
now gone since the English have seen the river which is the road to
its conquest"." The utterance was indeed prophetic. Within barely a
dozen years the British flag was seen flying in the once Ameers'
dominion. The fleet moored opposite Hyderabad on 18th April. On
the way the members of the Mission saw the fishing of the Palla, the
palatable dish of the Sindhis, The Mission' was very cordiallv

111

Sindh Observed

received at the capital and the son of the Chief Minister, in his
father's absence, was appointed the mahmandar to the Mission. The
Mission visited the Court and found that it had faded from its old
grandeur.
Meer Nasir Khan the second son of Meer Muradali, the
reigning chief, assured Burnes that he was a loyal friend of the
English and it was he who finally got sanction for his Mission to
proceed by the Indus. Meer Muradali the Chief Ameer spoke in
eulogising terms and welcomed the envoy",
The interview was
followed by the British envoy sending some presents to the Ameers
sent by his Government consisting of a gun, a brace of pistols, a gold
watch, two telescopes a clock, English shawls and cloths, two pairs of
elegant cut-glass candles and shades, some Persian works of Bombay
Litho and maps of the World and India", The Ameer on receiving
the presents sent the moderate request that the clock and candle
sticks may well be exchanged for something else, but it was rudely
turned down. A second interview wounded up the Mission's stay at
Hyderabad. On his departure the British envoy was the recepient of
a handsome Damascus sword with a red velvet scabbard ornamented
with gold from Meer Nasir Khan, the Chief Ameer sending a purse
containing Rs. 1,500, since he had no mounted blade to present the
envoy witlr". On 2~rd April the State barge carried the party due
north. The Mission reached Sehwan on Ist May and stayed there for
3 days. A day alter quiting Sehwan the party met the agent of the
Ameers of Khairpur, Mahomed Gohur, who came to compliment
the Mission on its safe arrival. Meer Rustom's Days of feasting
followed. Burnes wrote a complimentary letter to the Ameer for his
fine reception of the Mission. The Mission reached Bukkur within
ten days and went to pay a visit to the ruler of Khairpur, The Chief
Vazir, Fall h Khan Ghorec, came to receive them and conducted
them to th, t'tlUtl~~.The envoy presented the Amecr with a-watch, a
brace of I",tols, and a kaleidoscope along with various articles of
European manufacture.
The Arncer was highly delighted to receive
these tokens of friendship. There was so much mildness in what the
Arncer said that I could not believe we were in a Baluchee Court,
wrote Burncv'". The Ameer requested the Mission to tarry longer in
his dominion and accept his 'poor hospitality' so long as they stayed.
This hospitality consisted of eight to ten sheep with all sorts of
provisions for I50 people daily". While the Mission was at Khairpur
the Amccr sent twice a day a meal of seventy-two dishes consisting
of Pillaos and other viands of the richest cookery. The Mission had
III regret III he leaving the Khairpur Darhar.
On the Mission's
departure Burnes received from the Amccr two daggers and two

II~

Cornmcrciat Navigation of

the Indus.

heautiful swords with gold ornamented belts, many cloths and Sind
silks and a purse containing a thousand rupees". By this time the
Mission had had a good experience of Simi beggers. The British
envoy complains of them in the following terms, "The beggars of
Sinde arc the most importunate and troublesome. They practice all
manner of pursuasion to succeed in their suit for alms; tear up grass
and bushes with their mouths and chew sand and mud to excite
compassion52:' Before reaching Bukkur the Mission had met the
chief Vazier of the Hydcrabad Court, Nawab Wullee Muhammad
Khan Lagharee, who had hastened his departure from Shikarpoor to
meet the Mission. He assured the envoy that his master had had evil
counsel and so had unnecessarily detained them at the mouths of the
river and on hearing this news he had urgently solicited the Arneer
not to commit themselves to such a rude conduct. The English
envoy was greatly impressed hy the noble hearing of the Vazier and
the grandeur of his retinue. 'He came with a splcndcd equipage of
tents and carpets accompanied hy three palanquins and 4OOmen. A
set of dancing girls were also in his suite".' On 21st May the
Mission left Bukkur and arrived at Lahore on 17th July IH31:W.
lnspite of his cordial reception at the Sind Courts Burnes has lillie to
commend the Arnccrs about.
He felt that the Talpurs were
tyrannous rulers and were ve~y uppopular with the people. And as
he points out 'he heard the people say that they ~the English) were
the fore-runners of conquest!' In due course-Burnes made out his
report and expressed a Iavouruhlc opinion regarding the navigation
of the Indus,
Now-,remained for the Government of India to take suitable
steps in the matter.
Though the Malcolm Memoranda had
recommended the annexation .of Sind, the political situation in the
country made the step suicidal at the moment. It was deemed
expedient for the time being that the Indus be opened for the
purpose of commerce and through that commerce to the north-west,
specially to the Kabul dominion, the British must substitute their
influence for that derived by Russia, Such indeed was the desire of
the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India
Company in London". An immediate annexation was not ()I11vto
draw the British into the politics of Central Asia, which thcv "<1~tcd
to avoid as long as was expedient, hut it would also annov'their old
ally Ranjitsing, who was so keen to have Sind that after 'being free
from the imbrogtio of Sayed Ahmed, he had heen concentrating his
allcIltion lin the CO"'tlJCM of Sind .Im! bad ~~
10 the ~.
,",

,.

inviting the English to ,10m in the expedition against the Ameers,

over which proposal the English for their own interests wisely slept".
The British felt that 'if they could secure the necessary influence in
the north-west through commerce and on the same score obtain free
navigation of the Indus, their purpose would be served without a
single life heing lost. What they really wanted was a passage for
Iruops to the north-west
which they would secure through
commercial navigation. If ships of commerce can ply on the Indus
regularly. it would not he difficult for the English to sail ships of war
on the same stream in an emergency, with the power they enjoyed in
India. The Amccrs of Sind would easily he over-awed by the hallow
of British might. Such indeed were the views oC Lord William
Bcntinck, the Ciovernor-General of India. And accordingly Missions
were 10 be despatched
to the Courts of Lahore, Bahawalpore,
Khairpoor anI) Hydcrahad J,o sue their rulers tor 'natural justice.'
Opposition was anticipated only from the Lahore and Hyderabad
Courts, the rest being subordinate Courts. But it was believed that
the Lahore court could be managed and henee there remained the
Court of Hyderabad whose policy it had been to enjoy a secure
existence by the exclusion of all foreigners from its dominions.
Apart from the above policy it had been brought to the notice of the
British Indian Government that the Ameer of Hyderabad
was
seeking a marriage alliance with Persia and this it was feared, might
develop into a political one to the detriment of British interests. The
Governor General writing to Col. Pottinger, the prospective envoy to
Sind, brought to his notice the fact that this matrimonial alliance
might have been suggested by Russia with a view to a future political
alliance and to the establishment (If an immediate relationship
through Persia with an Indian Slate by ineans of which, Whether for
intrigue or (or actual attack.a ready access would be afforded to our
Indian Empire'", .Even the British envoy at Tehran advised the
G()\'ernor-(i~cncr.I1 to avert the alliance' between Sind and Persia as
by such an attempt the Sind ruler could solicit Persian protection
against any measure that-the coming events however unforeseen may
compcll the English to adopt against Sind~.
So .Jhe GovernorGeneral of India had to send an experienced envoy to -Sind to fulfili
'an altruistic Mission,' to open the Indus for commercial. purposes.
The British had for once realised that a petty kingdom had no right
whatever to shut up commerce by imposition of heavy duties or by
an other impediments simply because the passage of the channel of
commerce lav Ihrouuh Ihe Icrrilories of thai insiunificant autocracy,
And so a search
ordered 10 select an envoy 10 Sind and who

w,;.,

114

Commercial

Navigation"I' the Indus.

could be better filled for the task than the British Resident in Kutch,
Col. Henry Poll ingcr who had much previous knowledge of the Sind
Court.
The choice was indeed wise. The Governor-General
. informed Col. Pottinger of his-intentions and suggested an outline of
the way he had to argue out his case at the Amccrs' Court. In case
the Amecrs objected to the opening of the Indus for commercial
purposes by charging a fixed and moderate (l,1I under the
superintendence of the British Indian Government, the British envoy
was to question the rights of Sind in this ~espect by having recourse
10 the principles of International Law and practice and prove to. the
Arnecrs the falsity of their stand that they or any other State
possessing only a portion of a stream had a right either hy
prohibition or what is tantamount to it, by the imposition of
excessive duties or by connivance at a system of plunder by their
subjects on the trader, to deprive all the other people and States of
an advantage which nature had offered to all and to show to the
Ameers of Sind that they could not rightly assert that they alone had
the right to seal hermetically the mouths of the Indus, to arrogate
the sole and exclusive dominion of its navigation 'and to deny the
right of an innocent use and passage of this great nature.channel of
commercial intercourse", At the same time the British envoy was
also instructed to beguile the Baluchee Chiefs of Sind in agreement
by the enumeration of the advantages they would derive by the new
schcmc'", In case these cajolings proved ineffective the British envoy
was to make most and bring home to the Ameers of the right
possessed by the powers whose dominions bordered on the Indus to
usc this channel' of commerce, but 'nothing like menace' was to
accompany the admi_rahlcexposition of natural rights". And in case
the Amccrs asked for certain conditions under which they may agree
(0 the British demand, like protection against their avowed enemies,
they were to be told that 'when there exists a natural right and power
to enforce it, both justice and reason reject all title to concession or
compensation's."
How modest indeed were the British demands!
The English had conceived and taken on themselves OV their own
free will this humanitarian work of encouraging commerce in Asia.
And nothing like menace was to be resorted to, though it was within
British power and natural right to do so, against the parties involved,
who were to come to a unanimous verdict in favour of the scheme.
How grand a conception only if what was heing proposed had no
political motive behind it.

J J)

Sindh Observed

The preliminaries being over, on 10th Decemhcr, lX31, Col.

Henry POllinger ..pprised the Amecrs of Hydcrabad of his intention
to visit their Court with letters from the Governor-General
for
thcm'". In this letter Pottinger requested the Amcers for an officer
of theirs to receive his Mission in the Sind territory.
He also
apprised the Arneers that 'as a part of the luggage which I have wit h
me is of that heavy nat ure that renders its transportation by land
extremely difficult,' they should authorize this part of the luggage to
come by water via the Delta Port of Daraje. By the end of the
month the Amcers had replied and welcomed the English friend to
their Court. They appointed Muhammad Khan and Dost Ali Khan
to meet the Mission on the Sind border", The Mission w;r, In
consist of the following gentlemcnL,
Lt.-Cot Henry Pottinger.
P. SCOIl, Esquire.
Capt. W. Pottinger,
Assn. Surgeon I. A. Sinclair,
Lt. J. Morris

Envoy
Ist Assistant
2nd Assistant
Surgeon
Commanding the Escort.

And E.P. Delhoste. Esq., Surveyor & Draftsmarr=.

The.:
Mission was provided with an escort hy the 24th NJ"". The whole
party made up a goodly number.
'We mustered upwards of 400
souls" writes Dell'loste'". The envoy carried with him the following
stationery" for the use of the Mission to Sind:Foolscapc paper
Poll or 'King's Arm, in lieu of Foolscape
Demy or 3rd sort
Thin post paper
Portuguese paper
Letter paper
Cartridge paper
Blotting paper
Quills
Pen-knives
B"~ck Ink-powder

Two Reams
One Ream
10 qrs
10 qrs
3 Reams
2 Reams
5 'Irs
5 'Irs
500
2
2 dozen bundles

Red ink powder

\Va Ic I"
.
Scaling Wax
Pcscils

4 Boxes
21bs

()

116

Commercial

Navigation of the Indus,

The Mission was also furnished with medicines, instruments

ere, worth Rs. 911-2-W'. So, fully saddled, the Sind Mission reached
Lackpat Bundar on lOth January Hn:~}I). Dcll-lostc was specially
appointed on the personnel of the Sind Mission for collecting
geographical information regarding Sind". The Mission crossed into
Sind on the next day and in just ten stages arrived at the Amccrs'
capital on the 25th of the same month", It is necessary to advert
here to the ready welcome afforded to the British Mission by Mccr
Murad Ali Khan, who had been so suspicious about Englishmen
entering his territory. The Arnccr seemed to think that the purposc
of the Mission wasto settle the Parkur affairs".'. Parkur plunderers
had so much inconvenienced the subjects of Kutch, under British
protection, that the Amccrs had been warned several til .. _., and it
seemed that now a final settlement was to be effected and a policy
was to be chalked out for rooting out this menace.
In fact the
question of Parkur plunderers was of so minor an importance in the
present instance that the Governor-General
had left it to the
discretion of POllinger to move the matter or not, for the main
object of Indus navigation was not to he jeopardized under any
circumstances".
But soon after the welcome letter had been
despatched. the Amccrs were informed by a brother of Ismail Shah,
a minister of the Hydcrabad Court, then at Bomhay on a private
Mission, that the Mission's main object was to seck permission for
the passage of troops to oppose Russians in the north-west of India
as also for the establishment of three political agencies in Sind, at
Talla, Hydcrahad and Shikarpoor respectively besides and English
envoy at Khairpoor".
And hence the Amen despatched Mirza
Zculoobdccn, son of Ismail Shah, to know in advance the real object
of the English. In the meantime some other Talpur Officers also
mel the Mission like Hydcrkhan Laghari, the Governor of-Jatcc
Pargana and nephew 10 the Chid Minister; Muhammad Khan
Tulpur, brother-in-law of the Chid Minister; and Akhund Baka-ulShah, all men of rank. The last named person sent word to the
Amccr that the boats carrying the heavy luggage of the Mission were
really laden with military stores". On hearing this the Arnccr grew
Ihoughtful
and forthwith
despatched
Kcchcc
Khidrnatgar
to
'1',('~rtain the truth". It was on this account that the heavy luggage
arrived five days later than he Mission at the capital, having been
lkt;lined in the delta at Durajc for nine days. The Amccrs' officers
referred to above as also two confidential servants of Mir Mur adali.
choua Khidrnatgar and Mirza Baki, Georgian, met the Mi~~ion on

117

Sindh Observed

the second stage of the march and very warmly welcomed the
~fission on hchalf of their master"". These officers pr()pos~d to pay
Rs. 1(1) a day to POllinger as m<lhmandari charges as ordered hy the
Amccr, .Col. POllinger felt that thi.~ was not Iair and after much
discussion with the Arnccrs' officers agreed to accept fire-wood and
forage freer... The Mchmandars also communicated to the British
envoy the desin.: of Men Murad Ali to allow him to follow Ihe
Builoch' sY~ll,;m<If hospitality hy furnishing the Mission with ready
dressed victuals on the arrival of the Mis,",HlIl ,It the capital.
POllinger found it inexpedient to refuse everything and therefore
accepted this invitation. On the whole the reception of the Mission
while it was still on it~ way to the capital was very hearty. Nothing
could haw been more attcntivo and friendly than Mccr Murad Ali
Khan's conduct 10 the .Mission upto this hour. wrole Col. POllinger
to Govcrnmcm=,
On their way the Mission passed through fertile
lands growing rice. lohacco, harley and. sugar-cane in -grcat
ahundancc'".
Near Shahkapoor the Mission came across an
extensive fort Said to have been the residence of Dodo, a Summa
Chief. The ruins were of pacca brick of enormous dimcnsionv-. At
Bulrcy the Mission visited the tornh of Shah Karccm, the great
grand-father of Shah Abdul Latif. the Sindhian Shakespcarell'. 'The
tomh is a beautiful huilding covered with lacquered tiles of various
colours, which at a short distance appear like porcelain. There is a
large mclah here in March every year which lasts for three days.
Goods coming to the mclah pay no dutY"",' But all was not pleasant
for the Mission on the road. The beggars of Sind greatly disturbed
them. Dclhosrc complains of begging as a terrible nuisance in Sind.
Capt. W. POllinger corrohorates what Dclhoste asserts regarding
Sind bcggurs when he points our.' 'Those who have no properly or
means of subsistancc live by hegging or rather uemanding alms and
there is nothing wonderful to sec well-dressed and respectable
looking men, sometimes on hon,e hack. with swords and shield!',
a!',king~f()r charity and if denied, they give vent to the most violent
and abusive languagc~.
The Misxion duly arrived ai the capital and encamped at a
special camping ground shunted nearly S. W. of the City. The
British camp was marked out Iacing south, thus having the City and
Fori on its left. the Indus on the right at a distance of 2.5 miles, at its
rear the Nulla having wells 10 supply water, beyond which on a rising
ground stnnd the Tanda of Wutee Muhammad Khan Lagharccll'.
The situatinn lIr the English camp Was nol very pleasant hUI il hild
liS

Commercial Na\'igation of the Indus.

the advantage of being free from the annoyance of beggars*'o The

camp was provided with a Sindhian guard to keep off the civilian
population who would otherwise disturb the peace and quiet of the
place. However out of curiosity many Sindhis came to visit the
camp". The large Ourbar tent in particular was an object which
appeared to strike the visitors as being wonderful-the chicks at the'
tent doors also appeared to amuse them very much and they \\/CTe
often heard having disputes among them as' h~ what they were
composed or7,.
So now the Mission was ready to start on its errand in right
earnest. The first visit to the Amccr's Court hy the Mission was
fixed for the morning of the 28th January" or. which time the British
Camp had been visited by the proteges of every Chiefenquiring after
the welfare of the members of the Mission and bringing presents of
fruits. A liule after sunrise on the morning of the 2Xth,a deputation
consisting of Ahmed Khan Laghari the eldest son of the Prime
Minister; Muhammad Khan Nizamani; Dostali Khan Talpur;
Muhammad Khan Talpur and others conducted the members of the
Mission to the Durbar. The Durbar had nothing in particular to
commend itself except noise, if noise could ever he commendable.
Nothing could he less decorous or worse arranged than the whole
scene; one could hardly find mom to sit as the people came
squeezing into the Darbar, shouting, howling, and, calling to each
other all the timc'", All the old grandeur seemed to have passed off
except for the personal decoration and decorum of the Amccrs
themselves. Captain W. Pollinger, gives a realistic and animating
account of the reception of the Mission at the Amecrs Court, He
writes, 'The reception of the Mission was most distinguished, hut the
Court and the style of everything connected with it gave us much
di.,appointmenl. The dresses of the Amccrs were alone handsome
and the jewels costly. The Bcloch system of hospitality was followed
towards us and for some days (until (he envoy peremptorily declined
10 receive any further comributions) supplies of every sort and in the
greatest abundance were served out daily to all the follower!'.and
also (he callie_and a ready cooked dinner of 1511dishes sent daily
for the gentlemen accompanied with Cabool fruits, sherbet, sweets,
ctc'". After polite enquiries of welfare the' visit terminated within
twenty minutes and the Englishmen returned to their Camp.
After the Tlrst interview, the interviews with the Arnccrs
became frequent as the purpose of the Mission became known to the
119

Sindh Observed

Amccrs through the envoy. Mecr Moorad Ali Khan when he was
made aware of the contents of the leiter from the Governor-General
objected to Englishmen
entning
his dominions as merchants
because the Bdochel's
knew them as soldiers and under no
circumstances would they he able to discern their commercial
purpose:".
This \....
as an objection to which the Aml.!ers Officers
cluru; for lon~ as (hey fell that it constituted a dangewu!-> step' hy
t hem. Captain W. POllinger explains the point thus:- "To he in the
most remote degree engaged in trade is looked upon ny the
Bclochccs of Sinde as the most complete degradation and when the
envoy on the discussion of the Treaty mentioned that British
merchants were often amongst the mo!->trespectable people of their
country, the Chid's who were present seemed quite astonished and
hardly gave credit 10 the Iact'""." At the same lime they pointed out
that the entry of Engli!->hmen in Sind was a violation of the
understanding recorded on paper and given by POllinger himself,
dwt the British Government would not again trouble that of Sind
with a similar request, a!->the one made for the passage of Sir
Alexander Burnes by the Indus in lK11"l. This the British envoy
easily combated by saying that the Indus navigation as proposed now
was quill: different from the deputation of Burnes and at the same
time pointed out that he had informed Zenaloobdeen, the receiver
of the note, that the stipulations contained. in the note were not
binding on theBritish
Govcrnmcm as he had no authority 10 give
such an understanding, but hoped that his Government would accept
the conditions agreed to hy him'", This argumentation
needs
comment.
If Col. Henry POllinger had no final authority of his
Govcrnmcm to sculc the passage I'tV" Burnes by the Indus, he had no
husincs, to cntcrtuin the Amccrx Ofl~cer depuled for the purpose.
He should rightly have sent him 10 the proper authuritv,
Zl:naloohdeen would never ha\'e acrepted the terms from POllinger
had he the :--lighlcst doulu that POllinger's proposals would he
rejected hy hi~ (im"l'fnmenl.
Hc <tcted on gouu faith and yet his'
good faith was paid hack hy the enumeration of a technical flaw in
Ihe doculllent gi\'en to him. Indeed the ways of political friendship
arc varil:d and variahll:,
After a few days of prdiminary exchange of views on Ihe
subject,
Moonshce
Khooshirall1 on hehalf of the Ameers'
(imcrnment
proposed a treaty of ninc articJesJ~. The first 1\"'0
arliclc!->refcrn.:d to i!lUILIal,lIld clern ..1 friell(bhip. the third debarred
all European:-- frolll entering ~illd. the fOllrlh provided for the entry

120

Commercial

Navigatiun

of the Indus,

merchants
by the Indus. The fifth article referred
to Shikarpoor.
It was stipulated that on no account would
Shikarpoor he seized hy the British. The sixth one made the friends
and uncmics of the one as those of the other, the seventh stipulated
that the Ameen; would provide a large force on British requisition
within JO() miles of Hydcrahad, the eighth article referred to fixing
and rcgularising
payment of river dues, and the last one
contemplated compensation to the Ameen; for the above benefits.
The British (;overnment was expected to compel those ofKahul and
Punjab to treat Sind as an independent pown like the British and
cast no covetous eyes on it. Col. POllinger having heard thcArnccrs'
proposals read to him refused to accept the terms".
He kit that
many articles or the proposed treaty were uncalled for. But in order
tll expedite the Mission's work he himself sent a draft treaty to the
Amccrs on 2nd Fehruary consisting of four articles".
The first
referred tll friendship. the second stipulated that the navigation of
the Indus be made free and as the Amccrs had many doubts against
Englishnien. it was provided that no Englishman was to settle in Sind
.Illllno armed vessel was to enter the river without the-previous
'"lI1ction of the Amccrs. The third article referred: to the fixing of
Ihe river toll and the la~t one referred to the other articles of the
previous trcatics in a modified form. The Amccrs conveyed their
objections to POllinger's proposals through their minister Sayed
lxmail Shah" who pointed out to the English envoy that the Amccrs
under no circumstances were prepared to allow Englishmen to visit
their dominions freely and frequently even on commercial errands.
The Arnccrs, it was pointed out may allow a few Englishmen in their
dominions hut they must return as soon as their goods were sold and
they would be allowed entrance only once a month. After Sayed
"mail Shah had argued on behalf of his masters, Col. POllinger
presented the point of view of his Guvcrnrncnl.
He pointed out to
the Arnccrs' Minister that it looked rather strange that a treaty of
friendship was to debar one Ill' the parties [rom entering the
dominions of the other. After some hesitation the Amccrs instead
Ill' accepting POllinger's draft submitted another draft for hi!>.
conxidcrution'".
In this draft great stress was laid against the lcizure
or Shikarpoor hy the English. This was ridiculed by POllinger for
h, i"L' included in it treaty of friendship.
The new draft made no
mention {\f Military stores coming up the Indus. Pottingerfelt that a
(i,lI'l' referring
to it should he included ami it was to be stipulated
th;1I It depended upon the Amccrs to grant permission for the same
'll 1](11. Thi ...is indeed a clever ruse to commit the Amccrs on paper,

of non-European

121

Sindh Observer!

for once the English thought of bringing troops thcy would do so and
in case of refusal of permission a forcihle entry could he made when
once such a permission was allowable hy the treaty. The draft fixed
a period for the residence of English merchants in Sind which was
easily combated by the British envoy with the argument that none
could tell when one's goods would be sold out and a stipulation
fixing the period of stay of English merchants would act so adversely
against them that it would deter them from coming to Sind.
However POllinger assured the Ameers that he was sending their.
draft to the Governor-Genera] for his sanction and hoped that the
linal terms of the treaty would he based on their stipulations as far
as possible. The officers connected with the negotiations on the part
of the Ameers
Hydcrabad were Moonshcc Khooshiram, Sayed
Zulfikar Shah, Sayed Ismail Shah, Ahmed "han Laghari, Mirza
Zcnaloobdccn and others. While the Mission was at Hydcrabad
news was received on 16th Fehruary that Kharaksing had proceeded
to join General Ventura to settle the affairs of Dcrajat, but in reality
to attack Shikarpoor. The Ameers made hot preparations for
opposing the enemy. BUI the news soon arrived of Kharakxing
having retired to Mullan. This greatly relieved the Amccrs and set
their mind at rcst'".

of

('01: Henry POllinger had already on his arrival expressed his

intention of going tn the Khairp'oor Durhar on the same errand as
had brought him to Hydcrahad, but it was strongly opposed by the
Hydcrabad Amecrx'?", The Arnccrs said tllat the Khairpoor Mirs
were their subordinates and it was really not necessary to take the
trouble of gning thither. They even proposed.that POllinger may
settle the Khairpoor treaty with Meer Mubarak, the brother-of Mccr
Rusiom, who was at Hydcrabad on the occasion of the marriage of
Shahdad Khan, son 01 Noor Muhammar] and grandson of Mecr
Mooradali - a Hydcrahad Amccr. nut POllinger preferred to go to
Khairpoor, since he had heard of the friendly overtures of Mccr
Rustorn to Burnes. The reason why the Hydcrabad Chiefs did 110t
like that the British Mission should proceed north was their fear (If
the English capturing Shikarpoor 'the apple of their eye1OOa.' nut
soon their fears were allayed (111(j POllinger was allowed to proceed
to Kh)lirpoorIfJl. POllinger had sent Dclhostc in advance to
Khairpoor tn gct reply (rom thc Amcer to his letters. The Ameer at
once wrote hack to POllinger and POllinger left Hydcrabad on 2 J:...I
February for Khairpoor where he: arrived on 21st MarchlOl He was
very (:nrdially received <IIIhe Cllurt of Khairpoor where he found

122

Commercial

Navigation

of the Indus.

more regularity and order than at Hyderabad'?' .. The people here

were very civil. Here the negotiations did not take long. Pottinger
found that the Amccrs of Hyderabad were correct in denominating
this Court as theirsubordinate. He sent in his draft of four articles
stipulating friendship, free navigation, equitable duties on the river
and mutual visit of Vakils. After some little higgle haggle the draft
was accepted. On the night previous 10 their departure the Mission
was favoured with several sets of dancing girls. The Ameer also
supplied the Mission with his dogs and huntsmen to provide some
sport for the party before it started on its return voyage on 11th
April. The Mission arrived at Hyderabad on 16th April'?', The
Officers connected with the negotiations at Khairpoor were
Dccwans Dulpatrai and Lakhmichand as also Fateh Muhammad
Ghorce and Ghoharali. The Mission was not detained for long at
Hydcrabad and lctttbc Sind Capital in State-barges on 20th April,
reaching Moghurbcc on Sth May. Then the Mission proceeded by
land to Lakhpat where it arrived on the I lth instant 105.
The general tone of the negotiations at the Sind Courts had
been conciliatory on the part of the Amccrs, There was hardly any
stiffness experienced by earlier British Missions to Sind. This was
due to the peculiar position in which the Ameen; stood. The British
wanted only the commercial navigation of the Indus. The Ameers
knew the proximity and power of the British in India. If they
opposed the English demands they were threatened t~lbe left to the
tender mercy of Ranjitsing. But if they assented British authority
was a sufficient guarantee against any invasion of their country. So
the Arnccrs consented to the British plan of opening up the Indus
for purposes of navigation simply because they were the weaker
party and knew fully well the consequences of a refusal, But the
Chiefs of Sind were shrewd enough to take advantage of the cartload
of good they were doing to the British by asking for a little pittance.
It is significant that almost all the princes of the ruling family vied
with one another in establishing
good reputation in the British
Camp. The reason wasnot far to seck. Mcer Moorad Ali Khan was
ihe last of the four brut hers who initiatcd Talpur rule in Sind at
Hydcrabad. At his demise a fight for ihe Masnad was inevitable.
Mccr Mooradali had two grown-up sons each of whom sought the
throne, Nom Muhammad by the right of being the eldest son and
Nasir Muhammad hy being the favourite of his father. Mir Sobdar
Ihe son of the eldest of the Charyars felt that the most legitimate
opportunity for him to hid for the throne would he on the demise of

12~

Sindh Observed

Mcer Moorad Ali, he being the son of the eldest brother. Similar
designs were uppermost in the mind of Meer Mir Muhammad: the
son and survivor of the second brother of the Charyars. Meer
Moorad Ali went to the extent of opening thc topic of succession to
the Hyderabad throne with the British envoy but the envoy was
clever enough tn evade any definite reply and switched on to another
matter. It was clear even to the members of the British Missio~lo58
that if Mccr Moorad Ali had been nice and good to them it was
mainly because he wanted thc British to intervene in the Sind
succession on behalf of his choice Noor Muhammad.
Even at
Khairpoor a similar state of affairs was noticeable. There Meer Ali
Moorad wanted to supercede his elder brothers, He made frantic
efforts to alienate the English envoy against his brothers but met
with ill-su<."ccss.All his overtures met a cold and non-committal
return from Col. Pottinger who found Ali Moorad quite a dangerous
party to deal with. Hence the changed attitude of the Arnccrs and
their acceptance of the British offer, thus recognising the virtual
superiority of the British:
It would not be out of placc to refer here to the presents sent
by the Governor-General to the Ameers and the return presents
given to the British envoy. As usual Col. Pottinger had brought
some presents for thc Amccrs, And the Arneers also expected them.
So much so that the Chief Arnecr of Hydcrabad, before the British
envoy had not even thrown a hint regarding thcm, informed him that
he should not makc any presents to any of his children, nephews,
relations or Sardars as they would only excite more jealousy and illwill than at present existed among them!", Though his behaviour
Wasout of etiquette, the Ameer was justified in his action by the fact
that there really existed bitter jealousies among the princes. Bu~that
Was not all, Merr Mooradali in anticipation of receiving presents
informed the English envoy through his minister Ismail Shah that he
had learnt that hc was going to rccicve some chandliers and a clock
along with other presents' and requested Pottinger not to send the
articles enumeratcd above as 'the former were calculated to be for
boys and men of sensual pleasures to hang upon in their apartments
and the clock got soon out of order and cost more than its worth in
sending it for repairs tn BombayJ07.' This was indecd too childish a
request and was hardly expected .from a ruling Chicf. Col. Pottinger
sent to thc Amcer a suitable reply to his request. Hc addresscd
Ismail Shah thus, '" am perfcctly lost in amazement at this message,
that whatever presents I had for Mooradali were nllt sent to him by

124

Commercial

Navigation of the Indus,

the Governor-General on account of their value but as tokens of His

lordship's regard, that it would have been only becoming in His
Highness to have received them as they were meant, that he might
have disposed, of part or all of them amongst his children,' relations
or, servants!"." For Col. Pollinger himself wrote to Government to
sell off some of the presents received by him from the Amccrs as
they would not serve any useful purpose'?". Col.Henry POllinger
was hardly pleased by the progress of the negotiations at Hyderabad
but he could not detain sending the presents to the Ameers much
longer as he did not wish t'he Ameen; to imbibe the impression that
he was, keeping them back from doubts as to the success of his
Mission. So Muradali received presents worth Rs. 7,100; consisting
of mirrors, chandliers, and other glass-ware along with cloths of
English manufacture and some guns and fowling pieces. The Amecr
hardly liked the glass-ware and asked his minister Ismail Shah to get
the glassware exchanged but the minister failed in his Mission. In a
conversation with Col. Pottinger the Ameer referred to the fondness
of the English in presenting articles of glass. To this POllinger
replied that the english rejoiced in making presents of articles of
English manufacture and since Englishmen excelled in this
manufacture, glass-ware stood prominent in their presents at all
Indian Courts. But the Ameer had liked the guns and rifles sent to
him and he showed his appreciation to Pottinger for them. The
envoy also made presents to Meer Noor Mahomed, the eldest son of
Mcer Morradali, worth Rs. 550. To Nasir Khan, the second son of
the same Ameer he sent a flannel piece worth Rs, 30. To
Hyderkhan Laghari, the Governor of Jatec he gave presents valued
at Rs. 192. while Nawab Muhammadkhan Laghari the Chief
Mahmandar of the MIssion received presents amounting to Rs. 165.
Thus the Mission bestowed Rs. 8.037 worth of presents on the
Hyderahad Court'?'. The Khairpoor Court was not left behind hy
the British envoy. Men Rustum Khan received from the envoy
presents valued at Rs. '7.h70, consisting of Clocks, Watches, Guns,
Pistols, Chandlicrs, Mirrors etc. The Arnecr was extremely pleased
with this courtesy. Mcer Mubarak, his brother, also received
presents worth Rs, 777J whereas the Chief Minister of Khairpoor,
Fateh Muhammad Gheree, got presents of the value of Rs. 300.
Thus the Khairpoor Durb ar received English presents worth Rs.
R,747110. The Khairpoor Arnccr sent to the envoy a horse and a
camel with gold and silver trappings, match Il)~ks and swords,
Kashmccr shawls and cloths of Sind, 'as some trilling erccn leaves of
friendship to add to the verdure uf the garden of a';'j'tv hetween'the

125

Sindh Observed

Governor-General and himsclPJI.' And the Hyderabad Ameers also

did not lag behind in this respect. .From the Hyderabad Court the
.MIssiQ_nreceived 9 horses, one riding camel, two couples of Sind
dogs, one very valuable sword with bejewelled belt and the best
blade, - originally received by Meer Mooradali Khan.from the Shah
of Persia as a prescnr-; two other swords, one battle axe, four pairs
of shawls, 12 pieces of silk, cloths of Punjab and Sind, some Sind
loongees, four richly mounted match-locks, two saddles and two
hridles mounted with gold, silver and turquoises'.
Up to this time the knowledge of the English about the Ameers
of Sind was so limited that they were considered semi-barbarian.
But on this occasion most of the members of the Mission had
enough opportunities to see how shrewd the ruling Chief of
Hyderabad was. The British envoy himself must have been
impressed hy the Ameer's ready wit when on one occasion the
Ainccr asked him what was the purpose of the British opening
communications with aU the neighbouring States. In answer the
envoy. replied that the British undertook these missions for mutual
benefit and friendship.
To this the Ameer returned a quick
rejoinder that the English had taken the whole of India by mere
negotiation'. Delhoste and W. POllinger also record their opinion
of the Ameer. Capt. W. Pottinger while referring to Meer Moorad
Ali remarks, "He is by far the most sensible and ablest man in
Sindell~-, to which Delhosl~ adds, "Meer Mooradali Khan is
decidedly a shrewd and sensible man. As a proof of his quickness I
may hcrementlon that previous to his signing the Treaty, he read it
over twice, most carefully pondering on the sense of each phrase and
word. At last he came to the word 'Resident' at which he stopped
and begged to have the meaning of it explained to him fully. This
wa~ done after which he scaled the Treaty..... Anyone witnessing the.
<ccnc would have at once decided that H. H. was a good man of
business!"."
Thus at long last by the treaty dated (<JthJune, 1832 and 4th
April, 1832. with supplementary articles between the East India
C. 'ompany and the Arnccs of Sind as also by similar treaties with
Bahawalpore and Lahore Governments the Indus was opened for
commercial navigation at fixed and reasonahle river toll collected
under the superintendence of British agenls- a Native agent at the
mouths of the Indus and an Englishman stationed at Mithankote.
The toll was Jixcd at Rs, 570 per hoat w uucvcr t he nature and
,~()

Commercial Navigat ion

or the I ndus,

weight of the cargo. of which Rs. 240 were to be given to the Sind
Amccrs, Rs. 1(,1) to Hydcrabad and Rs, M to Khairporc and the rest
was to he divided poportionatcly
among the other parties.
Navigation passports were provided without which no boat could
either enter or leave the Indus. And since there was likelihood of
further intercourse with Sind, Col. Henry POllinger Was appointed
Agent on 'the part of the Governor-General
for the affairs of Sind in
addition to his duties as Resident in Kutch. So now the Indus was
opened to commerce and both commerce and politics came to thrive
hv it 10 the great detriment of I he Amccrs of Sind.

y.

INDEX TO NUMBERS

Pages, Nos. Referred

in

the article.
[3usu- Major B."D.
Rise of Christian Power in India
(One Volume)

784-85 20. 21.

Burncs.._ Sir Alexander

Travels to Bokhara. Vol.

..~
-'

22.

3(}

2.~
U,.29

5
7

31

13
17

.U
.~4

lt:
20

35
36

~)

42

.n

4.'\
44
4.'i
46

..,-

.n

39
41-41

42
S4
,,7
.'i<)

60

:U

47

52
41\.:it)4
48:..49
50.51

Burncs.L Dr. James

A Narrative
ofScinde

of a visit to the Court

10
II
..Ui

I. 1. -'

4. In
II

12.P
127

Cunnigharu..,
History of the Sikhs. 1st Edition

51
5.~
56

1-t
I:)
16

76
121

17
18

205

19

Del Hosrcc; E.
Memoir on Sind. 11H2.
(Imperia! Record Dcpu.)

(>S. 115

Del Hostcc., 1-:.

Journal kept during the stay of the
British Mission in Sind. IRl2
(Printed Selections from the Prcmui inv
Records or Ihe Commissioner-in-Sind)

1~5
1M

65
70

194
195

81

197

K3. R3a

200

85
72.86.87
S7a.88

20i
202

,_
R"

I'ouingcr.c, Capt. W.
Memoir on Sind IIU2 (Imperial
Record Dcpt.) ,

2.1. 2~a.84. 90

.91a. 100, lOlla

101,114.
I'rinscp_
Origin of the Sikh Power in the Punjab

Selections from the Records of the

ClIl11mi~~ioner-in-Sind File Nil .. ~()(1

HI)

Selections from the Records of the

Commissionl'r-in-Sind
file No .. ~OI

152
154

24.25
27

74
115
.169
409

67
66
69

1)1. 102. In..

104.HI5,III.
112
II

11-1.1

i2K

63
(,4

Commercial Navigation of the Indus,

51
Sol

Cunnigham.,.,
II isiory (If t he Sikhs, I st Edit ion

14
15

56
76
121

16

205

19

Del Hostc..; E.
Memoir on Sind, IIG.!.
(Imperial Record Depu.)

17
IR

C,K 115

Dcl Host<:_ E.
Journal kept during thc stay of the
British Mission in Sind, LR3J
(Printed Selections from the Premutiny
Records (If the Commissioner-in-Sind)

185
IXS

194
195
197
200
201

202
Pouingcr.L Capt. W.
Memoir on Sind IKU (Imperial
Record Dept.)

65
711

81
S2
IB,83a

R5
72, Rt", S7
87a,R8

23. 2.3a. lW. 90

lJ 1a, III(). IOna

nu. 114.

Prinscp.c,
Origin of the Sikh Power in thc Punjab

152
154

SckCI ions from Ihe Records of the

Commissioner-in-Sind File No .. ,00

X")

74
115
."6")
4t1")

Sclccrion-,lrom the Record- of the

Commi...inner-in-Sind filc No. JOI

24.25
27

67
6(1
(II)

'II. 10.2. Ill."

II
II-U

1~<)

10t 1Il5. III.

112
63

64

Sindh Obwrvcd

2()
25

~
2(l-34

xt

39
5'"
71
77

92
119-121)
143-144
171-172
176

KhCril_

73
71)a

XO
75,76
77,7R
79
HI)
lOb

9"',95
"'1,92.93
108a. 109, 110

I114.107. lOS
7/{,96. 1)7

lHO

I)/{

235

II.~

26.~

1)')

P N.

7
Do.
(Footnote 17)

British Policy row unls Sind

II

12
14
16
1~
19-21

I~O

6. 7.~,1)
5
37.3R

.W. "'0
56
55

57, 5~
59,60.61.62

The Mirs and the Indus Tolls

By H. T. Lambrick, I.C.S.

Read before the Sindh Historical Society Oil 22-10-JQ42

The levy of tolls hy the Mirs of Hyderabad on boats plying on
the Indus, in alleged contravention of the treaty of 1839, though not
one of the main grounds on which Lord Ellcnborough sought to
impose a further and penal treaty on them, was one of the
complaints preferred against them by Sir Charles Napier when he
visited Hyderabad in September 1842: and being connected with the
policy of stimulating trade on the River which, inherued from
Bentinck, was the underplot
of Lord Auckland's Afghanistan
venture, may he considered as directly linking the exclamation of the
Sycd who witnessed Burnes' survey in ]831"Alas, Sindh is now gone, for the English have seen the river"with the Governor-General
s notification of March 5th, 1843. "Thus
has victory placed at the disposal of the British Government the
country on both hanks of the Indus, from Sukkur to the sea ...... it will
he the first object of the Governor-General
to usc the power victory
has placed in his hands in the manner most conducive to the
freedom of trade, and to the prosperity of the people of Scind, so
long misgO\\;rned."
The state 01 affairs on the River, ,IS Napier found it, had
prevailed ever since the treaty of lR~') was signed: the Min,
interpreting its Xlth clause in one sense. and the British Political
authorities in another.
The folloviing correspondence
extracted
from the records of the COl11l11j~sioner-in-Sindh, describes the first
open clash between the two. and dcscrvc-, record also as illustr;lting
the characters of lho~l' who held the :-.tage in the last troublous years
of the Talpurs rule.

r mill Cafl/aill .I. Outrarn, Political A;:'II/. [011'('1' Scind

Maddock, t squ] c , ';('t"r,'IIIlY /0 lite (jorCI7IIIIC'1l1 ofIndia.
131

/0

T.

