THE HISTORY OF THE JANJIRA AND SACHIN ROYAL PRINCES

TO BE MADE INTO A 6-EPISODE TELEVISION SERIES

CREATOR OF THE CONCEPT AND SCRIPT WRITER: PRINCE SIDI MUZZAFAR MUSTAFA KHAN OF JANJIRA & SACHIN.

JOINT CREATOR OF THE CONCEPT AND SCRIPT WRITER: PRINCE SIDI JAHANZAB JASON MUSTAFA KHAN OF JANGIRA & SACHIN.

My name is Prince Sidi Muzzafar Mustafa Khan of Jangira and Sachin, two Royal Princely Kingdoms in India, which were awarded 11 Gun and 9 Gun salutes, respectively. My father’s name was Brigadier Prince Sidi Muhammad Mustafa Khan, and my mother was Mumtaz Begum Sahiba, the eldest daughter of Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto. Her brother was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan. His daughter, Benazir Bhutto, was my first cousin and the twice-elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.

My father was the eldest son of Colonel AlHaj Prince Sidi Muhammad Ahmed Khan Bahadur, who was the second son of His Highness Nawab Sidi Abdul Kadir Muhammad Yakut Khan, ruler of Sachin State, India. He was the direct descendant of Nawab Sidi Abdul Karim Muhammad Yakut Khan1, the heir of the Janjira throne who was displaced in a coup d’etat by his sister’s husband Sidi Jauhar Khan in 1788. His Highness Nawab Sidi Abdul Yakut Khan was crowned the ruler of Sachin as compensation on 6 June 1791 by the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and the Marathas. Sachin is considered to be the senior of the two Kingdoms.

EPISODE ONE
THE SIDDI HISTORY

My ancestors were from Arabia and left for Yemen in 625 AD on the advice of the Prophet Muhammad Rasool Allah (PBUH), as they were being threatened by the Quraysh for supporting him. They were a small tribe of traders consisting of 3500 persons, including women and children. They spent years trading in Yemen and eventually became shipowners. They stationed soldiers on each ship to stop pirates from capturing their ships. In 960 AD, they decided to move to Abyssinia and offer their services to the Abyssinian Christian King, and the use of their ships and their sailors and soldiers for his navy. They carried on providing the same services to every Abyssinian ruler for over 500 years.

MIGRATION TO INDIA

When they heard that Sultan Burhan Shah 1 of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate in India was looking for soldiers, they decided to move to Ahmadnagar in 1485 AD; Sidi Piram Khan, along with 4000 members of the tribe, including women and children, and 2500 Abyssian warriors. The remaining 11,000 members of the tribe decided to stay in Abyssinia. Sidi Piram Khan and the male members of his tribe, along with the 2500 Abyssinian warriors, offered their services as mercenaries to the Sultan and the use of their ships in his navy. Sidi Piram Khan was appointed as a general in the Ahmadnagar army and an admiral in his navy.

CAPTURE OF MEDHEKOT ISLAND

In 1490, the Sultan ordered Sidi Piram Khan to capture a wooden fortress built on an island known as Medhekot on the Konkan coast, controlled by Koli soldiers and fishermen to protect them from sea pirates. Sidi Piram knew it was too strong for a conventional assault; therefore, he and some Arab members of his tribe, along with his Ethiopian troops, captured it by deception in 1491.

He asked the chief of the island, Raja Ram Roa Patil, permission to store 350 wooden boxes containing valuable silks and wines in return for gold. There was silk and wine in 50 boxes. In the other 300, there was an Abyssinian warrior in each box. He told Raja Ram that they were merchants from Surat and would take ten boxes every week to the mainland to sell, instead of taking them all at the same time, in case pirates tried to capture the goods.

The Kolis were very happy to receive a large amount of gold in return for storing just 350 wooden boxes, and they decided to hold a celebratory party. Once the Koli soldiers and fishermen became intoxicated with the free wine, the 300 Ethiopian warriors hidden inside the boxes broke out and captured the island. After a massacre, the remaining residents were transported to the mainland. The Sultan appointed Sidi Piram Khan the Thanedar and Governor of Jangira, which means Jazira (an island) in the Arabic language.

BUILDING OF THE MURAD JANGIRA FORTRESS

Sidi Burhan Khan became Governor in 1532 and started construction of the great stone Jangira fortress in 1551 and completed it in 1571. Heavy stone blocks were brought to the island by boats, and the walls reached a height of 40 feet. The fortress was oval-shaped, and the main gate of the fort could only be seen when one was about 40 feet away from it. There was a small postern gate toward the open sea for escape. The fort was a kilometer away from the port town of Murud and was 103 miles south of Bombay.

