Muhammad Sani

Last updated
Qadi and Chieftain

Muhammad Sani
Born16th-century
South Asia
DiedLate 17th-century
Imphal, Manipur
Other namesParsena Lanjingland Muhamadani, Mangal Ningthou Sayi
OccupationChieftain
Known forMuslim settlement in Manipur
Spouses
  • Nongthombam Maitek
  • Chakpram Melei

Muhammad Sani (also called Parsena Lanjingland Muhamadani or Mangal Ningthou Sayi in Meitei) [1] was a 17th-century nobleman who led the first settlement of Manipuri Muslims (regionally known as Meitei Pangals) into the Manipur Kingdom, what is now the Indian state of Manipur. After invading the region in alliance with a renegade prince, Sani and his troops were captured by King Khagemba, who integrated them into Manipuri society. Sani eventually became a prominent figure in the royal court and aided in the establishment of subsequent Muslim migrants. He and his family are the ancestors of a number of present-day Pangal clans.

Contents

Historiography

The arrival of the Pangal community into Manipur during the 17th century was mainly recorded in indigenous primary sources such as the Cheithalon Kumpapa (the court chronicle of the kings of Manipur) and the Nongsamei Puya . [2] [3] These extensively discuss the initial invasion led by Muhammad Sani, the community's establishment in the region and the interactions which were subsequently enabled between Manipur and Taraf, where the early Pangals had originated. [3] [4] However, the histories of Taraf (as well as that of Sylhet in general) are silent about these events. Moreover, it is notable that the descriptions of Taraf provided by the Nongsamei Puya erroneously place it on the banks of the Surma River, which is actually of considerable distance from the former's present-day location of Habiganj District. [5]

Background

Muhammad Sani was a descendant of Mirza Malik Muhammad Turani, [6] a 14th century Persian noble from whom the rulers of the Pratapgarh Kingdom also traced their ancestry. [7] His elder brother, named Muhammad Nazir or Bayazid Karrani, was the ruler of Taraf in Sylhet. [8] [note 1]

Invasion of Manipur

In 1606, the Taraf king was approached by the Manipuri prince Shanongba for aid in an invasion against his brother, the reigning monarch Khagemba. [10] 1000 Muslim soldiers were dispatched under Sani's command, in addition to several other military leaders, including his younger brothers Shah Kusum, Sheikh Juned and Kourif Sheikh. [11] [8]

The army invaded Manipur in conjunction with troops from the Kingdom of Kachar, who Shanongba had also allied with. They entered the region of Khoupom, with the Taraf soldiers establishing a base on the banks of the Sarel Yangoi River while the Kachari remained on the upper hills. [12] However, upon observing the arriving Manipuri army, the Kachari became intimidated by their military arsenal and retreated during the night, returning to their homeland without informing the Muslims. The latter subsequently chose to engage with the Manipuri alone and in the ensuing battle at Toubul (in present-day Bishnupur district), successfully defeated them. [10] This prompted Khagemba to approach Sani diplomatically, sending his courtier Nongshamei to negotiate a mutual withdrawal of troops. However, upon Sani's agreement, the Manipuri force surrounded the now-unarmed Taraf troops and forced them to surrender on pain of death. [13]

Pangal settlement in Manipur

The defeated soldiers opted (or were perhaps forced) to settle in Manipur and Sani was allocated fertile territory on the bank of the Imphal and Iril rivers, in what is present-day Moirangkhom Yaiskul, to establish his people. [1] [14] They were given work depending on their respective skills, married to Meitei wives and in time adopted the regions dress, traditions and language, eventually becoming known as Pangals. [13] [15] [note 2] It has been generally accepted that this was the first settlement of Muslims in Manipur. [17]