Shull, O!J.'c" vd

"Sir- The representation of Mccr Sher Muhammad alluded to,

in 01v diarv of the -+thinstant, regarding subjects of Scindc evading
his liue!'o.obliges me to solicit th~ instr'lIctio~s of the Rl. Hon. th~
(jl)\'ernor~(jeneral of India in Council, as to how far that Chid is 10
he restricted hy the provisions of the new treaty with the four
Amccrs of Hydcrahad. of 14 art ides, to which he is not a party
although. as a subject or member of the former General
Government of Scinde. he was I presume bound by the former
commercial treaties of lH~2 and 1834; that chief's separation from
and independence of the others being now virtually admitted by my
predecessor having tendered a separate treaty to him, at the same as
to the other Amecrs.
(2) The former treaties by which the
Meerpoor chief considers himself bound relate only to foreign
merchants, the British Government having requested "a passage for
the merchants and traders of Hindustan by the rivers and roads of
Scinde, by which they may transport their merchandize from one
country to another," and Meer Shcr Muhammad states, that he
scrupulously abstains from interfering with foreign merchants, but
that he never agreed to exempt Scinde merchants from what they
had always been accustomed to pay, and which in fact is the principal
source of his revenue. (3) Within the last few days Jethanand, my
Native agent, has made known to me that the Ameers of Hydcrabad
also consider, that the 'same right they have always heretofore
exercised, still continues to them, of levying duties from their own
subjects transporting merchandise by the Indus. He says, that the
Ameen, have always understood, tha.t the 11th and 12th Articles of
the New treaty merely confirmed the former commercial treaty
which applied to foreign merchants alone: for that they never
understood the new treaty to interfere in any way with the transit
duties they have always been accustomed to exact from their own
subjects, and that besides. they read the 111harticle as only applying
to Merchants entering the river "from the Sea," or from beyond their
own territory "from the northward."
(4) I might have been deceived hy this, seeing that the same
right over their ..ubjcct.. is exercised by the Khyrpoor and Bhawalpur
Chiefs, and believing, that il could not have been the intention of the
Righi Honourable the (;t)\,efllor(ieneral to enforce harsher terms
on the Hydcrahad (;o\,ernmcnt- or at least, on Mccr Sohdar, who
..uffcr .. equally with I he 01 her Arnccrs hy the measure in question,
than what arc exacted from the above mentioned states, similarly
..itu.ucd in their relation .. io rhc British Government, had I not found

I ht' ;\1;1''' lind 'he lndus '/i,lI\

Ihal the late Resident 10111-. a very different view of the question and
peremptorily directed through Lieut. Ea....wick (hy private leiter of
instructions dated 291h November last) that "no Custom duties or
lines arc 10 be levied on any goods, 110 matter .../10 tire oWllers arc;
Ilnilll! or cominu hv the Indus" which, that genlleman must have
~'om~lUniraled Ilml~lgh the Nat ivc Agent. he heing then too unwell
III visit Ihe Durbar p,'rsl 'nally.
(:'i) On my quc-rioning the Native Agent, a~ to the practice that
prcvuil-, and what messages he had delivered to their Highnesses,
relating III the exaction ,If duties [rom their own subjects, he'
informed III1..'.that the Amecrs have continued to levy them as
heretofore, although advise! hy him thatit would ultimately tend to
their own advantage tn abolish II1(;se altogether: this he told me, he
had been instructed to do. hut he purposely concealed from me that
besides the orders from the late Resident. to Lieut. Eastwick above
alluded to (which I assume til have been. of course, communicated
10 Jcthanand)
he had received repeated and positive orders from
Colonel Pottinger direct, to prohibit the levy of lilly duties from any
1)('I:~(lIl. and (In lilly prOI)(,;1," whatsoever, in boats plying lip and down
the river. which I h;I\\: ;1'l','rI;lined to be the easl..' on examining the
Nativl' Tewnls. sin"l' led tll sllspe('t the in1t:grity of thl..'Nati\'c Agent.
(ll) It is I..'\'idl..'ntthat thl..' Nati\'1..'Agent endeavoured to deceive
me. to h,'lll'fit the Amecrs. or he 'has deceived Iheir Highncs~es hy
omitting to deliver COhlflel pl)llinger'~ prohibition to levy lhllic~
from thl..'ir llwn sllhjc('h.
which they have continued tn do
unintcrrllpkdlv,
Thl..' form;,:r is mmt prohahly thl..' case, as, more
likely 10 "'l'CI"'l' <Id\'<Illta~1..'
to himself. hut in either casc, it show~ Ihat
he is nl' h'll~cr It) he tkpelldl..'d UpOIl. and Ihe prohahility tli;11 my
pr,'d~'c~',sllr', suspicions (which Colonel POllinger cnmmunicatcd 1<)
me) thai Jcthanand ha" hecn tamp(;red with. and gained (l\'l..'r tn
1\1.-l..'rNIl"r \ll1h;lI11mad's il)tercsls, arc well gwunded.
Under such
cirl'llnht;lIH'l I Gill nn Innger plar~' conlidenn' in this pl..'rsllI1.(lr
Lmph,) him iI" a mcdium ,)1' intcrcourse with their Highne,",scs. 1
,hall l'IlIl-.ilkr il my dUlv Ih, ...dore 10 sll"pl'nd .lcthanand from his
"ffi,'1..' 1'1' :\ali\l' Ag ....llt. pl.'lllling His Lordship'S in~truction~. after
h;J\illg ('onfronll.'d him wilh thl..' Amccrs. which I shall ha\'1.' an
llpl'..:rllInity of dlling on .i'lining their Highnesse~ at a hunting party
1111 1 hI.' 1:\1 h in"laJlI.

(7) II is with much diffidence.

hut from an imperative
sense of
dutv, that I now heg mn~1 respectfully
and submissively
to offer my
opinion on the subject in question.
It appears to me very possible

that the Arnccr may have understood the l lth and 12th Articles of
the new trealy to he merely confirmatory of the Ionner commercial
treaties. and that thcv really never did contemplate that these articles
had any reference til subjects 1)1' Scindc, especially as the 5th article
prll\'idcs fill' the "ah'IIIUh:" rule of thl' Arnccrs over their own
subjects: otherwise I do not think it possihle they would have omitted
to protl'st against such an ar.-angeml'nt. which dcprivc them of their
principal source of revenue, besides in a wcat measure undcrrnininp
their authority over their own subjects, when Ihcy ~(1 pl'ftinacillllsly
.)l'rsisted in objecting 10 other, and Ihl'sl'10' I hl'l11- far less
important provisions of the new treaty: and as Iar :., I can ascertain
either from the Native Agent. or from Pitamh ..r the Resilkncy
Moonshcc,
through whom, or in whose presence, all Colonc]
Pottinger's discussions were carried on, it does not appear that this.
question Was ever mooted even, as if it was never suspected by the
Hydcrabad Government that such could be the intention of those
clauses of the treaty,
(X) Were Commerce on the Indus likely to he much impeded
or injured by the same unrestrained
control (If the Arnccrs of
Hydcrahad over their own subjects, which the other states on the
Indus maintain, I should he loath 10 concede this point: hut I believe
that it would not prove detrimental in the slightest degree, and that
on the contrary it would by throwing the whole commerce into the
hands of foreign merchants he the means of enc(luraging the latter
and enticing them into this channel, which is the great object tn
effect in the first instance, afterwards, the evil would correct itself, as
thc Scindc Government could not long remain blind to the loss of
revenue, which must soon become apparent, from excluding its own
people from participation in the benefits of the trade, which such
exactions must effectually do.
(9) The thief ohjection. to the exercise hv the Amccrs of the
power to taxing tlkir own bouts, appears to me: that. pointed out in
the 7th para of my leiter to your aJdress dated 3rd March last (No.
74) - i.' .. the practice I understand to prevail, of taxing empty boats
after discharging the cargoes of foreign merchants; hut this. I find,
could easily he guarded against. and pledges to ahstain from the
pr(l(ti(e might he exacted from the Ameers, ,IS the price of the

IJ4

which I hq; rno-r respectfully to recommend a~ just, ami

politic:
Just, because it would place them on a footing with those
of Upper Scindc and other States on the Indus ~illlilarly situated:
and Politic. hccau ..c the interference between the Ameen, and their
subjects. which I deprecate. I11I1"tat all times be a source of heartburning to them, e"lll'cially .1" they sec other ami in their opinion
inferior States in their immediate neighbourhood exempted from
such interference: hCCIII"'C it mu ...t appear to them an immediate ami
very ...crious pecuniary xacrificc I'm which tilly cannot be made to
comprehend
the po ......
ihility of any prospective compensation:
because Mccr Sobdar Khan. whom it i... the object of the British
Guvcr nrncnt to -bcncfit hy ih protection. will consider himself
injured on the contrary. .md <Ill equal sufferer with the rest: and
hccausc his ally, Shcr Muhammad of Mccrpoor, whom it is a,. ,)hject
til conciliate, must be compelled to the same relinquishment of his
dues from subjects of Scindc as the Amccrs of Hydcrahad have
literally hound themselves to, should His Lordship the Go\'ernorGeneral so understand the spirit of the new Treaty, and direct it!'.
enforcement
accordingly,
much
bickering,
and
frequent
disturbances, more than counterbalancing any advantages that would
accrue from grant,in!! the freedom of the river to the subjects of

concession,

Scindc.
(Ill)
In conclusion, and in support of these views, which I
consider mysdf bound in duty to submit for the consideration of the
RI. Hun. the (;ovcrnor-(ieneral
of India in Council. I may he
permitted
III quote
the words of the enlightened
statesman
Fr;lI1klin:-

"To me, it seems. that neither the obtaining nor retaining of any
trade, however valuable is an object for which men may justly spill
each other's blood, that the trul.' and ~ure means of extending and
securing commerce i!'. thl.' g.oodne~!'. and (.'heapness of commodities,
and thai lhl.' profit of no trade (.';111 (;\'l.'r he equal to the expem,e of
(.'Illllpelling..il. and of holding. it hy neets and armies." - I have, etc.,
1. Outram, 1'. ,-1 LOlI'er SC;lIdc
P. S. - I heg leave to hand up nn this occasion, for thl.'
information of the Right Honourahle the Governor-General
of India
in Council, copies of recent correspondence with ,the P.A., Cutch,
displaying a system of illihcrality towards commcr(.'e in \vhat are here

135

Sind" ()h~(I,...d

considered Briti ..h Port s, which cannot fail 10 he contrasted with the
very liberal conceptions in favour' or commerce required from
thcmsclvc .. hy the Briti ..h Government."
),0.

The ca ..c referred to hy Outram was as follows:_

He had sent to the Political Agent, Cutch a petition received
from the Gumashta of a merchant named Muhammad Rahim.
requesting the restoration of property taken from .him at Cutch
Mandvi under peculiar circumstances.
Colonel Mdvill.~r11~Political Agent, replied on the .~()th April
IS41I. that the hoat in que ..tion, hound from BOl11bilYto Shahhandar,
had put into Mandvi under stress of weather, and remained there for
three or four dilYs. The supercargo took the papers to the Karbari
of the Port expressing his desire to leave as soon as possible without
landing any goods. The karhari however said that Port and other
dues must first he paid. and Ihe supercargo took the papers to the
Karhari of the Port, expressing his desire to leave as soon as posvihlc
without landing any goods. The karhari however said that Port and
other dues must first he paid. and the super-cargo was compelled to
pay them, which he did in hags of sugar at a valuation hy local

mashirs.
By the laws of Cutch, every hnat coming into a Cutch port
because liable for Port and Customs duties on cargo, whencesoever
coming. and Wheresoever going. Bombay Merchants had petitioned
Government in September 1S3!), and the Resident had been directed
to inform the Rao that charging duties on vessels bound for Sindh,
and entering his ports under. stress or weather. "would he considered
at variance with the usual liberality of His Highness": but the Rao
considering the injury to his revenues involved, dedi ned to make any
alteration in the ancient land of his country.
Mclvill therefore
expressed his inability to intl'rfere.
Oil/ram /0 Maddock. Hydcrabad 2211t1May, JR4(}.
"Sir._ I han: now the honour to report for the information of
the Rt. HOIl. the C;owrnor-(Jencritl
of India in Council. the
substuncc of my conference with Meers Noor Muhammad and

, J3()
e'

'l hr Mir mu!

'he lndu

r(l"~

Nussccr Khan, on hoard their Highncs-cs stilte barge on the 17th

instant, alluded 10 in my diary

M that date.

., On my presenting. His Lord ...hip's letters to the Amccrs

transmitted with your dated nth ultimo. I intimated my wish to
converse with- their Highnesses
for a few minutes.
if not
inwllvcnient, to which they most readily a...scntcd, and requested me
tIl ret ire with them to the rear cabin, that we might he more private,
and all(lwing
person to accompany us except Mccr Shadad.
I
desired, hllwever, that the Native A!!enl klhanand
mig.hl he
admitted. and he was called in aC(,;I)fding.ly. I cllIllmen(,l.:d by
informing lhl'ir Highnesses. "that nlll wilhslamling IIH:ir agrl'l'ment
by Treaty, 10 exact no dutic ...whatever on hllat-.. allll goods pa ......
ing up
and down the Indus, that I was well aware th:u thcv had conlinued 10
do so. as hcrel()fore. ever ...inn: the Ireilly was ,igncd." Mccr Nom
Muhammad. who acted ;" -.pl kcxmun Ihroug.hoUI was. or pn;lended
10 be, surprised al this accu ...atinn. declaring that he had scrupulously
adhered to the terms of the treaty in permitting. all foreign g.oods.
helonging 10 foreign merchants, 10 pit......free. whether entering the

no

river from above or from below.

P. -4'- Yes: hut the Treaty pledges you III exact no Tolls
whatever from anyone.
passing up or down the River; hUI your
onicers ,10 so to this day from all nalives of Scinde carrying. Ihe
producls of Scinde.
Cerlainly. il was ne,"cr ag.rccd Ihal any alteral ion
...hould lake place regiuding (lur llwn "lIh.iect~ on Ihe conlrary. Ihe
treaty st ipulales lhat we shall exerci~1.:ahsolulZconlrol owr llur own
AlIlC('1"-

people.
P .. -t. _ Arlick XI of 11ll.:Irl.:aly spl.:cilies Ihal no toll will he
!c,"ied on Irading hoals passing. up llr down the riwr. wilhllul any
eXl.:l11ptionheing specilied III n;,tives of Seinde. whirh would ha,"1.:
heen. hml ~uch hl.:cn inl.;mkd.
Th~ prc~l'lll tr~aty Illerdy conlirms the forllll.:r
Ireat il.:S.Ihl' nc'" Ircalv was OIlt causl'U \w Ihl.:se matins
('"lIing for an\' dlanl!l.:. 1111 Ihe nllli rarv. nol one wor;' was eVl.:rsaid
by Colonel Pollin~l'f rl.:~'lIdill!! any altl.:ralions heing. rcquirl.:d in Ihe
riwr ilrran!!ellh'nl. ;llld WI.: ('l'1"lainlv Ilevn uOlkr~loOlllhat Ihl.:re was
to h\.' any ah.:raliollif ~ll. wo.: ~erlainly '~hould have complained
AI7I('('/'\"'-

('(1m m I.:f('i al
'-

o.

L~7

Sindh Observe!

again~t what would deprive us of all our revenues, for if our own
people abo arc allowed to carry goods up or down the river without
payment, what will become or our land duties on camels and donkics
carrying merchandise, for they will never be used in that case, and
we should he great sufferers,
P. A, - The benefit will soon he seen, of opening the river to
your own people as well as foreigners, other" visc they will he shut
out from the benefit (If the trade altogether, for .thcy will be
undersold by foreign merchants landing goods, and pa~"ing the
customary tolls, which would still he much cheaper than \...'hat the
Scindian merchants could afford to sell it, who is subject to land
. transit duties hcsidcs."
Al1ll1lcr'- That may he. hut in the meantime how an: we to
live? We desire no advantage from foreign commerce. and if \....hat
we always got from our own subjects is taken away. how Gill we
exist, for the taxes on Scindc boats. and produce is all our revenue.

P. A. - At first, there might he apparent

benefit will he great, and is certain,"
(4) This their Highnesses
turning to Jcthanand. J asked
with regard to this point'.' He
only to foreign merchants. and
down from above,

loss, hut ultimate

did not appear at all to believe, and

him, "how he understood the treaty
answered most readily, as applying
property corning in from the sea. or

P. A, - "How was it in that case that Colonel POllinger called

upon you to recover, and you did so, the duties which had been
levied on indigo by Shcr Muhammad some time ago,
Native Agcnt:: That was Multan indigo. and therefore foreign,

P. ,4'- Have the Ameen, continued

Scindc people as before?

alwavs to lcvv duties from

"

1\'(11;1'(' Agc"" - No Scindc cargoes of anv value arc hrought

down the river. they generally go hy la~d,'
,

p, A, go hy land?

But if they can Wille free hv the river. whv should thcv
....

'1

Ttu: Mir alief lire Indus Tot!s

N.A'- They have not been allowed to come free.

P.. -1'_ Who has hindered them'!

N. A. _ I supposed the Arnccrs.

. j

P. A. _ Did you e'er report this to Co. Pottinger?

S. A. _ There was no occasion.
P. A. _ Are Scinde boats always taxed as heretofore?
N. ,-1. _
people,

There

has been no alteration

regarding the Scindc

P. ,.j. _ Did vou never convey any positive prohibition ff(~;il

Col. Pottinger to the Amccrs against their taxing any boat's
whatever?

N. A. _ I advised them that it would be ultimately for their

benefit tn 1l1(1~ethe river Ircc to their o' ...n subjects.
(S) I then turned to their Highness and asked them, if they
wcrc . not aware from Jcthanand
that Colonel Pottinger had
positively prohibited their levying any duties on any boats passing
or down the river, no matter who their owners are?
.

yp

,~;

Amcc,;- Most certainly not. had he told me so, I would have

writccn 10 Col. POllinger about it."
I then said to Jcthanand: "How do you account for this? I find
letters in the daftar. addressed by Col. Pottinger 10 you. through
Pctarnbcr Moonshcc, reiterating orders previously given 10 YOLI
personally, to the above effect, dated 26th April. and 271h September
lasl year. Again. the Col. sent some such orders to Mr. Leckie, wl~o
must have communicated them to you, and. I sec in a letter 10 M,.
Eastwick, dated 291h November, when that gentleman was al
Hydcrabad, the same positive prohibition. which he certainly must
have mentioned to you. How is it, therefore, that in your dail~
intercourse with their Highnesses. YOIl never made this known t~l
them and how is it, that when' asked you on several occasions what
I~()

";"dl, 0/"""" cI
practice prevailed. Ihal you suppressed your knowledge that it
continued, in opposition 10 Col. POllinger's orders 10 you to call on
their Hiuhncsscs 10 discontinue it'! and, that you endeavoured 10
bid me 'In ~uppo~e Ihal such had never been intended? How is this?
,\'mil'(' .-igm/, - YIlU ...ay Col. POllinger wrote the same 10 Mr.
E:I"IWick: why did 11(' not tell the Amccrs?

P. A, - I believe that gcmlcrnun had no personal interview

with their Highncssc. alter that dale, as he was obliged 10 ~o away
sick shortly attcrward v, and if he had occasion 10 communicate such
a meSSil!!I..he must h;.,',:: done it throug.h Y,IlI: hut Col. Pottinger's
letter 10 Lieutenant Eastwick \\;" merely an answer 10 a question
Irom ih.u !!ent lcrnan, whom ~ou Illay not have made acquainted wit h
the prevailing practice, rl.!!ill'llingwhich Y HI ardently wished 10 blind
me. - and who therefore may not have sec I occasion 10 discuss the
malta: hut that docs not alter vour case. who had repeated and
positive order ... direct form Col. POllinger on the above subject, us
well a... through Licuts, Leckie and Eastwickc., what your motive
may haw been for v.'ithholding these orders, and endeavouring to
deceive me, is immaterial: Such is the fact."
Then turning to the Arnecrs. J said: "Your Highnesses, who are
now aware of these circumstanccs,
must sec, that I can never
hl.'reafh:r place ...ufficient conlidence in this m;m, to allow him 10 he
the medium of communication
belwcen us, consequently I am
compelled in justi.ce to you. as well as in dUly to my superiors. to
suspcnd JClhanand from all employmcnt, until the orders of the RI.
Hon. Ihe Gm'crnor-(ieneral
arc received. In future. I shall always
communicate- whatever
i~ of importance
in perslln to Your
Highnesses, and J requesl you will have no scruple (' send for nw.
whenever you have douhts on illly suhject, or wish 10 consult me. it
will give me pkasure to visit you al all times. mLi there can he 110
occasion to employ third person to pass hetwccr. I;S. except in trilling
mailersIhe ...e sorl of people lOll often thrive hy making mischief.
to render themsclvcs of C'OIHI'(/IICIl('(' and neces~arv: hUI I trust Ihat
Your Highncs:;~'s will always place your confident'c'in me freely. anLi
wilhoul re!o.erVedeclare your sentiments Oil ;111llc('a!lions, which J will
make kn()\\!'! In H is Lordship if proper: if not. \\i'ill candidly giw you
my opinion to the contrary. In thi!l parlicular case I shall inform Hi ...
Lordship all that has pa ...sed. hut I will not ('Onceal from vou that thl.'
trl.:;lty most certainly. ;IS it now slallds. dearly exempts ali hoats froll1
I-I (j

, he Mir and ,h,' lndu J .. /1\

tolls; thut conliuuing to exact [rom your own people will throw them
out of the market. and eventually prove injurious to your revenues.
whereas ihcv hv thwwilll! the river open III them, you will secure
after iHh'''nl;ll!l'~' The \'~rv letters which I have todav delivered If
vuu imply Ili~ Lonlship'!> s~n!'e of the advantage of IOtal exemption
hut your Highncsses"
ideas on the subject shall he fllJI~
nllllmunicated.
under the impression. that you have been wilfully
kept in ig.norance by the Native Agent of the view of the Rriti.J,
(i()\'e.rnment -on the subject, which may excuse you now at thi .. tall'
hour referring the point for the consideration of the Rt. Hon, the
Governor-General,
ahhough His Lordship will he surprised that the
meaning of the article could ever have been douht [ul."
l)

That Mccr Nur Muhammad,

if not the other Amccrs, was

tully aware of the real meaning of the treaty I have lillie doubt. hut
ascertaining
from Jcthanand
that there was no chance of Col.
Pottinger ever conceding the point in (IUestinn. he had purposely
abstained from pushing the mailer to issue, aided hy the Native
Agent who, (I lind in looking over his letters to Col. Pottinger)
studiously avoided any mention of the prevalence of the practice or
the sentiments of the Amccrs ~1I1the subject, after one futile aucmp:
to advocate non-interference
with subjects of Scindc, in a leiter not
dated hut received by Col., POllinger on the 261h April last year,
although thal gentleman's reiterated orders on the subject -ought to
have elicited an explicit disclosure of the Arnccrs' object, had not
Jcthanand been bribed to their interests; as he could not possibly
have been ignorant of it.

(7) Notwithstanding my conviction that the Amccrs' a,,!>erti,m.

that they never understood the treaty, is false, although ..urh is
possiblcI am still nevertheless of the opinion which I formerly
expressed, and rcspcctullly beg leave here to repeat. that no good
can arise from the literal application of the XlLh article. il" exempting
0/1 merchandise and properly from tolls or the river. thruuuhou!
Lower Scinde. that it is imp~)litic tn hind thc."e chid .. 1o different
terms to what have been required from the othn Stales similarh
situated, (with) which treaties were made. ill the ..,ame time, thilt. 11;)'
chC('k to general commerce will he the dfect of illInwing thesl'
Amcers to t'IX their own ..,uh,iccls trading on
ri\cr, in the sanll'
l"anner as is allowcd to the olher chid .. al'\t,\c.alluded to, hut th.ll h\
in!otL.
... ing un 41dhcrin!! to the ..trirl wording of the drtide in (Iue!>tim;.

I"~

..

Silld" O/l.((,/1'''c/

we should render utterly hopeless the task of reconciling

Government to its connection with the British Power.

this

(~) Should the RI. Hon. the Governor-General

of India he of
opinion that this point should he conceded, I would respectfully
suggest that it he granted only as a gracious boon, and on certain
conditions calculated to prevent the exercise of the control of the
Amccrs over their own boats in any way interfering with foreign
merchandise embarked thereon.

(9) In conclusion I heg to recommend that the office of Native

Agent at Hydcrabad
he abolished, which I consider may be
dispensed
with advantage.
being of opinion that no verbal
intercourse with the Amccrs ~h()uld he carried on except hy the P. A.
or his Assistants personally, and that where this is. not practicable,
written "Yads" should he interchanged between the Agent, and their
Highnesses' to prevent the possibility of misunderstandings and after
denials."
I have crc., -.I. Outram,

P. A. Lower Scindc,

From H. Torrens, Secretary II) the GOI'Cl7Il1ICnl oJ

Outram, P. A. Lower Sind" _ No. JX2, Confidential Depl:
/-'011

(Adnowkd~es

letters of 11th and 22nd May

Agents"affairs,)

India

10

.I,

William, 22m/JUlie'.

re: Tolls, and Native

"On the form~( qucxtion, it is necessary in the lirst inqance 10

remark l hat the Amccrs Ill' Hydcrahad arc not as it matter of righl 10
he l'llnsidered ," being, in respect In duties on the Indus, in any
degree in the same position as the Amccrs (If Khyrporc OT the
Nawah of BahawalpoTe. and it is of importance to explain the
distinction which exists (In t hc suhject. as vou illuslrate Your view of
the fair pretensions or the Amccrx hy ~omp,tring th~m with the
privileg,\s said to he cxelTi!'>l'd hy the other Rulers referred t(': the
Khyrpon: Chiefs relinquished such dutic within their dominions h)
a voluntary concession, and their intention
in the relinquishmenl
may he fairly to he judged Irorn till: manner in which the local.
Brili~h authurilil" ha\c ;t1lo\\,,'d pr;I('lical dkt:( 10 he given III rh,

hllon.

The Mil'S and the lndus Tolls

The Nawah of Buhawalpore retains his right to levy duties on

the river within his limits, as it was declared by the treaties of HG3
and IH35, with the modifications to which, for the greater
encouragement of trade, he may, it is confidently hoped, now agree.
But the Ameers of Hyderabad had. by their conduct, compelled
the Briti!oh Government to regard them as having forfeited its
friendship, and one of the conditions on which they were admitted to
reconciliation was that the navigation of the Indus in its course
through their country, should be rendered prcfectly free.
Undouhtedly, the understanding of the British Government, in
laying down that condition, was that no duty should he levied upon
any goods or persons whatever, passing on the Indus. Such also was,
as vou state. the clear understanding and intention of Sir Henry
Pottinger, who negotiated the new Treaty. And such, too, is the
explicit declaration of the eleventh article of the treaty which is in .
these words'- "No duty will he levied on trading boats passing up or
down the river Indus, from the sea to the northern most point of that
stream within the territories of till' Amecrs of Hydcrabad."

0) It might he apprehended that if the British' Government

were to concede to the Ameen, the indulgence of taxing the products'
of lower Scinde, room would be afforded for the most vexatious"
impediments being interposed to the free transit of Foreign goods.
For those goods could scarcely otherwise he loaded. than on boats
owned by subjects of the country. and if the privilege claimed be
admitted. these boats will necessarily he liahle to detention and
search with a view to discover whether any portion of their cargo
consists of C( iuntry goods.
(4) On the \\ hole, the (iovcrnor-General in Council is satisficd
that such taxes as the Amccrs may think it expedient to impo-.c on
the property of their own subjects should be levied as the Trcatv
permits, on shore. and before embarking their goods. or after Ihei'r
disemharkationand it is especially requisite that the practice
mentioned hy you. of taxing empty boats after the discharge 01
lorl'i!!ll C1r!locs, which is a plain evasion of the most distinct and
important agreement of the commercial part of the new trcatv,
should be whollv. abandoned. You will also take cvcrv favourahie"
opportunity for pointing out 10 ihr Arnccr-, the mischievous
consequence- to their subjects and territories which must arise from

..

\4.'

hal1lpcrin~ the cumrncrcial tran~actions of their own people

impo~r~ from which those of Foreigners arc exempted,

by

(5) The 'practice. on the point under consideration, of the

~hyrpore Government,
is not material to the qu~stion which has
lit;c,n decided by till' pre('edin!! instructions.
But copies of the
CIlr;e'ptll1tklll'l' will he sent to the P. A. in Upper Scinde in order
that an authentic report may he obtained of the nature and effects of
that practice.
( With Mccr Shcr Muhammad, who i~ not expressly included
a party to the New Treaty of Hydcrahad, the -casc may appear to
he in some respects difkrent. and His Lordship in Council would
desire, in the first instance, to he informed of the exact limits within
which this Chief exercises authority on both hanks of the main
course of the River. or any of its Branches. and whether any portion
of the rights which he claims may he conceded to him, without the
same general inconvenien('e to tralfic which would he caused by such
a concession to the other Arnccrs: yet his Lordship in Council is not
inclined to admit the validity of claim even in his case .
CIS

...

The agreement with Sir Henry POllinger, on which the treaty

was founded, W,IS made by those who had previously exercised the
. Collective Government of Lower Sinde. The condition of the Treaty
is that no toll shall he levied from the sea upwards within the
territories of the Amccrs of Hydcrabad, and it could ill be borne that
a subordinate chief who at the date of the agreement, was, as you
remark, regarded
as a subject or member of the General
Government
of Sindeshould now stand upon his supposed
independence, and sepClrating himself from the Ameen . impede and
impair the beneficial effects of this great puhlic measure.
The subsequent tender to Mccr Sher Muhammad of a separate
treaty can scarcely he construed as affecting his position in regard to
this general emancipation of the river from ToII:- for it was only
under the Treaty of March IKW. hy which tons were intended to 1)(:
altogether abolished, that the sep;lrate independence of the Chiefs of
Sinde was estahlished.
You will with these considerations before
you bear in mind the very great impHrtann' which His Lordship in
Council .,((aches 10 this navigation, and you will endeavour ~t once
It) maintain its freedom. and to rl'wlwile the Chiefs of Scindc to

J44

711eMir: and 'he

11Ic/IiS

Tolls

conditions which are required for the security of general commerce,

and will be most conducive to their own real interests.
(7) The conduct of the Native Agent Jethanand, as described
by you, appears open to muc~ suspicion. But before finally
sanctioning his dismissal as unworthy of confidence, the GovernorGeneral in Council would think it right that you should require and
submit from that person, a written reply to the specific allegations of
neglects and violations of duty which you mention. His Lordship in
Council agrees that the Office of Native Agent is not now necessary,
a British Resident being permanently fixed at Hyderabad."
H. TOI7l!IIS.

But it does not appear that any serious effort was made by the
Government of India to induce the rulers of Bahawalpur and
Khairpur to discontinue the levy of river tolls in their territories
during the n9xt two years and more.
Exactly a century ago, Sir Charles Napier, in the course of his
historic review of the situation in Sindh, wrote to Lord
Ellenborough:
"The second point to which Major Outram has drawn my
attention is a very strong one. He tells me, the tribes on the river,
above that part possessed by the Ameers of Scinde, do levy tolls, and
that there is no treaty or public document forthcoming in virtue of
which we can call on the Ameers even of Upper Scinde not to levy
tolls on their own subjects, It is evident therefore that to call on the
Ameers of Hyderabad to desist from levying tolls, and to allow the
tribes above them on the river to do so, would be unjust; that is to
say, it would be unjust to allow the others to levytolls, but not unjust
to prevent the Ameers from doing so. The answer to tlk argument
'that tolls are levied on the Northern Indus' is just this. Say to those
Northern tribes 'We have, with great trouble, secured toyour boats a
free passage on the river through Scinde; we are resolved-to open
the commerce of that great highway of nations; and you, ~ho receive
benefit therehy, must join in this measure leading to the good of all,
and to the loss of none.' Wherefore to excuse the Ameers upon the
ground that others arc not equally coerced, is answered by coercing
the others."
145

Shull, Observed

But long before such consistency was introduced in this policy,

of coercion to enforce freedom of trade on a river in which the real
obstacles to traffic are ever shifting sand hanks, whirlpools, and the
hidden snags of uprooted hahul trees, the Mirs' regime had been
subverted. In the century which has all but passed since that event, '
the efforts of Sindh's rulers have been directed not to the freeing of
the Indus, but its coercion, for irrigation: and though the mighty
stream may still occasionally burst free from guidance, as we have
seen to our cost this year, the collar of the Sukkur Barrage is firmly
about its neck, and the taming of the "Mitho Darya," which has so
benefitted the people of Sindh, may be held to justify the means by
which the power over it was acquired.
Hyderabad,
October Is/ 1942.

146

The Scinde Irregular

Horse, in its earliest days

By H.T. Lambrick, I.C.S.

(Read before the Sindh Historical Society 011 31stlilly, 1940.)
The famous Corps which first associated the name of our
Province with the Indian Army is fortunate in-that the history of its
most glorious period was compiled in great detail by John Jacob,
who commanded it directly or indirectly for seventeen years. The
two volumes' of the Record Book of the Scinde Irregular Horse,
published by him in 1851 and 1855, contain however a great deal of
matter which concerns not so much the Corps as Jacob himself; for
instance, his proceedings on the frontier of Upper Sindh in his other
capacities of Political Officer and Engineer. And conversely, the
Regimental records prior to his appointment to the command are
somewhat scanty. It is with this first period, extending over nearly
three years, 1838-1841, that I shall deal in this paper: and less with
the achievements of the Scinde Horse in the field than with its
raising and early organization.
Towards the close of the year 1838, the armies designed to
replace Shah Shujah on the masnad of Kabul had been put in
motion. The Bombay Division was actually on Sindh soil. near the
mouth of the Indus, and the Bengal Division, together with the
troops recruited for the Shah's own army, were moving down the
Sutlej.
At Hyderabad, Colonel Henry Pottinger, the British
Resident at the Talpur court, was negotiating for the free passage of
the troops through Sindh, and for the acceptance of a new treaty by
the Mirs, whose hositlity was very evident; for several weeks a
collision seemed probable.
On the 19th December, Pottinger
requisitioned the Reserve Force, which had been assembled in
Bombay, as a make-weight in his diplomacy. This force had been
prepared for the occupation of certain strategic points in Sindh, to
maintain the lines of communication after the main armies should
have passed through. It consisted of one British and two Indian
infantry regiments, with some artillery: and Pottinger, in consultation
with Sir John Keane, the Commander-in-Chief on the expeditionary
force, recommended the addition of a regiment of cavalry. Pottinger
147

considered that the new corps should be an Irregular one. His views
were accepted, and this was the origin of the Scinde Horse.

It will he as well to explain at the outset the difference between

the Regular and Irregular Cavalry systems.
The Regular Cavalry, of which the Bombay Army had three
Regiments, were then as now horsed, armed, equipped, clothed,
supplied, and moved, at State expense.
Each had a large
complement of European Officers, from Cornet up to LieutenantColonel, the junior most of whom ranked above the senior Indian
Officer, who could not aspire to substantive command even of a
Troop, of which there were generally eight in a Regiment. Every
detail of dress, equipment, and horse-management prevailing in the
British Cavalry was copied slavishly, and the Indian trooper was
forced to wear a tight jacket with a stock, and strapped "over ails",
not to mention the complicated frippery of Lancer helmets or
Hussar Shakos, sabre-taches, shabracques, and similar absurdities.
His cost to the State averaged about Rs. 70 per month per man.
In an Irregular Corps, on the other hand, the men themselves
provided horses, clothing, equipment, and arms, which were thus
their private property, placed by them at the disposal of the State,
from which they received nothing but their pay, medical stores, and
ammunition.
This was known as the Sillidari system: and the
average monthly cost of the trooper scarcely amounted to forty
rupees. The type of uniform and arms were matters within the
discretion of each Commandant, but generally tended towards the
Indian style. An Irregular Corps might be said to be constituted on
the basis of a contract between its Commander, the men, and the
Government. Only three European Officers were appointed to
these Corps, in addition to the Surgeon: and as often as not they
were drawn from the regular Infantry or Artillery, not necessarily
the Cavalry. Indian Officers thus held substantive command not only
of the Troop, of 100 men, but of the Squadron consisting of two
Troops- commands which in Regular Cavalry went respectively to
senior subalterns or Captains, and Majors.
A detachment of 300 sabres of the Poons Auxiliary Horse,
which was at this time. the only Regiment on the Bombay
Establishment constituted on the Irregular system, joined the
Advance under Sir John Keane at Taua on December 30th, and
148

'111('Scindc Irregular llorsc,

Outram speaks of them on their arrival as "Captain Ward's Horse."

Pollinger had been in communication with Captain Ward on the
question of raising the new corps, and had come to the conclusion
that the best method was to form it on the nucleus of the squadron
of the Poona Auxiliary Horse which for several years past had been
serving in Cutch under Ward's command. Ward was a Captain in
the ]5th Bombay Infantry, and besides commanding the "Cutch
'Detachment", as it was known, was Assistant Political Resident
there. The connection of this detached squadron with the parent
stock at Sirur in the Deccan had not been completely severed; for
the purposes of promotion it was looked upon as part of the Corps,
but it had practically become a distinct unit, and was not called upon
for service with Keane's army. The detachment of the Poons Horse
that Outram mentions was commanded by Captain Erskine, hut it
seems probable that Ward had been summoned up to Taua to
discuss the proposal with the Political Agent in person. He shortly
afterwards returned to Cutch.
Ward 'recommended that the strength of the Cutch Detachment
should be increased from 200 to SOU officers and men. and that a
European Second-in-Command should be appointed.
Meanwhile Pottinger was asked to explain the reasons for his
preference for the Irregular System, for the duties which the
proposed Corps would have to perform in Sindh, and he applied to
Ward for the information. In a leiter from Bhuj, dated the 22nd
February lKW, Ward observed that late experience had confirmed
the opinion long entertained, of the superior usefulness of Irregular
Horse for policing a country, and proceeded to reproduce some
remarks recorded five years before by Colonel Sutherland, a
distinguished Political Officer who had long been connected with
Irregulars.
The essentials were, that only a small number of European
Officers should be employed; and that good pay for all ranks should
be allowed. Sutherland's remarks continued "II is difficult to
determine what is sufficient to support troops in a condition to he' at
all times fit for service, and to march at a moment's notice complete
with horses, arms, appointments, Bazars, etc., without demanding
any further assistance from Government or any country throuuh
which they pass other than what their own Baza~s and pockets r;.n
149

Sinc/II Observed

command. This I consider to be essential to the efficiency of

Irregular Horse".
"Money is the first essential. A few rupees more, will produce
cavalry ready to march at all times to any part of India. A few
rupees less will reduce them to a comparatively crippled state
.
therefore Rs. 40 is not much for a Sillidar's pay."
Ward fully agreed with these views: he considered the existing
pay of his men too low in all grades, but in none so much as the
ordinary Sowar's, namely, Rs. ~o per month. From this sum a
sillidar could save very little: he had to provide himself with a horse,
arms, equipment and clothing. perhaps a carbine; to feed himself
and his horse, and generally a family. He had always to be well
dressed, and ready to march at a moment's notice and he had to
keep a sycc or grasscuttcr and a camel or pony to carry his own or
his servant's kit. Frequently two or three sillidars clubbed together
to provide this transport.
And he received nothing from the
Commissariat, whether in quarters or in the field, except
ammunition: he had to keep his clothes and arms in repair himself:
and finally, he was entitled to no pension from Government.
Rs. 30 per month was not, then, an excessive rate of
remuneration!
'n the most favourable circumstances, the amount that could be
saved from it would be very small: yet the sillidar generally had to
suffer deductions from his pay to refund advances and debts
incurred in equipping himself, besides keeping his family in decency,
and. if possile, laying up a littIe for unforeseen circumstances. Ward
agreed with Colonel Sutherland that in average conditions the
private sillidar was a loser rather than a gainer by his service.
Of course, the explanation of the achievement of these
seemingly impossible financial feats was that men of respectable
position, with some money of their own, entered the Irregular
Cavalry.
Ward felt that the fact of this chronic inadequacy of the
Irregular's pay should be given practical recognition by increasing it.
There was, moreover, better reason to give enhanced rates in Sindh
than in any other Province, as the price of grain there was very high.
150

J he Scindc Im'gular Horse,

He recommended scales of pay according to which the total monthly

cost of a Sillidar Regiment of 533 officers and men was a little over
Rs. 25,000. The cost of a Regular Regiment of about the same
strength would be roughly Rs. 39,000: so there could be little doubt
of the advantage of raising an Irregular Corps from the pecuniary
point of view.
The pay of the private sowar suggested was Rs. 40, and that of
the senior Indian Officer. the Rissaldar, Rs. 400. The five Jemadars
.commanding Troops. each 100 strong, were to receive Rs. 200.
Ward observed: "The advantage of higher pay in the higher grades is
obvious; it creates emulation, and is reward for gallant service." It
should here be remarked. that promotion in sillidar Corps went
entirely by selection by the Commanding Officer.
He concluded his general remarks by declaring boldly "It
cannot be doubted that the efficiency of Sillidar Corps is at least
equal to that of Regular Cavalry, in its different way."
As to the process of raising the new Regiment, the great
advantage of producing it by augmentation of the Cutch Squadron
was that many of the men serving under him came from highly
respectable families, with numerous relatives in Hindustan, who,
Ward expected, would immediately come forward to enter the
Service, and fill the ranks in a very short time. It must here be
mentioned that though there were numbers of Marathas, Dcccani
Mussalmans, and Rajputs serving in the Poona Auxiliary Horse at
this time, the majority of the men were Mussalmans from
Hindustan, belonging for the most part to the class corresponding
with the yeoman-farmer in England, with a long tradition of service
in the Cavalry.
Ward went on to recommend that in the first instance
Government should give some considerable pecuniary assistance to
meet the expense of the first outlay on horses, arms and uniforms,
the money advanced to he recovered from the men in about 12 .
monthly instalments.
Without these advances, he feared the
augmentation would proceed hut slowly.
He also proposed that the numher of additional men to he
entertained should he clothed in the same' colours and equipped in
the same manner ,IS the original squadron: but instead of the
151

"";"dll OhS('IWd

carbines with which the latter were armed, he recommended pistols

and lances for the new levy. This he thought would render the whole
body fit for all duties that could be required of them. Those with
carbines would be selected for the surprise and attack on a village,
while those who carried the spear and pistol would be most
serviceable as skirmishers.
Ward concluded this letter by acknowledging the assistance he
had received from Captain Outram, who had shown him Colonel
Sutherland's papers on Irregular Cavalry, and some memoranda of
his own. Their exchange of views, begun perhaps when Outram
visited Cutch Mandvi in quest of camels for the transport of the
Army of the Indus on the 2nd December, must have been resumed
at the camp at Tatta, for Ward's first letter on the subject to
POllinger was dated from that place, from which he shortly
afterwards returned 10 Bhuj.

J do not think thai this association of Outram with the Scinde

Horse, at this its pre-natal stage, has been noticed before; it is
gratifying 10 he able to record it, as these main principles of
Irregular Cavalry organization were la'ter so magnificently developed
in the Corps by John .Iacob, whom Outram appointed to the
command.
POllinger communicated Ward's proposals to the Govcrnment
of India, with his own concurrence.
They were generally approved,
except for the scales of pay, which were thought far too high
"particularly in the case of Privates, viz. Rs. 40. The pay of the same
class in Hindusian is Rs. 20, out of which they furnish themselves
completely, and His Lordship does not understand how the price of
the necessities of life, or the general wants of the men, can vary so
widely in difh:rent paris of the country as to make so vast a
distinction in their rates of pay advisable or necessary."
The
Government of India proceeded 10 communicate for information an
abstract of the pay and estahlishment of the 1st Local Bengal Horse
(better known as Skinner's Horse) "the efficiency of which has never
been called in quest ion", and requested assimilation with these of the
rilles of pay for the Scindc Horse, subject to unavoidable increases
on account of local conditions. The 4th Bengal Local Horse, then
serving west of the Indus, it was pointed out, had been granted
certain extra allowances, hut these did not quite bring the pay of the
SOIIon up In Rs .. 10.

152

'lhe Scindc lrregutar Horse,

So before the new Regiment was embodied, we see the maxim

of "assimilation with the practice in Bengal" laid down. This
continued to be inculcated with ever increasing rigour up to the
Mutiny, eighteen years later: and through the whole of that period,
John Jacob ceased not to fulminate against its ruinous effects.
The Government of Bombay, to which the Supreme
Government had left discretion in fixing the exact rates, now took up
the tale. The Risaldar was to receive Rs. 250 instead of Rs.400: the
Jemadars Rs. 150 instead of Rs. 200, and the sowars Rs. 30 instead
of Ps. 40. They observed: "in recommending rates as high as
Captain Ward and Colonel Pottinger have done, no reason is given
except t~e dearness of forage and provisions in the country where
they are to he employed. His Lordship cannot admit that, because
the necessities of life were at an unusually high price on the arrival
of the Reserve Force in Sindh, in consequence of the failure of the
crops for successive years, wages should be permanently fixed with
reference to high prices. The crops are said to be most abundant
this year
" An observation follows which is rather amusing,
considering the actual experiences of the Corps from the time it was
embodied:- "His Lordship is of opinion that as the Corps will be for
the most part stationary, living in cantonments. they will have no
claim to further allowances."
Finally "The advancing money to the newly raised men as
recommended by Captain Ward appears to His Lordship very
objectionable. If established as a rule, It would be necessary to give
it to all recruits- those who wanted, and those who did not want,
assistance in their equipment, alike."
This communication was dated 20th June, by which time Ward
was in S!ndh with his squadron. He had meanwhile produced
estimates for the clothing and equipping of a private sowar. One
mode of affording aid at the time of enlistment was for Government
to sanction the making up in Bombay of certain articles, the expense
heing defrayed by monthly stoppages from the men's pay. This
would ensure uniformity, as well as relieving the men from much'
trouble and excessive expense.
The interest attaching to the contemporary cost of articles of
equipment perhaps justifies reproduction here of the list forwarded

153

Sind" Observed

by Ward with his letter. The total cost of a sowar's equipment was
Rs. 68-9, made up as follows:
Horse Equipment

*
';'
,~

..

Rs.

Bridle
Saddle
Cloth Bridle
Crupper
Breast plate
Martingale
Saddle Cloth
Surcingle
(jram- Bag
Common Coir Brush
Halter
Head and Heel ropes

(j

3 4

]2

4 8

(I (j

0 4
0 4
1 0
3 0

.1001

22 7
Personal Equipment
" Cloth Coat
Boots
Spurs
* Pouch and belt
Pair of pistols
Priming horn
Holsters
Spear

10 0
2 10
o 8

:it

2 0
25 0
1 4
2 8
2 4
462

" To he made up in Bombay.