After its construction, the fortress was key to the Sidis withstanding various invasion attempts by the Marathas, the British, and the Portuguese to capture Jangira.

In 1571, Sidi Ambar Satak became commander of the fort and installed over 570 cannons of native and European make on the three-tiered, rounded bastions of the 22-acre fortress. There were 3 gigantic cannons named Kalaal Baangadi, Chavri, and Landa Kasam, said to be feared for their shooting range. They were built on site with five different metals, which allowed them to be fired continuously without heating up.

He also built a palace, accommodation for the senior commanders, numerous buildings for the residents and barracks for the soldiers and sailors, as well as an underground storage for gunpowder and cannonballs. He also built massive storage facilities for wheat, grain, rice, vegetables, and fruit, three schools, two mosques, and a Hindu temple. There were two sweet freshwater lakes within the fortress that were created by digging 60 feet under the sea, which meant they were never short of water during a siege.

EPISODE TWO

THE CREATION OF THE JANGIRA KINGDOM

In 1621, the Siddis became exceptionally powerful as an autonomous state to the point that the commander of Jangira, Siddi Ambar the Little, successfully defied his overlord, Malik Ambar, Peshwa of Ahmadnagar, in his attempt to replace him. Siddi Ambar then became the first ruler of an independent Jangira State, and that is when Murud-Jangira got its reputation as an invincible fortress. The importance of the fort cannot be overstated, earning it a place in the annals of military history.

SIDDI WARS WITH SHIVAJI MAHARAJ

Between1661 and 1676, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, ruler of the Maratha Empire, fought a long strategic naval and land battle against the Siddis and tried unsuccessfully to capture the fortress. He launched repeated military campaigns and naval attacks thirteen times over this period to subdue Jangira but was unable to.

Since direct assaults failed against its 40-foot-high granite walls and massive cannon power, Shivaji built a rival sea fort named Padmadurg just northeast of Jangira in 1676 to rival the Jangira fortress and attack the Siddis with his navy. However, Murad Jangira remained undefeated against the Marathas.

In December 1676, Shivaji Maharaj ordered the Maratha Peshwa Moropant Trimbak Pingle to launch a final attack against the Siddis with over 10,000 men. The Marathas lost over 4400 troops compared to just 860 Siddis. The Siddis then expanded their landholdings to encompass much of the central and northern coastal plains along the Konkan coast and ruled over 830 square kilometers, including the towns of Murad and Shrivardhan. They also controlled Jafarabad State, and their total population numbered over 110,000.

In 1681, the Marathas attacked the Siddi fleet, intending to capture Surat, an important port in Gujarat that the Siddis controlled, but they were not successful.

EPISODE THREE:      

SIDDI WARS WITH SAMBHAJI AND BAJI RAO

In January 1682, Sambhaji, the second Maratha ruler, laid siege to the Sidis of Jangira in January 1682. He tried to construct a stone road in the sea to reach the island but was unsuccessful. He even tried to build a causeway 800 yards long and 30 feet deep with stones, trying to reach the impregnable fortress. He even tried to unsuccessfully dig an underground tunnel to reach the fortress which was one kilometer away from the beach. The Maratha forces, led by Sambhaji, eventually withdrew from Jangira, and the Sidis pursued the retreating forces, plundering Maratha territories and resulting in heavy casualties among the Marathas.

In 1736, the Siddis of Jangira set out in battle with the forces of the brave young Peshwa Baji Rao of the Marathas. On the 19th of April, the Maratha warriors Chimaji Appa (brother of Baji Rao), Manaji Angre and Nanajirao Surve attacked the Siddi forces near Rewas. The battle lasted for over four hours and was fought with artillery, cavalry, and infantry. The Siddi general Siddi Sat captured Nanajirao and confined him in Anjanvel fort; however, he was rescued by the Marathas, who killed Siddi Sat along with his entire family and over 1500 Siddi warriors. Peace was finally brokered in September 1736 between the Siddis and the Marathas.

EPISODE FOUR:

SIDDI WARS WITH THE BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY.

In 1670, the Siddis entered Mughal naval service under Emperor Aurangzeb, and Sidi Sumbal Khan was appointed the admiral of the Mughal fleet. Aurangzeb provided the Siddis with an annual subsidy of four lakh rupees to maintain their powerful fleet and to protect Mughal trading ships in the Arabian sea. In 1676, Sidi Kasim Yakut Khan II succeeded Sidi Sumbal Khan as admiral.

In 1682, the Siddis attacked the town of Colaba, which was controlled by the East India Company, and their factory was destroyed. They also attacked British ships trading with Maratha forts. This is when the reputation of Siddi sailors and troops gained momentum as brave and fearless warriors.

