MUGHAL EMPEROR HUMAYUN BESIEGING THE BUKKUR FORT, SINDH IN 1541 AD
Ali Hyder
In 1541, Humayun, whose troops were engaged in besieging Bukkur, distrusting
the designs of his brother Hindal, whom he had commissioned to attack and
occupy the rich province of Sehwan, appointed a meeting with the latter at the
town of Patar, some twenty miles to the west of the Indus. There he found
Hindal, surrounded by his nobles, prepared to receive him right royally. During
the festivities which followed, the mother of Hindal – who, it may be remarked,
was not the mother of Humayun – gave a grand entertainment, to which she
invited all the ladies of the court. Amongst these Humayun especially noted a
girl called Hamida, the daughter of a nobleman who had been preceptor to
Hindal. So struck was he that he inquired on the spot whether the girl were
betrothed. He was told in reply that, although she had been promised, no
ceremony.
After some adventures, Humayun found himself, January, 1541, a fugitive with a
mere handful of followers, at Rohri opposite the island of Bukkur on the Indus,
in Sind. He had lost the inheritance bequeathed him by his father.
Humayun spent altogether two and a half years in Sind, engaged in a vain
attempt to establish himself in that province. The most memorable event of his
sojourn there was the birth, on the 15th of October, 1542, of a son, called by
him Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar. I propose to relate now the incidents which
led to a result so important in the history of India.
Humayun was driven out by Sher Khan. The unfortunate Humayun took shelter in
Lahore with his brother who was ruling there, but not feeling himself safe he
ultimately thought of Sind. Humayun wrote a letter to the Mirza of Sind,
touching upon the cordial connections that had existed between his father and
the Mirza. The Mirza was a diplomat. He invited Humayun to his kingdom. He knew
that, if he refused, Humayun with his remaining forces would attack Sind. He
sent his people to receive the King royally at Bukkur (near Rohri), with a
respectful message that the mirza would be willing to help him with an army to attack
Gujerat. The aim of the Mirza was to get rid of Humayun, as naturally he
thought that two lions in the same forest would not do ! Poor Humayun remained
at Rohri expecting the Mirza to come in person as he had so stated in his
message, but the Mirza never came. He treated Humayun Shabbily.
By
his instructions the Governor of Bukkur had shut himself up in the fortress and had ordered all the boats to be removed from the river Indus, on
the opposite banks of which Rohri and Sukkur are situated. He also laid waste
the neighbouring part of the country.
Humayun had come with two lacs of followers - countries, soldiers and retinue;
and thus found himself in an absurd and awkward situation ! The Governor of
Bukkur by these tactics calculated the early departure of Humayun after growing
utterly weary. Humayun waited for five months, then getting impatient and
angry, he attacked Sehwan, but the wily Mirza had anticipated this and Humayun
found before him the fortress of Sehwan well prepared. He laid siege to it for
seven months but was not successful. The miserable King, in grief and despair,
contemplated going on a pilgrimage to Mecca. For a time his despair was
relieved by a letter he received from Raja Maldeo of Jodhpur, inviting him to
his capital with a promise to help with 20,000 soldiers. Humayun turned towards
Rajputana; but while at Bikanir the unhappy Monarch learnt from reliable
sources that the Raja of Jodhpur was preparing a trap for him, being in league
with his enemy, Sher Khan. Humayun's position can be better imagined than
described. His followers were decreasing in numbers; his mercenaries were
dropping away gradually, as lack of funds increased. Many died of thirst in the
sands of Rajputana and the King on account of his poverty began to lose control
over them. The few men that at last remained showed disrespect to him.
Sometimes the King had no horse to ride upon, as he gave the only one he had to
his wife and himself walked on foot, while his nobles remained in their saddles
without any shame. Such was the plight of the parents to be of Akbar the Great.