The average price of the horses was estimated at Rs. 200. Men were
evidently expected to provide their own swords. However, the
Government or Bombay informed Pottinger that the Central
Govcrnrncnt'j, han on allowing any advances on enlistment
154

The Scindc Im:j!lIlarllo/'S(.

precluded the adoption of this expedient: and Ward pleaded in vain

for an exception to be made.
On the 20th July, the Bombay Government communicated the
Government of India's approval to the scale of pay and the
establishment they had proposed, and requested POllinger to take
measures for raising a body of Horse accordingly. He was asked to
report whether the Detachment hitherto serving in Cutch should
return thither or whether its services could be dispensed with "now
that the frontier of this Presidency has been extended to Sindh."
Ward was thereupon ordered to proceed to Cutch for
entertaining men and horses for the new Levy, taking with him one
Jernadar and twelve men to assist him in recruiting. In his absence,
Captain Crozier of the 26th Bombay Infantry, part of the Reserve
Force then stationed at Tatta, was appointed to take charge of the
rest of the squadron. We Icarn that the Mirs Government protested
to the Assistant Political Agent that liquor was being sold outside the
cavalry lines; the suggestion that the troops were involved was
indignantly repudiated: it was the "~ycelog"who drank spirits!
On September 24th Ward reported to Pottinger from Bhuj that
he expected to have enrolled 100 horses for the new Levy by the end
of the month: but almost immediately afterwards he received orders
to proceed to Sukkur with the squadron, which had been urgently
requisitioned by Brigadier Gordon, Commanding in Upper Sindh,
who was greatly hampered by lack of cavalry in his efforts to hold in
check the turbulent population of that country. Ward at once made
ready, hut represented that as he had reason to believe that he would
be nominated to the Command of the Corps which he was in the
process of raising, it would be better for the public service that he
should continue at Bhuj recruiting, rather than proceed to Sukkur
with a detachment which could only muster 150 men: and
Government would appreciate the desirability of appointing a
second in Command. He suggested that Captain Crozier might go
to Sukkur in charge of the detachment: though he himself was
proceeding to Hyderabad as ordered, he pointed out the very great
confusion that was likely to ensue in all the arrangements he had
made for entertaining men and horses, in his absence- everything.
would come to a stand, and the great object of speedily completing
the Corps would be lost.
155

Sind" Observed

Not very long after he had arrived at Hydcrabad, Ward was

told that he could go to Bhuj and continue his recruiting. Brigadier
Gordon had expressed his approval to the ]50 men of the
detachment being brought to Upper Sindh by Crozier: but in point
of fact, when they did move up, about the beginning of November, .
.they were led by the redoubtable Lieutenant Walpole Clarke, of the
2nd Grenadier Native Infantry.
Pottinger now received a rap over the knuckles from the
Bombay Government. The delay iii appointing European Officers to
the Sindh Rissalah, he was told, was due to his delay in informing
Government whether a Detachment of Horse in Cutch was still
necessary or not. Me replied that 100 men were required for duty
there; and on the 21st December 1839 the Government of Bomhay
at length made the final appointments. Ward was not, after all, to
receive command of the new Corps, which was given to Lieutenant
W.F. Curtis of the 1st Bombay Light Cavalry, one of the regular
Regiments. Lieut. Clarke was to be 2nd in command, and to
perform the duties of Adjutant. The detachment of lOO men from
Cutch would be in charge of Ware, as Assistant Political Agent at
Bhuj.
Ward complained that other essential mailers were not settled
by these orders. For instance, there was as yet no order constituting
the Corps itself, and he did not know from what date the
establishment was to be calculated, though since August he had been
recruiting and making promotions according to jhe scales laid down.
However, before handing over to Curtis, he sent POllinger a resume
of his proceedings.
In consequence of the extraordinary demand in Hindustan for
men and horses at this lime, he had been disappointed in his hopes
of procuring them for the Levy from this source, and was thrown
upon the resources of the original detachment. As a result of the
refusal of Government to sanction a pecuniary advance, or to have
equipment furnished from Bombay, (the cost to be reimbursed by
monthly deductions from the men's pay) he had been obliged to take
up money to a conisdcrablc amount, and at some serious risk to ,
himself.
He hoped that considering these obstacles, and the fact that he
had heen absent himself at Hyderabad for nearly a month, the total
156

The Scinde /17'1tgLl/(1" Horse,

number of horses and men entertained- 220 horses and 130 men,
with 120 men on their way (0 join- would be though satisfactory,
~speciany as with the exception of pistols, the whole would soon be
fulty equipped. He continued "the money which I have borrowed on
the part of the Rissala amounts to about Rs. 35,000. It will be repaid
by monthly instalments in proportion to the number of horses
possessed by each sillidar. A sum has also been advanced to the
contractors for furnishing the equipments, which will be repaid in a
similar way. Bonds (Tumusooks) have been furnished by the men to
the Rissalla Shtoff in which the amount of monthly instalments is
stated, and Lieut. Curtis has merely to see that these men are
regularly paid.
"I have also advanced money to men who are employed in
recruiting, and this I intended (had I retained command) to have
recovered when the Abstracts of pay were submitted. The recruits
will of course be entitled to subsistence money from the date of their
being entertained.i.c... I have charged Sillidars a small sum more
than the value of each horse purchased by me, and with which I
acquainted them, to protect myself against the heavy risk I incurred
by having at times and for a considerable period horses worth in the
aggregate Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 12,000 on my hands: the loss occasioned
by the death of anyone of which, or all, devolved on me; as well as
the chance of accidents happening to them. Unless I had made .
some arrangement of this sort with the Sillidars I must have been
completely fettered in my Iabours.
"I have now recorded the whole of my proceedings in this duty,
and I trust that my exertions to merit the approval of Government
will have succeeded, and that the Sinde Rissalah will, when
complete, do credit to itself and fully meet the objects for which it
was entertained:
Let us pause to notice the actual achievements of the' Corps at
the time that Ward wrote these words. 180 men of the original
squadron were then serving in the Bugti hills under Clarke, as the
cavalry of the small field-force commanded by Major Billamore.
Before entering the hills they had been engaged in several
smart affairs against bands of the Domhki and Jakhrani predatory
tribes under their best known leaders, whom they had routed in the
Tcwagh valley and ncar Uch, thus wiping out the stigma left by the
157

Si"d" Observed

failure of Lieut. Amiel's Baluch Levy. Amiel himself was so

impressed by their efficiency that he proposed the reorganization of
his Levy on the exact model of the Scinde Horse, even to the copying
of their dark-green knee-length coats, their scarlet puggarees, and
their carbines. All these features, destined soon to become familiar
on the Upper Sindh Frontier, had been inherited from the Poona
Auxiliary Horse; and the turban of the Scinde Horseman was for
many years tied in the Maratha fashion.
Tnthe hills, they had played a decisive part in the defeat of the
whole Bugti tribe near Dera, by a detachment under the command
of Captain Raitt: and Clarke had repeatedly distinguished himself by
his skill, coolness, and bravery.
"
It should be mentioned that these men of the Cutch Squadron
were not without experience of active service. Most of the Indian
Officers, and senior Other Ranks, had fought either in the Maratha
Wa"r of 1817-1820, or in the Cutch campaign of 1819, or in the
punitive expeditions against the predatory Khosa tribe of Baluchis in
Nagar Parkar and the vicinity. Many of them had been in the
regular Cavalry Regiments of the Bombay Army, from which they
had volunteered for service with the Irregulars, with whom the
prospects of promotion and of exercising independent command
were superior.
We may now return to the newly raised part of the Corps,
which remained at Hyderabad in an incomplete state .

Curtis on joining found that Ward had raised it chiefly by

means of loans taken up by him at 24% interest. The debts
amounted 10 Rs, 39,000; Rs. 31,000 incurred on purchase of horses
and Rs. 8,000 for equipment and for recruiting advances. This
money had been supplied by the celebrated Seth Naomal Hotchand,
who had thereafter been appointed Regimental Shroff. We may
describe the transaction in his own words:
"The Government of Bombay had sanctioned the addition of
300 more horse to the strength of the Bhooj Rassallah, but had
expressed their inability to meet the expenditure immediately, and
had authorised him (Ward) to arrange with some banker for the
purchase of 300 horses. The Rai of Cutch had undertaken to lind
him horses, but there was no banker (shaukar) in Bhooj or Mandavi

..

158

The Scinde ltregular Horse,

who could advance him a loan to enable him .to complete the
bargain, and he (Ward) would feel much obliged, he said, if I could
assist him in the matter." Naomal being assured by Colonel
Pottinger that Government would appreciate his services, wrote, he
says "with my own hand a Gujarati letter to the Rai of Cutch to
. request a loan of 2.5 lakhs of Koris (Cutch coin) which I promised to
repay within 15 days. The Rai very kindly sent me immediately on
carts the amount asked fOT,which I forwarded straight to Captain
Ward, who received the treasure and passed a receipt. Captain
Ward soon set to purchase horses, and he obtained sowars from
Poona through the Bombay Government...
I soon drew hundis on
my firms at Bombay, Muscat and Karachi to the amount of the loan
I had obtained from the Rai, and had them cashed at Mandavi
through my mercantile agent at that place. Within a week's time my
Mandavi agent sent me the required amount in cash, which I
thankfully returned to the Rai's treasury on the eighth day."
Ward had not proceeded on the prineiple of enlisting men who
could produce efficient horses: he had in fact been unable to obtain
such men: he had instead bought horses to"a considerable amount,
until they exceeded the facilities of finding riders for them.
1

It must be explained that Irregular Cavalry Regiments did not

consist solely of Sillidar Sowars. A Sillidar might have almost any
number of horses in the Corps, those which he did not require for
mounting himself being allotted. to Bag-gir (literally, rein-holder)
sowars, who were private soldiers of the regiment like the Sillidars,
but did not draw the Rs. 20 which was considered as the share of the
horse in the sowar's pay: the rule in the Poona Auxiliary Horse being
that Rs. 10was the pay of the man, Rs. 20 the upkeep of the horse.
Ward had enlisted 94 men on Rs.6 per month to fill the places
of regular Bag-girs with Rs. 10 in the muster rolls. Forty five of
these "badlis" had run away, at Hyderabad, in January 1840, but
Ward managed to replace them- what class of men these were is
not disclosed, but it must be supposed that they were enrolled for
appearance only.
As Curtis found the difficulty in obtaining suitable Bag-girs was
real, he set himself first to obtain horses, and Sillidars with sufficient
means to pay for them. The market for horses in Sindh was
extremely limited. After five months, he bad only been able to
159

Sind" blm?lwci

obtain 30 fit for service, at prices ranging from Rs. 180 down to Rs.
39. As to Sillidars, he had only been able, in the same period, to
enlist 4 or 5 suitable men, having money to pay for their horses; he
observed,
"by means of Shroffs and Banyans I might be able to
\
'remount' in a considerably shorter time than otherwise: but I
question whether their Bargheers would be nearly so efficient as
those belonging to old soldiers, for when my eye was off them they
exert their whole influence, to receive the fullest possible benefit
from their speculation, their Bargheers would be tampered with and
their horses starved; and, by their engrossing so many places, I
should never have it in my means to reward men, who had deserved
it, by presenting them with a Sillidaree, (or Assamee) - I am
therefore averse to these persons."
Under the Sillidari system as then in practice, persons not
actually serving in the Regiment might possess horses belonging to
it. Until November 1840, sixteen horses stood in the name of Seth
Naoma!. They were then bought in by Curtis. It may be mentioned,
as bearing out Curtis' opinion given above, that one of these had to
be struck off the list in Karachi, for bad condition and disobedience
of orders. Tikamdas, Naomal's son, and Motiram who appears to
have been another shroff, had four and three horses respectively,
even later. By July 1841 these had been disallowed, and their value
refunded; but there still remained about twenty horses in the Corps
owned by outsiders- mostly old Native Officers of. the Poona
Auxiliary Horse and Cutch Detachment. But even the Mootsuddee
or Regimental Clerk, owned four horses; and a Bheestie three.
Curtis' greatest concern, however, was to retrieve the
deplorable financial condition of the Corps: and he had a long and
somewhat acrimonious correspondence with Ward to elucidate the
accounts of the men's debts. At length the explanation was
discovered to be that Ward, after purchasing 100 horses from the
Rao of Cutch, at an average price of Rs. 270, had sold eighteen of
the best of them to his Native Officers, charging an extra Rs. 200 on
each as the value of the "Assarni", or right to a horse's place in the
Corps. This over-charge was shown against the men, being included
in the debt due from them, but did not appear in the register list of
the horses. This arrangement must be presumed to have been
Ward's method of protecting himself provisionally from loss; but it
had an ugly aspect, for ten of these horses had been enlisted for his

160

1I"~'. and were Ilnl~ m.ulc over 1(1 the N..tiv,: ()(lirn~ when he
learnt that his connection with the Corps was 1.1 cease.

,'\\n

In reporting the posilion hI Outram, nnw Political Agent Lower

xindh. at Ihe end of .I uly II'..HI. Curtis observed Ihal if he was entilled
10 sell for Rs, 47!l horses that he had bought ;11 R~.270. "it may be
-upposcd Ihilt, having now I~~ vacant Assamccs, I am somewhat
interested in a decision thai might prove. if !!ih'n in favour 01
Commandants,
S{I profitable
to me. In the meantime I protest
;tgainsl such a principle. and awair your advice ;tS tl' calling on
Captain Ward to refund the excess with interest ill :24',
On no
consideration
whatever will I permit any European Officer to
become a Sillidar in Ihis corps, whet her in his' owp or anot her
person's name."
The crushing nature of the men's debts can he appreciated
from the fact, that the loan bore interest at this exorbitant rate: and
the dangerous results of advancing large sums with lillie regard to
Ihe financial capacity of the recipients arc sufficiently obvious in the
statement of the accounts drawn up at 'this time. For instance,
Jcmadar Allahdad Khan Nawah had borrowed as much as Rs. 3,300,
with which he purchased I H horses; and a Duffada'r about half I hat
amount, for nine.
In contrast to these were men of the true substantial sillidar
type: Jcmadar Mir BabarAli only purchased three horses, and paid
{Ilf his debt, with interest, before .luly 1H4(1: and .lemadar Mohbut
Khan, who bought horses, only look a nominal advance' of Rs. ~(l.
Private sowars and N.C.O's had not been advanced money for .more
than two Assamis,
On
Curtis'
recommendation.
supported
by Outram,
Government bowed to the inevitable, and on the 6[h July advanced a
xurn equal [0 the unpaid balance, plus interest alrcadv accrued, to
dear off the debt to Naornal: Ihe (jo\'crnl1lent Il)an be;ring only (,ri
in[ere.,1. Curti~ then ~Irntnged thai :hl' refunds should be at the rail:
of Rs. ~ PCf' man pe~ horse, dedurll''d each month from the;r pay.
Naomal's
version
of this tran~;1l'1ion is, I fear, ~omewhat
disin!!l'lluolls.
Under the original .,.raIH!Cmcnt, he savs. "I \Vas
requested to appoinl my gool11;ish.. " 1(; pay the sol(jilT~ their
salaries every month. and to arran!!c 1.,1' Ihe supply of prO\ision~. I
conlinlled. thc work for five or six ml'lIll1,. al Ihe end of which

16 r

Sindll Observed

r~rceived that it was the business of an ordinary shroff or banker,

and did not suit my position. I explained my objections to Colonel
Outram, and told him that I should feel much obliged to him if he
would kindly permit me to transfer the duty to someone else whom
he might appoint, and allow me to clear up all old accounts with the
'Rassallah, and obtain from the Government the amount, I had
originally advanced' to Captain Ward at Bhooj to enable him to raise
the Rassallah. He accordingly wrote to Government and obtained
sanction to payoff my loan, and I soon severed my connection with
the Rassallah and called back my goomashtas."
Naomal and his son Tikamdas however retained their position
as Sillidars in the Corps for some time after this, as previously
mentioned.
At the same time as authorising the grant of the loan, the
Government of India expressed their regret at the mistaken system
which Ward had adopted, and suggested that the 94 men borne on
the muster-roll who were drawing Rs. 6 instead of the regular Rs. 10
should be struck off, their horses sold, and the proceeds credited to
repayment of the regimental debts. Their places should not be filled
except by volunteers; and thereafter recruitment should be from the
same class of men as supplied the Poona Auxiliary Horse, the
constitution of which was to be followed by the Sindh Irregular
Horse.
Curtis had in fact been in correspondence for some time past
with Erskine; Commandant of the former Corps, which had now
returned from Afghanistan, and Loc, who was commanding (I
detachment of it detained in Upper Sindh, on the subject of
ohtaining volunteers for the Scinde Horse; and the strength of the
new Regiment steadily increased. Ensign George Malcolm, who had
been appointed to the Corps as Adjutant in March 1840, brought up
140 men from Hyderabad to join the original detachment serving in
Upper Sindh. These were ar.med with lances, as had been first
suggested by Ward: hut on a representation hy Brigadier Stevenson
of the comparative ineffectiveness of that weapon, Curtis was
authorqcd to rearm the whole Regiment with carbines, for which he
was to indent on the Government Stores, repayment being made hy
moderate instalments. But as only a small number of pistols and
carbines were available, he was subsequently ordered to obtain them
privately, following the example of Major Roberts, who was in the

11,,: Scinde Im:.glllar Horse, .

process of raising another Sillidar Corps for the Bombay Army; the
Gujarat Irregular Horse.
All this lime the main body of the Scinde Horse was actively
employed in the field.' Eighty sowars under the command of Clarke
accompanied the forces under Captain Lewis Brown, in the ill-fated
expedition to Kahun, in May 1840, and several died sword in hand
with their heroic leader at Sartaf. A detachment of 100 men under
Malcolm marched with Major Clibborn's relieving column, and lost
40 killed and wounded at Naffusk. On Clibborn's retreat, the Sindh
Horse had the honourable 'position of rear-guard, where they
acquitted themselves most creditably.
In October, the head-quarters of the Corps under the personal
command of Curtis were with Major Boscawen's Field Force
operating' in. Kachhi against the Brahuis, and were engaged in the
actions of Kunda and Dhadar, besides many other skirmishes. In
February 1841, they formed part of the storming party in the
unsuccessful attack on the town of Kajjak, near Sibi, and for the rest
of this year they were constantly employed i'n keeping order on the
line of communications through Kachhi and Upper Stndh.
By June 1841 the debts of the Sillidars had been reduced from
the original sum of Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 8,000, though an additional
amount of Rs, 8,000 interest remained. The rate of deductions had
been lowered from Rs. 8 per month per horse to Rs. 5, by an
advance drawn from the Political Agent's Treasury, tc give relief
while the men were on field service. Captain Ward had been oblige,",
to refund nearly Rs. 3,000 charged by him as the imaginary price of
the Assamis which he had sold to the Native Officers of the Corps.
The early difficulties under which the Corps had labour:d were
now well on the way to he settled. It was easy to censure Ward for
his reckless financial arrangements; but the main blame must rest
with the Governments of India and Bombay, who turned a deaf ear
to his protests that a cavalry Corps on the Sillidari system could not
be raised without pecuniary assistance in a country where horses
wen: difficult to obtain, and at a vast distance from the homes of the
men who were invited to fill the ranks.
At this point, the narrative of the early history of the Scinde
Horse may he brought to a close. Much re-organization remained to
163

Sindt, Observe!

he done. and correspondence

relative to pay-scales. establishment,
increasing the proportion of Indian Officers to the total strength.
changes in the nomenclature of the various ranks, and "assimilation
with Bengal practice", continues to flow between the Commandant.
the Polit ical Agent, and the Governments of India and Bombay for
several years.
Although the final organization and distinctive equipment of
the Corps, which made it the model on which the cavalry of the
Indian Army was reconstituted after the Mujiny, was the creation of
John Jacob, it must he admitted that he owed more than he was
ready to acknowledge to the reforms introduced" by Curtis, who may
claim at least to have laid the foundations of the Corps' pre-eminent

efficiency,

'
Kamch,
30th Julv. l<No.

Sources
Pre-Mutiny Records of the Commissioner-in-Sindh.
Record Book of the Scinde Irregular Horse. Vol. I.
Memoirs of Seth Naoma] Hoichand.
Outram's brief notes (If the Campaign in. Sindh
Afghanistan.

and

The Sindh Battles,' 1843

1.- Miani
By H. TvLarnbrick.

r.c.s

With'the attack on the British Residency near Hyderabad on

Fcb~u'arv l:'ith, 1843, by some 8,000, BaluchisIed by' Mir Shahdad
Khan, the last faint hopes of a p-eaceful settlement of the affairs of
Sindh, till then cherished in spite of all probability by Outram, were
fi~ally dispelled. The force which, attacked the Residency was
detached from the host of the Mirs' feudatories which had already"
on learning of Napier's preparations to advance from Syedabad to
Hala, moved out rom Hydcrabad and encamped on.the Fuleli to bar
his path, Mir Nasir Khan, the senior Talpur Prince, following them
on the evening of the 14th. On Shahdad Khan rejoining him next
day, Nasir Khan moved his camp to Lunar, and on the 16th the
whole force of the Balochis wasin position at Miani ..
Outram had reached the British camp at Matiari from his
steamer that morning, and persuaded Napier 'to' allow" him to'
descend the river again a short distance, to create a diversion by'
burning the junglesto the left and rear of the Baloch position, taking
with him two hundred convalescent s~poys for the purpose. He
estimated ,the strength of the Mirs' lashkar at '18,000 men; and
warned Napier that the battle would be desperate, Napier had other
sources of information. ' He had spies who went into the Baloeh
camp that very day', and returned with a tale of 30,000.. The Min;'
munshis- and cossids, who had constantly been in motion between
Hyderabad and the General's camps on his advance, must have given
their masters an exact account of his lillie army: he could bring into
line of battle 2.~OOmen, with twelve guns. This force was made up
of four weak battalions of infantry; Her Majesty's 22nd Foot, the Ist
(Grenadier), 12th, and 25th Bombay Native Infantry: two weak
1.

2.

Life, III. p. 91.

".g., Moolram, (Nasir's statement, Sindh Blue Book, supplementary,
IR44, p, 123)
Life. Vol. II. p. 323,

165

S,nd" Observed

Regiments of Cavalry, the 9th Bengal Light Cavalry and the Scinde
Irregular Horse, with a detachment of the Poona Irregular Horse;
the 22nd Bombay Foot Artillery and 3rd Company Golandaz, with
twelve guns: and C. Company Madras Sappers and Miners,
The disparity in numbers was in any case very great: but with'
every day it was likely to be increased by the arrival of further
contingents of the Baloch tribesmen, who' were known to Napier to
be on the march towards the rendezvous at Miani. It was in the light
of this knowledge that he had precipitated hostilities by continuing to
advance on Hyderabad, in spite of Outram's protests: and whatever
judgment may be passed on Napier's earlier proceedings in Sindh,
he would have risked his army had he given the appearance of
hesitation in these last three days. It was a relief to him to end the
period of, suspense. "Not to he anxious about attacking such
immensely superior numbers is impossible; but it is delightful'
anxiety." Hardly were the words written when Jacob, whom he had
sent out that evening to locate the Baloch army', returned to report
that he had found them eight or nine miles away. Less than three
hours remained for sleep; for at four, o'clock in the morning of the
17th February, reveille sounded in the British camp and the little
army, got on the move for its last march. The Advance Guard was
led as usual by the Scinde Horse, under John Jacob: with him were
the Madras Sappers under Captain Henderson, and a workingparty
of 100 sepoys, to prepare passages through the numerous canals and
nullahs for the guns, of which two nine-pounders proceeded with
Jacob. '
An hour was spent in forming a road across two large canals
not far from the camp, but thereafter the march proceeded without
difficulty for about seven miles when, not long after sunrise, the
Advance Guard came on the dry bed of the Fuleli, a dry branch of
the Indus adapted for irrigation, here running almost due south.
The troopsfollowed a track which led along the left bank for a mile
or more past several small villages embowered in trees; as they
reached the second, of these the sound of a distant cannon was
heard. The General, who was' now with the A-dvanceGuard, formed
up his infantry behind a small canal and unlimbered his two guns.
shortly afterwards 'ordering Jacob to detach one squadron to -skirt
found it dense shikargah enclosed by a mud wall on the further hank
.1.

Jucob's letter to hi~ lutbcr, dared Fcbrua

r:-" 23rd.

1~4t

'lhe: Sindh Battles. /8-1,\

of the Fulcli, and to proceed himself to the left front with the rest of
his regiment so as to reconnoitre beyond another shikargarh, the
wall of which stretched away obliquely across the previous line of
march.
Jacob soon ascertained that the Mirs army was in frnnt of him,
and sent back word to the General, who moved forward and
somewhat to the left with the remainder of the Advance Guard, uruil
he too came in sight of the Baluch position, at about a mi}l",'i
distance. Here he halted to await the arrival of the main bodyof his
army, and from the top of a small sandhill scanned the front through
his glass: with his Staff he calculated the visible strength (If the
Balochis at H,OOO foot and 3,000 Horse. Meanwhile Jacob pushed
briskly on over a little plain dotted with low sandy hillocks ar ~ camel
hushes, bounded on the left by the shallow green bed of a watercourse, beyond which were low brushwood and trees, and on the
right by the shikargarh wall, which after extending to ahout 700 yards
from the watercourse turned away til the south nearly parallel with
it. The narrow corridor thus formed led directly to the Mirs'
pOSItIOn. On reaching a point about opposite the angle of the
shikargarh wall, Jacob formed line from column, and halted his
regiment about 500 yards Irorn the foremost Baluchis, while he
moved on himself to reconnoitre. Their main body was obvious
enough. between two conspicuous
flags, and filling the space
between the wall, and a grove of trees with enclosed ground. to the
left front. Several pieces of artillery were in position in front of the
line on each flank, and in rear a large body of horse moved about.
behind whom again the tents and flags of the Mirs' camp could just
he seen through the dust. As Jacob walked his horse forward. he
came under matchlock fire both from the shikargarh and the
enclosures on his left front, which, he discovered, concealed a
village, The Baluchis had thus occupied positions on each flank in
advance of their main line. It Was very difficult to judge their
strength, for 'any number might be hidden in the wood and
enclosure: and though Jacob approached to within two hundred
yards from the centre of their line, he could not see that between
their guns and the masses visible in rear of them ran the bed of the
Fuleli, 'here at right angles to its former course, concealing large
numbers of the Baloch tribesmen. Mir Nasir Khan tried to stop hi-,
people from firing. in the hope that a parley was intended. But he
soon saw the officer and his escort turn and trot back to their corps:

107

whence Jacob despatched

had ..ccn,

a note to the General,

telling him what he

The Mir therefore gave the order fur hi!-lcannon to open lire on
the Scinde Horse. who preserved their formation in line, which was
soon made more imposing by the arrival of Fil/ Gcrald'x squadron.
He had seen no enemy. hut had ascertained iluu the shik.irgarh un

the right hank of Ihe Fulcli extended down <;1 ream for several .mik!-o:
that it was free from the enemy, and impracticable for tr(lllp" The
General therefore decided to engage the Baloch army in a frontal
attack. But a long hour dragged aWily without a sign of the main
bodv of his own armv: it was delavcd bv accidents to the ammunition
waggons in the nuliilhs. Mc;~n~vhilc' the Scindc Horse remained
exposed h, the fire of the Baloch artillery at lillie more than pointblank range. and the right of their line was annoyed by matchlock
lire from the shikargarh wall: many Baloch horsemen too came here
and there to the front, and dismounting fired on them with
deliberate aim, and from time to time there was some appearance of
a general advance being made: hUJ on Jacob moving his line forward
also, they returned 10 their former position arid resumed their'
artillery fire. Though this was kept up intermittently for over an
hour, and the guns were. in Jacob's opinion, "really not badly
directed."- Mr. Howell, the Mirs' English artilleryman, was forced
to point them. with eight matchlocks put to his head-. only six of
Jacob's horses were killed by the round shot the first casualties on
either side. The regiment remained perfectly steady under the
ordcal.
At last the head of the main column of the British appeared.
and the General moving forward as it closed on the Advance Guard,
the whole wheeled left, and. when sufficient ground had been taken
up. countermarched to the right, hailed. and turned left into line,
some three hundred yards behind the Scaidc Horse, which Jacob
now formed in squadron close column, to allow as much room as
possible for the infantry. whose right flank was at -about the same
distance from the shikargarh wall, which was studded with matchlock
men. The line was now carefully dressed, skirmishers thrown lIut,
~tnd somc hrushwood in fmnl of H.M.'s 22nd cut down. Napier now
ga\'e orders for Ihe men to havc their .breakfast, whilc he continued
III ex;tmine the position and' more particularly the shikargarh,
Ihfllugh his telcsl"Ope. and consider his plan of allack. In vicw lIf the
reports of .law)) and Fit/Cicrald. nothing hut a frontal assault was

//,.. Si"d" Baulc. /81.;

possible: hut he was anxiou for hi" flanks, and I~i... rear.
The
Balochi continued 'rhcir cannonade, hut the range was long. and
. only ..an occasional round shot> pitched dose to the ranks: the
matchlock men had gradu,dly disappeared from the top of the
Shikargarh wall, and by the time the General 'vas ready to advance
only one was left. "illilig a ..tridc, and Hring matchlocks passed up to
him hy men on the other "ide." The British Artillery were now
brought up Oil the right 01 the line, the Company of Madras Sappcrs
nanking them, and Napier gave order Ior the advance in echelon of
hau alions from the right, H.M.s 22nd leading. and ill succession the
25th, 12th and I"t.(jrenadier".
Napier ordered some men of the
22nd to shoot 'the Baloch fill the wall as they advanced, and he fell.
Alter two hundred ,Yards were covered. the h,11Iwas given. and the
gunners opened lire with round shot. It was nearly eleven o'clock,
and the day \vas hccoming \'cry hot. The range was found too great
for the practice of the artitlcryto he effective, and Napier advanced
another 250 yards; tile gun, again unlimbered. and under their lire
that of the Buloch cannon was observed to slacken.
Again the
British line, still in the same formation, was moved to about ~O()
yards [rorn the Mir's position, and hailed: and now at point blank
range the artillery began such a lire <IS silenced the enemy's guns.
four of them being withdrawn into the bed of the Fulcli; the
howitzers also plied the shikargarh with gr apcshot. But Napier was
still anxious for this tlank. He had passed close to a gap in the wall
about a hundred yards beyond its lirs! <Ingle, and though a ncar view
Cl)nlirm(;d what he had ~e(;n through hi~ iek~('Opl:~ that the wall wa!>
not loopholed. or pro\'ided with any banquette to cnable men to lire
over it, there remained the danger llf a sorlie on his rear. The line
was now heing dres~ed under a hea,!, matchll)ck lire, and the
haggage hrought up as close as possible behind it. Napier had
ordered the kit to he gilthered together and surrounded by the
camels in a circle: and under the shelter of the infantry line this was
done, the animals bcing made to "it with their heads pointing
inwards. and hales in bl.'tweln them: and the troops detailed fill' the
guard, four compa!lics
of the Bombay (,renadiers
and the
detachment of thc Poona HorSl:, 100~ lip Iheir' stations. At Ihe la~1
momcnt it occurred to the (jeneral to engage the enemy within tlK
shikargarh. and he detached Captain Tew with the Grenadier
(_'(lmpany of the 22m!' ,...ith orders 10 defend Ihe opening lillthe last'.
4.
:'.

I.il.: IV. (I. III

l.ifclV.p
III.

Silldh Obsctvce!

By now their comrades had begun to reply to the Baloch musketry.

and at length the bugles sounded for the final advance: Napier
sending word to Jacob to protect the left of the line, while he kept
the 9th bengal Light Cavalry in reserve behind the right.
The infantry moved briskly forward, and now carne the word to
charge: the 22nd sprang forward up a slight slope at the line of
matchlock men whose heads showed just above it, thinking to break
them at once: but eager for' close combat though they were, they
wavered in astonishment as their eyes fell on the unsuspected bed of
the Fuleli, and the host that awaited them there, whose thousand
tulwars flashed in the sun.
The infantry moved briskly forward, and now came the word to

charge; the 22nd sprang forward up a slight slope at the line of

matchlock men whose heads showed just above it, thinking to break
them at once; but eager for close combat though they were. they
wavered in astonishment as their eyes fell on the unsuspected bed of
the Fulcli, and the host that awaited them there, whose thousand
tulwars flashed in the sun.' The Balochis had indeed awaited them in
perfect confidence, their front rank posted on a rough firing step cut
in the northern bank of the canal, and masses clustered behind and
below them: with all their burning fanaticism, they had not revealed
prematurely their strength of numbers and position. But now the
time was come: the 22nd fired a volley, and closed with the foremost
' Balochis, who rose to meet them. throwing down their matchlocks,
and dashing forward with sword and shield: after a sharp melee they
were thrust back over the edge, yet the 22nd did not plunge down
among them, but came to a stop on the brink. And now the British
line recoiled slowly, resorting to a rolling fire. the front rank
kneeling and retiring to reload, as the rear rank took their place,
They thus avoided the matchlock fire of all hut those of the Mir's
men who climbed up the bank to take aim, and these they steadily
shot down. The 25th and 12th Bombay Native Infantry, coming into
action successively on the left' of the British regiment, soon followed
their comrades' example, The troops in fact settled down to fight
Ihe bailie in their own fashion despite the exhortations
of their
officers: and their in~tinct was right.
Until the nt,linbers of the
enemy had been greatly thinned: and their morale in Slime degree
impaired. it wa-, hopeless I'm the thin red line. innocent of infantry
reserves. tn engulf itself in the Fuleli,

17()

The Sindh Battles, 1843

Meanwhile on the extreme right the Madras Sappers were well

performing their duty of helping to get the artillery into position.
This was made more difficult by the fact that the ground here was
broken and encumbered with the cannon abandoned by the
Balochis: moreover, the space leftbetween the 22nd on their final
advance, and the shikargah wall, which here bent outwards at a slight
angle, was insufficient to allow of all the British guns being brought
lip into line, Only four could be unlimbered at all: the leading
horses were shot the moment they showed their heads at the bank of
the Fuleli, but Captain Hull got a twelve pounder howitzer run up by
main force, "and though at first the Balochis swarmed about him,
they were driven back, and three more guns manhandled into
position. Many tribesmen were nnw moving into the shikargah, with
the obvious jntcntion of turning the British right: some approaching
under cover of the wall opened a galling matchlock fire on the
Sappcrs, Artillery, and the right of the 22nd. Those of the Sappers
who were armed replied with their fusils, while "those with tools
started breaking down the wall," As soon as the gap was wide
enough, Hutt trained a howitzer obliquely backwards into the
shikargah, another gun fired across the muzzle of this one, while of
the other two one enfiladed the Fuleli bed and the fourth plied the
Mir's horsemen in the rear. By his management of the first two
guns, HUll, in Jacob's opinion, saved the right of the line: for Tew
had been killed at the head of the company of the 22nd, which had
advanced into the shikargarh some distance through the brushwood,
and could hardly have 'sustained a heavy attack without support: but
HUll's grape kept the Balochis back in the dense jungle. As for the
guns which enfiladed the bed of the Fulcli, nothing ~uld have been
more effective: yet the Balocliis made no attempt to capture them,
though their muzzles were only a few yards from the foremost of the
brave men who filled the river bed close as a field of corn, through
which each discharge cut a bloody swathe. Well was it for the
British that no such concerted rush, as a handful of Marris had made
with fiery impetuosity at Naffusk, was launched against Napier's
guns by the Mirs' far more numerous lashkar.
The contracting front, which had crowded the artillerv out of
the right of the lin~ in the final advance, had proved ev~n more
awkward on the left. Napier's object in adopting the echelon
(I.
,

.lucob's lcucr.
(O"plain Henderson's

report

171

Siiull, Observed

formation was 10 refuse this flank, on account of Sultan Shah village"

and its enclosures being occupied by the Balochis in front of their
. main position: he intended that the Grenadiers should attack, and
force the Balochis out of il: and Jacob, with his Regiment drawn up
in squadron close column immediately to the north of the enclosed
ground, found that the advance of the infantry line was bringing the
Grenadiers up 'straight behind him, while the 12th N. I. passed on.
coming up into line with the 25th. Concluding that the task of
carrying the village had been allotted to the Grenadiers, he moved
left, to fuIIiI his own orders to protect the flank, which it seemed
might be most effectively done by making a diversion beyond Sultan
Shah, and trying to lind a way round it. But the Mirs' commanders
had foreseen and prepared for such a move. Every nullah, hole; and
watercourse had been scarped and lined by numerous matchlock
men, firing through thorn hedges; the ground was also quite "blind,"
uneven and covered with jungle. Advancing at a gallop over these
obstacles so many falls occurred that over fifty horses and men were
on the ground at once; the fire from the village 60 yards on the right
was very heavy, and casualties among Jacob's men and horses began
Lo mount. with no corresponding gain. His own charger was shot
dead under him, and in another instant the whole regiment, its
formation sadly disorganized, was brought to a stand by a deep and
. wide' cut from the Fuleli, strongly manned by matchlockrncn, and
utterly impassable for cavalry. Jacob accepted the inevitable and
ordered the Retire. extricating his men as rapidly as he could.
Meanwhile Major Clibborn, commanding the l st Grenadiers,
had made no attack on the village. He had only 200 bayonets at his
disposal, the baggage guard having absorbed twice that number of
his men; and 10 launch such a small force against a village carefully
prepared for defence, and held by perhaps live times his strength,
may well have seemed to court disaster, which would not be confined
to his own unit. He felt bound to maintain contact with the 12th N.
I., which had advanced right up to the Fuleli bed, and to do so had
had to take up a position "en potence" - facing almost Eastward
while the main line faceJ south. Here he kept up a skirmishing fire
on the village and enclosures.

~.

In all previous accounts. the name of the village is shown as Katri.

But this is what the surrounding country is called, not the village itself:
the name which is correctly given on Waddington's plan.
.

172

'[he Sindh Bautes, 11'143

Far different was the action on the brink. of the Fulcli. Over it
now hung a pall of dust and smoke, through which the flash of
matchlock and musket and cannon lightened, and battling forms
appeared now clearly, now dimly, as the advantage swung to and
fro;the roar of the musketry seemed continuous, almost drowning
the staccato thud of the artillery". It was now past noon and still
fresh ~alochis pressed forward to fill the places of those that fell
under the musketry, whose bodies began to pile thickly on the ledge
below the bank. Ever and anon, driven to desperation by the
incessant torment of grape and musket-balls, a band of devoted
swordsmen stormed up it and hurled themselves upon the bayonets;
but though the British line several times gave ground under the
sheer weight of the charges, it remained unbroken; and lapping
round their assailants from each flank sepoy and soldier roughly
handled them with the bayonet, and drove the survivors back into
the river bed. But the troops could not yet be made to counterattack: as soon as their ranks were back in their old position, six or
eight paces from the brink, they halted, the men only advancing to
deliver their fire into the dense masses of the enemy, and returning
to load. Many llf the men were constantly engaged in wiping blood
ur sweat from the pans of their muskets, or adjusting their flints,
defending themselves with their bayonets the while: yet they
maintained a rate of lire which gradually beat down that of the
matchlocks, for the "old hands" now loaded without the ramrod; 'the
cartridge lined "Brown Bess" so loosely that the weight of the ba11,
with a smart tap of the butt on the ground was sufficient to send it
horne."
.
The General, well up in the front with the 22nd, never ceased
10 urge the men on; and the Queen's and Company's Officers vied
with each other in intrepidity. Major Teasdale, commanding the
25th N. I.. and Major Jackson. second in command of the 121hN. I.,
fell gallantly in the midst of the Baloch swordsmen: Li-Col.
Pcnncfather, commanding H. M.'s 22ml, was badly wounded: and of
those who took their places, few were unscathed, whether rallying
their men, or sacrificing themselves in setting an example to engage
the enemy more 'closely. Mir Nasir Khan, for his part, sent word to
his commander in the field, Mir .Ian Muhammad Khanani, to lead a
general assault. The Sardar made a valiant cff~;rt: hut just as he had
9.
10.

.Iacllb'~ lcucr (If 2,~rd Fcbruarv, 1~43.

Gcncrul Mclvlurdo. quoted in' Drucc.

17~

Sindh Observed

made his way to the front rank and was encouraging his men, Lieut.
McMurdo, Napier's Aide-de-Camp, who, on his horse being killed,
obtained permission to fight with his old regiment, dashed down into
the river bed, with a handful of men, hoping the rest would follow:
meeting Jan Muhammad, he killed him and another, fighting hand to
hand; but finding himself and his few companions unsupported and
all but surrounded, forced his way back, amazed at the conduct of
the 22nd, who still kept their ground just behind the brink. In vain
he ordered, objurgated, and implored them to charge; a man
shouted "Mr. McMurdo, if you don't leave off we'll shoot you." Up
till this moment, in spite of their fa~ heavier casualties, the Mirs'
troops had a fair chance of victory: for Mir Jan Muhammad, as a
member of one of the senior collateral branches of the Talpur
house, known' and respected for his bravery by the tribal sardars,
might well by his example have got all to combine in a simultaneous
onset. However, he fell; Mir Nasir Khan ordered Ghulam Shah
Talpur, of the Shahwani clan, to take command in his place, but this
chief was also killed shortly afterwards. Had the Baloch tribesmen
possessed the clements of discipline, and their sardars been kept
under effective con: I 01, with cool and resolute direction, their host
must have prevailed: but all three were wanting: the clans mustered
together shoulder to shoulder along the bed of the Fuleli looked only
to their own front. And so, undirected, the desperate valour of the
Mir's feudatories spent itself in vain: their rushes were
uncoordinated, mere individual efforts of tribal sardars leading a
knot of devoted clansmen.
Even so, the slender line of the British was hard put to it to
r: pel these repeated onslaughts: and while the fight was at its hottest

the old General had ridden forward through the ranks of the 22nd,
and, followed by Majors Waddington and Wyllie, passed slowly
down the front of the line; an extra ordinary apparition, bareheaded.
with spectacles on eagle nose, grey whiskers singed by' the wilder
firing of his own men. and stirred by the wind of matchlock balls,
waving his jockey cap in the air, yelling and blaspheming. Twice he
rallied the 22nd. hut he could not make them charge; and he passed
on t(~the 2)lh N. I. Here he was almost alone in front of the line
when a Buluch came oyer the bank. and came straight towards him:
Napier had sprained his wrist. punch.ing the head of a delinquent
camel mall at Daulatpur. nine days before." and could hardly have
II.

l.ikVlll.ll.p.291'.

174

771eSi"dlt Battles. 1843

defended himself: but Lieutenant Marston springing forward

attracted the eye of the oncoming Baloch, and received his first cut
on his brass epaulette: a return blow was parried by the Baluch with
his shield, but a sepoy advancing plunged his bayonet into his side,
and Marston at the same time got over his guard with a final cut,
being saved himsell: by another sepoy engaging a second Baloch
warrior who was about to cut him down from behind. Napier
remained where he was, moving down the narrow lane between two
fires, and thrice rallied the 25th before returning to his old position.
He had recognized that the crisis of the battle had come, and for a
final effort sent three successive staff officers to order the cavalry on
the left wing to charge.
During the course of the action the 9th Bengal Cavalry had
moved over to the support of this flank from their first position
behind the right of the line, and they were now about thirty yards
behind the Grenadiers. While Sir Charles' messengers were yet on
their way, this latter regiment fell into some confusion. Whether
some order of Major Clibborn, commanding, was misunderstood, or
whatever the reason, is obscure: but a bugler was sounding the
"retire _ and said he took it up "from someone else." Most of the
sepoys went to the right about, and it was only by great exertions of
their officers that they were rallied and faced the foe again. The
Balochis manning the enclosures and Sultan Shah village,
encouraged by the appearance of a retrograde movement, following
Jacob's retirement from his attempt to pierce the line on the other'
side of the village, showed themselves in numbers, as if about to
attack. Captain Tucker, commanding the third squadron fo the
Bengal Cavalry, which was close behind and to the left of the
Grenadiers, urged Napier's second-in-command, Lt. Colonel Pattie,
to allow his squadron to advance and drive the Balochis back.'? The
Colonel, a brave but sorncwaht unintelligent man, hesitated for
sometime to give permission, not wishing to involve his regiment,
that day commanded by Major Storey, deeply, without orders. But
Tucker persisting that a forward movement was essential to restore
the fight on that flank, and that Sir Charles would certainly order it if
he were aware of the position, Pattie at length acquiesced, and the
left (3rd) squadron advanced at the trot and began to force the
Balochis hack into the village. The Colonel himself rode towards the
infantry line, and was met by Captain Thompson, coming hot foot

12.