A duel with the British navy in 1688 led to an insurmountable power for the Siddis in the Arabian Sea. The British had attempted to increase their naval power by capturing the Siddi ships near Bombay. In retaliation, Sidi Kasim Yakut Khan attacked, plundered, and capsized British ships near Bombay. The Siddis then held sway from Bombay to Goa after subduing the British.

In 1689, Emperor Aurangzeb ordered Admiral Sidi Kasim Yakut Khan to take action against the English East India Company after relations deteriorated and the Company interfered with Mughal shipping. In February 1689, Sidi Yakut landed at Sewri with a large force of 20,000 men. He captured Mashim, Mazagoan, Sion and virtually the whole of Bombay island, leaving the English clinging to Bombay Castle and a small area around it.

The siege lasted for over a year, and after the extraordinary Siddi victory they came close to driving the East India Company out of India altogether. The East India Company was forced to seek peace with Aurangzeb, and George Weldon and Abraham Navarro of the company appeared before the Emperor with their hands tied behind their backs to beg for a pardon. The Company had to pay 150,000 rupees as compensation, and Sir John Child, the governor of the East India Company, was asked to resign. However, the Emperor restored their trading rights in Bombay. Therefore, this came to be known as ‘CHILDS WAR’.

EPISODE FIVE:

THE SIDDIS AND THE THE PORTUGESE

When the Portuguese established themselves at Goa, Bassein and Chaul during the sixteenth century, they attempted to dominate the Arabian Sea and the entire western coast of India. Portuguese warships patrolled the sea routes, demanded licences from merchant vessels and tried to control the profitable trade with Arabia, Persia and East Africa.

The rise of the Siddis at Jangira presented a direct challenge to these ambitions. The Siddis were experienced sailors and soldiers who possessed their own ships. From their island fortress of Jangira, they could watch the approaches to Chaul and the sea routes leading north towards Bombay and south towards Goa.

In 1570-1571, the Ahmadnagar Sultanate launched a great assault against Portugese-held Chaul. At approximately the same time, Sidi Burhan Khan was strengthening Jangira and replacing its earlier wooden defences with the mighty stone fortress that would dominate this coastline. Although Jangira belonged to Ahmadnagar’s maritime establishment, surviving accounts do not clearly identify which particular Siddi commanders or ships participated in the siege of Chaul. The Portuguese managed to retain Chaul, but they failed to destroy Jangira or bring the Siddi stronghold under their control.

The Portuguese possessed larger ocean-going warships compared to the Siddi warships, but Jangira was an extraordinarily difficult target. Its walls rose directly from the sea; as explained earlier, its principal entrance was concealed from ships approaching from the open water, and its garrison possessed fresh water, provisions, and heavy artillery. Portuguese vessels could blockade the coastline temporarily, but attacking the fortress itself required troops to land under fire and scale stone walls surrounded by dangerous tides and rocks.

Relations changed according to circumstances. During the seventeenth century, the Siddis sometimes cooperated with the Portuguese because they both feared the growing naval power of Shivaji and the Marathas. In 1682, while Sambhaji was fighting Jangira and threatening Portuguese Chaul, Siddi commanders came to the assistance of the Portuguese. Thus, men who had formerly competed for control of the coast temporarily became allies against a common Maratha enemy.

Their alliance did not prevent territorial conflict. The Portuguese acquired Belapur Fort, previously held by the Siddis, around 1682,extending Portuguese power towards the harbour of Bombay. Yet Jangira itself remained beyond their grasp.

In 1699, the Portuguese and the Siddis again joined forces, this time against the Maratha admiral Kanhoji Angre. Despite combining their strength, they failed to crush him and were eventually compelled to negotiate. By the eighteenth century, Portuguese policy changed once again. In 1760, the Maratha Peshwa government negotiated with the Portuguese at Goa for assistance in an attack upon Jangira and the nearby Siddi fortress of Kansa and Padmadurg. A Portuguese fleet carrying troops joined the Maratha campaign in February 1761. However, the attackers failed to conquer Jangira.

Throughout these changing wars and alliances, the central fact remained unchanged: the Portuguese never captured Murad-Jangira. They could seize smaller positions, interfere with Siddi shipping and occasionally blockade the surrounding coast, but they could neither storm the island fortress nor permanently destroy its naval power.

For more than two centuries, the Siddis survived by courage at sea, powerful fortifications and skilful diplomacy. They fought the Portuguese when Portuguese expansion threatened them, cooperated with them when the Marathas became the greater danger, and changed alliances whenever the survival of Jangira required it. This ability to fight, negotiate and adapt was one of the principal reasons why Jangira remained unconquered.

After 1750, the great naval and land wars with the Marathas, Portuguese and the East India Company were over. Thereafter, the business of ruling a peaceful Jangira started, and a treaty with the British was signed in 1833. Jangira was not involved in the First War of Independence in 1857, as their troops could not march to Delhi through hostile territory.