AKBAR, THE GREATEST SINDHI
Humayun thus wandered about with his wife after his retreat from Bikanir. The
Queen was an expectant mother at this time. The poor King knew not what to do;
he reached Umerkot, the capital of Thar Parkar district in Sind, with seven
attendants only. This place was in the hands of the Soddhas, a Rajput tribe
that had not been converted to Islam. Rana Wan Sal was the Ruler of the
frontier fort in Umerkot. What moved the heart of this Rajput Rana ? In spite
of the enmity borne to Humayun by the Chief Ruler of Sind, this Hindu Rana gave
up all selfish considerations on knowing the circumstances of the poor King and
his wife. Perhaps it was the Devas who moved men's minds- the Devas who knew
that a great son of India was soon to be born. The Rana came out of his palace,
welcomeed Humayun in a truly touching fashion, kissed his stirrup and gave the
castle to the King for his use. On the 14th of October, 1542, Akbar was born in
Umerkot. The paternal care which the Hindu Rana took of the Muslim King was
itself an indication of the coming national umity in India; the sense of unity
was thus ingrained in Akbar from his very birth.
THE SPIRIT OF UNION
The coming of this son gladdened the sad hearts of his father and mother. The
King had no riches to distribute in honour of the birth; but he had with him a
little pod of musk, which he broke and distributed among his attendants, with
the prayer that the fame of this new-born babe might spread far and wide as the
fragrance of the musk. And that prayer did rise to the Throne of the Almighty
and draw forth a full response. In Tatta at this time lived a holy saint, Sayed
Ali Shirazi. This holy man had his own vision of the coming of the great soul
of the mighty Akbar. He brought gifts to Humayun welcoming him on his own
behalf and on behalf of his followers. Humayun had the child's first shirt made
out of the clothes of the pious Sayed thus enwrapping him in the garments of
piety. Humayun soon left Umerkot and went to live in Junpur, a place situated
on the river and known for its beautiful gardens and cool streams. The town is
now not in existence; perhaps it was in the Gunni Taluka, Hyderabad District,
as there is still a place called Jun there, and possibly some small river like
the present Phuleli (flower stream) than flowed by the side of Junpur. If it
was so, then the place must have been really idyllic, as even now the scenery
by the Phuleli in Gunni is really charming. Mirza Hussain, the King of Sind,
did not desire that Humayun should stay in the land, and therefore friction and
conflict continued; but Bairam, the loyal henchman of Babar and afterwards the
regent for young Akbar, brought about peace between the two monarchs. The
Mirza, whose one anxiety was to get Humayun out of Sind, agreed to give Humayun
300 horses, 300 camels and one lac of gold miskals. Humayun thus departed to
Kandahar which was part of his kingdom.
Named Bukkur (Dawn) by the pious Sayed Muhammad Maki in the seventh century of
Hijri, this island is a limestone rock, oval in shape, 800 yards long by 300
wide, and about twenty-five feet in height. According to the Superintendent of
Land Records and Registration, Sindh, in 1912, the area covering Bukkur island
was 255,292 sq. yards, or forty-nine acres.
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Bukkur must have been fortified and garrisoned at a very early date, because
Sheikh Abu Taurab, the Arab whose tomb near Gajo in taluka Mirpur Sakro bears
the date AH 171 (AD 787), is reported to have distinguished himself by taking
it. Later it fell to Abdul Razak, the Wazir of Sultan Ghazni, when he invaded
Sindh in AD 1026. One of the most noted governors of Bukkur was Sultan Mahmood
Kokaltash, who was appointed by Shah Beg Arghun in AH 928 (AD 1522).
Bricks from the ancient fort of Alore, the old capital of Sindh (see below),
and materials from buildings of the Sama (AD 1333-1522) and ‘Turk’ or Turkhan
(AD 1507- 43) periods were utilized in repairing the fort walls when Shah Beg
Arghun decided to make Bukkur his capital in ii 928 (AD 1522). At the time of
the arrival of Emperor Humayun in AH 947 (AD 1541), Sultan Mahmood Khan added
an outer wall to the fort, increasing its circuit to 1,875 yards, adding four
gates opposite those of the inner wall. There were then two gardens called the
‘Nizurgah’ and the ‘Goozargah’. The fortifications were rebuilt and restored
for the last time by Governor Ghulam Sadik Khan between 1780-90, during the
reign of Taimur Shah. The fort has figured prominently in the history of Sindh.
It has been held by Mughal emperors, Kaihoras, Afghans, and Talpurs; in 1839,
the Amirs of Khairpur handed it over to the British. The once flourishing city
of Bukkur now contains only a few houses, and exhibits a deplorable picture of
desolation. The British converted the governor’s palace on the east wall into a
powder magazine, and the entire area is covered with mounds, fifteen to twenty
feet high, of bricks, debris from buildings, and rubbish that has accumulated
over the ages.