Captain

Tucker's letter

in Waddington's

175

account.

with his message

from the General.
"How arc you gelling on'?"
asked Palik:
the Orderly
Officer however
ignored the query and
communicated
Sir Charles'
orders." II seems thai Paille who Was

rather deal, could not hear what was said in the din of battle. or
thought t hat. Thompson might just as well deliver the order 10 t he
Officer Commanding the Regiment as himself and replied: 'Tdl'
Storey." Thompson rode \)11. and communicated the order 10 Majur
Storey. who ,it .oncc pUI the <ccond squadron, under Captain
Garren. in motion. On his way back he mel Major Macf'hcrson.
Napier's Military Sccrctarv, who had just delivered the .ordcrs III
Paule a second lime. One or other of them, still unsatisfied that
Pattie rculiscd that the order comprehended
the whole of the
cavalry, rode up 10 Jacob. who was endeavouring to reform his men
after his abortive attack on the left, stiJI under fire from the village.
and on ground \~hich hardly permitted any formation, and shouted
that he was ';"anted in front. and that the (Jth had refused to charge"
_: or "would not charge" ~ so the words sounded.':
This ,..:as an exaggeration which did scant justice to the Bengal
Light Cavalry: for .thcir first squadron had now followed the third
and second, and' while Colonel Pattie. taking command of the two
latter. gallantly attacked the enclosures of the village, the first, under
Captain Wcrnyss, filed between the Grenadiers and the 121h N. I.,
and descending !I*) the Fulcli began 10 disperse the Balochis on its
Iurt her bank.,
.
.
Jacob. advancing in column at the trot, passed one squadron of
the IJth dismounted and firing pistols into the village, while the
remainder were driving the Balochis in rear of it down the river bed
to the Idt. Filing between the Cavalry and the left of the infantry
line .. I.rcoh led his men slraight across the Fulcli, and deploying into
line IHl the lurthcr hank. charged full on the Mir's camp half a mile
behind it. The camp was strongly manned by foot soldiers, who with
sword and shield stood their ground and fought sternly: but the
vigour of the charge was irrcsist iblc. and in the subsequent melee the
sahres and carbines of til): Scindc Horse wrought .havoc among the
defender ...: not till they were almost annihilated did resistance cease.
ka\'ing the ramp. and I\tir Nasir Khan's own st,lI1dard, in the \,jctor~:
hand ....
13.

1-;'

Captain TI)IlI11~(1l1'S kllt:r (I.ift:. IV. p. 11~-II.'i)

.Ia.:"h, ktll:r "I' 23rd Ft:hru:lry IR~3.

17()

1"(' Sind" Batttcs, /843

The capture of the Mirs' camp was decisive. Not only did their
horsemen, some 4,O()()in number, who had been mustered in reserve
under the Talpur Chiefs, quit the field without striking a blow; hut
the gallant tribesmen who had fought so devotedly in the river bed,
not flinching under the ceaseless scourge of grape-shot and musketry
for more than an hour, still thrusting themselves on the bayonets to
strike home with their swords, hegan to look over their shoulders as
the direful news spread along their line. They hesitated; and with a
shout of triumph the British, followed by the Bombay Infantry, swept
down into the river bed. Here the struggle still raged hand to hand;
no quarter was given or asked; hut the Balochis were giving ground
and losing cohesion.
The 9th Bengal Cavalry succeeded in their task- one more
appropriate for infantry and artillery-a- of clearing Sultan Shah and
its enclosures, and completely CUllingoff the right of the Baloch line;
hut at no light cost to themselves: among their officers, Brevet
Captain Cookson was killed, and four others wounded, of whom
Captain Tucker was shot in five places; many of their troopers also
fell. The lirst squadron, having chased the retreating Balochis far
down the river bed to the left, now crossed over to join the Scinde
Horse in the Mirs' camp: and just at that moment Major
Waddington rode up to recall Jacob, who was rallying his men after
dispersing the shattered garrison ofthe camp, to repel an alleged
attack on the baggage in the rear. The. trumpets sounded the
"retire," but FitzGerald, second in commandof the Scinde Horse...
could not or would not hear them, continuing in pursuit of the Mirs'
retreating horsemen with one squadron, hunting and cutting them
-down-for- several. miles. The news of the baggage being attacked
proved a false alarm, and now the whole British line joined in a final
advance. Mirs Nasir Khan and Shadad Khan, who had lingered in
the field with a few attendants, saw that the day was lost, and made
for Hydcrabad; but even now the Baloch swordsmen did not take to
night, but gathering in knots some hundreds strong retired slowly,
glaring back on their foes. and daring them to come on. Their right
wing, which. remained almost : unscathed, also showed some
disposition to re-occupy Sultan Shah and renew the struggle, and
now at last some guns were trained on the village and enclosures to
dislodgl! them. ISNapicr also ordered lip the. rest (If his artillery,
IS.

Waddington's Accoum.

177

Sindh Observed

which crossed the Fuleli; and as the grape began to play on them
once more, the Mirs' levies, broken as a military body, but their
individual spirit unquelled, relinquished the struggle. The field of
Miani was lost and won.

2. Previous Accollnts of tire baIe.

The best known accounts of the battle of Miani in published
books are, in the chronological order of their appearance, those by
General William Napier, in "The Conquest of Scinde", by Mr. Napier
Bruce, in 'Life of General Sir Charles Napier": by Mr. Rice Holmes,
in "Four Famous Soldiers" and "Sir Charles Napier"; by Sir William
Butler in "Sir Charles Napier": by Sir .Iohn Fortescue, in "History of
the British Army," Vol. XII; in various Regimental Histories; and by
Sir Patrick Cadell, in "History of the Bombay Army."
Of these, the first is prized for its picturesqueness and vigour of
style, so characteristic of the author; but it is inaccurate in many
respects. Mr. Napier Bruce practically reproduced it, but added
some interesting details which he was given by Sir Montagu
McMurdo.
Rice Holmes, by making use of Major Waddington's
-account, of which more below, and consulting other survivors of the
battle, drew a much truer picture of the battle, at the sacrifice of
some of its romantic colouring; and his account has been the basis of
those given by Sir John Fortescue and Sir Patrick Cadell in their
works on the British and Bombay Armies. Rice Holmes notes, with
some complacency, that when he read his final draft over to Sir
- Montagu McMurdo, the veteran declared that he was unable to
detect a mistake. But no single officer present in the battle could
sec everything that was going on, and McMurdo was at first close to
Sir Charles, and thereafter with his Regiment, constantly engaged,
throughout the day. Rice Holmes, a most conscientious historian,
also consulted other survivors, General Petrie of the Bombay
Artillery, and General Phayrc of the 25th Bombay N. I.; but other
important sOllrce~ of information, .!bough available, do not seem to
have been tapped by him. These' will be mentioned below; and of
course there may still be first-hand accounts of the battle, in
ephemeral publications and scarce volumes of memoirs, or buried in
family correspondence.
which have so far escaped thc notice of
aut hOTS. But so Iar as I have been able to ascertain. the available
sources on the British side which rnav be called original arc as
follows:

178

Thc' Simi" IJnll/e.', 1843

(a)

Sir Charles' Napier's despatch. with the subsidiary reports of

officers commanding unit~ engaged in the action.
(Reproduced in "The Conquest of Scinde" Vol. II., Appendix
VI, and "Records of the Scinde Irregular Horse;" Vol. I.)

(b) Major Waddington's account of the battle, and subsequent

reply to the strictures upon it published by Sir W. Napier.
(Royal Engineers professional Papers, Vol. IX, 1847, etc.)
(c)

Numerous references by Sir Charles Napier in his Journal and

letters, reproduced in "The Life and Opinions of General Sir
Charles James Japier" by Sir. W. Napier, (Vol. II., pp. 320-330,
341, 345, 406, 417, 437-38,442-3; Vol. III., pages 7, 16-17, 21,
30-31,40,80-82, 92, 189,288,314,456; Vol. IV, 108-114.)

(d) Captain Henderson's report to the Adjutant, Madras Sappers

and Miners, Bangalore, reproduced in Madras Artillery
Records, Vol. VII, Miscellaneous.
(e)

Captain John Jacob's account, in two private letters to his

father dated 19th and 23rd February, 1843.

Of these, the first three were made use of by Rice Holmes, and
his successors; and Sir Patrick Cadell drew my attention to No. (d).
BUIJacob's second letter, written less than a week after the battle,
supplies much information that no other source gives; for instance.
the details of his reconnaissance, of his attempt to turn the Baloch
right flank and capture of the enemy's camp: and also gives a' fresh
view-point for the general picture - particularly the long interval
between the arrival of the advance guard and the British attack, and
the events on the left wing. He also seems to have obtained from his
friend Hutt, of the Bombay Artillery, clearer details of the
management of that Arm in the battle than figure in any other
account. The original kiter, in manuscript, was some years ago
presented by the late Major General A. Le G. Jacob, C.B., CM.G.,
C.I.E., C.B.E .. D.S.D .. to the officers of the Scinde Horse, of which
Regiment he was Colonel. The Regiment also possesses a line
picture of their charge at Miani.

179

Snutl:

()I><(,/1'<'"

Jacob's plan of the bailie. which is given in the "Records of the

. Scindc Irregular Horse," is also valuable in that it shows the position
of the Mirs' guns. and the direction in which the four British guns
fired; and it seems to he more correct than Major Wadington's in
regard to the position of the Mirs' right wing: and the extent 10
which he (Jacob) had penetrated on the flank. I have. however.
reproduced Waddington's plan In accompany this paper. as it gi"cS
more details of the hat tlc-Iield as a whole .
Jacob's account is in fact indispensable for an accurate
appreciation of the battle; and it was because he had not read it that
Rice Holmes fell into the IWO real errors that mar his description:
one, that Jacoh "rode up" and told Sir Charles that the ground on the
further side 'of the "grove" was impassable, when he only found this
out after the battle had begun: and .secondly, that it was when
beginning their charge on the Mirs' camp that the men of the Scinde
Horse suffered numerous falls. galloping across the nullahs; which in
fact look place when Jacob was' attempting to get 'through the
impossible country on the further side of the village, Jacob's letter
makes this latter point clear, though in his report the' occasion of the
contretemps might have been either.
.
3. The battle as seen from the Mirs' side.
And what of Miani from the Baloch point of view? British
authors have been content to build up their aarratives Irorn purely
British materials; and for the purpose of a biography of Sir Charles
Napier; or the History of a. Regiment or an Army,' this is natural
. enough. We have brief an~_Q~9 of Mr. Howell, the Mirs' gunner,
and of Abdul (Abdullah?) Shah, who fought in the Fulcli bed with
his men, and afterwards took service under Napier. in the latter's
journal. Sir Richard Burton recorded the opinion of one Ibrahim
Khan on the ineffectiveness of the Baluch artillery. and this finds a
place-s- as a footnote.:- in Rice-Holmes' biography of Sir Charles.
And that is all.
In truth, there is no very detailed or scientific description of the
engagement itself from the Baloch side; the interest. of thcichronicles lies mainly in the narrative of the events immcdiatcy
before and after the hattie. Of the ctual lighting, their accounts in
prose arc bricl. and arc siunificant rnainlv in the conlirmation thcv
a,:ford 01 particular incid::nt~ nt' crvcd 'by British officcr. Th~
IXO

.,he Sill"" Battles, /S./3

descriptions in verse arc fuller, and of interest as recording the

conduct of the various tribes engaged; but, as might he expected, arc
concerned chiefly with the deeds of particular warriors,
For these reasons I have not attempted to embody much of the
from these sources in my own narrative of the
hattie: hut they deserve to he put on record, if only from the fact that
these accounts appear to have been almost completely ignored
heretofore,

available material

I have referred to the following:_

(a)

Mir Nasir Khan's leiter to the Court of Directors, dated Sasur,

September 22nd, 1H43,
(Sindh Blue hook, suplemcntary, 1844: p. 128),

(b) Mir Yar Muhammad

embodied
Part II,

Khan's Frercnama," written in 1857, and

hy Mirza Kalich Beg in his History of Sindh, Vol, 11"

(c)

Munshi Awatrai's-Mcrnoirs
in
recorded by Rai
Saheb Udhararn Chandumal and Mr. Parmanand Mcwaram.

(d)

Seth Naomal Hotchand's

Memoirs, edited by Sir Evan James.

(e) Sycd Ihsan Ali Shah's poem:

(f)

The blind Manghanhar's poem on Miani.

ji~1

)~r

(g)

f "lD. _,.-J ~

,.u 4

Notes of-conversations with Mir Ali Bakhsh Khan Talpur, and

other descendants of men who fought in the battle on the Mir's
side.

Of these. (a) (b) and (d) and arc available in Enr-lish. Mir
Nasir Khan was the only one of the aut hors actually present in the
hallie, and his account is of the hricfcs]. Its interest is chicflv in himention of Jacob's reconnaissance.
and his hopes that 'at tb :
eleventh hour a collision might he <lVt rted.

IXI

Sindt, Obscrvrd

Mir Yar Muhammad

Khan, Nasir's younger brother, also
mentions
the reconnaissance,
He gives the, names of the
commanders
of the Baloch army as Ghulam Muhammad and
Yakhtiar Lagharis, and Ghulam Shah and .Ian Muhammad Talpurs,
and declares that they declined to obey Nasir Khan's order that they
should beat up Napier's quarters at Matiari on the 16th February,
The ruling chiefs present in the battle on the next day were Mirs
Nasir Khan, Shahdad Khan, and Husain Ali Khan of Hyderabad,
and Mir Rustorn Khan of Khairpur.
Yar Muhammad gives the
Baloch strength as 17,000 men and 11 guns,
Seth .Naornal, who was in Karachi at the time of the halt lc,
writes: "The Talpurs collecting their men advanced with an army of
30,O()Ostrong to Miani, about four koss distant from Hydcrabad, to
check the progress of Sir Charles Napier, who had by that time
arrived at Hala. Sir Charles commanded a force of 2,500 fighting
men only, but they were all well-disciplined and well-trained, while
the army of the Amirs was a crowd of hastily collected and illexperienced Balochis under unskilful generals, unacquainted with
the tactics of war. The baltic of Miani followed, in which the army
of the Talpurs was defeated, and it fled. The Baloochis fought well
and used the sword bravely, but they were all untrained otherwise."
The Memoirs of Munshi Awatrai, the Minister of Mir Sobdar
Khan, are of extraordinary interest for the brief period in which the
tragedy was played out; as he was an important actor in it, though
not ~resent ill the battle, which he describes as follows: - possibly
from first hand information given by Hash Muhammad Karnbrani, a
fellow-servant of Mir Sobdar: "The Mirs' armies stationed
themselves in the bed of the Fuleli canal where Napier Saheb
launched an attack. This, however, proved abortive, as the bunds
afforded full 'protection to the Balochis against the bullets. Napier
Sahcb saw that he would not prevail that way, and that his efforts
were in vain, and ordered his Risaldar, Jacob, who had about 1,000
cavalry under his command, to charge the Balochis from the mouth
of the canal. The Balochis at once faced them, but all of a sudden
the sowars of Risaldar Jacob purposely heal a retreat. The Balochis
cried 'They run! they run!,"'and pursuing the sowars stood on thl'
hund, when: they were taken hy surprise by the troops of Sir Chari. ~
Napier, who was only waiting for the chance,' Many Balochis were
killed. and others rook to their heck"

The Sind" Battles, 1843

This is interesting confirmation of Captain Tucker's statement,

that the Balochis appeared about to launch an attack Oil seeing the
confusion in the ranks of the 1st Grenadiers, which we know took
place at about the same time as Jacob's retirement from his attempt
to penetrate the Baloch position to the East of the village; and
agrees with the British view that the result of the -hallic was
douhtfulJacob says, "worse than doubtful," - upto that moment.
Svcd lhsan Ali Shah, the author of the longer and better of the
two poems, voices the Baloch opinion that they were winning up to
the time when .Ian Muhammad Khan Talpur fell:-

~ lit-

..=-:1. ~

~'Jlt, l_s~l.U ~...

"t.'

\r-

"'A.M ~).-...l

,l.a. ~")tl

u,J. ft

A {Jl~

cJ '-t?"'_ ~.-

<?

cJla

':? j.
~

~.A.I

~,

.I'lL-I ~

~ht,,J
~

e-U

I am indebted to Mir Ali Bakhsh Khan Talpur, of Tando Nur

Muhammad
Khan, for so much information explanatory of the
poem, with additional details, that these remaining sources may he
discussed together.
The Balochis usually call the bailie of Miani, "Jan Muhammad's
fight." His descendents, the Khanani Talpurs of Tando Jam, told me
that he was shot in the neck by a pistol, though his death in the
English accounts is ascribed to the swordsmanship of Montagu
McMurdo. The chief who was then ordered to take over the general
direction of the battle, Mir Ghulam Shah, of the Shahwa~i Talpurs
of Tando Muhammad Khan, was the same who had lorn up the
treaty in the tumultuous durbar of the Baloch chiefs on the night of
.thc 14th February. After his death. w-hich soon followed that of Jail
Muhammad.
it docs not appcar from the poem that any other
commander was appoint cd; hut when the lashkar was giving way Mil'
Shahdad Khan is said to have urged his uncle, Mir Nasir Khan. to
lead a final charge; and the courtly wriur describes great deeds of
arms thereafter performed by Shahdad Khan. But a cannon hall
killed Sulciman Khizmatgar, who was in attendance on Mir Nasir
Khan; and Mil' Ali Bakhsh Khan informs me that both Nasir Kh I
and Shahdad Khan were struck hv spent balls, which failed \()
penetrate the chain mail armour 'hat they were wearing,
l"a"ir
Khan nevertheless lingered in the field till ,lInong the Ia~t. with

183

twenty horsemen:
earlier.

young Hussain Ali Khan quilled it ahout an hour

Of the minor branches of the Talpur House. the Chakranis

Shahwanis,
and Khananis were well represented,
the former
attending on Mir Rustom Khan: hut the Bijaranis and Mahornedanis
were absent, the latter saying afterwards that they had lost the way
to the rendezvous. The Manik.uii Talpurs of Mirpur took no part.
i

.-

Among~ the other Baloch'/ tribes, the Nizarnanis won the urcatcst
renown; the Marris (Bagranis), Jamalis and Changs all fought
bravely, the chief of the last! named clan, Miro, being killed. Others
who played their part w~11. wen: the Korais, Jatois, Gopangs,
Chhalgiris, and Lasharis.,' hut the Rinds, Lagharis, Thoras and
Bhurgris are all considered to have been disgraced. The Lagharis
and Thoras were the first to break the line: and Bahawal Khan,
Sardar of the Rinds, a li~tlc later snatched the "Banchi," a sort of
standard, from Sumar, (~ne of the Mir's Khi/.matgars, and Iled,
followed by Ahmed Khan Laghari. As to the Bhurgris, the blind
"rnanghanhar" w'ho sang of Miani says that theyshould be given a
basket of fish: meaning that they acquitted themselves more like
Muhanas than Balochis.
Of the non-Baloch tribes taking part, the small body of the
Mirs' paid troops, the Khatian Pat hans, fought stoutly, as did many
of their khizmatgars, particularly
Hosh Muhammad
Kamhrani.
Several well-known Syeds and Pirs also Iell honourably in the hallie,
for instance Fatch Muhammad Shah Lakhiari: and the Sumra and
Khokhar tribes hoth did well.

4. Anecdotes.
The poets of Sindh were not alone in celebrating the courage of
individual heroes of the light in hyperbolic strains.
Sir Charles
Napier himself, though over sixty years of age when Miani was
fought. was in some ways a hoy at heart, and took the keenest
pleasure in the deeds of arms of his officers and men. He had once
written a Historical romance ("Harold": published alter his death I~\
his brother}: and one SUSPl'C(S him to have been .111 enthusiast c
reader of Sir Walter Scou.

1~4

J he Sindh Battles. 1843

Captain Keith Young. who arrived in Sindh in Septemher IX4~.
wrote after dining at Napier's table "the conversation. during and
after dinner. struck me to he a great deal too much about the late
actions in Scindc, as to what this man and the other did, and how
manv Bcloochccs were cut down, I understand that the Scindc
heroes arc very much given to this kind or thing. and that Sir Charles
is weak enough to be Ilaucrcd with this 'Bcloochcc hunting: as it is
facetiously called here ,"
In Napier's journal, this propensity breaks out once or twice: in
a letter to his brother William, the skull-splitting feats or Wilkinson,
Nixon. McMurdo and Fill.(ierald arc retailed with evident gusto, and
from the hands of the magniloquent Historian received fresh colour,
in "t he Conquest of Scindc ,"
Of the officers of the Seinde Horse at Miani, William Napier
wrote: "Captain Jacob. though slight of person, meeting a horseman
at full gallop. passed his sword with such a foin through shield and
body. that the hilt struck strongly against the former,
But the
exploits or Lieut. Fitz(ierald of the Scindc cavalry made all who saw
him in the fight marvel.
Three or four had fallen beneath his
tempestuous hand, when a Balooch, crouching as their custom j,
beneath a shield, suddenly stepped up on the bridle hand and with a
single stroke brought the horse down dead. Fitzt lcrald's leg was
entangled by the fall. and twice did the elated Balooeh champion
drive his keen blade at the prostrate warrior: each time the blow was
parried, and then, dearing himself from the dead horse, the strong
man rose.
The barbarian, warned by the herculean form and
countenance, instantly cast his broad shield over his head, which was
likewise defended with ~I thickly rolled turban of many folds, but Fitz
Gerald' sword in ih descent went sheer through shield and turban
and skull down io the teeth!"
We know from Richard Burton that there was endless joking
among the officers ill Sindh about these tales (If the paladins: and
Fitz( jerald himself is said to han: disclaimed the stories of his
cxpluit at M iani and Duhha .

.lacob, who-: own anecdotes of swordsmanship at Miani - the

CUlling (lITof a mounted Buluchi's head at a single blow by one of his
",,,,';Irs. and the CUlling in two of the lower jaw of another sowars
h(lr"l' by a Baloch lying on the f!round- were told years afterv ards,

IRS

Sindt: Observ vd

simply in support of his opinion that the curved sabre was far more
effective in the hands of cavalry than the straight thrusting sword,
has some amusing comments on Sir William's stories.
"Those
anecdotes of Filz(,erald and myself al Mccance arc unmixed.
invention. Filz(,erald's horxc was never killed or wounded (unless
you call a scratch in the skin anOUI 2 inches long a wound), and
never f~11with him; the fact is that FitzGerald cannot ridZ: a hit, in
fact he is an awful stick on a horse,' and fall off his saddle in the
affray on the top of (/ Bclooche on Ioot whom he was endeavouring
10 smite: they both rolled over together after which Fitz Gerald got
up, remounted, and went on, not knowing 10 this day whether the
man was hurt or not. Contrasl this with the description in the
General's History. As to my slaying a horseman as described it is
about equally true, I have had lots of fights with Bclooches on divers
occasions, and did once slay a fellow who was CUlling. at me,
something in the manner described; nut the man was on foot- and
it so happened that at the battle of Meeance I never struck a blow;
indeed I do not think it 10 be at all the duty of an officer 10 go abOUI
seeking for personal encounters, and think there is little merit shown
hy any amount of SUccess in them. The value of an officer is shown
hy his skill and success in leading and directing the efforts of others,
nOI in displaying his own personal prowess. BUI General Napier
appears to suppose his whole merit 10 consist in cutting and

thrusting,"

But there was one individual officer's exploit at Miani, the

merit and glory of which cannot be gainsaid, and that was the saving
of Sir Charles Napier's life by Lieutenant Marston, Sir Charles bade
his hrother "Rememher in your work to mention Lieut. Marston"
and gave-a vivid description of the incident. But this must have
reached William Napier ItHI late for inclusion in the hook, in which
his mention is of the hriefest. A!'. the accnunt in the "Life and
Opinions of Sir Charles .Iames Napier" is available 10 all 10 read, I
shall give here that hy the laic Mr. Charles Marston of Nasik, son of
Lieut. (afterwards General) Marston, who kindly allowed me to
lake a copy from his unpuhlished memoir of his father's life, written
for his nephews. grandsons of the hero.
After describing how Marxton cut down one Baloch in sin!!!.;
comba] in front of the line not far from the General, he proceeds:
"Arthc same moment he saw another hurly fellow come over the
bank and look at Sir Charles. who was alone, and made for hill' with
IR6

Jllc Sind" Battles, 1843

long stridesbut grandfather said he never looked again. He ran

and intercepted him just as he was going to cut at Sir Charles, and
engaged him, and cut with all his might at his head; but he brought
up his shield and guarded the blow; and then he cut at grandfather
and he guarded it, and they exchanged one or two cuts: and
grandfather
then got over his guard and cut him hard on the
shoulder. and he staggered and 'opened up,' and then he ran him
through the heart and as he fell Sir Charles' remark was 'gallantly
done!'; but another man had already come up from behind and had
a clean sweep at grandfather's head- missed his head and the blow
fell on his shoulder, hut fortunately his epaulcttc ,saved him, for it
deflected the sword blade, he turned round to fftld a friendly soldier
who came out of t he ranks of the 22nd Regiment pushing his
bayonet through his assailant's side, and at the same time he rall his
own sword through his heart, and as Sir Charles Napier said 'the
sword and bayonet shared the honour'. The only damage done \0
your grandfather
on this occasion was that the sword grazed his
elbow and cut the cloth of his uniform coal, so he escaped lightly."
Mr. Marston records that after the hallie, the henchman of the
Baloch.Chicf whom he had killed "brought the fallen hero's sword to
grandfather and laid it at his feet and said: 'You slew my Sardar, this
is his sword' - it hears the words 'Sarkar Mir Muhammad Nasir
Khan Talpur' in inlaid gold on the blade. The hilt is of inlaid gold
leaf."
This is not the only sword, won that day by the gallant Marston,
which is preserved hy his' descendants.
He was presented \~'iih one
of the regulation pattern by Sir Charles, with the following letter:
"My dear Marston,
Had you not stepped in front of me and engaged the Bcloochcc
warrior who was about to charge me when I had too much to think
of to engage in single com hat I should probably have been cut down,
and I think so able a swordsman as yourself ought to have a good
weapon. one which, like your courage, will never fail in any trial.
May you long cut and thrust with it, is the prayer of
}'"ur alkClionlllt' and sincere [ncnd.

IR7

Sind" Observed

Nine years late, Marston's father wrote to Sir Charles. then in

retirement in England, asking for his help to obtain promotion for
his son. The following is an extract from the old General's reply,
dated Oaklands, 23rd September, 1852:
'There is one claim, that your son has, and I should say that il is
a strong one. He saw a huge Beiooch with sword raised to fall on
me, and attacking the man, received a blow on his shoulder;
fortunately his grenadier wings saved him. The same blow falling on
me would have probably killed me, as I had less protection, and but
one hand. Now had I been slain in the middle of the battle, when
victory had favoured neither side, I may say without disparagement
to the second in command, that the result might have carried
misfortune. Therefore I must say that in my opinion to have saved
the life of his commander in the middle of a battle, or if not, that at
all events to have prevented the commander from being disabled or
unable to direct the troops, is a deed of gallantry which gives a man
strong claims on the' Government for the extra rank, a claim of no
ordinary nature, and one to which this letter testifies ....'
One of Sir Charles Napier's greatest claims to fame was his
constant care of the interests of the Private soldier.
Fortescue
rightly says: "it was no merc accident that made Charles Napier the
first general to mention the names of private soldiers in his
despatches!'".
Those published after Miani by Lord Ellenborough,
on l Sth March ]843, reproducing
reports from the officers
commanding every unit in the little army, contain many instances of
heroism which in these days would have been recognized by
decorations.
Among many Indian Officers and soldiers mentioned
was Subadar Russall Singh of the 25th N. I., who shot three men, cut
down 011(:, and showed great zeal in encouraging and leading on his
men: and Napier strongly endorsed Captain HUll's recommendation
of the unarmed drivers of his baucrv. We read also that Drummer
Martin Delancy, of H. M's 22nd "shot, bayoneted, and captured the
arms, of Meer Whullce Muhammad Khan, who was mounted, and
directing the enemy in the hottest part of the engagement." This was
probably a Khanani Talpur Sardar, brother of the Mirs' commander,
.Ian Muhammad.
Sir Charles also wrote: "Three times when I
thought the 22nd could not stand the furious rush of the swordsmen,
Delancy sounded the Advance, and each time the line made a pace
1(,.

History "I' the Hriush Army. Vol, XII. p. 3111.

JR~

t he

Sint/h Rallies. J X43

or two nearer the enemy." Sir Wil1iam Napier adds: "Here be it

reC<lliec~edthat the fighting was hand to hand. that each advance was
under .i descending sword, and that to sound his bugle Delancy
resigned al1self defence."
A lighter touch is supplied by Colonel Pattie of the 9th Bengal
Light Cavalry, who like his General was over sixtyyears of age at the
time. Sir Charles writes: "He is as brave as a lion, and has all the
quaint humour of Munchausen: - for example, he said to Mrs.
McKenzie, Madam, at the battle of Mccance I perpetrated such
destruction that Sir C. Napier rode up and said: 'Colonel Pattie,
deliver your sword! I cannot allow of such slaughter, even of an
enemy.' I did deliver my sword, but continued to do as much
execution with the scabbard"." The old humourist was afterwards
immortalised by "Aliph Cheern" as "Colonel MacMurther;" but as a
slight disguise of the prototype's identity, the scene of the incident
was transferred in the poem to the Indian Mutiny.
Napier paid high tributes to the courage of the Baloch warriors .
."A 22nd soldier. bounding forward, plunged his bayonet into the
breast of a Beloochee; yet' the firm warrior did not even reel: seizing
the musket he writhed onwards, and with a blow swept his
destroyer's life away: they Iell dead together!" - "No quarter was
given on either side, the wounded Beloochces fought as they lay on
the ground" - "They cannot indeed escape when beaten, but as to
running, devil a bit! - they lounge off, as at Mceanec, slowly and
indifferent to your musquctry, though vollied into their backs at five
yards' distance! They arc most determined fatalists, and most
terrible swordsmen; they cut through everything."
Sir Moritagu McMurdo also wrote": "The dexterity of the
Belooch in parrying with his shield the point of the bayonet; the
difficulty of thrusting it home when it did take effect, because of the
ample folds of the cummerbund protecting the body almost to the
armpits (in some instances the bayonets were twisted by the
resistance) and lastly, the quick swinging cut of the sharp curved
sword: these made the Belooch no mean antagonist for the single
soldier; hut in the melee of a charge, or even where tW(1or three
soldiers were together. the superior it of the bayonet was
17.

Life. VIl! IV. P II~

tl'.

Brucc. p 206.

Sind" Observed

unquestionable." Captain Henderson also complained that his men

found it impossible to make the bayonet-knife on the end of their
Iusils penetrate through the clothes worn by the enemy."
According to the late General Marston, "the 17th February
1843 was an abnormally hot day: so much so that many of the
European soldiers died of sunstroke." They fought in their winter
uniforms. He and the other officers wore forage caps, and he put
two pocket handkerchiefs inside the crown of his cap to save himself
from sunstroke." Sir Charles Napier wore a turban wound round his
helmet. Twice during the battle the troops cheered him when he
emerged through the thickest of the fight unharmed.
5. Controversiesabout Miani.
Controversy has raged over almost every act of Sir Charles
Napier in Sindh, and thc battle of Maini has not escaped. Sir
William Napier wrote of the Sindh battles as reviving the glories of
Crccy, Poitiers, and Agincourt; while at the other end of the scale an
author whom I have not been able to identify, but who was
proabably present in the baule refers to Miani as "a dispersing of
what was lillie better than a vast mob-v'They had no discipline" he
continued, "and bands of twenty men rushed out at a time with no
order or method, only to imaple themselves on the bayonet, or to be
swept away by grape." The writer could hardly have been Jacob, for
even in the height of his bitter controversy with the Napiers, he did
not, so far as I am aware, disparage the battles. At the time he
wrote to his father ~No one gave the Scinde warriors credit for so
much pluck!" and speaks of Maini as "one of the severest battles on
record in Eastern history" and "Altogether it was an honest hard
stand up fight, and will not soon be forgotten on either side."
The Mirs' horsemen, indeed, were worse than ineffective: as
has already been described, they fled, to the number of four
thousand, without striking a blow; though they may have suffered
somewhat from Whitlic's guns. The bolder of those who came
mounted to the rendezvous picketted their mares in the river bed,
and fought on foot.

I').
20.

M"dC;:j~Af'!iHery records.
OUOI L'd illJi!l1(lIJ Gazcnccr,

7.
1')()7, r. 131. I.

Vo].

190

Ttie Sindh Battles, 1843

The quality of the Talpur Artillery at Miani can be guaged from

the description given of each piece in the Return of captured
Ordnance" .. Seven of the fifteen guns measured less than three feet
in length, and the 'bore of five of these was under two inches.
Moreover; it is noted that the whole of the carriages of these canon
were in such. a state as to render them useless. Four years before,
when Kennedy had seen them in the Fort at Hyderabad, in the days
of Howell's Greek predecessor, they had appeared as likely to harm
the gunners as the enemy, when fired. Mir Ali Bakhsh Khan Talpur
tells me that they were brought out piecemeal, slung on camels like
"chakis," to Miani:and there rigged up in position as well as possible.
Considering in addition Howell's unwillingness to fire at his
countrymen, the Mirs' Artillery was more effective in the battle than
could have been expected.
I am also informed by Mir Ali Bakhsh Khan that comparatively
few of the tribesmen had any experience in firing matchlocks, which
were given out to them from the Mir's armoury. They had been told
to bring their own swords, the true Baloch weapon, and these they
used effectively. But the same number of Afghans assembled at
random would probably have done far more damage with their
matchlocks.
Sir Patrick Cadell has well said, that the Balochis lacked almost
every military virtue except the great one of undaunted courage: and
we need not quarrel with Sir William Napier for classing Miani with
the English triumphs in the Hundred Years War. The latter were
fought on the defensive: but they, like Miani, were won by superior'
fire-power and discipline, over clumsy, unco-ordinated hosts of
individually brave men. On the other hand, the Napiers were in
error in instituting comparisons between the comparatively bloodless
Sindh victories, and the "butcher's hill" of Gough's hard-won lights
that followed in Gwalior and the Punjab. The Marathas and Sikhs
brought into the field Eurocpean trained infantry, powerful artillery,
and most effect ivc cavalry.
(a) Numbersc,,~ag('d._ Outram, in his "Conquest of Scindea commentary," refrained from criticising Napier's conduct of the
battles, in which he was not present: but the progressive increase in
the numbers of the Min; army at Miani in the brothers' writings, "a
21.

Records of the Scindc Irregular

Horse. Vol.

191

Sindh Ohscrvcd

la Falstaff," provoked him. In a leiter to his friend Jacob written on

May 2nd, IS45, he says: "By the way, how many of the countless host
were actually engaged again ...t our troops on that occasion? Cressy!'!
Agincourt!'!" and again. nil October 2nd, IS47. he speaks of "a lillie
numerical superiority (Inr the nabblc looking on from the other side
of the Fullailcc ought not to he counted, only the "Tuggaras' and few
others who occupied the Fullailcc, who alone fought)."
This
statement is somewhat wide of the mark: hut so was Sir Charles'
assertion, adopted hy his brother in "the Conquest of Scinde," that
his actual order of hallie mustered only a seventeen hundred and
eighty sabres and hayoncts.
Taking the British troops first . Jacob, writing to his father only
two days after the battle, says: "Our force was composed as follows,
the strengths mentioned arc very nearly those of the Corps actually
in the fight, after deducting-baggagc guards, etc:
2 Compo foot artillery
H. M. 2211d Regt.
N. L; 1st Grenadier
N. I.: 12th Regiment
N. L: 25th Regt.
I)(h Bengal Cavalry
Scindc lrrcu. Horse

526
250
487
300
406
483

Total

2,452

These
drawn
bv Jas.
Scinde

figures

he subsequently

12 guns.

revised, in the notes on the plan

hy Fit/( jerald from a survey by himself, which was published

Wvld, Charing em...
s Ea ...t, and figures in the Records of the
Irregular Hor ...c. Vol. I: _

c. Coy. Madras

Sappcr and Miners

II. M. 22ml Fllllt
l st Rcgr. Bombay N. I.
12th Re)!!. bombay N. I.
2:'1th Regt: Bomba) N. I.
Bcngal vth Light CI\'alry
Scinde Irrcuular Horse

":395'

Totar.

2.Sl

l.ifc \",,1.

Ill.

4{i
(,O()

256

.540
318

3S5

1'. Ie. :11111 LllllllllC~1of Scindc. p. .lOR

192

JII" Sindh Battles, 1843

It should be mentioned that only ten of the British guns are shown in

this' plan, as drawn up in the first echelon position of the infantry

line, in the following order from the right: - two nine-pounders; two
twenty-four pounder howitzers; two nine-pounders; two sixpounders; and two twelve-pounder howitzers. There is nothing to
show where the other two were, nor are the numbers of the artillery
men included in the order of battle. . .
Waddington's ,estimates, admittedly approximate, give the
number of bayonets in the line as 1350, to which had to be added
Artillery.and Sappers, about 150; and 700-800Cavalry.
,f'
It is therefore evident that the strength of the British actually
engaged could not have fallen below 2,200,and much more probably
reached 2,500.

As to the Mirs' forces, Napier's despatch gives them as 22,000.

Jacob's letter of 19th February, 1843, gives the figures 21, 000, and
he adheres to this in his notes on his plan. Sir Charles declared that
after the battle he obtained "Belooch returns of close upon twentysix thousand warriors, signed by the Chiefs; each stating his force,
and they all try to reduce their numbers to reduce the disgrace"." I
. do not think that such retunrs were even published, but Napier in a~
letter to Lord Ellenborough dated July 1st, 1843, gives the figure
25,86224 Meanwhile "evidence received from the family of the
Ameers" .-:-perhaps the statement elicited by Captain Rathborne :
from Pir Budrudin, Sobdar Khan's confidential servant= - gave
35,000 as their numbers at Miani, which, Sir Charles triumphantly
declares, is what the best of his spies reported at the time.
Nevertheless, the figure given in his despatch- 22,000- may well be
adopted as most likely to have been correct.
(b) Losses 011 each side:_ The casualties on the side of the
British arc, of course, exactly known. They amounted to 62 killed
and 194 wounded, the total of 256 being a little more than one-tenth'
of the numbers actually in the fight. Six British officers were killed,
and thirteen, with three Indian Officers, wounded. The losses in
23.
24.
2).

Life IJI, p. 16.

Conquest," VI. II. Appandix
do. p. 51 J.

II. p. 432.

19J

officers were heaviest in H.M's 22ml, the lJth Bengal Light Cavalry,
and the 12th Bombay N.J. Among the other ranks, the 22nd had 23
killed and 49 wounded: the 9th Cavalry 3 killed and 29 wounded; the
12th, 12 killed and "'5 wounded (it is interesting to note that Jacob,
writing on the 23rd February, says: 'The 12th suffered most severely
of any, and indeed are said to have borne the brunt of the fight." and
the 25th ]6 killed and 2& wounde.d The Scinde Horse suffered 17
wounded; Jacob in the letter already quoted, says that several had
subsequently died. The 9th Cavalry had nine horses killed and 35
wounded; the Scinde Horse 23 killed and 21 wounded.
The
difference between the losses of the two cavalry Regiments may be
ascribed to the assault by the 9th dismounted en the village, and the
slower speed, compared with Jacob's of their mounted attack.
The losses of the Mirs' host were fearfully severe, The names
of nearly twenty chiefs who 'were killed occur in the poems
mentioned above: and at least six of these were Talpurs,
Others
fOuld probably he found in the "History of Alienations," among the
Jagirdars' families. As to the rank and file of the tribesmen, Sir
Charles Napier in his despatch says the casualties were generally
supposed to be five thousand, but 'later, in response to further
inquiries from his brother, he wrote "all the Beloochees said, and
still maintain, that eight thousand were killed and wounded=," Sir
William gives the figure as six thousand, in The Conquest of Scinde."
and so docs Jacob in the notes to his plan. The latter, writing on the
19th February; says that 1,400 of the Mirs' men were left dead on the
field, and that they had about four 'times that number wounded. four

days later, he writes: "We now know from the Ameers themselves
that including those carried away and those who have died since of
. their wounds, not less then 5,000 were killed." Jacob says he actually
counted two heaps of the Baloch dead in front of where the 22nd
had fought, of 80 and 50 bodies: Tais agrees fairly well with the
observations of "two officers, I think Pelly and fitzGerald" quoted hy
Sir Charles, who adduced the 'gruesome details to confute Major
Waddington, whose estimates in his published memoir of the baulc
were much more modest. Wadington speaks of 400 dead in the bed
of the Fulcli, "and probably as many more in different parts of the
field and the shikargarh, killed by the artilery and cavalry," and adds
that as quarter could not he given (the Balochis, not expecting it.
defending themselves to the last. and making it impossible to spare
2(,

ure.:

II.

2:\')

J he Sind" Bntttes. IX43

them) the number of wounded did not probably much exceed the
number of killed. He admits that the Balochi accounts made their
loss much greater, and that it was possible that some bodies might
have been removed during the night after the battle. Rice Holmes,
Fortescue, and Cadell have inclined to Waddington'S opinion, taking
2,000 as the probable. figure of the Baloch casualties; and we may
dismiss the subject with the hope that the lowest estimate may have
been the truth.
It must be recorded, to the eternal credit of the Mirs'
feudatories, that according to Mir Nasir Khan, ten thousand,
including many survivors of Miani, rallied to him that very night",
and we know that many who had survived the ordeal joined Mir Shcr
Muhammad, to fight at Duhba.
.

(c) Napier's orders 10 the Cavalry: - In adhering, in my

account of the baule, to Waddington's version of the order of events,
. which was the question most keenly disputed between him and Sir
William Napier. I may be incorrect in ignoring what Rice Holmes
calls "evidence which proves that the order was delivered to Paule
before rucker addressed him"." I rely upon the letters of Tucker
and Thompson, and the fact that Sir Charles himself declares that he
sent three officers with the same order, Thompson being the first of
tbe three.e' It is clear that the effect of Thompson's communication
of the order to Major Storey was to put the 9th Cavalry as a whole in
motion: the squadron commanded by Captain Garrett, which is
particularly mentioned, being the 2nd Squadron. It is equally clear
from Captain Tucker's letter that he obtained Pattie's permission to
. advance with his own squadron- the 3rd- before any other part of
the Regiment moved. .
But be the facts as they may, we may agree with Waddington's
remark: "I cannot understand how Sir C. Napier is robbed .....\:)f 'pH
the merit of the conception of that brilliant movement'; for he gave
the order in complete ignorance of its having been already partly
carried into execution." He held that credit should be given to
Tucker for seeing the crisis simultaneously with the General.

27.
21'.

:<)

Supplementary
Bluc Bo"k. p. 121\.
Rice Holmes, r I()')
Lie \',)1 II. r 1;;;

,Iiinel" Observed

In his despatch, Napier accorded the honour of having decided

.ihc hallie to "the Cavalry of the left wing." Jacob, in his letter of the,
23rd February, says, in reference to his own Regiment, "Our charge
decided the battle: the General told me so on the ground," It docs
seem probable that the capture of the Mirs' camp and the dispersion
of their numerous mounted reserves by the Scinde Horse were what
finally shook the resolution of the Balochis in the Fuleli, rather than
the penetration of their line, and consequently isolation of their right
wing, by the advance of the Bengal Cavalry. But as it was the latter
who began the movement, and were the first portion of the British
Force to break into.the Baloch position, it is but just that they should
share the honour equally with the Sciride Horse,
The Napiers' later commendation of ritz Gerald at the expense
of Jacob is an instance of spite overcoming judgment: while Jacob,
with the assistance of his Adjutant, Lieut. Russ.ell, reformed the
greater part of his Regiment after charging through the Mirs; camp,
when his men were excited to the highest pitch, and so was ready
when. required to repel an expected attack on the rear guard,
FitzGerald, not hearing the trumpets, went on in pursuit for several
miles, until corning on a large body of Horse who had' not been
engaged ~\! was obliged to retire. it was the difference between
Cromwell and Princ~ Reupert over again... ,
(d) Duration of the battle: - Sir William Napier says.that the
struggle continued for four hours: and Sir John Fortescue, writing ,
his account after the publication of Rice Holmes' work, adheres to
this figure.
But Waddington's calculations arc irrefutable:
considering the battle to have begun when the British Artillery
opened fire, at about 11 a.m., it 'lasted for two and a half hours; the
close fighting being from 12 noon to a little after 1 p.m. These times
have been adopted by Sir Patrick Cadell", But taking the time from
when .the Mirs' a~my opened fite .on the Sindh Irregular Horse, on
whom they inflicted .casualries, four hours would be an underestimate: for the British' infantry line was formed at 9 a.m., and
Jacob and his men were iii Position.and under. lire for at least an
hour before that. But.this would hardly amount to "three and a half
hours of rugged hallie." .
.

30.

History of the Bombay Army. p. 1X4.