EPISODE SIX:

THE HISTORY OF THE SACHIN PRINCELY STATE

Sachin, as explained earlier, was created as a Princely State in 1792 by mediation with the British and the Marathas as compensation because its ruler was the original heir of Jangira and was overthrown by his brother-in-law. Sachin covered 127 sq kilometers and had its own Royal court, palace establishment, officials, military contingent, and police. However, unlike Jangira, it did not need to fight any wars.

Consequently, the Nawabs lived a carefree, glamorous life. The last Nawab, His Highness Sidi Muhammad Haider Khan, was appointed the ruler in 1930. He was a very handsome man, originally an Arab from Abyssinia, and he lived the life of a fabulously wealthy playboy with a penchant for dating Indian actresses.

The famous Taj Hotel in Bombay was a rendezvous for Kings and princes, who would also entertain royally. One of the liveliest was the dashing Nawab of Sachin, who was also the secretary of the Chamber of Princes for a time. According to Shashi Wallia, a great socialite at the time, “the Nawab always had a very convivial crowd around him made up of painters, writers, artists and beautiful women. We would meet in his suite, and His Highness would always be very well groomed, dressed in white jodhpurs and a white jodhpur coat. We would have drinks and then go down to the dining room where there was always a little gift for each lady at the table, accompanied by a posy of flowers- a lipstick, a bottle of perfume, a powder compact, or a cigarette case. His dinners were always lavish, and there was always champagne. His Highness would encourage us to get up and go on the dance floor. However, he never danced himself; maybe he thought it was beneath his dignity to dance in public.”

His Highness also built a huge greyhound racing track in his summer capital, Dumas, as his friend, the Nawab of Junagadh, loved dogs and often visited Sachin. Royal Kings and Princes were invited for the annual races. Dumas is a delightful sea resort ten miles by road from Surat. It is the only summer resort of its kind on the western coast of India.

During World War II, His Highness did not join the British armed forces. He instructed his paternal uncle, Colonel Al Haj Nawabzada Sidi Muhammad Ahmed Khan, to get his four sons to join the armed forces.

The eldest son, Sahibzada Sidi Mustafa Khan, joined the British Army as a cavalry officer. The second son, Sahibzada Sidi Imtiaz Khan, joined the British Air Force; the third son, Sahibzada Sidi Mukhtar Khan, also joined the British Army as a cavalry officer.

The youngest son, Sahibzada Sidi Changaiz Khan, was instructed by His Highness to join His Exalted Highness Lieutenant- General Sir Mir Osman Ali Khan, the Nizam of Hyderabad’s personal bodyguard, along with 120 Ethiopian and 80 Arab soldiers. His Highness had promised the Nizam that he would send his first cousin Changaiz along with 200 soldiers from the Sachin forces for his personal protection.

After partition in September 1948, the Indian Army attacked Hyderabad to force the Nizam to join the Indian Union. The Indian government dubbed it a police action (code-named Operation Polo), and 33,000 soldiers were sent with tanks under the command of Major General Joyanto Nath Chaudhuri, who later became the commander-in-chief of the Indian Army. The Hyderabad  army consisted of 22,000 troops under the command of General S.A.El Edroos. They were defeated by the Indian Army, and 807 soldiers were killed. The Indian Army lost just 35 soldiers. There were over 30,000 to 40,000 civilians killed according to estimates by the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, however according to responsible observers nearly 200,000 civilians were killed.

330 officers and soldiers of the Nizam’s guard left to fight the Indian army at the border, where Major General Chaudhuri was personally leading the attack from Solapur. The officers and soldiers fought a four-hour battle with the Indian attacking force, and all 330 were killed. The young Second Lieutenant Sahibzada Sidi Changaiz Khan died fighting very bravely and received four bullets in his chest. The Indian Lieutenant Colonel leading the attack was very impressed with the young man’s bravery and mentioned him to Major General Chaudhuri, who inquired who the officer was, and was told that all they could find was a photo of an army officer in his breast pocket with the words on the back that read “To my beloved brother with love from Mustafa.” When General Chaudhuri saw the photo, he was horrified that his troops had just killed his best friend Lieutenant Colonel Sidi Mustafa Khan’s younger brother. Mustafa had moved to Pakistan in 1947 along with his parents and two brothers. General Chaudhuri spoke to him in Pakistan and expressed his grief and informed him that Prime Minister Nehru had granted Sidi Changaiz a pension to be paid to the Sachin treasury. He was buried in Sachin with honours by his first cousin, His Highness the Nawab of Sachin.

In 1947 both Jangira and Sachin signed the treaty of accession  with India.