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ously called Sewistán (from the territory in which it is situated), has from the earliest accounts occupied a prominent position in Sindhian history: here the most furious engagements were fought, and its possession appears to have often decided the question of supremacy over the whole country. It was at one period under a distinct authority, and bears evident remains of its former size and population.

Loharry, or Rorí, is only referred to in connection with Bukkur, which was founded by the Mohammedans: both places owe their origin to religious establishments of Seyuds, and holy men, whose memories are revered to the present day, and whose tombs adorn the river's banks. The title Bukkur or "Bakar," signifies in Arabic "the dawn," and is said to have been given to it by a holy Seyud some years after its foundation. The Urghúns considered this as their capital, and Shah Beg of that tribe, as we have seen, fortified it, using the materials of the old city of Alór. The tomb of Pír Khizir, near Bukkur, is that particularly sacred spot to which the Pullah fish pay so much respect!

There are various other towns mentioned by historians, as well as ruins and traditions of ancient Hindú cities, as far westward of the river as the mountains of Bilúchistan. The more inquiry is instituted into the condition of the country prior to and at its conquest, the more does it become

apparent that it possessed a degree of populousness and general prosperity in those days, under the Hindú rule, which it continued gradually to lose, and that the ancient splendour of its numerous cities amply testify to its wealth and importance.

The ruins of Khodabad above Hyderabad should be mentioned in connection with ancient towns, as there are Brahmins in Sindh who attribute the site of this place to that of Brahmanabad; it was a favourite place of residence with the early chiefs of Talpur, who have some fine tombs here.

CHAP. X.

Kalora and Talpúr Dynasties. - First Settlement of Kaloras in Sindh. Adam Shah's Sanctity. - Kaloras obtain Territory. -Punished by the Emperor for contumacy.-Núr Mahomed obtains Authority. — Nadir Shah invades Sindh, and mulets Núr Mahomed. - Ghúlam Shah and Uttur Khan

- Is

. His

dispute Succession. Ghúlam Shah prevails. First Establishment of British Factory. - Uttur Khan intrigues defeated, and submits. Accession of Sirafraz Khan cruelty to Talpúrs.-Revolution.-Ubdul Nubí murders Bijar Khan Talpúr-and flees to Kilat.

FERTILE as Sindhian history is in examples of the rapid rise and fall of dynasties, the two last of the Kaloras and Talpúrs, the first a religious and the latter a pastoral tribe, merit particular attention for their intrinsic interest as characteristic of the sudden changes of power peculiar to the constitution of society in Sindh, but have also now an additional value from the circumstance of the British Government in India having under the Kaloras first obtained a footing in Sindh, while under the Talpúrs the country fell as a conquest to their arms.

It will be better to give the account of the rise and downfal of the Kaloras, a tribe of wandering religious mendicants, in much of the graphic style of the historian who collected the materials on the spot, at the beginning of the present cen

In

tury, from native records or oral tradition.* the preceding chapter the history of Sindh has been brought down to the year A.D. 1736, the last period of the administration of the country by the súbhidars or governors appointed by the Delhi throne. These appear also to have farmed the revenues and resources of Sindh; for the inability to fulfil his contracts by one Sadik Ali Khan at the above period, induced Núr Mahomed Kalora to take it up, and he thus became the first of his family who was invested with power as a ruler. But for nearly three centuries previous to this the Kaloras had been settled in Sindh, and it appears that about the year 1450 of the Christian era, in the time of the government of the Súmah tribes in Sindh, Mian Mahomed Mihidy, a fakir or religious fanatic, blessed (in Mahommedan phrase) the country of Sindh by his arrival, and illuminated the hearts and minds of the Faithful, who resorted in great numbers to his Holiness. One of the participators of the benefits of his wisdom and sanctity was Adam Shah, a Bilúchi of the tribe of Kalora, and of the Abbaside family. This worthy disciple succeeded his pastor in his holy capacity when the latter departed for Mecca.

Adam Shah's followers multiplied in great numbers, and after his death his fame and influence were perpetuated through six generations of his

* Mr. Crow.

lineal descendants, all regularly succeeding each other in the patriarchal chair.

At length, from the great accumulation of adherents and attendants, it became necessary for the body to study some means of maintenance more permanent and adequate to their increasing wants than precarious and confined contributions from disciples, and for this purpose they forcibly possessed themselves of lands from different Zamindars, and began to cultivate for themselves. This acquisition of territory took place about the latter end of the seventeenth century.

The Zamindars, provoked by these usurpations, joined together and had recourse to arms; but, in every endeavour to expel the Kaloras, were defeated by the sturdy saints. They were obliged, therefore, to carry their wrongs before the governors of the country. The governors, alarmed at the growing power and encroachments of this holy body, which rendered no account to the revenues of the state, heartily took up the cause of the Zamindars, and sent some troops against the Kaloras, but these also were disgracefully repulsed in repeated attempts to dislodge the tribe. Sindh being at this time a province of the Mogul empire, the governors reported this state of things in the country to the Prince Moizudín, whose residence was then at Múltan, and who immediately sent a detachment from his army to assist the governors in maintaining authority. The Mogul troops, after an obsti

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