Ttre Sindh Battles, flU3

(e) C1aH Composition of H. AI':f 22f1d Regiment. - William

Napier says: "This battalion ...:. was composed entirely of Irishmen:
.- a statement perhaps based on a remark of Sir Charles' in a letter
10 Captain John Kennedy written just before the battle: "l haw nne
British Regiment; the 22nd. Magnificent Tipperary! I would not give
'the specimens' for a deal just now." The Napicrs' predilection [or
Irish troops is wcll known, and Sir Patrick Cadell drew my attention
to an instance of even greater perversion of the facts by Sir William,
in Vol. VI of the Peninsular War.
.
.
Rice Holmes speaks more correctly of "the 22nd, half of whom
were Irish." This Regiment having had a local connection with
Chester since 1781, naturally attracted a comparatively large number
of Irish recruits. With regard to their proportion in 1843, the only
evidence I have is in the names of the men of the 22nd killed in the
Sindh battles, inscribed on the monument at Miani. Out of 65, 25
names are prima facie Irish, Incidentally, the casualty ret urns of the
two battles give only 46 dead, so 19 more must have died of wounds.
I may add that it is evident from the names of the Indian soldiers on
the monument that the great majority of the men of the Bombay
Infantry Regiments were Marathas, with a few "Purbias," the
Cavalrymen being "Purbias" and Muslims.
(6) Criticisms of Napier's Conduct of the bottle:
Sir Charles Napier, in his fil)al estimate of his baulcs'!
considered that he deserved credit for four things as a commander at
Miani:"Ist: The formation of my enormous baggage as a fortress. hy
which it defended itself and my rear at the same timc.
2nd: Stopping the gap. and thus paralysing a great force Ill' the
cnemy in the shikargah.
3rd: Making the Cavalry charge as they did.
-lth: My formation in square after victory. as a precaution
against a renewed attack with overpowering: numbers, which was in

Sillljt, Observed

i~
enemy's power and with the most terrible effect, as we were on a
plain where his whole force could reach us."

The justice of this estimate will not be gain said. In addition, of

course, was his inspiring personal leadership. It is not usually sound
for a General to expose himself like a battalion comma~d.!;r, but
there arc times when it is not only desirable, but decisive; as
Napoleon proved at the bridge of Lolli. It is unreasonable to
speculate on what would have happened had Napier fallen, or
whether the battle could have been won without him cheering on his
men in front of the line. Napier himself declared: "In the battle I
rallied the 22nd twice, and the 25th N.t. three times, when giving,WAyunder the terrible pressure; all the officers behaved well, but had.!
lcl] the front nne moment the day would have been lost: many know
this. Had I not been there some other would have done the same,
hut being there, and having rallied them, to have gone to another
point would have lost alp2:' It is curious that, considering what he
and his officers owed to the troops' instinct of how to fight on the
edge of the Fulcli, he should have added: "We ought to have gone
slap over the bank, and had the 22nd been old soldiers they would
have done so: but such young lads were amazed, they knew not what
to do ....." However, EUenborough's opinion, given in a brief dcmiofficial letter dated Agra, 5th March, 1843, which I believe has not
been quoted before, has not been departed from by subsequent
writers: "General :
The victory of Mecanec is thoroughly your own. Brave as the
conduct of your officers and troops was, they would have failed
wihiout your example, as well as your directing hand...,'
But there is one aspect of Napier's management of his troops
which cannot escape criticism: his failure to .ake due usc of his
artillery. After the preliminary cannonading, two-thirds of his guns
took no part in the action until the resistance of the Balochis had
been broken. This was noticed by Outram, as appears in two private
letters to John Jacob: - "Show me why the artillery was of 110
service at Mcance
and how they could have been brought into
cfkcti\'c poshion
" (2Xth May 1846) and, referring to the British
32

Uk:. Vol. II. p. 327.

19~

'Ill,' Sindt: Bautcs. 1843

losses at Miani "which Sir Charles might have won without the loss
of a man, scarcely, had he turned his guns down the FullaJie as he
might have done by a little management, and then slipned his cavalry
at them when cannonaded out of their position." (21st October,
1~47). There is. of course. some exaggeration here. But Sir Charles
himself felt some; explanation was required; in a letter to Lord
Ellenborough about a week after the ball Ie, he wrote" "All the guns
were on the right to meet a rush, if the Beloochees in the wood
should overpower Tew; but all could not be brought into action; the
camels turned restive, and some guns were dragged up by the
soldiers. but there was not room for more than four. We had hut
three officers, instead of the ten which twelve guns ought to have:
the Company will never give full effect to their troops unless more
regimental officers arc with their Corps,"
Jacob in a rough sketch-plan enclosed with his kiter to his
father dated 23rd February shows the guns which could not be
brought up to the front drawn up one behind the other along the
shikargah wall. A few of them would have been of infinite service on
the other flank, where Napier expected the Ist Grenadiers, with less
than 250 bayonets, to storm the village and enclosures strongly
occupied by the enemy. This was fit work for artillery preparation,
and with four guns so employed the ball Ie might certainly have been
won sooner, and with less cost to the British infantry and cavalry.
But even if Napier had wished to make such dispositions,' the paucity
of artillery officers was an obstacle: and once the three of them were
with their four guns on the brink of the Fuleli, there was no time to
think of improving a position which taxed all their energies and skill
to maintain.
Napier fully recognized his debt to the Artillery and Sappers.
Writing to Lord Ellcnborough on September 15th. IH4~. he says:
"Let me now point out that there are, still unpromotcd, to the great
regret of everyone Captains HUll and Henderson. The first, with
great resolution, and difficulty gOI his guns on 10 a perilous lillie rise
of ground at Mccance, the Bclooch mass being in a hollow a few
yards olT:Henderson with his Madras Sappers fought desperately to
protect these guns while being so placed. These officers were
conspicuously cool and courageous. and very terrible to the enemy,
bUI Hull was the most conspicuous from the great destruction he
.B.

Life. VoL II. p. 341.

199

Sind" Observei!

dealt. Captain Whitlie's two guns dealt with the enemy in front, but
Hurt's guns swept the columns endeavouring to turn our right flank
and Henderson's sappcrs broke down part of the park wall, under
cover of which the Balooch columns were getting round us. and
through that breach Hutt checked their progress."
Napier has also been criticised for walking into a trap at Miani,
Sir John Fortescue, basing his account of the battle on that of Rice
Holmes, goes further than that author in his assertions that Sir
Charles completely mistook the real nature of the Baloch position",
He says "How far Napier was to blame for this it is not easy to say.
It seems strange that no guide should have told him of the course of
the Fulcli, and considering that he mistook the reserves of the
Balochis for their front line, it is not quite clear why a staffofficer or,
two or even a line of skirmishers, should not have been pushed
forward to examine the ground over which he purposed to advance."
This last remark is made obviously ip complete ignorance of the fact
of Jacob's reconnaisancc. But what information did Jacob send
back? McMurdo says positively that Sir Charles "was not aware of
the existence of the loop, nor even of the exact situation of the
Fullaillec in front- till the line got close enough to see the heads of
the enemy above ihe bunk?" _:_ and this was ~whenthe British line
was committed to its final advance. The question therefore is. was
Jacob at fault? From the letter to his father of February 23rd, IX4.1,
one, would infer that he had realised that the main position of the
Balochis was in the bed of the Fulcli. But this may have been
wisdom after the event. He says: 'J went myself to within about 200
yards of their line, upon which they fired matchlocks both from the
village and shikargah, showing both to he occupied and their
dispositions complete; having well observed their position and
strength I sent a note back to the General about them."
It should be tcmcmbcrcd thai. the Mirs' cannon were grouped
at intervals along their front, and probably had men clustered round
them: and though in cutting their firing-stop in the northern hank 01
the Fulcli the Balochis probably threw up the earth in front. this
channel, being originally a natural branch of the Indus, had not the
high spoil-hanks which at once indicate the line of all artificial canal.
Its line at thi" point is not, and doubtless was not at the time of the
3..1.

Hisiorv British Army. Vol. XII. p. 292.

35.

Ric.: Holmes. pgs. I:'2-5.~.

200

1Ire Sind" Battles, 1843

battle, distinguishable from a few hundred yards'distance. We do

not know the contents of Jacob's note: but he could not be blamed if
he did not see that there was the deep bed of a cahal across the front
behind the guns. He certainly could not have made a closer
reconnaissance. On the other hand, one must agree with Fortescue
that it was strange that Napier's guides did not tell him of the bend'
in the Fuleli.
.
(7) Topography of the fi~ld of Miani, a hundred years after the
baltic:
It is a matter for satisfaction, considering that the battlefield of
Miani is in the alluvial plain of Sindh, which has been developed so
much by improvements 'in irrigation during the century of British
Rule, that comparatively few topographical changes have taken place
since the battle was fought, although no calculated efforts have been
made, so far as I am aware, to preserve its character ..

.,

'.

Two pillars have been erected to mark the right and left of the
British attack. The shikargah on the right was happily retained as a
Reserved Forest- Belo Kathri- and its boundary, a trench and
raised bank, follows exactly the line of the shikargah wall. The pillar
011 this flank is, of course, where this meets the Fuleli, and the
ground where the artillery were brought into position is still
somewhat raised above the general level of the plain.
The loop of. the canal in which the Balochis took up their
position was eliminated hy a chord nearly a mile to the south, as long
ago as 1857, when the first improvements .to the Fuleli were
undertaken: its bed has been raised considerably by a century of
cultivation, but it is still perfectly distinguishable.
The pillar. on the left is on the high bank of the Nao Kamal
Wah "karia," now superseded by the Barrage system, to \he S.S.E. of
the village. This must mark the point to which the 2nd squadron of
the 9th Bengal Cavalry advanced down the Fuleli.
The actual infantry front along the Fulcli bank measures a
mere 700 yards, between the village and the shikargah: a convenient
length for the 1,400 bayonets which Napier brought into line.

20t

Simi" Observed

The most conspicuous landmark is the tomb and mosque of

Mit Jan Muhammad Khan Tall?ur, which his family erected "with a
\....
arlike vanity, not where he feq in the bottom of the Fullaillee but
sixty yards beyond the British lines, where. he never penetrated:"
The British monument is an obelisk "Erected by Major-General Sir
C. J. Napier, G.C.B., and the Officers, N. C. Os, and soldiers of the
British Army under his command, in memory of their comrades,
who fell in the battles of the 17th February and 24th March 1843.
[ought with the Ameers of Scinde." It is a little to the West of the
position where the British encamped after the battle, south of the
Fuleli, and bears the names of all who fell in the two battles. Here
those who were killed at Miani are buried.
The "shallow green bed of a watercourse" which bounded the
field to the Eastward is still much as it must have been at the time of
the battle. Till recently, the Nao Kamal Wah karia followed it. The
jungle and broken ground beyond it arc just as impracticable for
cavalry now as then with the addition of a perennial Barrage canal,
running from North to South to the East of the village: this roughly
follows the line of one of the scarped channels surmounted by Jacob
in his abortive attack.
Sultan Shah village is surrounded by some magnificent old Nim
trees, which must have been in existence in 1843. In fact, the
descendent of the owner of the village of those days, one Ali Shah,
showed me a mark on the huge trunk of one of the trees which he
declares was caused by a cannon ball- presumably when Napier
turned part of his artillery on the village to clear it of the last of its
defenders, at the end of the battle. There are two more small
villages to the north of Sultan Shah; which is now known as Pahilwan
Shah, which did not exist a century ago: but with the jungle round
them they roughly coincide with the enclosures and jungle shown on
Waddington's plan.
Nowadays there is a certain amount of colton cultivation ncar
the villages, and Jan Muhammad's tomb, and wheat is grown in the
bed of the Fuleli: but the ground over which the British approached
the scene of the struggle is exactly as described by Waddington: "a
narrow-plain, dotted with low sandy hillocks and camel bushes." I
11;1\'C stood on what I believe to be the very sand hill from which Sir
( harles Napier took his first survey of the Baloch position, at about

202

'/11('Sind" Battles. J 843

a mile's distance: and hard it is to make out much distinctly, looking

intothe sun, as one must at that time of day.
The shikargah on the right hank of the Fule1i, where it runs
north to south parallel with the original line of advance. is now
Miani Forest Reserve: and here, in the Hatri Forest bungalow,
(1ri~inally a hunting lodge of the Mirs, is preserved a plan of the
battle, by Captain Henderson.
'For those curious in mailers of detail, I may add that the two
canals which delayed the march of the main army from Matiari were
the Sarfaraz Wah and the Gurk Wah, now both superseded by the
Barrage Canals: and the village where Napier first formed up the
Advance Guard, on hearing the sound of the Mirs' cannonprobably a signal to assemble and take up their positionswas
Tando Syed Khan Laghari.
To the country people, the battle is known as Jan Muhammad's
fight.

Concluding observations:
Most of the units engaged on the British side at Miani still
remain in the Army Lists, and all added to the laurels won on that
memorable
day.
The 22nd is better known as the Cheshire
Regiment, while the 25th Bombay Native Infantry, beloved by Sir
Charles, has become the 5th Battalion (Napier's 6th Rajputana
Rifles. These two Regiments, which fought side by side in Sindh.
have ever afterwards exchanged annual congratulatory messages nn
Miani day. The 12th Bombay Native Infantry, after various changes
in designation, became the 5th Battalion 4th Bombay Grenadiers in
1922, but was disbanded next year. The 1st Grenadier N. I., are 110\\
the l st Battalion, 4th Bombay Grenadiers. The present titles of the
Scindc Irregular Horse and the Poona Auxiliary Horse are the 14th
Prince of Wales' Own Scinde Horse, and the 17th Queen Victoria's
Own Poona Horse. The 2nd Company 2nd Battalion Bombay Foot
Artillery are represented by No. (j Medium Battery, Royal Artillery.
hut the 3rd Company 3rd Battalion Golandaz was reduced, with
similar units, in
The Madras Sappers and Miners remain, as
Queen Victoria's own Madras Sappcrs and Miners.

uno.

The honours accorded 1'0 Sir Charles Napier and the officerwho fought at Miani also recognized their conduct at the bailie 01

203

."";",/Ir Observed
Dubha, or Hyderahad, and will he more appropriately noticed after
giving an account of that battle. So far as the Corps arc concerned,
the Governor General's despatch of 5th March 1843 aurhoriscs the
hearing on their appointments, standards, and colours, of the battle
honour "Hyderabad, 1&43"(subsequently changed to "Mccance"] by
all units except the 1st Grenadiers. This omission may have been
due to some unofficial lcues, from Sir Charlesr in his despatch he
merely said: "The Grenadiers under Major Clibhorn, owing 10 a
misconception of orders, were but slightly engaged." The omission
seems unjust, considering that the Poona Horse, who received the
Honour, were not engaged at all, while the Grenadiers suffered five
casualties.
In the same order; Ellenhorough directed that the
Regiment of Seinde Horse on its existing establishment, should be
permanently attached to the Army of Bombay.
The same Corps received further honours specifically for
Miani, when in separate orders, dated 8th march and 13th March
respectively, Ellenhorough appointed John Jacob as his Honourary
Aide-de-Camp. and requested Napier to present to the Regiment
the standard they had taken from the enemy.
This is northe place to consider Miani 111 Its relationship to
Napier's diplomacy and Ellenborough's policy. Its glory is the
military glory of the General who dared.huge odds, and of the troops
who met them with unbending resolution. And though defeated, the
Baloch Sardars and their men 'Partake in the glory of courage and
endurance.. More than this:_ Whoever Napier's correspondent was
who wrote "I wish you had not been opposed to men fighting for
their independence," was right; though Napier declared that he
fought for the liherties of the people, and that even the Balochis
were glad to get a good master for a bad one. They found, in the
event, that their Jagirs were secured (or them: bUI it was not only to
preserve their lands that they drew the sword. They fought for the
honour of their Race; to right the grievous wrongs inflicted on the
aged Mir Rustom Khan; "'to break the galling yoke of foreign
domination. When the (all came, at the eleventh hour, they flocked
to their Rulers' standards from far and ncar: and the loyalty and
devotion tllat evoked such a response is no more to he belittled than
the unflinching valour with which they vainly fought. Rcquicscant
omncs in Pace!
Dural/g, /21h December /942.

204

The Lion's Last Roar

. By A. B. Advani, M.A. L.LB
(R~ad before The Sindh Historical Society 011 25-2-43).
If a straight line were to be drawn from Hyderabad (Sindh) in
eastern direction for a distance of forty miles, it will end in a town
called Mirpur Khas. In the beginning of last century, this was the
capital town of the Mirpur branch of Talpur Mirs and had been
founded by Mir Ali' Murad, son of Mir Thara Khan in 1806.1 In
1783,when the Talpur Chiefs wrested power from the Kalhoras, Mir
Fatch Ali Khan Talpur had. divided Sindh in three parts and given
Mirpur and some other places to the cast of Hyderabad to Mir
Than} Khan who ruled o-..er his.territory up to 1829. After his death,
he was succeeded by his son Mir Ali Murad. Mir Ali Murad ruled
for seven years and on his death in 1836, his son Mir 'Sher
Muhammad Khan, popularly known' as the "Lion," ascended the
"gadi,'? The British Government had concluded a separate treaty
with Mir Sher Muhammad "1<han in June 1841, on the latter
. promising to pay an annualtribute of Rs. 50,000 to the British
. Government.' Mir Shcr Muhammad Khan, in the beginning had
kept aloof from the political intrigues in:which the Talpur _Mirsof
upper and Lower Sindh had got entangled, but not. for long. When
the war with the Mirs of Upper and Lower Sindh had become
unavoidable in the beginning of 1843, Mir Sher Muhammad secretly
started collecting a large force of Baloches and on 17th February
. 1843, when the Battle of Meeani took place, he was only six miles
away from the battle-field with 10,O(x)soldiers: . With the defeat of
the Talpur Mirs of Hyderabad, on 17th February, 1843, the Baloch
mercenaries rallied round the standard of Mir Sher Muhammad,
who engaged the British troops under the command of Sir Charles
Napier on 24th March, 1843, in the famous Battle of Hyderabad,
Four hours of sharp fighting decided the battle in favour of the
I.

Ross, David. The Land o(llle Five Rivets aliefSine/h. p. 33.

Alienations ill Silld". Vo1.l!. pages 120and :~7.
/')id. p. 1 so.
'.Iril'r. Sir Will;.llnl.l "
>......
'c'. Jl"~c .'2~.

I'

20)

Sine/II Observed

British troops. Mir Shcr Muhammad however escaped successfully

to Mirpur and from Mirpur to the desert fort of Umer Kat. Some
troops under the command of Major Woodburn marched on the
Umcr Kot and look possession of it without any trouble, but the wily
Lion was no longer there. Sir Charles Napier was by now getting
worried about Mir Shcr Muhammad Khan, who was successfully
playing his hide-and-seck game with the General.
The General
wanted the surrender of the Lion for obvious reasons.
In his
observations to Captain John Jacob, dated 4th June, ]843, Sir
Charles Napier wrote thus: -

"I suspect

the movement

of troops

surrender or a dispersion.

If a surrender,
dispersiqn, we shall be bothered." .

will produce either a

the job is done; if a

For this purpose Chamberlain's Horse were directed to move

'from Rohri and intercept Mir Sher Muhammad, should the latter
attempt to escape to the Punjab. Thus any attempt on the part of
Mir Sher Muhammad Khan to break forth to the north was well
provided against." At the same time Colonel Roberts was ordered 10
move down the right bank of the Indus from Sukkur to Schwan. with
1,500 men and a battery, and to seize all the boats on the river as he
descended.
This move was ordered with two objects. Firstly to
prevent Mir Sher Muhammad Khan from crossing the right bank,
and secondly to prevent the western hill tribes from going over to
join him on the left bank. Captain John Jacob was at Mirpur with
400 infantry, 2 guns and Scinde Irregular Horse.' Thus the Lion
found himself hemmed in on all sides. On 9th June 1843, Captain
John Jacob received orders from Sir Charles Napier to advance, In
his letter to Jacob, Sir Charles Napier wrote: =
"I think you may as well advance as soon after this reaches you
as you can, say tomorrow night.
We have a story that the ,Ameer is at Hala; if so, he is doduiuu
nut or Robert's reach, and Yl~(cannot make up his mind to quit t h;:
fiver.

T?cumllJ()(}k;)(I/;, \:iIJd,/nn:il:''''/j,,,,,,
'\:Ipicr. Sir \\';11" ','. /I,,. { ;';''''''',;
\,
l.! !l:';_~~. .l_:n :11HJ r~

206

\,>1
.:;.i~.

1.lxlgc3h
page 419

The Lion's Last Roar

Now, he must have one of the two following motives for this,
because it is the worst position he can take: 1st. _ His family are on the opposite bank and he wants to get
to them.
2nd. - He has not water enough in the desert.
If he wants to join his family he will' escape alone and his
people disperse. If he is pushed for water, he has no choice, and
must remain between Robert's column, yours and mine, and will
inevitably be destroyed, as far as military calculation goes. .... I
would tryto force him to the desert, but stronger reasons make me
prefer pushing him towards the river; if he gets into the desert he
may perish for want of water, or disperse and assemble in our rear,
or any other convenient place; but if I get him down on the river, I
shove him into it, and finish the war at a blow! I do not want to
drown him if he and his people surrender, butI would rather drown
them all than let them escape, which would produce amuch greater
loss of life, in the long run. Between you and Roberts, Sher
Muhammad had a good chance of being picked Up,"8
On receipt of this letter Jacob with the force under his
command, marched from Mirpur, reaching Shahdadpur on the 13th
June, lR43, At this place Jacob received information that Mir Shcr
Muhammad Khan had marched from Hala to a small fort at a
distance of 16 or 17 miles to the south-east of Hala. Late in the
night, a servant-of Mir Sher Muhammad Khan came to Jacob's camp
and informed, him that a force of 8,000 or, 10,000 Balochcs would
attack him soon. Mir Sher Muhammad Khan had intended 10
surprise Jacob's detachment by attacking it before daylight. But
Jacob was on guard, and. left his camp on the night of the 13lh June,
1843, to meet the Lion. At 3 o'clock in the morning of the 141h
June, the British picquest found the enemy coming 011 in large
numbers. The advance however was verv slow which enabled Jacob
to send several parties to ~~cr~~iI;:c. L~ing' a troop and j::ompany
to protect the camp, Jacob went forward wll.J:!the rest p(his force.
The Balochcs had formed on the bank of a ,I)t//uh in considerable
strength, both horse and foot. The number of Balochcs present for
Ihi~ htllic was <lhoUl 4,000, and the Lion had broughr S guns. As
j,

""d

1/",,1. "(rh, <I: il/,j,_.

li",'::illw

l lors, VIii. L. r<lgc~3'i-:n

Si"d" Observed

soon as Jacob advanced the Baloches opened their guns on his force.
The ground in front of Jacob's force was a rugged one, intersected
with deep ravines. Jacob formed his line and ordered the guns to be
fired. It was an extremely tame show, unlike the one at :Mceani
where no quarter was sought and none given. The Balochcs moved
off and on the Scinde Horse advancing they broke and fled in every
direction, leaving behind their guns and standards. It was not a
retreat but a route. The country being covered with jungle and sand
dunes, and intersected with deep ditches full of water, effective
pursuit of the Baloches was not possible. In the general disorder
Mir Sher Muhammad fled with ten horsemen and Jacob had the
consolation that although he had been unsuccessful in his attempt to
capture the Lion, he had succeeded in preventing his flight to the
desert. All the 3 brass guns, mainly 3" .bore, complete with limber
and ammunition were captured in this action."
Mir Sher
Muhammad fled and crossing the Inuds, escaped in the mountains,
taking refuge with the hill tribes there.'? After this he became a
fugitive and was no longer a power to reckon with. The Sindh
Campaign ended with the Lion's last stand at Shahdadpur. The Lion
roared, but it was such a feeble roar, that one is filled with pity for
him. for the Lion was a brave foe and even Sir Charles Napier
acknowledged this he when wrote to Jacob on 4th June, 1843: _ "J
like this fellow, for his resolute resistance,"!'

I).

III
j

Record Book of the Scindc Irregular Horse Vol. I. rage s .~K-31)

Napier. Sir Wrlliam . .,he ('''''l/Iln/n! Scind, rages 440-41
R: ..ord /Jo,,/...otth Scind I"'('glll(lr 1/01"<;1'. Vo! I page 3".

The 50th Anniversary of Meanee

The conquest of Sind was effected by Sir Charles Napier just
half-a-century ago, and on the 17th instant, the fiftieth anniversary of
Meanee, the members of the Sind Club entertained at a banquet
Major-General Marston, the 'only surviving. officer of Sir Charles
Napier's small army supposed to be now residing in India. Between
sixty and seventy guests assembled to meet the veteran, and had not
Colonel Sartorius, C.B., and the Karachi Eleven been starting for
Lahore that night to play Lord Hawke's team, and H. E. Sir George
Greaves, on tour in Sind, had not been detained by accidents both by
river and road, the Assembly would have been still larger and more
brilliant, the more so as many district officers were kept prisoners in
their camps by rain having made the roads impassable. The chair
taken by Brigadier-General Boyce Combe, CB., Chairman of
the Club Committee, on whose right sat the guest of the evening and
on his left the Commissioner-in-Sind, who had come a long distance
expressly for the occasion. The Services mustered in great force, all
in uniform, and the Civil community, with the Chairman of the
Chamber of Commerce, Mr. James Currie, at their head, was no less
eager to do honour to their gallant fellow-citizen. At the end of the
great hall w~ ~. word MEANEE (spelt according to ancient not
Hunterian speMng) in letters of gold, surrounded by a wreath of
laurel, and below it were draped the colours of the 1st Belooch
Battalion, ,guarded by the stalwart Beloochi, The Band of the
Regiment pl'\fed during dinner.
Under any circumstances, a
community of Britons might be expected to show some mark of
respect to an old soldier on the 50th anniversary of a great battle in
which he took part, but when that soldier had by his own personal
prowess contrilWted materially to the battle becoming a victory ___
that victory in its turn resulting in the annexation to the Empire of a
fine province - and when he had for 30 years been conspicuous in
reducing that province to law and order and eventually after a brief
further space of military duty had returned there to reside
permanently, an entertainment Was felt to be more than usually
appropriate. In France a public meeting would have been held,
addresses read, and the Governor or Commissioncr would have
kissed him publicly on both checks. but Englishmen adhere to the

was

2()l)

Sindh O/lSCIW'"

time-honoured, if less romantic, institution of a feast. The

proceedings were most enthusiastic throughout, every allusion to
Major-General Marston being loudly applauded. The most striking
incident was the General's own speech. No one present, writes one
who was present, will ever forget the sight of the greyhaired warrior,
his powerful frame as erect as a boy's, his presence commanding,
and his eyes as keen as hawk's, but with a cheery kindliness marked
in every line of his face, telling for the benefit of the hearers, few of
whom were born while he was already fighting for his country, in
simple but stirring words the account of the memorable fight.
Seldom, indeed, does it fall to the lot of 'anyone to hear a brilliant
episode of history rehearsed modestly and graphically by one of the
principal actors in it fifty years before.
The audience hung
breathlessly on the speaker's lips, occasionally breaking out into an
irresponsible cheer, and at the end the enthusiasm of the audience
was unbounded. A synopsis of Major-General Marston's service
may be given here. He joined the armyon the 18th February, 1839,
and was posted to the 25th Bombay Light Infantry. The same year
he was sent on field service against the Raja of Satara, and in 1841
took part in the first Afghan War. He accompanied Sir Richard
England's. force to the relief of Kandahar and was present at the
second engagement at Hykalzye in 1842. At Meanee in 1843 he
saved Sir Charles Napier's life and was mentioned in despatches.
He was also presen~ at the battle of Hyderabad and the taking 'of
Umerkot. After the annexation of Sind, although a lieutenant of
only 4 years' service, he was appointed by Sir Charles Napier to raise
the Karachi' District Police, and later in 1848, was made
commandant of all the Police in Sind, that force which was the
model of
other forces of the kind in India. In 1855 he received
- the thanks. of. Government and of the Court of Directors for
personal gallantry iji an encounter with Afghan robbers, In 1857 he
was made a Brevet-Major for distinguished service, After the
mutiny he was again thanked by Government for the conspicuous
services rendered by the Sind Police in suppressing mutinous
outbreak at Karachi, Hydcrabad and Shikarpur, at which places the
police pursued, arrested, and brought to execution the sepoymutineers.
In]&)4
his appointment was abolished on reorganisation, and at his own request he was appointed, without loss
of pay, to his original post of Superintendent of Karachi Police.
Granted in 1869 a special extension of 3 years, in ] R72 he reverted to
military employ, and the Commander-in-Chief posted him to the

all

~I()

 7111:50th Anniversary of Meanee

command of the 13th N. I. Ultimately, at the conclusion of 37 years

service he accepted a bonus and retired.
It is a singular comment on the manner in which England
rewards the bravery of her sons, as observed by General Combe,
amidst the showers of stars and ribbons distributed twice a year, or
after a campaign, none should have reached him yet, and the
trophies he has to show arc confined to the medal and clasp for the
Sind War, and the sword presented by Sir Charles Napier for saving
his life. In his prime he was a man of powerful physique, a
renowned horseman, and a splended shot. Even if he no longer
scales the mountains in search of ibex with the same light foot as of
vore, he is still heart and soul in sympathy with all manly sports, and
at th'e Karachi Meetings, where he always fills the post of Judge, no
figure is better known or more welcome.
To return to the dinner- we will not call it a banquetBrigadier-General Combe, after, proposing the health of Her
N(ajesty the Queen-Empress and observing that though the toast was
one that had been heard many years even before Meanee, and
would, all present hoped, be drunk for very many years to come,
rose amid loud cheers (0 propose the toast of the evening. In an
appreciative speech he referred to the manner in which MajorGeneral then Lieutenant, Marston saved Sir Charles, and quoted
from the latter's letters to his brother, to Lord Ellenborough and (0
Lieutenant Marston himself, to show how grateful Sir Charles was
for the same. At the end there was loud and long-continued.
cheering, which was renewed when General Marston rose to reply.
He described in simple words the manner in which the battle was
won- the march, the reconnoitre, the forming of line, the defence,
the attack, and his own part in the victory.
As soon as .the cheers which followed had subsided General
Combe proposed the memory of those who fel] at Meanee, which
was drunk in solemn silence.
Mr. Cnrrie then proposed the health of the visitors, alluding in
humourous terms to the causeg which had kept some away, and
especially expressing regret that the son-of General Y()ung-hu~hand,
WhOwas on the Staff at the battle. could not attend from Sukkur.
He coupled the toast >;VJththe n~~~ of the Commissione~-in-Sind.
who had COmeall the way from Sibito to attend that evening. The
211

Sillclh Uhsctved

toast was well received, and in reply Mr. James spoke of the
importance of the occasion and mentioned that he had received a
telegram from the Governor of Bombay, wishing General Marston
long life. His speech was very long but very interesting.
It was a

historical review of the war with the Amirs. Mr. James also spoke of
the great results of the conquest, the foresight of Sir Charles Napier
in suggesting the making of a mole from Bunder to Kiamari as a first
step towards the "making of Karachi;" the water works and other
works of utility which have since been carried out though very
tardily. Finally he referred to the pacification of the province in
which General Marston played a very important part by organising a
very efficient Police force. Allusion was also made to his services in
pursuing and capturing the mutinous sepoys at Karachi during the
great Indian mutiny.
The speaking over, two or three vocalists entertained the
company with songs, and the proceedings concluded with singing
Auld Lang Syne, Rule Brittania, and God Save the Queen.
Reprinted from "The Sind Times'; dated February 26, 1893:
N. M. Billimotia

The Indian Navy A Review of its Activities in

Sindh and on the Adjacent Coasts 1615-1863
By Commander

R. D. Merriman, R.I.N.

Read before tire Sindh Historical Society 011 26-! 1-/942

The approaching centenary of the Battle of Meanee, Feb. 17th,
1843, which virtually settled the conquest of Sindh, suggests a review
of the pari played by the H.E.I.C.'~ Navy not only on that occasion,
but over a period of more than 200 years beforehand.

It is perhaps inevitable in India, where the Military clement so

greatly outnumbers the Naval, the work of the laucr, performed as
so much of it must needs be, out of sight of the landsman, tends to
he unnoticed or forgotten.
This is the more to he regretted when the ultimate dependence
of India on Sea Power is realised. The British Empire in india was
founded and maintained as the result of supremacy at sea and it is
hardly too much to say that the Conquest of Sindh depended very
largely on this supremacy, for. neither could the troops have been
safely transported
from Bombay to the scene of operations nor
maintained
in the field, had not the navy (both Royal and
Company's) provided ships and gua~antecd the safety of the sea
COI11 municat ions.
Before a landing on an enemy coast can be achieved, the area
must be surveyed. and before the ~lInvv can he effectively carried
out, the neighbouring waters must he cleared or the enemy. It will
therefore he convenient for pmp,l-.e, of this review, to consider
Naval activities in Sindh under these three headings.
/.

SIII)pr('ssi(1I1

III Pirtle".

From the earliest da\s 1'1' the British connection with India. one
of the princiapl prc-occup.uion- of the H. E. I. C. was the protection

Sindtt Ohsctvcd

of the sea-borne trade against pirates. From the early 17th to the
first quarter 01' the 19th century the menace recurrs again and again,
being perhaps at its worst in the late 17th and the early 18th
cent urics, when the depredations
of European renegades and
freebooters such as Kidd, Teach and Avery added to that of the local
variety rendercd : peaceful trade in Indian waters well-nigh
impossihk.
The ships of the Royal Navy were rarely seen in these waters in
those early days, and it was to counter the menace of piracy that the
H. E. I. C almost as soon as the first Factory was established at
Surai, formed a small squadron of country craft, armed them and
manned them with crews, partly British and partly Indian, and set
them to escort the coastwise traffic in the Cutch, Sindh and Cambay
areas.'
With the growth of the H. E. I. C and its rapidly expanding
sphere of influence came the need for better and more numerous
naval V(:sscb. until. at the time of its dishandment in 186;\ the Service
which had begun in Hi 15 with 10 grabs and gallivats, showed a total
strength of some 50 to (i() vessels ranging from Frigates to River
gunboats, Its Flag had been seen from the Persian Gulf to China, its
ships had been engaged in action with the Dutch, Portuguese and
French, and with Arab, Sanganian and Malabar Pirates and the
marine surveys carried out by its officers are still commemorated on
almost every chart in Indian Waters.
Operations
against pirates frequently took the form of
encounters between a single ship of the H. C. and a swarm of hostile
count ry craft. lor the pirates seldom attacked unless they were in
overwhelming maj(~rity. Low. in his "History of the Indian Navy"
recounts many such actions. One. which occurred in the vicinity of
the Gulf of Cutch in 17'>7 may suitahly he referred to here.
..

A' British tradinn

vessel had been seized bv the Hakim of

to d~'li\'Cr il up. A small-"essel of the H.
C's Marine called the Vigilant mllunting (i guns and commanded by
Lieut. Hayes. L N. was therl'l(lrc sent up from Bomhay with orders
tll effect her release.
Sonrncancc who rdus~d

Onthe \\',1),. while nmsing thc entrance til the Gulf of Cuich,
rhc Vi).:i/(111/ Was attacked hv lour large and hc.:'''"ily manned sail of
214

The Indian

Nl/l')'-

Sanganian Pirates. Adopting their usual tactics, the pirates laid their
craft alongside the Vigilant two on each side, and attempted to
board, but without success, for, after a spirited resistance which
lasted for three hours the pirates cut their craft free and made off
considerably the worst for their reception.
The strength of the H. C's Navy, however, was seldom
commensurate with its needs. No sooner had an immediate threat
been uccessfully dealt with, than a cold (it of economy resulted in a
reduction off the Naval Establishment, with the inevitable result that
the danger cropped up again.
This proved to be the case in 181L when the Pirates at Bcyt
again became troublesome. necessitating a combined Naval and
Military expedition to Kaihyawar '.
~
The Naval Squadron consisted of:_
H. C.'s Schooner Zephyr, Lieut. Blast, 8 guns.
H. C.'s Schooner Sylph, Lieut. Hardy, 8 guns.
H. C:s Pattamar BhowOII_\, Midshipman Grant, 6 twelvepounders, and 4 other armed Pauamars, each carying 6 twelvepounders.
While the military forces were employed at Beyt, the Naval
Squadron carried out a highly successful operation at Lakhpat
Creek, on the North side of the Gulf of Cutch, ncar Mandvi.
The pirates had taken up a strong position at the Fort of
Nuransecr, under the guns of which they had ranged their craft. It
W:lS decided
to attempt a "cutting out" operation, which wa~
brilliantly carried out, The ships were stationed at the entrance to
the Khori Creek (up which the pirates had withdrawn) to prevent the
enemy escaping, and the boats of the squadron, with Midshipman
Grant in command, rowed up the Creek and, aIter a determined
dash under heavy fire from the pirate craft and the Fort, boarded
and captured the three haghallas which were sheltering there. For
this exploit, Midshipman Grant received the thanks of the
Govt:rnment of Bombay.
The campaign was brought to an end by an attack on the Fort
of Navanagar by the Military... vsistcd by the Naval Forces I.
215

Sind"

Oh.fC'11'C'd

It is impossible to mention piracy and the measures taken to

suppress it in Sindh, Cutch and 'Kathyawar without noticing the
activities of the Joasrnis. This Arb tribe had its stronghold at Ras-alKhavrna in ihe Persian Gulf, and from about 1797until 1820when it
took' a combined Naval and Military Force of considerable strength
finally to crush it, remained, a' thorn in the flesh of the trading
community,
The Joasmi Fleet in the year 1809 was estimated to consist of
some 6:1large vessels and eight hunarea and thirteen of-smaller size;
the whole manned by 19,(XIO
menl.
The entire trade route from Basra to Bombay was harassed by
these ruthless marauders, and harmless merchantmen on the Coasts
of Sindh and Cutch were frequent sufferers at their hands.
To quote Lin".... "What may he described as a reign of terror
ensued upon the sea, and merchant vessels feared to leave any port
wihtout the escort of a ship of war, for the pirates had become so
bloodthirsty from long immunity that, not satisfied with plundering
ships, they massacred the crews. A shocking instance of this
occurred on the Okhamandel Coast, when some piratical craft
hoarded a pilgrim vessel having eighty souls on board, of whom forty
were ruthlessly butchered, and the remainder, after being hacked
about with a wanton barbarity; were permittcd, with the exception of
some women, to sink in the ship. which was Scullled; however, the
poor wretches managed to keep the craft afloat and navigated her
into Bcyt, where they were duly cared for by the English Agent, but
few of the survivors recovered from their wounds,"
The pirates by no means had things all their own Wily, and
shortly after the incident recounted above, they attempted to cut off
a large haghala laden with treasure which was under convoy of the
H. c.'s cruiser Aurora of guns, but were beaten off and the convoy
saved.
The measures taken hy the H, t. to suppress the Joasmi, were
intcrmillanl and the force employed inadequate. so that a great deal
of individual gallantry was displayed and innumerable single ship
action" were fought to Lillie permanent effect until the Supreme
Govcrnmcm could be brought to the point of countenancing the
216

The Indian Navy-

expense necessary for the provision of a full scale expeditionary

force which finally and for ever stamped out the pirates' haunt at
Ras-al-Khayma in 1820. The story of this operation is well worth
reading for its own sake as evidencing the strength of the pirate
stronghold, and the ferocity with which it was defended, but is
outside the scope of this paper.
There is one more episode affecting the area in which we are
interested to be mentioned before we conclude this section on the
suppression of piracy.
In the year 1825, owing to dissentions among the Amirs at
Hyderabad, large bands of marauders from Sindh proper, were
believed to have received direct encouragement from Hyderabad to
invade Cutch. A horde of about 3,000 including Sindhis, Meeanas,
Kholis and others, crossed the Rann and threatened Bhuj'. They
sacked Anjar, but were eventually beaten off with the loss of their
Chief, Tahar Lunai. It was necessary to reinforce our troops at Bhuj
and also to provide a naval force to prevent a recrudescence of
piracy among the seafaring populace on the neighbouring coast. The
Cutch Field Force, consisting of 7,000 men under Brigadier M.
Napier of H. M.'s 6th Foot was therefore landed at Mandvi from 4
transports, under the gum, of the H. C.'s sloop-of-war Amherst 18
guns, and the H. c.'s brig. Palinurus, 8 guns. This timely
demonstration had the effect of restoring order and a clash was
.avoided l.
11.

Tllc Maritinie Sun'('\'

With the expansion of British influence in Eastern waters came

need for more accurate charting of the coastline and the
approaches thereto,. the examination of new harbours and the
detailed survey which is necessary hefore these can he developed for
the usc of shipping.

Ihe

Throughout its long history and many vicissitudes the Survey

Branch of the I. N. is the one activity which has continued unbroken
from 1772 (when Lieuts. Blair and McClure were sent, with two
ships to survey the Andaman Islands) to the present day. The
achievements of the Surveying Branch arc commemorated in the
title plates of many Admiralty charts used by mariners today and
217

Sindh Observed

range from Suez to New Zealand

South Coast of China.

and from the Persian Gulf to the

The earliest reference I have been able to find in connection

with this neighbourhood is the survey of Karachi Harbour and the
Mekran Coast carried out by Lieut. S. B. Haines, I.N., and the
officers of the H. c.'s sloop Benares, 14 guns, in the season 1828-29.
Though satisfactory results were achieved along the coast line, the
surveyor the Harbour of Karachi was a hurried and imperfect affair,
owing to the hostillity shown by the local authorities, who, possibly
seeing~ in these activities
the prelude to annexation did all they
I
. could
to obstruct Haines.
During the seasons of 1836, 1837, and 1838, however, the
survey of the Mouths of the Indus, especially of the Khydywari and
Hajamri Branches and of the main river itself were thoroughly
carried out by Lieuts. Wood, Carless, Kcmpthornc, Grieve,
Whitburn and others.
In 1830 Wood was appointed an assistant to the commercial
mission of Sir Alexander Burns (then Capt. Burns) to Cabul. One of
the objects of the mission was to examine and report on the state of
the r ndus and the prospects of opening it to navigation from its
mouth to Attock. Wood not only carried out a careful survey of the
River, but continued Jar beyond Attock on an adventurous and
interestingjonrney
to the Sources of the Oxus. After suffering much
hardship and intense cold he achieved the ascent of the Barn-iDunniah. a IS,DO(} foot peak on the Pamir Plateau, on 19th February,
1838, whence he saw the frozen lake from the end of which issues
the infant Oxus. Wood named this Lake Victoria in honour of the
yountf Sovereign who had succeeded to the Throne in the preceding
year.
It may be of interest here to note that Wood's connection with
. Sindh lasted for many years. He appears to have left the H. E. 1.
c.'s Service shortly after the expedition to the Oxus, and it seems
possible that he had in some way incurred the displeasure of the
Authorities, for when in 1R49, Sir Charles Napier about In take up
his appointment
as Commander-in-Chicf,
India. aware of his
unrivalled knowledge of Sindh and of the Indus, asked for Wood's
services, he W<lS curt ly refused. In 185X, however. when the Indus
Flot ilia ceased to exist as a Naval force, and the ships were handed

218

The Indian Nm'Y-

over to be run by a commercial organisation, Wood was appointed

as Superintendent,
in which situation
he was conspicuously
successful. He died in 1871 after an illness in India as the result of
overwork.
III.

tt Filial Phase /l\38-/863

The surveys of the Mouths of the Indus proved of inestimable

value in facilitating the landing of the Army of the Indus, under Sir
.Iohn Keane in November
1838, for, as has been previously
mentioned, the Harhour of Karachi was not yet in our hands. though
its capture took place some three months latcr.
. The portion of the Army intended for the march through Sindh
left Bombay on 17th November 1838, in several transports.
A
numher of country craft were also engaged for the purpose of
transferring the troops from the larger vessels to the shore on
arrival. The whole convoy was escorted by the H. C.'s ships-of-war
Euphrates, Constance and Taptce the Constance having on board Sir.
.T. Keane and Staff. The, Convoy arrived off the Hajamree mouth on
23rd'Novemher and disembarked at Vikkur into the country craft, in
whic'h they were carried 28 miles upstream to Baminacote where a
Camp was formed'.'
From this time onward, until 1858, a Naval Fltuilla was
maintained on the Indus, with Head Quarters at Khotri. In 1843.
during Sir Charles Napier's Campaign, the Flotilla consisted of the
gunbo!iI~ Planet, Comcl,-Sl_ltellil, Meteor and Nimrod together with it
few "Oats" or houseboats' which could be towed alongside.
The
Indian Navy List for 1858 shows the strength of the Indus Flotilla as
17 river gunboats and () Oats.
The gunboats were shallow draft, paddle wheel craft. ranging
from 150 tons and 40 horse power to 610 tons and 12() horse power.
and each mounting two guns. Their war-time complements appear
to have consisted of two officers and a ships company of sixteen
European and twenty-two Indian ratings. In addition, during the
. 1843 campaign, each vessel carried a small detachment of 5 scpoys
of the Marine Battalion. This Battalion, which was formed in 1777
served continuously in the H .. C's ships-of-war and was an. integral
part of the Naval Service. in which it had a long and distinguished
record.

Sind" Observed

The vessels of the Indus Flotilla, apart from active participation

in warlike operations, was entrusted with the maintainance of
communications by River, the transport of troops and stores, and the
evacuation of the wounded to the base.
This brief digression has been necessary in order to outline the
formation, scope and service of the Indus Flotilla, but we must now
cast back to the yea( lB38 at the conclusion of which, it will he
remembered, the Army of the Indus had been transported to and
disembarked at the Hajamrec Mouth.

as

The vastly superior facilities of Karachi

a harbour were, by
this time, fully recognised, and, on the 1st February, 1839, H. M. S.
Wellesley wearing the Flag of Rear-Admiral Sir Frederick Maitland,
Commander-in-Chief East Indies Station, appeared off Manora in
company with the H. C.'s Ships-of-war: - Constance, Berenice, and
Euphrates and H. M's brig. Algcrine, and demanded the surrender of
the Fort. This was refused. but after a short bombardment a
military force was landed and found the place deserted. The local
Governor was persuaded to surrender shortly afterwards, and the
Townand Harbour of Karachi became British.
.
It may be of interest to record here that the Wellesley, 74 guns,'
was built for the Royal Navy in the Naval DockY(lrd in Bombay,
being completed in 1815. She was built of Burma teak and so solid
was her construction that it is recounted of her (with possibly some
slight exaggeration) that on one occasion she collided with a stone
breakwater and that the only damage that resulted was 10 the
hreakwater. Be that as it may, she was stiU afloat, to the present
writer's personal knmlikdge, in the year I()()~ as a training ship for.
boys in the Rivor Tync,
A further interc..:slinghistorical Iact in connection with this ship
is that Admiral Sir Frederick Maitland had had the distinction, (IS
Captain of H.M.S. Bcllcroplmn, in the year 1815. of receiving on
hoard his ship, Napoleon Bonaparte, who had come 10 surrender
himself after his final defeat at Waterloo.
During Sir C. Napier's ("ampaign in 1843, with Karachi as the
sea base at which Iroops and stores could be landed in safctv at all
scasorrs of the year, ihc line of cOl11muni("alinn
.uP the Ind'us was

220

1111:Indian Navy::

comparatively easily secured, and the Naval Flotilla .under

Commander. NOH,I.N."was kept fully occupied.
The Planet took part in the defence of the Residency .at
Hyderabad, under Outram, being stationed on the River side and
covering with. her guns the withdrawal of the garrison which was
fma.Uyevacuated upstream with the assistance of the Sal/elite which
had arrived on the scene too late to take part i~ the defence.
Both these vessels were then detailed to transport a body of
sepoys under Outram, ~o set fire to a wood which, it was thought was
affording cover to the enemy's left flank at Meanee.
On the following day, February 17th, the Battle of Meanee was
fought. At this decisive action, the Navy though not present on the
field, was represented by the Comet under the personal command of
NOll to whom was assigned the task of preventing the crossing at
Sehwan of a large body of the enemy who were endeavouring to
reinforce the remainder of the Belooch Army. This important duty
was effectively carried out, though it seems to have received scant
acknowledgment from tile Military Commander-in-Chief. Although
generous tribute to the services of the two vessels at Hyderabad was
paid by Outram, the work of the Indus Flotilla throughout the .
campaign appears whether by design or inadvertance, to have
received little or no attention from Sir C. Napier. The real reason is
probably that the Indian Navy then, as it remained up to a much
later date was "nobody's child." The Military high command affected
to rook upon it as floating appanage to the ArmyTransport; the
Royal Navy regarded it as an irregularly constituted Force, and the
Court of' Directors, while ultimately directly responsible for its
constitution and administration, showed complete indifference to the
welfare of its personnel. The worider is that the efficiency and esprit
de corps-of the .Service remained at so high a level.
Before concluding this brief survey of the Indian Navy's part in
the conquest of Sindh, it may be of interest to note that Commander
Nott and a party of seamen had the ~istinCtion of hoisting the British
Flag over the Fort at Hyderabad on the 20tb February, 1843.
During the years immediately succeeding the conquest the
Indian Navy was chiefly concerned in the 'development and
administration of the Karachi Harbour as a seaport and in

221

\'i"rlh Observed

organising the Indus Flotilla, not only as a means of policing the

areas through which the River flows, but in opening up navigation
toward the Punjab, where, shortly, war was again to break out.
Lieut. Giles was appointed asthc first Master Attendant at.
Karachi in. 1839 and was succeeded by Lieut. Carles, LN., whose
careful surveys and well-thought out projects speedily resulted in the
Harbour being rendered capable of accommodating sea-going
vessels.
During the First Sikh War, the Indian Navy furnished and
manned a battery at the siege of Multan, The Flotilla provided the
transport and succeeded in reaching a landing place within six miles
of Multan.
General Whish in his despatch of 22nd January 1849,says:"The services of Captain Powell of the Indian Navy with the .
steamers under, his command have- b~en of much value to the
expedition, and a detail of seamen from the vessels have afforded
relief at the batteries on' several occasions", (N.B. This was' ill
addition /0 the battery provided and manned entirely by the Indian
Navy).
The last occasion on which the Indus Flotilla saw active service
was during the Mutiny of 1857, when it was fully occupied in
transporting troops and stores between Karachi and the Punjab. In
1.858,it was decided that no further reason existed for maintaining a
naval force on the Indus. As has alrcadv been mentioned, the vesels
were handed over to a -;:;-ew)yformed commercial organisation, in
which Government itself took shares, and the Indus Flotilla
therefore ceases to interest us as a naval subject.
With the events which brought the Indian Mutiny 10 an end,
there ends also the record of the H. E. I. C's Navy, for the Company
itself ceased to exist. lis land forces were merged inro the Services
of the Crown and became the Indian Army. The Company's Nary,
however (except as regards its Marine Ballalion) did not share that
good fortune. The Supreme Government in India and the Court of
Directors, at Home had never. throughout the whole period of the
Company's rule. _.been remarkahle for either appreciation or
encouragement Ill' the officers and seamen who served them so well

222

The Indian Nal'y-

throughout the Eastern Seas and for over 200 years. It was decided
to disband the Indian Navy and to pay a subsidy to the Admiralty to
maintain in Indian Waters a squadron of the Royal Navy, and so, on
April 30th, 1863, the Broad Pendant of Commodore Frushard was
saluted with 11 guns from Bombay Castle as he came ashore for the
last time. The Ensign of the H. E. 1. C.'s Navy was hauled down,
and the Service ceased to exist.
It seemed almost as though there existed a malignant
determination that that should be forgotten, for, wh~n Mr. (later Sir
Clements) Markham the historian, called at the India Office and
asked to be given access to the records of the Indian Navy for the
purpose of compiling its history, he was told that orders had been
given for pulping them, and that the major portion were already
destroyed.

One last quotation from Low, who quotes the Bombay Times
on the occasion of the disbandment of the Indian Navy:
"Though the esprit de COIpS of the Indian Navy has been
severely tried during the last two years by the uncertainty of its fate,
the Service has maintained its discipline to the last. But not alone in
its combatant glory has it covered itself with honour, in the
advancement of every branch of naval science, in arduous and
minute surveys, the Indian Navy has been unrivalled. The Officers
have done more, in proportion to their numbers, than any other
service in the world. Many of them from their intimate knowledge
of native affairs and character, particularly in Persia and Arabia,
have rendered, important political services and filled important
political appointments
The hauling down .of the Indian Jack
closes an era in our Indian Empire
The Service expires too soon
for the interest of science; perhaps for the interest of our country,
but. not too soon for its honourable and lasting mention m our
national annals."
. Though it is outside the scope of this paper, the present writer
feels it impossible to conclude without mention of the fact that this
was not the end. The H. C's Navy indeed. existed no more, hut a
Service under the Crown. hearing the title of Bombay Marine WClS
instituted in its plato. Though shorn of all combatant status. it still
maintained the Indian Navy traditions, gradually enlarging its cadre
and scope of its duties it became Her Majesty's indian Marine, and.

.)111(111I.JllSe,,~C/

later, the Royal Indian Marine. On November 11th, 1934, it became

the Royal Indian Navy.
THE ~NDIANNAVY
A 7e\';ewof itsactivities

ill Sindh and

1615-1863.

011 the

adjacent Coast

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.
2.
3.
4.

5.
6.
7.
X.

Low's "History of the Indian Navy."

'The Pirates of Malabar." Lr-Colonel Biddulph.
Gazereer of the Province of Sindh 1876. (Hughes).
"Memoir on the Cutch State." Lieut. Raikes (Bombay Government
Records XV New Series Miscellaneous Information connected with
the Province of Cutch).
"Brief Sketch of the History of Cutch." Captain Waters (Bombay
Government Record XV see above).
"A personal Narrative of a Journey to the Source of the Oxus." Lieut.
John Wood, LN.
"With Sir John Keane through Sindh" (Marriwalla) Sindh Historical
Society's JOurnal. Volume V. No. I.
"Medals Awarded to the Indian Navy for the Sindh Campaign 184.1"
Lt- Colonel Bullock F. R. Hist, Soc. Journal of the Sindh Historical
Society. Volume V. No. 1.

-------

224

Sindh and the Indian Mutiny of 1857

By C.L. Mariwalla, BA.
(Read before the Sind" Historical Society 011 21st August 1940)
The mutiny of 1R57was the last armed upheaval to overthrow
the British in India. It was not only a sepoy mutiny but the mutiny of
the Indian people as a whole. Thus wrote the Press, London. dated
lst August 1857:_ "If the disaffection is confined to the sepoys and
the civil population arc with us what on earth docs the Government
of India mean hy troubling us with its calls fl'r European troops and
its telegraphic alarms? There are men enough within its reach to
raise ten armies from if the people be only well affected to us, as the
ministers and directors state". And it makes an interesting account
to be recapitulating the part Sindh played in that futile attempt.
Before we recount the incidents of this unsuccessful attempt in
Sindh, it would not be out of place to consider the immediate causes
of the rebellion and the elaborate arrangements made, inspire of a
vigilant Government, Here is a version of how the army discontent
was roused, as given by the Bombay Times, dated 2nd June 1857.
Cartridges for the Enfield rifle were contracted to be made at Dum
Dum in India. One day a Clashce who was engaged in making the
new cartridges. met a Brahmin sepoy, lotah in hand. The Clashcc
asked for a drink which the Brahmin declined to give as he did not
know the other's caste. "Caste", replied the Clashcc, "In a few days,
you will have no caste, for you will have to bite cartridges greased
with the Iat of the bullocks and pigs". The Bengal army contained
high class men and this news soon spread among them. Pollusion
and conversion to -Christianity was thought to he the aim of the
introduction of the new cartridges. But that could not be the only
cause of the mutiny, though it was the main cause. In the houses of
Parliament it was brought to the notice 01 the members that contrary
to contract. some fat in question had rcallv been used and thi~
informal ion resulted in a retort from Mr.' Disracli who was in
opposition at that time, The second and the final cause, in the words
or the "Bombay Times" is as follows:_ "What lies at the bottom of
the existing contumacy is a desire for increase in Pay." lncrcascd

~25

Sind!, Obscrv ..t!

heaviness of duties due to the attempt at extension of the British

Empire made the sepovs feel that they had a claim to higher pay.
Whatever. might have been the ulterior motives of the leaders of the
mutiny, these two were quite potent causes and it is surprising that
no active sleps were taken to nip the trouble in the bud: instead,
some interested persons were Janning the fire successfully.
The success of a country-wide mutiny greatly depended on the
speed of communications. For this purpose a novel plan was put
into force which proved to be immensely successful. Here is the
story and a comment thereon from the Friend of India, dated 24th
March 1858:- "One morning towards the end of the last month (he
officials of Fatehgarh were all in commotion, From Thana after
Thana there arrived lillle.chappaties about 2 inches in diameter, It
appeared that a few evenings previous, a Chowkidar from Cawnpore
ordered a Chowkidar in Fatehgarh to make and bake 12 Chappaties
such as the one he showed. Two he was to retain. Two more were
to be given to each of the five nearest Chowkidars. The order was
obeyed and long there was running and baking of Chappaties. The
five' obeyed orders also and distributed their message to 25 and so
the affair went on, the cakes sweeping over the district at a speed at
which no Indian post yet travels. The wave has not stopped yet. Is
there to be an 'explosion of feeling', or only of laughter? Are the
Chappaties of the Fiery Cross or only an indigestible edible, a cause
of revolt or only of the Colic." Having seen that the communications
were prompt, and the people willing, thus "armed the mutiny broke
out at Barrackpore.
.
"
Sindh had just been relieved from its Chaotic state under the
Talpurs, in 1843. It was enjoying the benign rule of Sir Bartle Frere.
The people had just settled down to a normal Peace-Time when the
mutiny broke out. They were fully conscious of the great advantages
of the new rule. They hardly mutincd. Not that alone. They helped
the rulers considerably, to quell the rising.
Here is a short diary of the events that look place in Sindh
during the mutiny: _
Early in 1857, soon after Ihe out-break of the mutiny at
Barrakporc, the harrowing talc~ of the butchery of the Europeans
reached Karachi. The community was up and alarmed. They met i;l
a public meeting on the 2()th (If June, under the Presidency of Sir

22(1

Sind" and the Indian Mutin of 1857

Bartle Frore. All bore anxious faces. It was a tense atmosphere. At

last Sir Bartle broke the icc. He gave a brief account of the mutiny
as culled from the official information received by him. He assured
those present that they need not be afraid since there was no danger
of an out-break in his province. This greatly relieved those present
and the meeting dispersed.
As soon as the mutiny assumed an All-India form, the
Government of India passed the Press Gagging Act. This greatly
handicapped the Press, who contemptuously termed it as the Black
Act. Here is what the Sindh Kossid, a Bi-weekly of Karachi, of those
days, says about it: - Never was a gubernotical act more ill-timed or
ill-judged than that which has placed a tyrranical censorship over the
Indian Press." And in Sindh the axe first fell on the Sindh Kossid
itself. This is how an editorial dated Friday 18th September 1857
details out the incident: - The proprietor printer and manager of
the Sind" Kossid were summoned on Tuesday last to attend the
Magistrate's office to answer for 'an article'. that appeared in our
journal. The summons being for 'immediate' attendance and the
vague allusion to 'an article' put us about not a Jittlf'_ first to
procure swift steeds to do ourselves the honour of 'immediate'
attendance and secondly at looking. over all the paper in question
and wondering what article it might bethat we were called upon to
answer for. However the several parties attended, being escorted by
the Editor who had fearlessly taken the brunt upon himself to
answer all enquiries. The Magistrate, having received the usual
salutations from the men of the Press, proceeded, with paper in
hand, to read a part of our Kotri correspondent's letter regarding an
incident that had taken place at Kotri. Having accomplished this
task of reading aloud. the authority before whom we were standing
assured us (hat there was not the slightest truth in the statement, and
that such mis-statements would oblige him to 'stop the press'. He
desired to be acquainted with the authority for the statement, which
of course we 'declined to furnish under any circumstances. We on
our part assured "he Magistrate that the statement had been
conveyed to us lhrough a gentleman upon whose veracity we had the
utmost confidence and that it found a place in our columns under
the impression that it Was correct. that we were sorry to find. [rum
. thc Magistrate's a~~lIrance. it was not so and that we should be
careful in Iuturc nut til lay ourselves open to any such st;.ll\:l1Jcnt~.
\The Magistrate exerted agall1 and reitcnlLcd hi, intention or

"''''7
--,

Sindh Ohsl'''w/

"stopping the press" should any mis-statements

into our paper."

again find their way

As the distress of the European community increased, a dcmiofficial voluntary aid fund was started at Karachi. to which all
ungrudgingly subscribed. This proved of great avail to the refugees.
As the circumstances
required, the Commissioner
issued
proclamations prohibiting sale of lire-arms and ammunition to the
native population without previous Government permission. as also
transmission of lead. sulphur, salt-petre, gun-powder etc. except for
Government purposes.

The Commissioner ordered a recruiting depot to he established

in Upper Sindh, which in a short time, recruited battalians of
Bcloochees for active service against the mutineers. Seth Naumal of
Karachi made a gesture of loyalty hy promising to furnish a loyal and
sturdy force of 3000 strong from Africa, if the Government provided
the conveyance.
He and the other Sethias of Karachi gave all the
facilities that the Europeans mostly needed at this time .
The Government also opened a camel train from Karachi to
Mullan, having stations after every 20 miles or so, where at each
station were stationed about 50 camels ready for work. By means of
this arrangement and the Indus Flotilla, the regiments were sent to
the Punjab to suppress the rebellion there.
But all was not quiet in Sindh. Lieut: Battis Combe received
news on the 9th September of a plot at Hyderabad fixed for the 12th
instant. 'The cool courage of Brigadier Morris, and a timely gallop
of the mounted police sufficed to prevent the signals of the
disaffection taking effect." The Native infantry was ordered a special
parade immediately, where they were disarmed and the ring-leaders
arrested.
Even the native guard on the Fort was replaced by the
~u;trd of the Royal Fusilicrs and the fort guns were mounted for any
crncrgcncv, A Court Marshal was held where the arch conspirator
H a\ aldar Coornbarsing \Va!'>ordered to be shot from the guns, his
accomplices were either to he hanged or were transported for life,
only two being acquitted.
'When the Havaldar came 10 face his
ordeal. he lashed his hack to the muzzle. The port fire was lightedrl';ld~' lirc- and ;",,'ay' he went full sweep. a portion of the hack-bone
nc.ulv kuockiru; I Ill' Dl'!1l1ly Collvrtor from his camel."

Sindh and the lndian Mutinv

tit 1857

A dreamy hut dark suspicion of the fidelity of the 21st. N. I.

stationed al Karachi, had been entertained due to its containing a
numher of Bengalis. .On Sunday 13th September at 11 p.m. two
Oudh Brahmin native officers
the 21st N.J. betrayed their
comrades by informing their officers Major Mc. Gregor about the
mutiny planned by the regiment at 2 p.m. on Monday morning. An
orderly of the 21st. N.1. independent of the Oudh Brahmins, had
similarly informed the Major. It had been decided to capture the
treasury. murder the officers and proceed tn I-Iyderahad. Prompt
arrangements were made to meet the situation. Major Mct ircgor
immediately "consulted the Brigade Authorities, who without a
moment's delay ordered the whole of the European troops to he
assembled and marched to the scene of anticipated revolt. The
troops were lined up
the parade ground
the 21st N.L, with two
Artillery guns on each flank. After due arrangements, the assembly
of the 21st N.I. was ordered, which met after due reluctance. This
ncccssuatcd two Nine Pounders to he summoned for any eventuality.
The roll was called and alkr a few words being addressed to them.
the order to tile arms was given and was promptly obeyed. without a
murmur. The European Infantry tonk charge of the arms and on
inspection. 40 lire-locks were [ound loaded. After the disarming a
strict search 'vas made of the huts of the 21st N.t. and nothing
beyond a few swords were recovered", "All this was done within
three quarters of an hour" and 'so quietly that the majority of the
town-folk wen: not even aware of the military movements, until after
many hours: All this points to the prompt way in which the situation
was handled hy the authorities,
36 men
the 21st N,I. were found
missing. Of these (i were caught immediately, 1 were secured in
camp the next day, and 11 more were captured while crossing the
H ubb: hut' still some ring-leaders were at large, specially the chid
conspirator Color Havaldar Ramdin Pandey.

or

.Ir

or

or

The police force of I:'iO and 4 companies of drilled infantry

under. Major Marston, assisted bv captain Pirie and Khan SaheiJ
Ghoolam Hussain, the adjutant of the force. pursued the 3(, fugitives
and brought in or otherwise accounted for them all. Immediate
steps were alsu taken to safeguard every European resident. Ladies
Iound a fine rcndczvou in the capacious mess room of the. Second
European Light Infantrv and the Civilians armed themselves against
any auack. The principul roads of the Cantonment were lined in the
twinkling of an eye with a complete chain (If fO;lt and horse patrol.

22()

Si"d" Oh.~t'/wd

who kept open the communication and prevented stragglers or badcharacters from perambulating the streets or looting the deserted
Bungalows. Volunteer Corps for night patrol were started in Camp
to relieve the European troops for a state of efficiency in emergency.
Here is a circular issued by the commissioner to that effect dated
]6th September lS57: - "By the desire of Major General Scott,
commanding the Division, all able-bodied non-military men
possessing a horse and arms and willing to volunteer for patrol
duties in and about the station, are invited to report themselves to
Major Goldsmith or to Captain Johnstone who will give them
instructions regarding the duty to be performed. It is suggested that
for the present none should offer themselves who have family tics
which render it a primary duty to remain at home and protect .their
household." Sd: H.B.E. Frere. European residents were promised
easy supply of lire-arms for defence. The 14th N.I. was not touched
due to their proven loyalty. At the time these incidents took place,
the Commissioner Sir Bartle Frere was at his Bungalow at Clifton.
Major Goldsmith' was with him at that time. The Commissioner was
immediately informed of the situation by Captain Johnstone. On
hearing of the disturhance Sir Bartle came to town and inspected the
Native lines. He found the state quite satisfactory.
Out of the deserters 10 were caught and Court-Marshalled on
the Hith and 17th of September. Of them 7 were sentenced to be
hanged and the rest were to be shot from the guns. Seven more
were captured and 3 others died during the capture. At long last the
Arch-conspirator Ramdin Pondey was' secured and shot from the
guns on the nrd September, while his remaining accomplices were
transported for life. They were marched along the Bunder Road
under police escort to the Bundar to board the "Chusan" bound for
Bombay.
There was a semblance or a mutiny in the 16th Native Infantry
at Shikarpur, but the trouble was nipped in the bud. The battery
rose at mid-night and from their barrack-square commenced firing
in all directions from which that place was accessible; but the prompt
action of Colonel Stewart, the collector, and Colonel Montgomary,
the police chief, out-witted and captured them.
Soon after the force sat down before Delhi, the Frontier tribes
planned their rising. Their leader Durriah Khan, the Chief of the
Jakranis was to come to Jacohabad at 5 p.m., and his co-traitor Oil

2~O

Sindh and 'he Indian Mutin 1)( 1857

Murad, the chief of the khojas, was to follow at 10 a.m. the following
day, when they had decided to butcher Major Mcrewcthcr and his
officers who were to sit in durhar on that day. But lit 5-30 p.m., half
an hour after his arrival Dhurriakhan was on a fast trotting camel on
his way to Sukkur, heavily ironed, to he placed on board the steamer
lying ready to start for Karachi. Two days later Oil Murad Khan,
who made. off for the hills on hearing of his fcllowtraitor's fate.
followed in the same manner and the out-break was prevented.
On the whole there was no serious trouble in Sindh. For this
the Commissioner was chiefly responsible. He had so pleased the
populace that they willingly recruited and formed into those brave
Balooch regiments which were responsible for the capture of Delhi
by the Government. Here is what seth Naumal says about the
altitude of the Commissioner during the days of the mutiny: - "1
cannot sufficiently admire the patience. thought, judgment and
courage evinced hy Sir Bartle Frere during these troublous and
trying times." But Sir Bartle 'had to seck the co-operation of the
people. Inspire of the fact that ..the generality of people in Sindh
said that the English rule in India had well nigh come to a dose",
they fully co-operated with the Government. Sir Fredrick Goldsmith
wrote in the Asiatic Quarterly Review as follows:- When speaking
of the dead, those natives must not he forgotten who enabled Frere
in the hour of danger to British Rule to dispense with his legitimate
garrisons and trust to the resources drawn to himself from the hearts
of the people he governed.
.
That has heen the tendency of Sindh all along.
Thus Sindh played its part jn the mutiny of 1H57.
Authorities quoted: Nil. I 'Memoirs of SCI h Naurnal'.

No.2 'Sindh Kossid Filc~. 1~57.

Nil ..' 'Our Paper' File IR67.

231

Two Great Occasions in

British History in Sindh
By c.t, Mariwalla, B.A.
(Read be/oil! ilw Silld" HistOlicatSociely 011 3Ot" October 1940.)
Karachi has remained under British Rule for. nearly a century.
During this period Sindh has changed' completely. Great schemes
have been. conceived, put into force and completed. During this
period of Sindh's history occasions have occurcd when the heart has
fell overjoyed to find that the deserving have heen duly honoured. In
this paper I intend dealing with two memorable occasions in the last
100 years, one commemorating the starting of a great enterprise-The
Sindh Railway-and the other bringing before our minds' eye how
. well can honest effort he rewarded-the ceremony of presenting the
Insignia of the Star of India to Seth Naoomal Hotchand Bhojwani of
Karachi.
Before describing the actual ceremony of what would be called
the turning of the first sod, in England, but in India, breaking of the
first ground, of the Sindh Railway, it would not be out of place to
recount in brief how actually the scheme was conceived l,f
constructing a railway line from Karachi to Kotri. It is a well known
.fact that Sindh was conquered by the British for purely commercial
purposes, though military motives may have been the immediate
causes of the conquest. Thus when the news reached Europe 01 the
conquest of Sindh, one of the most imminent of t.he French Political
Writers exclaimcd.v'Thc Indus hence-forth is a British River; who
can foresee the consequences to the destinies of mankind". And Sir
Charles Napier, the conqueror of Sindh too was conscious of the
commercial importance of the Indus when he said:"The march of
Alexander the Great from the Bias to the Ocean with the voyage Ill'
Ncarchus marks the line of the European trade in India". At another
'place the great hero made a pointed reference 10 the potentialities of
the Indus when he said "India should suck English manufactures lip
her great rivers and pour down those rivers her own varied
products". After the conquest it was found that the lower delta of the
Indus down Kotri was not navigable. Hence Mr. Bartle Frere, the
I

233

Sinelll O/l.'(''''t'cI

Commissioner in Sindh, at once realized that another mode of

conveyance was necessary from Karachi to Kotri. It was under his
guidance in 1853 that Mr. Hardy Wells began to collect information
hcnring on jhe construction of a railway to connect Karachi to "a
point above the della where the river became free from intricacies,
dangers and delays of navigation". In the same year Licut: Chapman
drew lip his report on the proposal. Next year i.e. 1854 sufficient
information reached England 10 float a Joint Stock Company for the
purpose. The contemplated company was started and registered with
a provisional capital of 500,000 ponds divided into 25,()(J(}shares of
20 pounds each. 5,000 shares were reserved for being sold in India.
The East India Company was requested 10 grant a guarantee of
interest on the capital. With a view to comply with this request the
East India Company wanted to assure itself that the proposal of the
Railway Company was sound. They invited objections. Major
Treemenheerc
and Col: Jacob raised objections. Major
Treemenheere felt that "the railway would he an incubus under
which the Province will sink," and Col: Jacob advocated that the only
profitable line would be via Schwan to the Bolan Pass whereas the
Railway Company thought of Lahore as the Terminus via Mullan.
But these objections were brushed aside by Mr. Neville Warren the
Organiscr of the Railway in India and the East India Company
agreed with the Railway Company regarding guarantee of interest.
The Directors of the honourable the East India Company
guaranteed 5l-4, interest on the. provisional capital for 5 years hut the
rate after 5 years was to be reduced 1041/2%.
Three years from 1855 were taken to make extensive surveys
and other preliminaries and al long losI Mr. Gartlc Frere. the
Commissioner, was invited to perform the opening ceremony of the
constructionof the Sindh Railway on 29th April UtiK
The site fixed for the ceremony W3~ just a small cutting where
the line crosses the Scandal Point Road. A procession was to start at
half past 5 o'clock in the evening from the Railway office in the
E;lphinstnnc street to the scene of action, where a Iriumphal.arch
was erected. decorated with palms and other hushes surmounled by
a gigantic coronet of green wreaths and roses. At 5 the
Commissioner and the other invitees assembled at the office and
im;pech.'d the plans and drawings connected with the proposed
works. Exactly <IIthe appointed time the procession was formed and
i( pn)("eeticd 10 the site 011 I he Srnnda] Point Road. the procession

2~4

Two Great Occasions

was headed by the Engineer and his staff on horse-hack. Next to

them came the peons bearing a large banner-the railway flag-with a
locomotive and a camel worked thereon .. Immediately after the
banner came the Choubdars hearing silver-sticks, fo\lowed by (he.
Commissioner's carriage. In the carriage were seated the two
Assistant Commissioners of Justice and Revenue and the Managing
Agent of the Railway Company, Mr. Warren, besides the
Commissioner. They were followed by other carriages and men on
horseback. Owing to. some misconception of orders, the band and
the guard of honour from H.M. 51 Regiment did not head the
procession as was expected. the spectators comprised the whole of
the higher class present at Karachi. A large concourse' of Europeans
and Natives also attended. The numerous carriages of visitors, drawn
up in a line opposite the spectators had avery gay effect. When they
reached the spot, after crossing the triumphal arch, the
Commissioner and others alighted and took their seats on the dais.
Rev: Carr and Rev: Coates read the service on the occasion. After
the conclusion of the service Mr. N.Warren addressed the
Commissioner. During his speech the Managing Agent of (he
Railway traced the history of the Sindh Railway and showed how
difficult a task it had been to start a concern of this type. He pointed
out that according to Mr. Bray, the man in charge of the
construction, the line should be completed within two years. In the
end he requested the Commissioner to commence the construction
of the railway by turning the wheel-barrow specially provided for the
occasion. The Commissioner hefore declaring the railway works. as
opened, made a befitting speech. He addressed the gathering thus.-"],
need not tell you Sir, I undertake the duty with the most sincere
pleasure. I think the first ami most prominent fecling in the mind of
everyone here present must be one of deep thankfulness to the
Almighty Disposer of all things, who has carried us through so many
and great perils and permitted liS to meet together this day to
commence a work of peace. undisturbed by those alarms which
elsewhere have so changed the face of Society in India. ) trust that it
is a humble reliance on the same over-ruling Providence and not in
any confidence in our own unassisted strength and power that we
shall carryon and complete this work.
"It is indeed a work which, unless I am greatly mistaken, will .
change the whole aspect of this barren plain where we now stand,
and aid in making Kurrachce one of the great cities of India. But il is
. not merely as a work of great local importance that we must regard

235

Sind" O/lt('/wc/

it. It is, I believe

great national undertaking, Of its commercial
value it is not, necessary for me to speak, None of us who were in
Kurrachce oneshort year ago are likely to underrate its importance
as a Military' work, We collecthow, less than a year ago, we watched
with anxious' expectation the passage of the slender reinforcements
we werc able to send to the Punjah. How for days after they left us
we heard nothing of thcm as they crept slowly up river, and we were
glad to hear in any thing less than, a week that they had safely
reached Kotree. What would we then have given for a railway which
would bring Kotrec so near in point of time to transport in our
harbour that the recruit who dined today on hoard the Sea-going
Steamer at Kemarce, might breakfast tomorrow unwearied, and with
all his baggage about him, on board a River-Steamer 110 miles off at

Kotree.
In the last year, probably the most eventful in our Indian
Annals, we have 'heen taught how great was our want ()f men. This
Railway will enable one man to do the work of tcn. Of money our
want was scarcely less urgent; of the value of our Railway in this the
'economical point 'of view, it seems superfluous tll speak. J sincerely
hope it
be found a source of profit both to the Government and
to all Who are in any way connected with it. But a Railway in India
has I believe a higher function than that of a great Military Engine
or a money-making and money-saving appliance. I believe it to be
one of the greatest of civilizers. It can he no slight effect which will
follow the completion in these desert wastes of a great work of art,
compounded of the best of our Iron and Timber, with vast works of
earth and stone, and cunningly devised Engines, which seems all but
endowed with life and reason. Whcn the most active and energetic
race in the world crosses so many thousand miles of ocean. 'and
establishes such a work of art at a cost as great as the whole value of
our English trade with India one short century ago, surely great
moral changes must follow.

will

A Railway always seems to me to hring out most strongly those

deeply marked national characteristics which make our nation what
it is. which have enabled us, a small and remote people, to bring our
troops with the trophies on their standards of many a fight in distant
fields, to dominate over such a vast continent, and I feel sure that the
execution
this Railway will tend to impress more deeply on the
native mind those great national characteristics. which have won for
us the respect of the natives, and have made us what we arc. I cannot

or

but hope that the grand result will he to bind closer this country to
England and to prepare
in. tt thousand ways unknown and
unobserved by us for that assimilation in interests and in faith which
alone can render permanent 'our Empire oyer so many millions of
such different races and languages. It.is with bonds like these that I
would hind India closer tel England.
We have now I hope passed through the talking' and writing
stage. which Mr. Bray will I trust intcrundcr one of his largest
embankments,
and I most gladly, Sir, accept your invitation to
commence the stage of actual execllti.~:'
.
Immediately a handsomely carved Wheel-harrow was placed at
the disposal of Mr. Frere, who in a most workman-like manner and
with his coat off, filled the barrow with all case, an accomplished
navy, which having been wheeled to the lip he deposited there and
declared the Railway commenced. The crowd raised a loud and long
cheer, the band played the National Anthem. the troops presented
arms, the Railway nag was hoisted to the summit of the lofty
flagstaff, and the battery at the Artillery Lines fired a Royal Salute.
A Telegraphic
Message was immediately forwarded (0 Kotrcc
announcing the completion of the ceremony of commencement and
a Royal Salute fire there lo{Y.
111 the evening a party of nearly 6() ladies and gentleman sat
down to dinner in a large Marquee pitched in the Mess-compound
of the ]4th N.l.. At the conclusion of the dinner after drinking the
Englishman's toast, "The
uccn", Mr. Frere proposed as H toast,
Success 10 the Sindh Railway Company. The festivities of the day
were brought to a close by H Ball in Mess-room '(\1' the l-lth N.t. ai
which nearly the whole of the Civil and Military Residents in camp
were present with their ladies,

The central ligur .. of the second occasion is well known III

those who possess ilny knowledge or Sindh History in the 19th
Centmy. The course of hisj ory would have pen quill' different
without Seth Naoomul coming on the scene. His services 10 the
Britixh Government since hi, first acquintancc in 1H."2arc roo well
known and have been ahlv chronicled hv ML A.B. Advani in the
Sindh Historic a 1 Sociely'~ :Journal Vol. i,; No.2 September I'X"), III
he repeated here. And it
bill naturul 10 hope' that such a man
would he amply rewarded
after the conquest, though he had

\0,:,,,

-'''"7

_.'

S'i"c/II Oh.~(',,'('d,

rendered all his' help gratuitously. As his grandson puts it, "out of
pride he had been useful 'to the' British", so naturally much was
expected out of the bountiful magnanimity of the New Rulers of the
Land. Instead something unexpected happened. Sir Charles Napier
held a Durbaron the birth-day of Queen Victoria, on 24th May 1843
at Hvdcrabad, Seth Naoomal expresses his hopes of the occasion in
the following words:"! entertained very high hopes of receiving
marked distinction at Sir Charles' hands in consideration of my long
and valuabic service". Instead Sir Charles"viewed him with a stern
look~f anger, "What a reward, I thought for all the toil and trouble",
'says Naoomal. Immediately after this, new grades of pay for the
various officers were received by the Kurrachee Collector. Ahheugh
Seth Naoornal was in the cadre of Deputy Collectors he was
sanctioned only Rs.200/- per month instead of the promised scale of
Rs.700/- p.m. But that was not all. All those people who were
appointed
in Government
service on Seth Naoomal's
recommendation were on one, pretext or other, not only suspended
from service but were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment
and his own brother Sukhramdas who was Mukhtiarkar of
Ghorabari, Was being trapped for no ,cause whatever. The Seth had
built, several' houses valued at Rs, one lakh 'in camp at Kurrachee at
the earnest desire of the British officers, before the conquest, which
yielded him Rs.200/- p.m. and for which he had' incurred the wrath
of the Amini' who had ordered even his arrest These houses were
ordered to he demolished but subsequently a paltry sum of
Rs.l,240/- was offered to Seth Naoomal as compensation. Seth
Naoomal's family had enjoyed the privilege of extracting ,liquor for
private usc during the regime of the Kalhoras, the Kalati's and the
Talpurs and held Sanads to that effect. This privilege was continued
for 5 years after the British conquest but.then the private distillery
came to a premature end suddenly by the orders of the Government.
On the top of it all came the last load of tyranny. Seth Naoomal was
supendcd from the Head Karadarship of Kurrachee and asked to
stand trial for the misappropriation of Government funds. His
account-books were seized and he was insulted. This is rather a
strange compensation for all good service. But all these things
happened due to a Military-man being at Ihe helm of affairs in
Sindh. Military-men are usually short-tempered and arc used to
summary way of dealing with all matters. Most of the cruelties
prcpctratcd on Seth Naoomal were the result of false reports given
10 the Governor an~ the Subordinate Military Officers hy the
enemies (If the Seth. But the Governor Sir Charles Napier had it

23X

Two Great Occasions

personal grudge against Seth Naoomal as well. He was proud, nay

vain of his conquest of Sindh, but when he toured the Province after
the conquest he found to his surprise that the people acclaimed Seth
Naoomal to have been instrumental for the success of British arms
in Sindh. Sir Charles' vanity was wounded. And so he hit back by
charging Seth Naoomal for tampering with Government money:
however good counsels prevailed and none of the charges preferred
against Naoomal were proved. Even then the Government did not
reappoint him to his former post, 'though he was completely
exonerated. Inspire of these hits, Seth Naoomal continued to serve
British interests in Sindh. At long last a good soul, in the shape of Sir
Bartle Frere, came to Sindh as the Commissioner, He fuHy
appreciated the services of this great good man and further tested
his fidelity during his tenure of office. He accordingly recommended
to Government that a pension and a Jagir be given (0 Seth naoomal
as a suitable reward for his services. The Government of. India
agreed to the proposal of the Commissioner and accordingly granted
a pension of Rs.l00/- for three generations and a Jagir in perpetuity
to Seth Naoomal, The Government finally honoured him by
bestowing on him the distinction of becoming a Companion of the
Star of India in 1866. The actual ceremony of decorating the Seth
with the C.SJ. came it few months later. Sir Bartle Frere had by this
time become the Governor of Bombay. In the ending days of )866
he visited Sindh and since that was to be his last visit to the Province,
his retirement time having arrived, a Durbar was scheduled to be
heldat Kurrachec on Tuesday the 1st January 1867 at 12.30 p.m. at
the Frere Hall. Among the objects of holding this Durbar the
foremost was ofbestowing the Insignia of lh~ Star of India on Seth
Naoornal,

On the day of the Durbar, the approaches to the Frere Hall

were handsomely decorated with a variety of plants creating a very
beautiful effect. A fun company of Her Majesty's First Baluchces
with its compliment of Officers and the Regimental Colours stood lit
the Southern gateway as a guard of honour. The Durbar Hall was
also tastefully decorated. "At the doorway at the South end stood a
',?ais' covered by an octagonal-shaped canopy made of scarlet silk
damask, trimmed with very rich gold lace, the curtains being most
gracefully draped and looped lip at the sides with gold cord and t
asscls, The dais was covered with black cloth braided and bound
with gold lace, a dark green doth curtain trimmed with gold.
forming the background, which was drawn up until Sir Bartle Frere

239

Sind" Observed

was seated, when it was let fall. On the' dais was laid a magnificent
Turkish Carpel and a handsome chair on either side of the scat of the
Governor: The Governor's throne was covered with "scarlet broad
'cloth of the finest texture, richly trimmed with gold lace", Before the
dais was laid another splendid Turkish carpet of red, white and blue
stripes running right along its entire length. Flags and pennents were
suspended and festooned all round the walls and richly damasked
and carved coaches and chairs filled the entire arena:
'
At about 11 o'clock the dignatories and the gentry began to
arrive and in no lime the hall was filled to the brim. Major Lambert
~Issisted by Saee Ellapa escorted the arrivals to their scats. Among
those presl;nt the, following could he easily spotted:-Mr. Chapman,
Chief Secretary to Government; Major General' Health,
Commanding the Sindh Division, Mr. W.M. Cogland, the Judicial
Commssioncr; Mr. Melville, the District Judge, Mr. W.Boulton,
Judge of the Small Causes Court; his chiefclerk; the members of the
Bar specially Messrs. Eugene Leggett, D.W. Barrett, Atmaram
Pritarndas, Hassanally and Dayaram; Col: Marston, Superintendent
of Police; Mr. Saec Ellapa, the Fojdar; the Native Police Official;
Major Lambert, the Municipal President; Mr. E.Nash, the Municipal
Secretary; Mr. Ashby Ingle, the Deputy Collectory; Mr. W. Wells;
Dr. Beans; Captain Phelps, R.E.;Lieut: Mereweather, R.E.; Seth
Naoornal and other Municipal Commissioners; Major W.H. Price,
C.E., Superintendent Harbour Works; Rajas of Satara and
Kolhapur; the son of Chief of Sathpura; Mirs Hassanally and
Ahmcdkhan Talpurs; the, Sayeds of TaUa; Major Carnegy, the
Adjutant General; Captain Campbell, the Quarter Master General;
Captain Young; the Pay Master; Major Church, the Deputy Judge
Advocate General; Captain Tyrrwhiu, the Political Agent, Thar and
Parkar; Messrs, Rawlinson, McNiel and Ross of the Sindh Railway;
Mr. Marcsecaux of the Agra Bank; Mr. A.E. Denso of Volkart
Brothers; and W.M. Malvcry, the Editor of "Our Paper". All classes
of people had been invited and some ladies too graced the occasion
hy their presence,
At ahout half past 12 the booming of 17 guns apprised those
present, of the approach of His Excellency the Governor. The
Governor soon entered the Hall accompanied by Lady and Misses
Frere and attended by Mr. Mansfield, the Commissioner;
Honourable Mr. B.II.Ellis, Major Leech, the Private Secretary:
Major Sl'\!1l(\\Ir. IIll' !'vlilitary Secretary, Dr. Brllickshank. t he

240

T",o G~Qt (kcasions

Medical Advisor and Captain Watts, Aid de Camp. On His

Excellency's entering the "aU every one rose and kept standing till
he took his chair; Mr. Mansfield on his right and Mr. Ellis 'on his
left. After acknowledging the salutation, the Governor commanded
Mr. Chapman as the representative of the Bombay Government and
Major Lambert as that of Sindh to introduce Seth Naoomal. When
this was done Sir Bartle addressed him thus:-Seth Naoomal, I have
received fr'om His Excellency the Viceroy and Grand Master of the
most exalted Order of the Star' of India with instructions to deliver to
you a grant under Her Majesty's Sign Manual; conferring on you the
dignity of a Companion of the said Order, together with the Insignia
thereof, and in so doing 1 have been. instructed, to omit no
circumstance which may conduce to give dignity and honour to the
occasion'. It is' not necessary that I should now, dilate on the
character or greatness of the distinction which Her Majesty confers
upon you. It admits you to a brotherhood which numbers among its
members an that is most illustrious in or belonging to India, the
Sovereign, and Heirapparent to the throne, the Viceroy of this great
dependency,' the heroes and statesmen who have contributed to
acquire and maintain the Indian Empire and the princes most
illustrious for their descent or most distinguished for their great
qualities as Rulers.
,"Of your claims to be enrolled in such a noble company it is not
necessary that I should here speak: Very recently in this very Hall
the, Acting Commissioner of the Province in announcing to you Her
Majesty's gracious purpose dwelt on your life-long devotion-to the
British Government and I need not further describe the services
which he then recounted, but I'am personally glad of the opportunity
of expressing my own strong sense of the assistance I received from
you during the troublous year of 18.$7-58. You had great influence
among your countrymen, you possessed information drawn from
every part of Northern and Western India and you placed all
unreservedly at the disposal of the Government. Whe!l many of your
co~ntrymen were appalled by 'the greatness of the danger and
believed that some catastrophe threatened the existence of the
British Empire in India, you never faltered in your sagacious trust in
the power of the British Government to uphold the cause of law and
order. It is a great source of pleasure to me in now leaving Sindh
before I take my final departure from India, 10 he permitted 10
confer this honour on you in the presence of the Commissioner of
the Province and of my colleague Mr. Ellis, both of whom have
241

laboured 'so long in Sindh and so highly 'appreciate your services,

This honour, will, I trust be regarded by your countrymen in Sindh,
not simply as a distinction conferred on you persona:Uybut as an
evidence of the gracious regard of Her Majesty for this distant
Province and for those commercial interests of which you may be
here regarded as the Chief representative among the Native
community,
There is one act of yours to which I would more particularly
allude as showing your just appreciation of the character of British
Rule and which. will, I trust, find immitators among. your
countrymen. Few know better than yourself the-power of the British
Nation in war and their skill in all the art ofcommerce. But you.also
know that there is in every Englishman's mind a strong conviction
that man does not live by bread alone and that there are th.ipgSmore
valuable than victory in battle or success in commerce. You have not
personally have had the advantages if an English education and it is therefore the more remarkable that you should have determined to
send your grandson' to. what in your estimation is a distant land,
there to acquire such an. educatidn as an Indian University can give
the. principles by which the conduct of educated EngIishmap is ruled.
I truSt oll.my return to Bombay to see' conferred on yourtgrandson
the distinction of a University Degree and I'trust God will $rant you
a long life not only to enjoy your own honours but to see them:
continued and augmented by those you leave behind you", :.
His Excellency then delivered to Seth Naoomal the grant under .
the Oueen's Sign Manual enclosed in a Kimkhab' Bag and the
Insignia of the Order and the ceremony came to a close.
Here is a short note on the Insignia of the Star of India as it
appeared in "Our Paper" dated 4th January 1867:.
It is firmly believed in the town of Kurrachee that the Insignia
of the Order of the Star of India presented to Seth Naoomal is worth.
no less a sum than Rs.25,OOO/-that it places the holder in a position
far above that. of any one -in Sindh and that the displaying it will
Cause the first dignatorics of the land to uncover their beads and
stand in abject submission during the pleasure of the holder.
Thus
Sindh.

paSSL:S

orr

the Iwo !!rc;sl occasions in British History in

Two Gn:OI Occasions

Authorities

consultedi-

No.1. Memoris of Seth Naoomal Hotchand, e.S.I.

No.2. Sindh Kossid 1858 Volume.
No.3. Sindhian World for August 1940.
No.4. Our Paper 1867 Volume.

Karachi Town, Its Trade and Taxation in the

.First Half of the 19th Century
By C.L. Mariwalla, BA.
(Read before the Sindh Historical Society 011 19th NOl'. 1939)
At present Karachi presents the spectacle of an up to date city
and port, enjoying all the conveniences and amenities of the largest
cities in India. It is a clean city with an efficient adminisrr=ion. All
the amenities of civic life, all conveniences to the traveller and the
visitor and all commercial facilities resulting in the brimful life that
Karachi at present offers are but the growth of the last century.
During these hundred years the population has multiplied many
times . over, whilst the total overseas trade has increased
tremendously, being nearly 7 to 8 hundred times in value than what
it was a century back. It really makes a very interesting study to be
recalling Karachi in the first half of the last century.'
About 1837 A.D. Karachi was surrounded by a mud fort and
covered an area of 30 to 35 Acres. The fort boasted of bastians
mounted with guns. About 40 guns (1) were mounted on the
different bastians - but they were mostly of small calibre and nearly
useless from age, and at the same time the Fort had many
practicable breaches and therefore it could not afford any protection'
to the inhabitants from outside attack. The fort had two gates one
leading to the sweet waters of the Lyari river, called Mitha Darwaza
and the other led to the brakish water of the sea, called Khara
Darwaza. The houses were generally mud built and nat roofed with
wicker ventilators facing the sea and thus performing the double
duty of wind sails and sky lights. The streets were narrow and
incommodious. The bazar was covered over with matting as was the
vogue in old Sindh. The principal portion of the better description
of houses were ill the centre of the town but Karachi could not boast
of any public buildings worthy of note.
.
Beyond the walls Karachi enjoyed extensive suburbs containing
almost as many. houses as the town itself. Gardens bordered the

245

Sind" Observed

banks of the Lyaree for more than a mile covering the now
Lawrence Road terminating at the point where the present gardens
are. The trees were chiefly those of mangoes and a few tamarinds.
The Mangoes of Karachi were reputed to be only 'second' to
Bombay mangoes in India.
As regards the defence to the port there stood a fort at the
entrance of the harbour at Manora. The fort was square in form
with a round tower near it. The fort had bastians at the angles and
the side looking inland was strengthened by a semi-circular redoubt.
It had a parapet running round it with numerous loopholes for
musketry, There were 11 guns on the fort. There was also i! threegun battery level with the water as one passed the fort and entered
the harbour. There has been serious difference of opinion as to the
effective defence provided by the fort. Col. Pottinger felt that the
fort was judiciously placed but the actual experience in 1839 proved
that Captain Carless who had surveyed the harbour of Karachi in
1837 was more correct. He writes in this connection: - "The fort
was built to command the entrance but it is built too far from the
edge of the cliff to do so effectually, and could not in fact offer any
serious opposition to a vessel attempting to enter it. A sloop of war
anchored at a proper distance would soon reduce it to a heap of
ruins and the round tower too would follow suit and fare the same
fate.
Karachi then was under the Amirs or Talpurs. Thr rulers had
no enterprise at all and almost wholly the city of Karachi of those
days was the creation of the inhabitants. The administration of the
town was carried on by two governors appointed by the Amirs, One
of them was incharge of the civil administration and was called the
Nawab and the other was a military governor. The Nawab
administered justice and his establishment collected the customs
dues. His authority was uncontrolled, the only limit being provided
by an appeal to the Amirs at Hyderabad. The extent of his authority
was not very defined but it was supposed that he could not put a man
to death without the previous permission of the rulers. Mutilation,
flogging and exposure in stocks were usual punishments but the
more usual one was that of fines. When the Nawab was assured that
the accused could afford to secure his release by payment of money
his punishment was usually commuted to that of fine as these
amounts went to enrich his coffers. The very trifling remunerations
paid 10 the servants of the state, especially the Amils and scpoys, was

246

Knmc/Ji

TOII'II,

a fruitful source of corruption and could not be wondered at. A

system of bribery and corruption passed through every branch of the
service of the state. The sepoy received fees to elude the vigilance of
the Amils, who in their turn exacted salamies and took bribes to
defraud the collectors and they again cheated the government.
Apart from the Nawab who drew Rs. 100 a month, his establishment
consisted of two munshies drawing Rs. 24 a month, for keeping
books and correspondence and a score of Amils and sepoys whose
pay varied from Rs. 3 to Rs. 19. The treasury officer of tbe times
drew the grand sum of Rs. 7-8-0 per mensem. The military governor
had the command of the city's mud fort and the fort at Manora. He
had about 50 men under him, who drew a pay varying from Rs. 2 to
Rs, 5 a month, and he, the honourable sum of Rs. 60 while the
Jamadar of Boat-men got Rs. 20 a month.
Under this
administration Karachi throve a century back.
At that time Karachi had a population of about 14,000 souls.
Out of this, two thirds (9,000) were Hindus and the rest Muslims
(4,850). For the education of the Hindus 3 to 4 schools were
conducted by Sarsood and Pokarna brahmins and the children were
taught the Sindhian language book-keeping, reading and Writing.
For this tuition each child took a hand full of rice and a few toothsticks daily while the parents paid a rupee or two a month. The
Mulas taught the Persian language to the Muslims in the mosques.
And those desirous of government employment repaired to the
mosques since the court language was Persian. Here the charge
varied from Rs. 3 to Rs. 4 per month. Female education was
positively discouraged. Undoubtedly the 'fees were rather too high
but this was due to no grant being given by the government.
At this time Karachi had 21 mosques and 13 Astans of Pirs.
Out of all these only one of Pir Mangha received government
allowance of oil. Hindu temples, tikanas and dharamsalas numbered
34. Here also only one received government oil, namely the temple.
on the site of the present day temple at Native Jelly. ThQ
government offered 7.5 seers of oil every month for the lamp that
eternally burnt there. There was no idol in this temple and it was
dedicated 10 the deity of the sea. It was much thought of, and no
Hindu vessel ever entered or left the port without a small offering
having made at the temple door.

247

Sindh Observed

The most interesting thing in Karaehi of those days was the way
one arrived at Karachi from outside by boat. As soon as the boat
came inside the port the water would be shaDow and hence the
passenger had to leave his boat and get into the Batelo, the country
craft, but this too he had to relinquish and get in a machwa, a
smaller craft. Soon the time came when per force he had to bestride
the back of a brawny Sindhi or to walk with legs INAURAL and the
nether garments slung over the shoulders through nearly a mile of
mud and water, averging two feet deep and overlying a strata of
sharp shells and acquitic roots which admirably performed the office
of mantraps.
And thus after this great exertion one could land at
this port which today can load even goods most conveniently.
Though it is well known that the princes of Sindh had no ocean
shipping interest and they attached but little value to imports and
exports exeept in so far as they might tend to increase their revenues
and add to their personal comforts, still the trade had greatly
increased
in its volume, however languid it may appear in
comparison to the present day trade figures of the port. The annual
average value of trade transacted at Karachi exclusive of precious
stones amounted to Rs. 37,47,000 (opium Rs. 16,00,(00). The
average customs revenue from the port of Karachi during the 1st
half of the 19th century was Rs, 1,50,000, consisting as it did the
following duties:Advalorem duty of 4% on all imports.
Extra duty of 2.SC~, on all goods that left Karachi for Upper
Sindh.
A duty of 1']f..on all exports except silk piece goods and copper.
Extra duty of 30/" on every Kurwar
imported and exported.

(1,800 lbs.) of goods

An export duty of Rs, 130 on every camel load (R mds.) of

opium.
An import duty of Rs. 5-~ on every imported slave.
The one noticeable feature of the collection of Customs dues of
the Amirs was the farming out of the customs revenues.
And

248

Karachi Town,

Karachi even under this arrangement yielded the highest amount to

Amirs among the riverine ports in Sindh. Karachi was farmed
- out for Rs. 70,000 per year exclussive of duty on opium and precious
stones.
Ihe

Coming to the field of the other local taxation we find the

Amirs had not made an exception of Karachi and had not spared.
them from heavy taxation.
For everyone rupee worth of grain purchased for private.
consumption the Government charged 4 pice but as regards other
commodities only 3 pice in the rupee was charged.
Tax was levied on the merchants who measured or weighed any
commodity at the Customs House.
The most important item of local taxation was a heavy tax on
Gurafiery intoxicant preferred by the people at Karachi. It was
produced from gur, dates, bark of the babool, and cassia, cloves,
anise, etc.
Under the Administration of Amirs, Hindus of Karachi were
exempt from the House Tax- a tax prevalent in all other towns of
the dominions of the Amirs.
ILis significant to note that there was no tax on salt during the
rule of the Amirs in Sindh. A camel-load of common salt was sold
for annas ten only in the Karachi market.
But if the Government forgot to tax salt they taxed gambling.
The Government maintained a gambling house at Karachi where 9
pies per rupee was the tax for every rupee won in gambling. This
was collected by a special Government employee in charge of the
Government gambling house.
Tax on fish was pretty heavy. Every fishing boat came to the
Customs House to show what it had obtained from the sea and if the
fishes were less than 60 in number 1/4 of the number was levied as a
tax and in case of 60 and over, 1/6 was the tax charged .. If the fishes
were brought direct to the market, the Ami. used to collect the
figures of each seller and at the end of the month each person was
charged the requisite number of fishes at a slightly higher rate Ihan

249

market rate to account for the credit. Apart from this the Amil
received some fish for himself free of cost from each seller.
The cattle owners whose cattle was used for carrying purposes,
were charged 1/2 of the sum received for daily labour put forth hy
each beast of burden.
There existed a tax on shroffing of coins in circulation.
Resident merchants made a present to the Government Officer in
charge on every Diwali. Others paid 2 pice for every hundred rupees
examined and the Gold-smiths paid 1/4 of the profits of their labour.
Brokers, butchers, ivory bangle turners, cotton cleaners, makers
of culinary utensils, skin dyers etc., had to pay a stipulated sum
through the headman of every trade.
Handlooms for making Loongees, Gul Badans etc., had to pay
3 pice per loom monthly.
Each kilner gave 9 pots every month as a tax, other-wise the
potter was free from taxation.
Cloth dyers were absolutely free from taxation but the oil
producers paid 1.5 seer o( their product to the state every month.
That was how commodities were taxed at Karachi during the
]st half of the 19th century.
Now let us have a look at the imports and exports at Karachi. in
detail. Four fifths of the imports at Karachi came from Bombay.
They included Sugar (Bengal, China, Manilla, Batavia) 4,000 maunds
at Rs. 50,000, coarse sugar from Malabar Rs. 35,000, Pepper 3,250
maunds at Rs. 48,750, Copper 1,000 maunds at Rs. 54,O(lO,
Cardamoms and spices 75 maunds at Rs. 10,500, Silk (Raw, dyed,
Bengal, China 1st. sort) worth Rs. 1,20,000,Silk 2nd sort worth Rs.
1,28,000, Timber worth Rs. 10,000, Ivory Rs. 64,000, English cotton
yarn Rs. 20,000, Copra (r'ried cocoanuts) Rs. 25,000, Tin Rs. 17,500,
and sugar candy, cocoanuts, safron, betelnuts, cinnabar, lead, steel
best and inferior type, iron, quick-silver, senna; china paper, sandal
wood, iron pots and pans, cussoon (red dye) airyon (drug) and
tamarinds.

250

Karachi

TOWII,

.
From Gujrat Karachi imported cotton 2,500 maunds at Rs.
~7,500. From Persian Gulf Karachi got dates worth Rs. 30,000, dried
dales worth Rs. 20,000, pearls worth Rs. 75,000, slaves at Rs.

] ,20,000, and dried limes, cotton, roses, canvas, dried fruits, almonds,
and pomegranate skins.
From Upper Sindh Karachi purchased tobacco. Coarse cotton
cloth and indigo, from the Northern provinces it imported precious
stones, raisins, dried fruits, while from Lusbella it had oil, oil cakes,
ghee, wheat and gum. Thus the total imports at Karachi in 1839
amounted to Rs. ]5,99,625.
All the goods imported at Karachi were consumed in Sindh,
except only a small fraction which never exceeded Rs. 1,50,000 in
value in any year was sent to the Northern provinces. This consisted
chiefly of piece goods, a small quantity of steel, sugar, pepper and
spices. The goods were sent on camels in carvans by two routes, the
Lus Bella route and the Sehwan route. The Lus Bella route took 26
days to reach Kabul. This was cheap due to small exactions on the
way but it was a highly risky one due to the notoriety of the highwaymen who frequented this route. The Sehwan route was more
safe and took much less time but transit duties at Sehwan were
tremendous and so the merchants prefered to take the risk, rather .
than pay heavy transit duties.
As regards the articles consumed in Sindh, the goods went by
land to Bunder Gharah, Tall a, Hyderabad, Sehwan, Khairpur and
Shikarpur. The caravan look 3' days to reach Tatta, 6 days for
Hyderabad, 13 days for Sehwan, 20 days for Khairpur and 25 days
for Shikarpur, The roads were in good order and safe. Trust worthy
escorts of the Jokhea tribe could be had at very cheap. rates. They
charged Rs. 2-8-0 for Hyderabad and Rs. 2 for Tatta or Sonmeanee.
Coming to the side of exports from Karachi, the following were
the main things exported from this port: - Ghee 10,000 maunds at
Rs. ] 70,000, wool 3,500 rnaunds at Rs. 350,000, Gogur (gum) Rs.
12,500 Mungeet (madder) Rs. 45,000 Raisins Rs. 32,000 Jeerah
(seed) Rs. 10,000, Indigo 1,600 maunds at Rs. 120,000, wheat 33,000
rnaunds at Rs. 67.500, fish and shark fins worth Rs. 30,000, and
Purwaz, oil seeds, oil and loongccs as also opium 500 camel loads at
R". 400 a maund at Rs. J(l.()O,OOO.The total exports thus amounted
to Rs. 5,47,000 + 16,00,000 in 1817 A.D.
251

Sindh Observed

Now that we have known the irnprots and exports of Karachi as

also the chief items in each case, it seems worth while to give details
of the chief commodities specially those imported. Silk and cotton
as imported from Bombay draw our first attention. The cost of the
imported silk alone came to Rs, 3,00,000 per year. Among the silk
goods the following were in great request: _
Mada pollams, China and Bengal silk kerchiefs, English,
French, and China silks both plain and figured, Bengal Sarees, Sunil
Kimkhabs, chintzes of various patterns, etc. Among the colton
goods we had English piece goods, long cloth, sheeting cloth and.
English broad cloth, muslins several descriptions, plain and
flowered, coloured colton kerchiefs and common English shawls. It
is clear from the above that Sindh had a good market for silks.
Next comes the importation of cotton from Gujrat. In the early
part of the 19th century production in Sindh was at a low ebb and
hence Karachi imported 15,000 maunds from Gujrat every year. But
by about 1830A.D. Sindh started cultivating colton successfully such
that it needed to import only 2,500 maunds in 1837A.D. to meet the
cotton demand in Sindh.
Karachi had a flourishing trade in opium.
And the
Government too didn't miss the opportunity. -They charged a heavy
duty of Rs. 130 on a camel load of opium. This carne from Palco in
Rajputana to be exported to Daman to escape top heavy duties
charged to Bombay. Often times about 1,500 camel loads of opium
was exported from Karachi every year but 500 camel loads was the
more usual. The state often realized more from this source IIf
revenue alone than the farmed out sum of Rs, 70.000. fixed for
Karachi.
In the early part of the 19th century there seems to have been
great request for pearls and precious stones. Although by IHJ5A.D.
Karachi's oyster rocks did yield pearls but they were too tiny and
devoid of fineness of colour and shape to capture the Sindh market
for pearls. So pearls came from the Persian Gulf. The precious
stones came from the Northern provinces and were often exported
to Bombay.
They consisted of diamonds, cincrald, rubies,
anmatyhsts. saphircs, topazes and turquoises,
25.2

Karachi Town,

Karachi carried on an extensive trade in slaves as welt. At least

6 to 700 slaves were imported at Karachi every year. This was due to
the fact that British ports in India had disallowed disembarkatinn of
slaves there. The slaves were mostly grown.up children and 75% of
them were females. There were two distinct classes of slaves- the
Siddees or Africans and the Abyssinians or Hubshies. The Siddee .
slave could be had for a price between 60 to 100 rupees at Karachi.
The Hubshies were more costly and hence only a small number was
imported. Their price at Karachi varied from Rs. 175 to Rs. 250
according to the looks of the slaves. Hubshi female slaves of mature
age were imported as they supplied a good. market for being sold as
mistresses to men of rank. The Hubshi was not only known for his
looks but also for his quick adaptation to any trade if given some :'
training. The Siddee served more as a house-hold servant than as ani
.gent in trade. On the whole the Government realized about 4,~
r"pees yearly from the importation of slaves atKarachi. .
'
Karachi carried on a brisk trade in shark fins. Every year shark
fins worth about Rs. 15,000 were exported to Bombay enroute to
China. 12 large boats with crews of 12 men each were employed for
the purpose of catching sharks. Due to this extensive trade Karachi
had.the largest fishery at any given port throughout the world. .
Ghee and :gum from Karachi was exported mainly to Bombay
and wheat ana oil to the Persian Gulf, while the other ports
imported Tt!st,;d the goods.
Thus il NWStbe admitted that though Karachi enjoyed no'
external pretensions of a great port, it did carryon quite a brisk
tr.d~ before the Conquest of the town by the British.
'
CL. Mariwalla
Butani, 11-10-39

written language Sindh must have suffered an irreparable

loss in ii,
wealth of literature
and poetry: for the written language serve, I(l
leave a permanent
mark on the civilization of a nation, and "i~
embalmed
and treasured
up on purpose to life beyond lilc."
Notwithstanding
the vicissitudes Sindhi retained its original structure
and characteristics.
It has been calculated that Sindhi possesses

12,000 Sanskrit words, ~.5(K) indigenous or purely Sindhi words.

2,500 Arabic words, 2.000 Persian, and so on", Taking all these fal'h
into consideration, it appears that the most suitable and natural
alphabet would have been the adoption of Devnagri with necessary
. modifications.
But in view of a large Muhammadan population it
was desired that the Arabic alphabet should be adopted with
additions of dots and strokes necessary to indicate. the peculiar
sounds of the language. In IX53 the Court of Directors of the E,lst
India Company decided in favour llf the Arabic alphabet and
sanctioned an annual expenditure of Rs. 10,(KK) for the purpose
Promptly a committee was constituted consisting of some Sindhi
scholars to devise the present Sindhi alphabet of 52 letters ... the 2')
letters of the Arabic alphabet being amplified with 52 to represent
all the peculiar guucral. cerebral and pectoral sounds in which
Sindhi abounds. Then commenced the task of writing books in
Sindhi by translation from various Indian languages such as Persian,
Urdu, Marathi and Gujrati.
Need lor English Education. - Every nation requires a certain
percentage of educated persons to carryon the executive as well as
the administrative work: with the conquest of India, the British
people felt the same need. So long as the administration was carried
on in Persian, there was lillie difficulty, for the officials were already
acquainted with the language. But when English came to be used
I'm administrative
purposes, it was felt necessary to educate the
people olthc country in the same language in order tl) carryon the
work in the various departments.
When Sindh was annexed to the
British territory in Isn education had already made some progress
in other parts of India. Bombay had created a Board of Education
for the administration of education in (he Prcxidcncy. It divided the
area into three divisions for educational rurpo~e~ each of which W;IS
placed under a European
Inspector.
It also established
a
studcntship
and school committees in important centres and
I.'.

p. 1 Mirvu Kulichbcg: Sindhi

Fch l%t

I;,ngllagr (10

Sil)dhi) College Mi-ccllunv.

Sind" O!>'C'1'('"

undertook to open a vernacular school in every village containing not

les!'. than 2,000 inhabitants on condition that the people of the
locality provide for themselves a school house, furnish it and keep it
under repair.
At this particular stage, however, the Board of
Education was advocating the "tilt rat ion" policya policy so
extensively i!1 vogue in Bengaland expending a large sum or
money on it. The "filtration" policy which laid stress on higher
education, led to the neglecting of the vernacular education. From
IXn.52. it is reported that 4~ vernacular schools were added to the
list of Board Schools, while the number of English Schools
considerably increased. But as the alphabet of Sindh was not sell led
Ihen, t his policy could not have affected Sindh mat erially.
Politically, Sindh remained a separate province at first, in 1847
it was made an appendage of the Bombay Presidency under a
Commissioner.
A special service known as the Sind Commission
was created, and the members not of the Indian Civil Service but
generally from the Military Officials were appointed Collectors and
Deputy Collectors. These Collectors together with the missionaries
took the initiative of opening English schools.
Thus English
education was started in the Karachi, Hydcrabad and Shikarpur
Collect orates.

Spread of Education amollg the Hilldlls.- Among the Hindu

intelligentsia the importance of English education was soon realised;
English education
qualified them for "the most lucrative and
honourable employment."
It took the country by storm, appealed
strongly to the practically minded Hindu official class, and captured
the entire educational system. Thus "the system of public secondary
education wllich has been developed in India has lillie indigenous
foundation.
It is an exotic introduced for the main part by the
Government and the missionaries"!".
7711!Vernacular Education. - The Government received cordial
assistance in all measures taken to open vernacular schools in
different towns, from the principal inbabitants, who in many cases
promised ample contributions for the maintenancc of these schools.
In order to encourage indigenous schools, in IS5) small grants-in-aid
were offered to the teachers by the Board. One year later, the
14.

p.

I)". Nathan:

Review.

Progress of Education

262

in '.ndia: -h h })uinqucnnial

l listi meal Development of Education

Board agreed 10 pay half of the reacher's salary for any new school
opened hy the inhahitants in any village school room and the other
half of the tcaher's salary, The Government grants tn the Board
were also increased.
The Department
of Puhlic Instruction was instituted in 1855
after the abolition
of the Board in accordance
with the
recommendations
of the Despatch of IX:'i4. It drew up a scheme of
work'> for promoting education in the village, which did not come
into force till 186:V" when a local fund was established empowering
the local bodies to levy one-anna cess, one-third (\1' which was to be
allocated to primary schools and the remainder 10 the local public
work. The cess was first collected in H\(I:'i, originally levied without
the sanction of the legislature, hut imposed after receiving the
sanction of the Secretary of State for India. At first the imposition
of the cess was optional; in 1&1] it was made compulsory. 1 he Act
of 1869 also provided for the appointment of Local Committees to
administer the funds thus raised as well as many other funds that
might be placed at their disposal. The establishment of educational
(,C5.S increased the number of primary schools in the next decade.
It
is however, to be remtmhered
that the CeSS was levied on land,
therefore, the burden of taxation fell on the agriculturists, while the
15. The proposed scheme of work favoured the indigenous Primary
Schools to place themselves under the control of the Department
which offered a grant equivalent to hair the teacher's salary, and the
establishment or village schools aided and controlled by the
Department in areas maintaining 2,(lOOinhabitants. (p. 44 Sen. The
History of Elementary Education in India).
16. In 1853 the Government ~If India interpreted that the Despatch of
1854 empowered the giving of grants to the indigenous schools only.
and that the Government of Bombay had no power to establish the
village and Urdu schools, on the partially self-supporting system. The
Bombay Government replied that the partially self supnrting system
was substantially the same as the grant-in-aid system, in <IS much as the
Department paid only <I moiety of the schoolmaster's salary, while the
people bore the rest of the school expenditure. The Imperial
Government acquiesced in this view hut desired that no new school of
this class should be opened without their sanction. The extension of
primary education being thus virtually stoppcd.,., for the grant-in-aid
rules sanctioned by the Government were whollv unsuited to the
indigenous schoolsc., the work or the Educatiol; Department was
limited to cnnsolidpting and Improving its existing schools. (p. 115.
Sen. The History of Elementary Education in India.)

261

Sind" Obscrvc!

non-agricultural community escaped' from paying any cess, yet

children of both the communities studied in the schools. Threefourths of the expenses of these schools were met from the expenses
derived from the levying of the cess.
The grants-in-rules on the system of paymcnt-by-results were
first introduced in the Bombay Presidency in 1863, and unlike the
rules in Bengal and Madras embraced secondary education as well.
"The maximum grants offered under the several standards of
instruction prescribed by the Code ranged from Re. I to R~. 4 per
head, and in Anglo-vernacular schools from Rs, (1 to Rs. 30 per head.
with a special grant of Rs. 160 for each pupil who passed the
Matriculation Examination. A capitation grant of Rs, 2 in Anglovernacular and of 8 annas in vernacular schools was also given on the
average attendance of the pupils during the year!", Although the
education of the masses had the greatest claim on state funds, the
grant-in-aid rules were such that in practice they were found
unsuited to primary schools.
Till IH7(). the Government of India had been contributing large
sums to the Provincial Governments for the spread of education; but
in this year the~centralisation
order compelled the Govcmmcnt of
Bombay without any assistance from the Central Government to
take the sole rc ponsibility for the formulating of a provincial policy
of education.
This resulted in complete separation of the
instruction, organisation, administrative control and finances of the
primary and secondary schools. It was ruled that the cess-income
should be entirely devoted to primary education. This gave great
impetus to the linking up of the indigenous and local board schools
under one administrative control in several parts of the Presidency.
The local bodies were made responsible for the expenditure of the
cess-income on Primary education and on local improvements.
In l&Q the Hunter's Commission made a survey of the
educational progress in India. In view of the immense mass illiteracy
the Commission recommended that the Government should make
adequate provision for the education of all. It 'restricted the term
"Primary Schools" to schools imparting education in the vernacular.
The commission, however, did not recommend making elementary
17,

p, 34, Bombay Report "I' Ihe Indian Educat ion Commission. 1RI{!(SRI

2M

Historical D(','e/opIIICIII of Education

education compulsory nor free, though it suggested that the local

bodies might admit a certain proportion of pupils as free students on
grou;:tls of poverty. The commission favoured the levying of
education cess, which was already in force in the Bombay
Presidency.
As the demand for funds for the promotion of
education was great in 1886, the Bombay Government, as a result of
the recommendations (If the commission of 1882-83 agreed to pay
from the provincial revenue half as much as the local authorities
would assign for education ..
The primary education consisted of the infants' class and four
s.andards. With regard to the character and scope of primary
education it is remarked that the Bombay system resembled that of
America, in which all classes of society read together the same
course in..thc town or village school. This statement is significant
when we learn that the primary school was intended to be not only
the village school but the preparatory school for secondary
education, and for the pupils who required a more complete
education in the vernacular, the course of the primary school was
extended til two further standards (after standard (Iv).".
The local board schools, often known as "cess-schools" were
really managed by the Education Department but maintained out of
the money raised by the levying of the cess. The municipal schools
were, however, maintained and managed hy the Municipal Boards.
The Municipalities serving in the urban areas were found more
active in the spread of education than the District Boards which
maintained or aided schools in the rural areas. The position of the
District Boards was not strong either. In the interior often times
villages were not accessible, and the people were indifferent to/the
advantages of education.
Tile Attitude of tttc Muhammadans, - One of the detrimental
effects of education of this type is observed in the adverse influence
it exercised on the Muham~adans. The British rule1f<\vC'a s-~thack
to the Muhammadan education. . "The British Government
confiscated the endowments and stopped the allowances of the Taua
Sayads, the British influence dried up to a great extent the
spontaneous springs which had nourished the indigenous agencies"."
Ill.
I').

p. 19(1.Croft: Review or Education

p. 473. Aitkcns; The Guzcucr

Ilr

in India IRR6.
the Provinccof Sindh,

Sind" Observed

Sharp describes the state of the Muhammadans

thus: "When the
control of the country passed from the Muhammadan conquerors,
I hell later when Persian ceased to be the language or the court, the
'.luhammadan showed himself less ready than the Hindu in adapting
himself to the new conditions.
He did not seize the opportunity
(Ilk red of Western education or of entry into public life. He sat
;,part wrapped
in the memory of his tradition and in the
L"dntcmplation (If his ancient literature and bygone systems of
\cil'nce20:'
It however appears that the main reason for this attitude
d the Muhammadans was the abolition of religious education from
-chnol, the observance of the policy of strict religious neutrality by
! l'll' Government,
that must have come to them as a blow. Born in
[he 'tradition or having religious instruction as an integral part of the
-chool education, the introduction of secular education with absolute
dimination of religion must have appeared to them as something
.rkin to profane. It is doubtful whether the Muhammadans would
n.ivc remained in such a hackward state, if side by side with the
;,_'Iigiousinstruction. stirnulu, were given to the secular teaching as
well.

Girls' Education, - The Girl's Schools increased in number,

but it can safely be presumed that girls' schools in the towns
nourished more than those in the villages. It was difficult to induce
parents to send their daughters to school.
Social customs and
Ir.idition were against it.
Orthodoxy and conservatism prevailed
widely amongst the Muhammadans
and Hindus. Moreover, there
was no incentive to girls learning the three R's in the manner of
boys, If girls were to have any education at all, it was to be religious.
Therefore the education of t he girls started mainly through religious
instruction.
The Hindu girls learnt Gurrnukki in addition to the
Arabic-Sindhi, because the religious hooks of Nanakpanthis who
form a large portion of the Hindu population in Sindh are written in
that character.
The Muhammadan
girls continued to learn the
Ourem under the Mullas.
The payment-by-resuh
system improved the quality of the
schools hy raising the standard
of instruction
inspeclion and
examination. The inefficient character of many of the village schools
became a glaring defect in the light of the improvement in other

~II.

P ~.jS. Progress

or Education

'in India, Sth Ouinquennial

R(.'\'K'W.

Historical Development

schools.
schools.

of Education

Many children therefore, sought admission to board-

Secondary Education. - Secondary education was, however,

taking rapid strides. It drained the villages of their abler members.
Parents willingly sent their children to town schools in the hope of
securing a good past. Many left villages to settle in the cities and
towns where better opportunities prevailed. The establishment of
the Sindh College in 1S87 made it more convenient for the people to
avail themselves of education. Thus, English education secured a
firm footing in Sindh and it was eagerly sought hy many. In the last
decade of the last century, education was, however; subjected to
sudden and paralysing interruptions hy visitations of plague: hut in
parts not affected hy plague and famine, educational work
proceeded smoothly.
Education at tile close of the last century.- The close of the last
century is, therefore, marked hy the establishment of a few
Government schools supported from provincial revenue and a large
number of municipal and district local hoard schools. Besides these,
educational institutions of all grades, from college to the primary,
were maintained by private agencies. It was the policy of the
Government to encourage private enterprise in education, with such
object pecuniary assistance viz: "grants-in-aid" was given to all such
schools that conformed to the prescribed courses of studies. The
"grant-in-aid" was assessed according to the number of pupils found
proficient in the various standards at an examination conducted
periodically by the Educational 'Inspector and his deputies.
TIre Training of Teach C1:\'. - With the spread of vernacular
education soon the establishment of an institution for the training of
primary teachers was felt necessary. Therefore, as early a~ IR5..J, a
normal school was started in Karachi in which instruction was
imparted to such teachers or indigenous schools and others as
desired it. This institution was afterwards transferred to Hvdcrahad
and is now the Training College [or men. AcI"'illist1'{/tio~,. - As
regards the administration, education, in the beginning wax
entrusted to an officer called the Educational Inspector who was also
an oflicer in the Revenue Department. Under him was the fulltime
Deputy Educational Inspector devoted entirely to the task of
education. But the Deputy Educational Inspector was not alwavs in
a position tn obtain adequate guidance and advice from his superior

Officer who was generally overwhelmed with the task of his other
department.
In 1872 Sindh for the first lime secured the services of
a full-lime Educational Inspector.
Gradually, the need for more
assistants was feh. and towards the close of the nineteenth century.
the Department
was controlled under the Director of Public
Instruction. hy the Educational Inspector in Sindh with four deputy
inspectors posted at Karachi. HydcrabadSukkur
and Larkana.

Education in the early twentieth century. - The number of

educational
institutions
and of scholars found in the various
institutions in Sindh early in the twentieth century arc given in the
figure, quoted below". .
,
'-,

Number
(If
Institutions

Scholars
Male

Femjt}e

Total

Public"

Arts College
Secondary Schools

....

....

....

....

122

....

122

4,(C,6.I\

45...

5,122
58,XXI

~9

Primary Schools

1,306

50.02()

H.H55

Training Schools

27

Other Special
Schools

121
~
292

Private Schools

I),R~')

H2(1

1"~

21)5

UW9

Ill!};;':

~
Total

65,()6H

2,185

II,ISH

76.256

The ligures in the table disclose the fact that though education
had made a start, the disparity between the education of the male
21.
22.

p..HI. Imperial Gazetteer. Vol. XXII. t90S.

Those schools which though under private management followed the
departmental
curriculum and rules. were stvlcd "Public Institutions".
while t he indigenous schllol~ of religious 'character which did not
follow
the
dcpnrtmcmul
curriculum
were
not under
state
managcmcru. and were dc-ign.ued "Private Institutions."

26R

Histonco! Development of EdUCII/ion

and female popul$ltion is great. It is, however, remarkable to note

that three n(1rnrtil~ools were instituted for women in addition to
the Wotnen's Training College. In literacy, we find, the province
stood last among the four divisions. of the Bombay Presidency, the
literacy being 2.9 only (4.9 males and 0.5 females).
Vcmacular Education, - The low percentage of mass literacy
explicitly showed the need for expansion. It was obvious-that it has
received insufficient attention and inadequate share of the public
fund.
The Resolution of 1904 recommended that "Primary
education should make a leading cbarge upon provincial revenues."
In conformity with the educational policy of 1904, by the end of 1906,
the system of the payment by results was abolished. To replace the
system of payment by results other methods were contrived which
differed from province to province. In Bombay each primary school
was paid a fixed grant, subject to a maximum limit not exceeding one
half of the local-assets or one third of the total expenditure of the
school during the previous year. Besides grants were also made for
buildings and furniture.
Compulsory Education. - At a stage in the history of every
country, there is felt a: need for an intelligent and understanding
population for the well-being and solidarity of the country. This is a
modern demand which- has arisen out of the modern complications
of life and conditions. Its growth is, however, essentially slow in
most cases. First, the people must be made to sec the necessity of
the new and unprecedented demand. Then popular opinion has to
be roused. Even when the importance is realised, as Plato states,
there is a world of difference between knowing and doing. The
people must not only grasp the new ideas hut' leave their
conservative attitude in order to adopt them. In case of the adoption
of a new action, the people, together with other environment factors.
such as social,' political and economic, must co-operate to achieve
the end.. Hence the task of the reformer i~ncccssarilv arduous. The
necessity of mass education was perceived by the reformers or the
time. Unlike the miseries of the child in the factory and mine, the
miseries of the child in the agricuh u, al country arc not ~ll glaring.
Yet they arc potent enough. In 190-t the Government of India
declared that the spread or elementary education among the masses
was one of its foremost dut ics, In view of 1 he policy of expansion (If
primary schools. the Imperial grant was r<li~Clrfrom ~) lakhs of
rupees in 1902 to 75 lakhs of rupees in 11)()) annually for the whole
2(1l)

Sill"" Ob-;../1'('''

nf India. In reality however a large part of it was spent for education

oihcr than elementary.
With the increased grants new schools were
prlened and the existing ones were enlarged.
In 191 I. Gokhlc introduced his famous bill for the introduction
of free .md compulsory education throughout India. It was soon
followed hy the Emperor's speech in 1912, when he declared "It was
my wish that there may be spread over the land a network of schools
and colleges, from which will go forth loyal and manly and useful
citizens, able to hold their own in industries and agriculture and all
the vocations of life. And it is my wish, too, that the home of my
Indian subjects may be brightened and their labour sweetened by the
spread of knowledge, with all that follows in its train. a higher level
of thought, of comfort, and of health. It is through education that
my wish will he fulfilled, and the cause of education India will ever
he very close to my heart." His Majesty's declaration, coupled with
the attempts of Gokhlc's party. practically forced the Government to
I~'ly more attention to primary education.

Encouragement given to tire MlllrammadulIs:- Education now

received considerable
appreciation
from different communities.
Interest was awakened amongst the Muhammadans.
They were
given special concessions, encouragement
and stimulus to come
forward. A large number of Muhammadan pupils were exempted
from fees, scholarships were awarded, liberal admission granted to
the Government Vernacular Training Colleges. Boarding schools
were instituted at suitable centres and special curriculum was
sanctioned for them.
The Government
now had changed its.
religious policy and allowed religious teaching in ordinary schools
where aggregate number of students was large enough to permit it.
but on condition that it should he taught before or after school
hours. Aitempts were also made to enrol the Mulla schools hy
offering them grants. and inducing them to teach secular subjects as
well as religious instruction.
In the first flush of enthusiasm, Mulla
schools of all grades were enrolled; it was followed by the policy of
retaining the efficient ones and weeding out or impr~wing the others.
Girls ct/lIwtiOIl.- The importance of the education of girls was
also realised. Thc Commis-ion as car'v as 19f14endorsed the view
that "through female cducut ion a far greater proportional impulse is
imparted to the educational and moral tone of the people than by
the education- of men: hilt among the. girls. it W,IS still an almost

:no

Historical Development of Education

insuperable task to break through the barriers of long-standing

customs and traditions.
The difficulty was not so much with the
progressive communities
of Sindh in which the essentials of
education were already instilled, but with the Muhammadans and
the backward communities.
In 1917, the Bombay report points out
"Reinforced by such social customs as "Pardah" and early marriage
the ill effects of the literary tradition and the general belief in the
necessary inferiority of women have conspired together in this
country?' against the education of girls and women. Together with
these, the other potent factors must have been the absence of an
adequate number of girls' schools and of women teachers, and the
appointment of male teachers in girls' schools.
In some places.
widows and other elderly women came forward to act as teachers as
a means of livelihood, but, in general, the feeling of the women was
against the acceptance of any such profession, as teaching. In 1917,
the number of girls in schools was 17,217 in the whole of Sindh 1.].
per cent. only of the total female population.
Again it might be
common place to' state that the education was pursued more by girls
in the town than. those in the village. It is pointed out that regarding
the general backwardness
of the Thar and Parkar districts, the
number of girls' schools is remarkable>'.

Fees. - Most of the local board schools were free. The

percentage of the free schools in the different districts in Sindh
varied from 60 to 100, and the institutions that charged fees also
contained 25% .to 75~;hfree students.
The actual amount of fees
charged was 6 pies to 2 annas per rncnscrn.
SCCOfldOl), Educationc-:
As regards secondary education.
Middle and Higf Schools were started in large villages and towns.
While the High Schools were mostly concentrated in towns", middle
schools were distributed
in different
parts of Sindb
The
Government had adopted the scheme of maintaining atIeast one
model high school in each district, but three- (lui of seven districts

1,\, p. 93. Report on the Dcpun meni or Public lnstrucnon. 19t7.

2-1. Imperial Gazetter of the Province of Sindh. Thar and Parkar District.
ICJj'i,
2).

OUI of six high schoois, 1\\", were in Knrachi, two in Hvderabad, one in
Shikurpur, one in Bhiri (Nawabshah) apparently. Ih'e last one could
serve the neighbouring vill~lgL's mo. c Ihan 01hers.

Sindh Observed

had no Government High School", .Some schools had boarding

houses attached to them .for the convenience of the Hindu and
Muhamm~dan pupils from the neighbouring towns and villages. The
middle schools had three or five English standards, while the High
Schools had seven standards terminating in the Matriculation
Examination.
Pre-reform Government Policy and tile Reform of 1919.Considering the pressing demand of India, viz. the breaking down of
illiteracy, the Government of India declared its desire to assist the
local Governments with the provision of funds. All along the
Central Government had been contributing an ever increasing
amount of funds to the local Government for the expansion of
primary education. In accordance with the formulation of the new
scheme there was to be introduced general compulsion on all local
bodies throughout India to provide facilities for the extension of
primary education, so as to double the number of pupils in primary
schools within ten years. To meet the enormous expenditure it was
proposed that the Imperial Government should advance one third,
provincial Government one third, and local bodies one third of the
total cost. The cost of training additional teachers was to be divided
between the Government of India and the provincial Governments.
With the inauguration of the Montagu-Chelmsford Report, the
direction and financing of tbis scheme had to be abandoned, and the
Government of India was prevented by the constitutional position
from giving further direction and financial help to the provinces.
The Devolution of Primary Education 011 the Local Authorities.
- Primary Education Act of 1921 entitled a scheme of further
devolution of control; it completely handed over to the local bodies
the charge of the elementary schools. Before the passing of this Act,
in spite of the great powers vested in the local authorities, the power
of granting recognition and aid to vernacular schools was almost
everywhere in the hands of the executive Government, and the
Government was responsible for the direct management of large
classes of vernacular schools. This Act as amended in 1927changed
left to the local Authorities the management of their own schools.
In )926-27 the year of devolution of control, there were 1949
Primary schools in Sindh with 109, 161 pupils [boys and girls), of
26.

Nawabshah, Thar Parker,

(invcrnment High Schools,

and

Upper Sindh Frontier had nn--

J listorical D"I'c/opIIIC/II of Education

which I)J(J institutions belonged III the District Local Boards. and 724
were Mulla schools with 24,022 pupils (boys and girls-"). With the
passing of the Primary Education Act of 1923,we enter the new era
of the development of rural education,

27.

pp. (l~. so ;,nd I~(l. Quinquennial Report on Public lnsrruct iun in th'e
Iltll11h:l\ J'n:~idl'lh"\ 1')22-27.

273

The Mazaris of Sindh

By Muhammad Yasin MA., Archaeological Dept. New Delhi
Read before the Sindh Historical Society Karachi Oil 19-2-1939
Small incidents have often served as preludes to political
developments of a far-reaching character and so did the raids of the
Mazaris of Sindh. Though merely a predatory tribe, it has
unconsciously played an important though infamous part in Indian
history early in the 19th Century. Strange as it may seem, there is
hardly a mention of them in most books of Sindh except a passing
reference here and there. Their share, though indirect, in shaping
the destinies of Sindh, does not appear to have evoked proper
recognition. They were instrumental, first, in precipitating a clash
between the Ameers of Sindh and Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and
secondly, as a sequence of events, in the complete overthrow of.the
former by the English. The Mazaris had perhaps never intended to
be the cause of the misfortunes of Sindh, but their predatory habits
gave rise to circumstances that contributed to causes which
compelled the Ameers to be drawn into unequal conflicts with
superior powers, viz., the Sikhs and the English, culminating in the
entire extinction of their chequered rule.
Richard F. Burton! mentions 79 principal Beloch clans settled
in the plains of Sindh, the Mazaris being by no means the most
prominent of them. They were a tribe of robbers inhabiting the
plains. in the neighbourhood of Amarkot-, Their exact origin is not
known but like other Baluchis they were, according to Col. Pottinger
(Resident at the court of Sindh) and Postans, descended from the
jews. The Baluchis, however, themselves claim 'descent from the
Arabs and believe their original home to be 'Haleb' (AlIepo)'. They
1.
2.

3.

"Sind and the Valley of the Indus" pp. 368.

'Amarkot' as mentioned in the British Agent's letter dated 14-5-1IU5
must be somewhere near Mullan. It cannot be 'Umarkot', which is as
far as about 300 miles to the sourth of'Mithankot".
Burtoll_ Sindh and the Races that inhabit the Valley of the Indus_
pro 237. @ Ibid. 410.

275

.';;/1(11, Observed

are further said to be divided into tWI) distinct families, namely (1)
the aboriginies of Mekranand (2) those Arabs who emigrated from
Arabia with Hajjaj son of Yusuf and settled in the conquered
provinces of Mckran and Baluchistan while the rest of the invading
army marched into Sindlr', It is however difficult, to say to which of
these families the Mazaris belonged.
'
Though nominally subject to the Ameers of Sindh they were'
too unruly to be amendable to control. They numbered about four
thousands fighting men and their chief stronghold was Rojhan which
was was also the residence of their chief, Bahram Khan. They used
to carry their depredations alike.into Sindh, Lahore and Bahawalpur
territories. The impetus to their raids was given by the combination
of strange circumstances. Dera Ghazi Khan an adjoining district,
was in the first instance leased by Maharaja Ranjit Singh to the
Nawab of Bahawalpore, but on the latter's failing to pay the tribute,
General Bentura, a French officer in the employ of the Maharaja
was appointed to its charge. He was later succeeded by Dewan
Sawan Mal, a distinguished officer ofthe Sikh Government. He
effected certain reforms in the settlement of the country whereby the
Bcloch Chiefs and Zamindars were obliged to pay their revenue in
money instead of in kind as previously. This measure was treated by
them as an encroachment on their rights and created great
discontent. Although a fifth of the Government share of the revenue
was remitted with a view to mitigating their hardship which this
direct taxation im!plved, they continued to labour under a sense of
injustice. The Dewan was fairly popular and his rule mild. His
difficulties were indeed enormous requiring great perserverance and
tact, for he had to preserve internal tranquility among the turbulent
Bcloch without suffering them to fall into arrears of payment of their
dues. General Ventura's presence had exercised a great moral
check on these turbulent people and his recall had thus natrually it
degenerating inlluence on them. The fact that a large contingent of
Sikh force stationed on the western frontier \....
,IS withdrawn
contributed still further towards diminishing the dread of the Sikh
Government and giving them an open field for their lawless
activities, Moreover owing to a large extent of territory which the
Dewan had under his charge, he had frequently to go from one
cxtn:mity .of thc province to another as the cxgcncics of
4.

n miles we,1 III' Jacohabad

Shik.irpur

and about 50 miles 10 the north WCSI IIf

276

Tire Mozaris

(~rSIIIell,

administration demanded, and it often happened that while he W3!.

settling affairs at one end, his presence was suddenly felt needed at
another. It was thus impossible for him to exercise personal and
direct control in all parts of his dominions simultaneously. All these
circumstances combined to embolden the Bclochis especially the
Mazaris, to shake off the intolerable yoke upon them and to return
to their predatory habits. Although the Dewan had had forts
constructed at various important places, viz., Dajil, Harrand and
Arnarkot, in order to check them, he could not altogether save his
subjects from their frequent onslaughts.
At the close of the year ]834 the Mazaris made raids on the
Sikh posts near Multan" and carried off considerable property from
Mithankot and Amarkot. The Ameers of Sindh sent their agent to
Dewan Sawan Mal in January of the following year offering to make
good the loss that the Dewan's su~.iects bad suffered from these
depredations,
He dissuaded the Dewan from his contemplated
attack on Rojhan (which was nominally under the suzeranity of the
Ameers) and assured him that the Ameers would see thai the
Mazaris were kepi in check, The Dewan, however, did not consider
the guarantee of their future behaviour to be adequate and desired
not only the restitution of all property plundered away but also the
surrender of the Mazari chief, Bahram Khan. The Sindh agent
agreed to bring Bahram Khan to hint within fifteen days, but he had
already fled to the territory of the Bag/His" accompanied by a large
number of his followers. The Sindh agent thus failed to produce the
man by the due date, but he re-iterated his offer of making amends
for the loss caused by the raid: The Dewan, however, insisted on the
surrender of Bahram 'on pain of invasion of Rojhan. The Sindhis
thereupon began to make preparations to meet the attack and
mustered a force of 4,000 men at Rojhan. In the meantime the
Dewan had devastated the adjoining territory "burning the huts .....
and selling fire to the geatesi number of houses at Badli and cutting
the unripe corn." The Amcers then despatched another messenger.
Kamal Khan, who was able to patch up a compromise with the
Dewan whereby the latter returned to Mithankot on the condition,
among others, that a hostage (Gola Singh Kardar of Ken) should
5.
6.

Letter from the British Agent at Mithankot 10 Captain Wade, Political

Agent at Ludhiana dated J.J-5-JSJ). (Punjab Go vernment records).
Also called "Bughiis" or "Bagtis", They were a Baluch tribe which
migrated from "Dug" 1111 till' Persian side "f Balu~hislal1.

277

Sind" Observed

remain at the camp of the Dewan as a surety for better behaviour in

future. A little later, however, (on 7th February 1835) the Dewan
received intelligence of a fresh outrage alleged to have been
committed by Mazaris at Mithankot at night, whereupon the Dewan
placed Gola Singh in confinement.
He was thus compelled to march into the territory of Mazaris.
He succeeded in forcing the submission of their chief Bahram Khan
who surrendered himself to the Dewan and restored the cattle stolen
from his Mithankot subjects. The Dewan also exacted from him
under the name of Nazrana to Maharaja Ranjit Singh a large sum of
money (of which the exact amount is not known) besides a number
of camels, horses and cattle, and also, made him enter into
engagements for good conduct in future under the pain of a heavy
penalty?
These engagements
were, however, far from being
fulfilled.
By that time the Sikh forces had, under the command of Prince
Nau Nihal Singh. conquered Dera Ismail Khan in about July 1834. It
-rnay be observed that Maharaja Ranjit Singh's foreign policy was
marked hy an intense desire to conquer Sindh, and the Mazaris'
conduct provided him with an occasion for an invasion. With the
conquest of Dera-Ismail Khan almost all the important posts in the
frontier of Sindh had been occupied by the Sikhs and Sindh was now
surrounded by them on various strategic points.
The Maharaja alleged that the raids of the Mazaris were incited
hy the Sindh Government and excused himself for his contemplated
invasion of Sindh on grounds "of self-defence, Whether the Mazari
trouhle was actually inspired by the Sindh Government there is no
conclusive evidence to show, but the British Agent believed that it
was only a 'convenient' plea",
Hostilities had thus opened on the Sindh frontier with Dewan
Sawan Mal's attack on Rojhan in August ]836. Two months later
another action was fought between the Mazaris and the Sikhs in
which the former were repulsed with heavy loss ~nd their.fort called
7.
So

British Agent at Mithanknt to Captain Wade dated 15-5-1835.

This question has been discussed in my article "Ranjit Singh's
Diplomatic Relations" in the )IH7 issue {Vol. XIII No.2) of the
'Indian Historical Quarterly' Calcuua.

278

Jill' Mazaris ofSindh

'Ken' was taken possession of by the Sikhs". Prince Kharak Singh

and his son Nau Nihal Singh having completed the conquest of
Dera-Ismail-Khan
were about this time on the bank of the Indus
with large armies ready to engage with the Sindhis. The Ameen;
were also collecting armies at Shikarpur from all quarters and had
gathered a force of ten thousand horse and foot, as also fifty pieces
of artillery under the command of Mir Nasir Khan. Mir Mehrab
Khan Birohi or Brahui, the chief of Kalat and other Beloch tribes of
the hills had also placed their resources at the disposal of the
Ameers who were consequently optimistic of their success. Before,
however, they were actually drawn to an engagement with the Sikhs,
the Arnecrs made another effort to arrive at an honourable
compromise with the Sikh authorities.
They accordingly sent their
envoys to Dewan Sawan Mal and Prince Kharak Singh -vith a
proposal for the establishment of a boundary between the territories
of Sindh and the Punjab Governments.
They proposed that the
Sikhs should confine themselves to Rojhan which was formerly held
by Behram Khan Mazari now ned to the hills, and that- Ken which
was about 13 miles from Rojhan and Shah Wali should he restored
to the Amecrs. The Dewan declined the proposal on the ground
that these places formed part of the Mazari territory which the Sikh
Government
had decided to occupy.
The usual demand for a
Nazrana'" was again put forward as the price of the withdrawal by
Prince Kharak Singh when the envoys later waited on him". The
Arnecrs expressed their inability to tender the Nazrana and the two
powers were thus now at the brink of war. But then came the
inevitable intervention feared alike hy the Maharaja and the Ameers,
for the British came forward at this juncture and prevented the clash
on the ground that the commercial arrangements
arrived at in
connection with their scheme of navigation through the Indus
required unbroken tranquility which these hostilities threatened
seriously to upset.

9.
10.

II.

British Agent. Camp Satluj 10 Captain Wade dared 23-10-1936.

In ihc "History
the Punjab II (London IR46) pp. 134. the tribute
demanded is Slated 10 be len lakhs or rupees. but this is evidently
incorrect. the British agent on the other hand in his letter 10 Captain
Wade dared 23-11-36 mentions thai "Nazrana" of two lakhs was
demanded. The latter figure seems more authcmicatcd,
British Agent Camp Sall~.i In Captain Wadc 7.3-11-36.

I)"

279

Silldll Observed

That clash was averted, but in the trail of the disturbed political
atmosphere followed a series of events which ended in the British
occupation of Sindh.
The Mazaris not only disturbed the tranquility of the Sikh
dominions hut also incurred the displeasure of the British
Government for interfering in their scheme of navigation. The
upper part of the river beyond the Sind territories was much infested
by them, as they rendered navigation exceedingly insecure, with the
result that commerce was seriously threatened's,
The British
Government too were thus anxiously concerned to 'see that the
Mazaris were suitably dealt with. If the Maharaja's hostilities were
restricted to the Mazaris alone the British would probably not have
stood in his way, hut they had a shrewd suspicion that he was
contemplating an excuse for the entire annexation of Sindh which
was opposed to their own ultimate designs of Sindh. The British
Government were not then in a position directly III crush the
Mazaris, but they gave a stern warning to the Amecrs of Sindh that
they must keep these men in check. Soon after they themselves
came to occupy Sindh after. which nothing more was heard of the
Mazaris.
These events do not of course indicate that the Mazaris had any
direct share in shaping the history of Sindh-but the indirect influence
which their raids exercised towards deterioriating the political
atmosphere was in no measure too small. Such a disturbed state of
affairs in Sindh, as in many other part of India, was bound sooner or
later to end in its occupation by the British. Had the Mazaris
behaved and co-operated with the Ameers in keeping peace instead
of adding to their embarranssments, Sindh might perhaps have been
on a different political footing today.

12.

l. Postuns

"Personal Observations on Sindh_ IH43"pp. 229.

280

The History of Dress

By Dr. Omar Rolf Baron Ehrenfels
I. TI,e Problem of the history of dress
The scientific description and analysis of dress has been much
neglected. This is partly due, it seems, to the artistic pleasure in the
picturesque beauty of various dress-fashions, which has been so
much in the foreground, as to allow the merely scientific outlook on
the subject to become a mattes of general interest.
Dress-forms of foreign contemporary peoples, as well as those
of bygone historical periods attracted the imagination of the painter
or sculpturist, and inspired the director of the stage. Everything,
connected with dress and dress-fashions, moreover, is generally
considered as belonging to the realm of tailors and fashionable, if
not frivolous people, not quite in keeping with the dignity of a
scientist.
Therefore, a valuable source of culture-historical
information has been neglected here.
Another cause for this negligence was undoubtedly the false
conception of an automatically progressing evolution of human
culture from the "primitive" to -the "civilized". This European
conception did not hesitate to consider the characteristics of its own
culture as the marks of the highest possible human achievements,
and those of other cultures the signs of primitivity. On this false
basis, the wrong idea has been developed that loose or little dress,
and that especially nudity, were necessarily "primitive", whereas the
tight and overloaded European dress of the Victorian age, was held
to be the symbol and goal of progress ... Much harm has been done
by this self-centred and short-sighted European prejudice of the last
century, to a scientific analysis of the history of dress, for its plain
facts teach us a lesson, very much to the opposite effect! The
ancient Egyptians, Cretans, pre-Aryan Indians and early Sernits, the
Greeks, Romans and Indian Buddhists; as a mattcr of fact, all the
founders of world's greatest historical Civilizations wore the same
type of loose and "half-nude" dress. appropriate to the climatic
conditions of their respective count rics.
2~1.

Sind" Observed

The Scyths, Huns, Teutons, Mongols and other nomadic

invaders from Central Asia, on the other hand, were dressed in tight
and all-covering cloths, appropriate to the severly cold climate of
their Siberian home-countries. But they were in the beginning of
their invasions rather destroyers, than builders of civilization. It
must therefore be said to be utterly false to say that tight and allcovering dress signifies higher culture, or that loose, and half-nude
dress indicates "primitivity"!
This basic fact of a cultural history of dress shows already what
a wrong impression the superficially interpreted evolutionary
conception of cultural history has created.
Much more can
undoubtedly be achieved by an exact method of scientific
observation of facts, than by building up theories, based upon
assumed and, to say the least, unproved "laws of evolution" in human
culture which were supposed to have been parallel- to the
undoubtedly existing evolution of the human body and its animal-like
ancestors. It seems therefore advisable to apply exact culturehistorical methods on the investigation of dress, in order to replace
unfounded prejudices by proved facts. The main principles of such a
culture-historical method of comparative ethnology have been
explained. by the prominent representatives of this school, i.e. the
professors W. Schmidt and W. Kopcrs in a recent publication'.)
India offers a classical working-field for this kind of
investigation, as so many and so differing kinds of dress are in few
other countries found to co-exist, as they do here.
From where came all these dress-fashions? What is their
history and which arc the connecting links between so differing
dresses, as e.g. those of the Pathan tribesmen and the Brahmin
priest, the Europeanized townsmen and the Indian ladies in their
picturesque saris, so much admired all over the world? And these
.arc only a few, out of many more examples!
It cannot be our task to attempt at a full history of Indian dress
within the frame of this short article, though we do hope that this
histilry will one day be written, after thorough investigation into all
1.

'The Culture Historic Method of Ethnology. A scientific approach til

the racial qucsuon." New York. 1940. (Fortuny's Publishers).

2R2

The I1isIOI)' of Dress

historical sources will have been made. But a few hints to the main.
problems of this question may be usefully suggested to all those,
who, we hope, will take up systematic investigation into sources of
historical
information,
such as ancient sculptures,
paintings,
descirptions, trade-accounts
and statistics of all kind. A history of
dress can be built upon this basis alone.

It is obvious that such a comprehensive history of dress will also

have to deal with many side-issues of our problem. The hygienic and
the psychological effect of dress, as well as it's aesthetical, tasteforming or its ethical qualities are by no means negligible, though
they are usually neglected by social scientists and reformers alike.
The dress which a person wears transforms not only the bodily,
but also the mental attitude. It influences taste, the beauty-ideal and
thus indirectly also the outlook and character of. a person. These
very interesting aspects of the dress-problem should of course he
thoroughly dealt with in a comprehensive history-of dress, but they
can not be made the subject of our present essay, which merely tries
to show:(a)

that scientific interest ~ dress is not frivolous, but should be

taken seriously as an important
source of culturc-histic
information,

(b)

that the history of dress illustrates general history, and

(c)

that tradition and fashion arc stronger forces in the history of

dress, than artistic.ihygicnic and climatic conditions, which- are
gnerally held to have been the main factors in the creation of
dress-fashions.

The scientific analysis of all the motives in various dress-forms

alone can pave the way to a reasonable dress-reform on healthy
lines. The scientific study of the cultural history of dress may
therefore be said to serve' not only theoretical science, bur also
practical life.

fl.

Outlines of Culture-Historic Investigation in the Changements of

Dress-Fashions

283

.Sindn O/IJI!/1'ecl

The dress of the primary human culture-circles served three

main objectives, i.e. (a) the protection, (h) the covering of the sexual
organs, and (c) ornamentation.
Leaves were originally used for
these purposes.
The warriors of the totemistic hunting type
developed from this basic garment strong bells, made of durable
material,' which offered an effective shield in open fighting. Chains
of shells, pierced stones, .seeds or flowers, as also tattoo-marks were
often added to the practical leaf-dress, which naturally must be
changed every day and thus is very hygienic and clean. Women in a
matriarchal culture were most probably responsible for the invention
of spinning and weaving, and thus for the introduction of durable
cloths This luxury undoubtedly facilitated the immigration of men
into cool and also in desert-zones, from their moist-tropical homecountries. But it necessitated washing, or, if neglected, the wearing
of dirty material on the hody, which is both, extremely unhygienic
and positively unaesthetic. These loin-cloths have been wrapped
round the waist, in a dhoti-or lungi-like fashion. Orrramentation was
concentrated on the upper part of the body, which, as a rule was left
bare, in accordance to the climatic conditions of tropical countries,
where all-covering garments arc derogatory. Only a loose sC;Vfwas
some times worn over the shoulder, and enfolded, according to
temporary need, as a protection against cold storms in the cooler
zones, or sand-storms in desert-areas, into which this type of higher
matriarchal agriculturaland city-civilization has meanwhile
penetrated.
This was the classical dress-type of the great civilizations which
flourished in the wide belt between India, Oriental-Africa and the
Mediterranean Basin, during some forty centuries B.C.. and ten
centuries A.D. This dress survived in many forms among all nations
of higher culture. The statues of modern European statesmen, kings
and heroes are often depicted in this kind of dress, thus keeping up
the classical Greek tradition.
The female symbols for peace,
wisdom, justice, liberty, science and also those of the various
European nations are usually represented in European palaces in
this sante dress, according to the traditional form of the Egyptian,
Greek and Roman female deities which were the patterns of these
symbolical ligures. The Rennaissance-movement had revived the
memory of this dress-type in.Europe.

284

1he Ilislo/~' o] Dress

But the very same dress also hecn preserved as a living

ceremonial garment in many Oriental countries of old cultural
tradition.
The dress of the Muslim pilgrim to Mckka thus keeps alive. at
least temporarily, this- type of dress, which" was once worn as a
matter of course by the early Muslims of Arabia. The ceremonial
dress of the Brahmin pricsts-;imtof a number ofruling princes, both
in British and Dutch "India; addsv more examples to' our list 'of
surviving traditions in clothing;
How, when, and why did the tight, and:
in warrrrecountru-s:
extremely unpracticalclothes, come into-existence. \\ hich ';1 c now
worn by the great hulk of the world's populatiort? From-where ramc
the so-called European style of clothing? .
This tight and all-covering type of sewn garments was hy no
means a progress, developed from the original dress, It wa~ilJ the
other hand inventedby- those-nomadic
tribes, .....
vhicl h~t~lli-.,:c(las
pastoral people, in the cold' lonC'S;. ()f CClltra)- Asi andvSib(:ria.
anterior to their immigration innr Sourhcrn countries. 1n ihcir.urctic.>
home-lands; it was a necessity to pflllec~~on~'.Plllly
with. tight
trousers, sleeved shirts and jackets, or with long blouses and wals
against the severe cold,
The Central Asiatic pastoral normads conquered, in jhc course
of time, a great numhcr of highly advanced city-civilizations in warm
countries, such as those of Mohanjo-Daro, Mesopotamia, ancient
Egypt and Crete, or much later, Rome. As so often. also here. the
barbaric
conquerors
learned and adopted culture, knowledge,
science and the mystic essence of the religions, which they found in
the conquered cultural -arcas. But the outward appearance of the
conquerors. (- again. a:-, so often in history!-)
was more or less
copied by the conquered peoples. Thus the lirsl influx to) the South
of tight, overloaded dress-fashions, suitable for arctic. hut not for
tropical climates. was started, We know it great number of similar
examples of imitation of the victorious conqucrors.Jiy their enemies.
The Turkish cavalry-uniform. their war-symbols and the shape of
their curved swords was thus imitated by the European armies, after
thc Turkish victories and conquests during Ihl' XVlh and XVI-th
centuries. _French uniform-patterns W('fC siAlilarly ("llpied aftl'T thc
Napoleonic era. The na\ies of allnalions adoptcd thc Brili.~h sailor's

285

Sind" Observed

dress, similarly as the colonial forces of most colonizing powers wear

the khaki shirt and shorts of the British.
What happened here in more recent stages of hi;;tory,was also
the .pattern of events in former millenia. Human psychology and
mental reactions are less changeable than the visible forms of
material civilization.
The ancient Greeks, in their hygienic, beautiful and simple
dress, suitable to the subtropical climate of their country, considered
the tight and sewn clothes of the Scyths and Persians as the
outstanding sign of barbarity. But only a few hundred years later,
after the conquest of Greece by Macedonians and Romans and after
the growth of Central-Asiatic cultural influence, this very dress has
been adopted hy them. Similarly as the Britons had copied the tight
dress of the Normans and as the kilt only survived in the mountains
of Scotland and in some regiments of the army, so also survived a
kilt-like garment only in the Epiros, i.e. the mountainous region of
Greece and in the regiments of the Ephzons there.
In the transition-period of classic Greek to mediaeval
.Bycantine culture, it became a fashion with the courtesans to halfveil their faces, thus adding to their natural beauty, the charm of
secrecy and excited curiosity. This fashion of the courtesans has
I<Il~rbeen adopted by the average ladies of Bycantium, from where
it spread as the official dress of the nuns to the West among whom it
still exists in a modified form, and, much later, i.e. after the Turkish
invasion, as the originally unislamic veiling of women, to the East
and so far as India.
III. The effect oj [orcign dress ill tropical countries.

The all-covering fashion of the Central-Asiatic conquerors has

thus been rapidly introduced in the subtropical and tropical centres
of civilization. during the first centuries A.D. A revolution of everydays life, men's outward appearance, and constitution has here been
effected, which is usually underestimated, if not entirely neglected by
culture-historical investigation, The most natural thing of the world
in a subtropical, or tropical country, i.e. the sight of human skin, a
hare upper part of the body or of lhc legs, Was soon considered
"strange" if not "indecent". This indirect effect of the tight, artie
dress on the outlook of pcopic, living in tropical countries, proved to
286,

The History of Dress

be unwholesome. The traditional rules of tropical hygiene, the

innate sense of classical beauty and ever the ethical standard were
shaken and, to a certain extent, even destroyed.
Ceremonial baths, repeated several times a day, are soon being
neglected under the influence of tight dress, as it is difficult, even
impossible for poorer classes of people to carry out these baths, as
soon as the sight of the human skin was once banned from, or
looked down by the public. Also the regular washing of the
complicated, sewn and heavy cloths is too costly, as to be carried out
as regularly and often as that of simple, unsewn dress, of the sari,dhoti,- or lungi-type. In some countries it became even a custom to
keep the cloths of the day on the body, during the night: a very
unhygienic undertaking, especially so in a hot climate, where tight
and heavy cloths are bound to get soaked with sweat and dust!
But also the unfavourable effect on the people's general
morality appears to have been amazingly strong. The mere sight of
a human body. especially that of a woman, to which tropical peoplr
were accustomed in natural innocence, soon became the object of a~
undesirable curiosity and excited sexual passions without personal,
love; a thing unheard of, in a culture, where the sight of human skin
and bodies is a matter of course and every-days-life.
Even the aesthetical sense for the natural harmony in the
Human body decayed and was soon replaced by the craving to show
one's dignity and social position in an -aceumulation of bombastic
and ill-proportioned masses of cloths on one's body. Unhygienic and
unpractical as this sort of dress is, especially in hot climates, it also
undermines .taste ..
The beauty-ideal, determined by the ruling dress-fashion,
influences the entire physical and mental attitude of a nation, to a far
greater extent as this is usuallv realized, Loose dress bare feci and
a bare upper part of the body result in the straight and noble altitude
for which Indians were so famous. It is characteristic that this
upright bearing has been preserved, chiefly by the poorer classes and
partly also by the ladies of higher standing in India, who both of
them have generally not adopted European shoes and tight,
overloaded dress.
.

2~7

Sindh

Oh,'CI1-cd

This sort of garment is not only a burden that bends the body
physically and literary: it affects also the mental attitude to one's own
body. in so far as it distracts the consciousness from the former to
the dead mailer of cloths and garments, Under the influence of the
light. nordic dress, a neglected, bent or fat body, wrapped up in
costly cloths. was soon considered "beautiful", and a harmonious
body of classical beauty, if clad in a simple cloth was considered
"indecent",
Hence the decay of swimming, gymnastics, physical
training and of a, sound taste. under the derogatory influence of
overloaded dress-fashions!
The European conquest of most of the centres of ancient
civilization and the European altitude towards the traditional dress
in these countries
of Southern culture added much to the
undesirable development. outlined here. Light dress and' nudity,
although much admired in the classical Greek civilization and copied
from their famous sculptures, by the Eur-opeans, have, at the same
time been looked down upon, if found in contemporary Asiatic and
African peoples,
Ridiculously false slogans have been invented
under this inconsequent
idea, The alleged primitivity of unsewn
cloths, such as the sari. dhoti or lungi, or the pretended "indecency"
of a bare upper part of the body arc two examples of this unscientific
altitude of mind. We have shown how utterly false these ideas
appear to he in the light of exact culture-historic investigation. For
the creators of the great civilizat ion wore loose and little dress hut
the barbaric invaders tight, sewn one: But it is seldom realized that
these artificially created foreign prejudices changed the out looked
on vital questions of hygiene, art and ethics, as a mailer of fact, the
entire outlook of life in tropical countries!
It i~ the irony of [ate thut modern European development now
realized thaI Ihcsc mistakes, have been committed especially during
the last century. and thaI it tric-, tocorrect the damage done at home
by reform and modernisation, whereas in the tropical colonies under
European domination IlK l,ld prejudices arc still being kept alive by
the Europeanized Orientals and Africans themselves. II is perhaps
not said too much that Europe has considerably orientalized her
outlook on these questions, whereas the Orient and Africa have
hccn westernized in the old-fashioned sense of the world.
Physical culture. a bath twice or thrice ,I day. swimming, light
dress and the acsthctical appreciation of natural beauty in the

human body; all these arc qualities, wide-spread and gelling more
and more popular in modern Europe, and at the same time rapidly
decaying in the East, though there is little douht that they had been
introduced to Europe from the East! The West 'learned from the
East through the medium of the British, especially since the latter
had come to India. They have a particularly open and unprejudiced
mind for everything good, also in foreign cultures and it was
undoubtedly since the spreading of the British influence hecame so
, powerful in the rest of Europe, that hygiene, daily baths, sport and
swiming grew popular there.
Now-a-days European workmen and sportsmen take more and
more to the custom of doing work with a hare upper part of the body
and bare legs, whereas the Oriental and African town-proletariat
considers the wearing of shirts,_ which in a tropical climate are
bound to he sweat-soaked and dirty after half a day's work'- as an
essential symbol of their dignity,
The removal of the coat and its replacement by the shirt in the
official dress of the Fascists, has not been invented by them, but
rather copied from the practical, simple and pretty shirt-and shortdress of the British. It is generally felt in Europe that the present
gents dress, especially the overcoat is unpractical, unhygienic and
ugly and that it ought to be replaced by a better sort of simpler
dress. At the very time the European overcoat is being adopted by
all classes of tropical peoples, although this garment in far more
burdensome in a hot country, than it is in cool Europe.
In the process of this adoptation, a specially fatal tendency is to
be observed, The old traditional dress, with its long, floating folds of
cloths is not given up when the tight European coat is being adopted.
This results in a combination of both cloths, most illsuited from the
artistic point of view and even more overloaded and sticky than
either of the tWI.>dress-Clements alone. Consequently many tropical
Easterners and Africans arc now positively heavier dressed than
even the Europeans in their cool climate of 'ice and snow!
.

The Arab Bcdu, c.g. wears now-a-days pis picturesque, long

shirt and a tight. second-hand European coat on top of it. Here in
India, similar comhinations can he observed, which are aesthetically
disastrous. For, loose and floating garments have a high valli'''':of
beauty, if combined with the natural harmony of the"human body. A

289

Sind" Observed
A

clean and nicely folded dhoti, combined with a naked upper part of
the body, part1y covered perhaps with a light scarf, is certainly far
superior, from the artistic point of view, to (he light and clumsy
European pantaloons and coat. But dhotis, hanging underneath the
straight lines of an American-tailored coat; this is certainly a dress
which combines everything that docs not go together, Exactly the
same holds good to combinations such as a modern shcrwany, over
which a traditional Arab burn us is hung, or a gorgeous sari under
which an embroidered European blouse is worn. The judgment of
G. Venkatachalam on such kinds of heterogenously combined, newly
invented dress-type can scarcely be said to be too hard, when he says
that
"The present-day dress all over India is anything but desirable;
it is. a jumble of all sorts, half oriental and' half occidental,
illsuitcd to the climate of the country and positively ugly and
monstrous. It is amazing that, sensitive as Indians are, to most
other things, they have not yet realized the ridiculousness of the
whole situation. In fact reversion to the ideal Indian dress
seems to make them stand aghast and wonder at the folly of
going back to some sort of primitivism."]
Unprejudiced history of dress can successfully serve not only
the culture-historian and ethnologist, but also the artist and social
reformer whose duty it is to create an outward appearance of his conationals which is both: hygienic,
i.e. suitable to the climatic
conditions, _ and also in keeping with the traditions and dignified
life-style of a culture.
Yet, these are by no means all the tasks which a history of dress
can fullfil. We mentioned before that many clements of modern
European hygiene and reform have been borrowed from the East
and the South. Histurv of dress shows in detail how maav articles
have been adopt cd in -Europe from the East and especi;lIy from
India, also in recent days.
The sari has been so much admired that during the last few
years ladies, firstly in Paris and then in all European countries,
imitated the sari as a most charming evening-dress. this "i .ropcan
sari" is in a way even more genuinely Indian, than that worn by
2.

"M irror of I ndian An ," Bangaltlrc Iii.!!),

290

r. 2211.

The

/-liS/Of)'

of Dress

Europeanized Indian ladies, as the former garment, unlike the latter,

is not combined with the tight tailor's blouse, which it had become
the custom to wear under the sari by Europeanized Indians.
The attractive and hygienic sandals without heels too have been
copied by European ladies from the Indian paUern; a very important
improvement, not only from the artistic and cultural-, but also from
the hygienic point of view. Countess Anita Coudenhove-Kalergis has
proved that the high-heeled European lady's shoe is responsible for
many a seriously harmful damage, done to the female body, whereas
flat open sandals improve the upright bearing, in fact the entire
position of the spine, which again is important for the child-bearing
function of the female body.' Along with the introduction of Indian
sandals, thorough pedicuring and the attractive custom of colouring
the nails of the feet has also been learned by European ladies from
their Indian sisters. This again recalls to mind that manicuring
seems to have been taught to Europe, by' the Arabs, centuries ago,
after it had been taken over by them, from India.
The influence of Indian jewellery and the Indian style of
ornamentation on the Ncar East, Oriental Africa, the Mediterranean
Basin and Europe in ancient and more recent periods is an
interesting side-issue of culture-historic investigation of dress. But
this is too vast a subject as to be discussed here.
"

Indirectly also such changements, as the simplification of the

modern European taste, may be counted under this heading, to a
certain extent. Modern European furniture and even the entire style
.of interior architecture tends to simplification which was.once upon
a time typically Oriental. The low chairs invite to a more natural
posture of the body, approaching the hygienic cross-legged way of
silting. Colour and the use of flowers play an almost oriental part in
modern European interior architecture and fashion. The beautiful
complexion df colourful, sunburnt skin is highly valued in modern
Europe, as it was once in the East, whereas now-a-days Oriental
people try to appear in the gloomy complexion of whitish pale
~o.wde~which neither suits to the physical beauty of the racial types,
liVing In the South, nor to the colourful environemnt of tropie;l'
counlries.
3.

Various medical lectures and essays

"The Light." Lahore in 1936.

291

or which

some were published

.

in

Sindt: (J/"C11'n/

Everywhere. we find the tendency of Oricntalization

in the
Wc,t and of uld-Iashioncd Westernization in the East. Examples
and problems of every kind represent themselves to prove this to the
culture-historic investigation of the dress- and related problems in
India. Yet this history of Indian dress will have to fight with more
difficulties as c.g. a similar history in ancient Greek modes of life has
to face, Indian sculptures, paintings, houses, the descriptions of
Indian life and customs have been much less thoroughly described,
reproduced and scientifically analysed than those of classical Greece.
But though the task hefore the historian of dress-fashions in India is
difficult; yet it is all the more promising!

IV.

SOIllC

examples of culture-historic investigation in Indian dress[ashions

A few instances of the most common Indian garments may

show how complex the problems arc which have to be tackled here.
Many. elements of Indian life which arc generally considered as
typically indigenous prove ht be of foreign origin and foreign cultural
features, on the other hand. an: found to he originally Indian, though
they have perhaps returned to India, sometimes in a changed forms!
The examples of Indian dress clements or garments quoted
below arc neither exhaustive' nor is their analysis in any way
complete.
They arc merely mentioned here as some practical
illustrations to the theory of this essay on dress.
(a)

The dhoti and the lungi arc genuinely Indian in that sense that
their usc has been practised, since long, in this country. The
similar manner, however, of folding the loin-cloths round the
waist, which appears In have prevailed illancient Egypt,
Mesopotamia
and Greece, suggests a historical connection
between their national drcxs and that of India. But it cannot
yet be said whether Ihe peculiar fashions of folding the dhoti
and the lungi have been introduced to India from the West, or
vice versa exported to Mesopotamia. Egypt and Greece from
this country.

(b)

The sari, this most typically Indian dress, can be said to be so,
only as Iar as the part below the hell is concerned. A glance at
the Buddhistic. and early Hinduixtic sculptures and paintings

292

lire 11i.\lilly oil

)n'\ \

shows that the binding of the sari across the breast and over the
head was originally not Indian and seems to be a foreign
clement in Indian dress-fashions.
I am unable 10 say whether
this clement has been introduced hy Parsi ladies. or much
earlier already, hy the Gracco-Bactrian.
or perhaps even the
Scviho-Hun inva ..ions. The influence of the Indian sari on
modern European
dress has already been mentioned hili
deserves thorough study.
(c)

The long European blouses arc naturally of non-Indian origin.

though now-a-d a~ most Indian ladic s of the lower middle
classes and even of higher social standing have taken In Ihi~
heterogenous
fashion.
These blouses cover the entire body
from I he shoulder 10 I he belt, leaving not even I he smallc
strip of skin open 10 the cooling breeze, This kind of dress is
naturally unhygienic, especially if combined with the several
yards of cloth which arc folded up in (In ordinary sari. But even
the more practicable. hygienic and prettier.

(d)

Choli might alsll have been orginally of foreign extraction,

though we do not know from where. or hy whom, il had been
imported III India.
II is interesting anyhow. that the Indian
choli resembles
in xhapc and slyk those guarlands and
ornamenting
chains which have been worn hy Indian ladies.
during the nourishing period of Buddhist rivilil.alion in India.
Thl: (:holi. a Iradilional
Indi'lll garlllcnt. ..nyhnw. sinn:
centuries. seems In han: suggested similar forms of EUl'llre;1I1
swiming and sporl-drr ......fllr ladie', Here nnl' in ...I'lI1cc mnrl' is
added In thl' long lisl of rccenl inllul'nn's on European clIlt lIrC
hy Indian cxampk:".

The shape and l:olllllr of jcwdkry

and ornalllcnlalion
olherwise, seclll 10 haw hn'n Ihe pallern for mall\' dress-forms in all
parts of Ihe world, hUI l"pcriallv !-ooin Indi;l.
A "v\ll'Inali('
invesligation inlo Ihl:ir hi!-olmy wili 1110s1prohahly hring" fllrward
valuahle dala. helpful for Ihe inlnprl:lal ion of gl'I1L'f<tlhish lry Ill'
(:ulture and of that of drl'ss-f .....hilllls, parli('ularly. The guarland. Ihal
ha!.ic demenl in Indian ornamenlalion. will mo,,1 prohahly come inlo

(he focus of interest,

seriously.'

if once

this study should be undertaken

(c)

The kurta, chiefly worn by men, hut partly also by some classes
of Indian women, especially Muhammadan, seems to have been
introduced from Persia at a comparatively recent date. The
original form of (he kurta is a long, floating garment, made of
very line material which would not prevent the hreeze to pass
through.
The adaptation of European/shirts,
made of thick
st uff. more so of long-sleeved ones, worn without collar and
allowing its lower part to hang outside the trousers, is neither in
keeping with the style, practicability and beauty of the kurta,
nor that of a short-sleeved open-collared European shirt.

(I)

The shcrvany is a quite recent innovation, inspite of the fact

(hat it is sometimes styled as an "Indian national dress". The
single instances of its fabrication when, how and why it came in
usc, during the last century can not he discussed in detail here.
Suffice it to say that clements of the Central Asiatic Mughal
dress and those of European military- and oflicial dress in the
Victorian age have been amalgamated and melted together
here under the very noses of the historian, so to say, and that it
is still not absolutely clear how, when and hy whom the
shervany in its present form was invented. The clarification of
such cases needs much material to be found out by culture'iistoric comparison and ethnologic research-work.

A few points to this subject may he mentioned, though it is not

pretended to give any accurate, not to speak of an exhaustive history
here.
The tight and high collar of (he shcrvany has been obviously
copied from (he military uniform, worn in Europe during the last
century. Its usc in a tropical country amounts to a sort of continuous
tort urc, especially so as the material used, is now also often copied
from cool Europe and consequently much (00 thick. The shape of
(he shcrvany very tight round the breast and waist and floating, wide
below, ha" been taken from the paitcrn of the kurta, where it is
appropr iuu, and in keeping. with the very fine material used. But a
.j

Hcircc-t

iclrlcru

(If l ndian An.

Oil the 1.01"~ :Jlld the (1l1;lrland U~ prominent

motives

1/,,:

I Iis/OI)' of Dress

carment of this shape, made of heavy cloths contradicts all needs or

; national dress in a tropical country. The combination of various
foreign elements here can neither be said to be genuinely Indian, nor
practical in any way. This is what history of dress teaches as thus
helping to remove generally accepted and thoughtlessly repeated
prejudices.

V Tile General Vallie aJ Investigation into tile His/a'!'

(~rDress

This very fact shows that scientific investigation into the history
of dress will serve not only theoretical knowledge alone" but will also
broaden the practical outlook on matters of cultural interest.
Moreover it will deepen the appreciation for and the understanding
of a sound renaissance-movement,
aiming at the adapt~lf;()n of
Indian every-days-life to both: climatic condition, and to the real, not
the imaginary traditions of the country.
A refined sense for the beauty of the nude and the harmony,
expressed in the lines of the human body, was characteristic in
Indian life and art, just as it was in classic Greece. So much so that
Professor Baron Heine-Geldern
rightly drew, attention to the fact
that the Buddhist-Indian Sculpturists, ( even after the introduction
of the Gracco-Bcctrian
Gandhara style with its folded, floating
garments!_)
transformed the cloths of their statues into soft lines,
running over. the human body, rather like a lineal ornamentation,
than like a substantial foreign matter,
Two fundamentally opposing conceptions of ornamentation in
dress arc to be differentiated here. (a) The lineal and (b) the plastic
type. The former merely stresses the natural outlines of the human
body by way of employing colour, or very thin, soft cloths. adaptable
to the clastic movements (If the body. The latter adds plastic
foldings to t he nat ural features. thus altogether changing its natural

profile,
The first type Ill' drcs-, was based on the classical ideal of bcautv
and cucouraucd
~ a natural taste fllr harmony. in colour and Iorrn:,
once a characteristic
lcuturc or Indian civilization which i~ now
conspicuous hy its absence in modern Indian cvcrv-dav ...-lilc and
especially drcvs-Iashions.
Except for the rural ;Iistrict" where
European wai ..t-coat and ...hirt for men and IIlIlC blouses Ior women
have not yet been introduced, the picture is perhaps' not very

,'jim'"

O/Ut"I1 vd

encouraging which a culture-historically

a-days lindsin Indian towns-life."

investigating explorer now-

Vel despair would he utterly out of place! Indian culture,

philosophy, religion, art and refinement 111' lire has contributed to
world's civilization xincc ~ or :" thousand years, until these days.
India is perhaps destined to take a leading part in an acute problem
of the day: i.c. the creation of an altogether new type of international
dress for tropical climates.
Mahatmu Gandhi. anyhow, was the only contemporary and the
first oflii'ial personage who made a move in this direction and dared
to change the international
official dress, even 'at highly official
occasions.
He did so. at least for his own person. He wears the
hygienic. beautiful and traditional dress which. as we have seen, was
at one timc common to all the great nations and founders of
civilisations that flourished between Mohanjn-Daro and Memphis
and between Hadrarnout and ancient Rome. His followers. on the
other hand. have as yet not adopted this form of dress, ouly the
material used. hy him. Thus they have reduced the form-giving and
culture-historically
creative clement in Gandhi's attempted dressreform to a merely economic boycott-movement,
thereby rather
strengthening the foreign form-clements in Indian dress. Whether
Kaddi- or Manchestercloths arc used; the form of dress. worn
hy practically all congressitcs is of the foreign, not of the Indian
historical type. Thus Gandhi's n:form-movemenl
appears to have
been a failure, seen from the culture-historical point of view. Yet it
would he much 100 early to judge the indirect results of this attempt
made. to re-introduce a genuinely Indian type of dress.
Fashions and cultural conventions arc subject to much slower
evolution than arc political opinions and movements. Though one
influences undoubtedly the other, there is !-.tilla world of difference
between these two moving force" of civilization!

'i

\\I,V.(,. IU(iSON. I.CS .. in his hook "n 'The to.'IARIA CiOND,"

London II)JX, point!' out on rp 711and 173how I-.uropeanwaist-com
and shirt arc hcing introdut'\." even among the jllflgk trtbcs, where
they cause serious harm to the general health (II' the people, increase

infection, scabies, itch and ringworms.

296

1111: Histoo:

of

D/l!SS

Indian womanhood has at least preserved the main clements of

its outward appearance, to a much higher degree than has any other
non-European nation. Perhaps this is significant, in view of the
essential role which was played by the Indian womanhood in the
cultural history of this country. But also the changements of dressforms among Indian men arc important, not only inn the practical
sense, hut also as factors, indicating cultural changements.
Althemore necessary is it to study the historical basis of these
changements, in order to understand and to appreciate its deeper
meaning. This is perhaps less clearly visible at the surface, than it is
to those who sec present and future as the natural continuation of
the past.
This synthesis is exactly what culture-historical investigation, _
also in the dress-problem! -tries to achieve.

CONTRIBUTERS
1) N. M. Billimoria:

He was a member of the Sindh Historical

Soceity and contribuuted regularly to its
journal.
Some of his publication arc:
Ancient Sindh; The Arabs in Sindh;
Ledgcnds of old Sind; and New light on
Sindh History.

2) A. B. Advani:

A member of the Sindh Historical society

and author of "Annexation of Sind". He
contributed articles to the J S H S and the
Sindian voice on the history of Sindh.
Some of his articles arc: Crime and
punishment in the days of Talpur Rulers of
Sindh; Diwan Gidumal and Seth Naomal
Hotchand; and Hyderabad:
A Brief
Historical Sketch.

3) B. D. Mirchandani:

He was a contributer to the J S H S. Some

of his published articles arc: Kalhoras and
Cutch; Nicholas Withington's route
between Nagarparker and Thana in 161314; and some references to Sindh In a
Chinese work of.the 13th century.

4) C. L. Mariwalla:

A member of the Sindh Historical Society.

He contributed following articles to the
journal: Akbar and his connection wilh .
Sindh; British administration in Sindh
171)<); First railway ill Sindh; and
Humayun's sojour in Sindh and the hirth
of Akhar.

5) H. T. Lambrick:

An I.C.S. officer. Author of John Jacob of

Jacobabad; Sindh: a general Introduction;
Charles Napier and Sind; and Terrorists.

299

6) R. D. Merriman:

Besides the article which is included in the

collection, there is no other work of the
author on the history'of Sindh.

7) Sarla . .I. Narsian:

She is the author of Amil Community of

Hyderabad; and Historical and Racial
background of Amils of Hydcrabad.

R) Muhammad Yasin:

His other article on Sindh is Ranjit Singh's

Diplomatic
Relations
with
special
reference to Sindh.

9) Omar Rolf Baron

Ehrenfels:

A German Scholar. His article which is

incldued in the collection does not directly
relate to the history of Sindh but in general
traces the history of dress.

JOO