Sani himself received 12 acres of land and two Meitei wives named Nongthombam Maitek and Chakpram Melei. [18] He was favoured by Khagemba and had a privileged position in the royal court. [15] Appointed as Qazi-ul-Qazat (chief judge) of the nascent Muslim community, Sani served the dual role of supervising the judiciary and being a lalchingba (major), leading Pangal soldiers during times of war. [19] He was also one of the Pongba Tara , the ten ministers who assisted the king in administration, and was further entrusted with translating correspondence from Taraf due to his fluency in Bengali and Urdu. [20]

In later years, Sani aided in the establishment of further Muslim migrants in the kingdom. In 1608, Syed Ambiya, Syed Abdullah and Syed Khalka Hussain, brothers of the Taraf king's spiritual advisor Syed Auriya, were honoured and settled by Khagemba on Sani's advice. [note 3] Much later, during the reign of King Paikhomba (r.1666–1697), Sani introduced a further 37 Muslims who, in return for gifts of gold and elephants, were also permitted to reside in Manipur. Among them were Sunarphool, Miliya Sheikh, Phuleicha Sandulla Sheikh, Leithou and Sheikh Jali. [21] Many of these individuals are the founders of extant Manipuri Pangal clans. [22]

Sani's descendants subsequently continued to hold a place in the royal court. [23] The present-day Touthongmayum, Khullakpam, Tampakmayum and Chesabam clans trace their ancestry from Sani and his younger brothers. [18] [24]

Notes

  1. ↑ Historian Syed Murtaza Ali suggests that Bayazid Karrani was identical to Bazid, a ruler of the aforementioned Pratapgarh Kingdom. [9]
  2. ↑ Among the suggested origins for this term was that Khagemba, on account of the bravery shown by Sani during the battle, referred to him as panganba and his troops as pangal, with the latter eventually becoming a general term for Muslims. [16]
  3. ↑ Sani's son Ahong was later married to Syed Ambiya's daughter and they became the ancestors of the Tampakmayum clan. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manipur</span> State in northeastern India

Manipur is a state in northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of Myanmar, Sagaing Region to the east and Chin State to the south. The state covers an area of 22,327 km2 (8,621 sq mi). The official and most widely spoken language is Meitei language. Native to the Meitei people, it is also used as a lingua franca by smaller communities, who speak a variety of other Sino-Tibetan languages. Manipur has been at the crossroads of Asian economic and cultural exchange for more than 2,500 years. Said exchange connects the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia to Southeast Asia, East Asia, Siberia, regions in the Arctic, Micronesia and Polynesia enabling migration of people, cultures and religions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meitei language</span> Sino-Tibetan language

Meitei, also known as Manipuri, is a Tibeto-Burman language of northeast India. It is the official language and the lingua franca of Manipur as well as one of the 22 official languages of the Indian Republic. Native to the Meitei people, it is spoken by around 1.8 million people, predominantly in the state of Manipur, but also by smaller communities in the rest of the country and in parts of neighbouring Myanmar and Bangladesh. It was used as a court language in the historic Manipur Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meitei people</span> Ethnic group of South Asia

The Meitei people, or Meetei people, or Manipuri people, is an ethnic group native to Manipur. They form the largest and dominant ethnic group of Manipur in Northeast India. They speak Meitei language, one of the 22 official languages of the Indian Republic and the sole official language of Government of Manipur. The Meiteis primarily settled in the Imphal Valley region in modern-day Manipur, though a sizable population has settled in the other Indian states of Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Mizoram. There is also a notable presence of Meitei people in the neighboring countries of Myanmar and Bangladesh. The Meitei ethnic group represents about 53% of Manipur's population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meitei Pangals</span> Meitei speaking Muslim community of South Asia

The Meitei Pangals, also known as the Pangals or the Meitei Muslims or the Manipuri Muslims, are a group of Muslims who speak Meitei language as their native tongue. They live mainly in Manipur. The term "Pangal" simply means "Muslim" in Meitei language. Various historical sources have different dates for when Islam first entered Manipur. However, the date all sources seem to confirm as definitive is 1606 AD. The origin of the Pangal community is equally varied.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gharib Nawaz (Manipur)</span> King of Manipur from 1709 to 1751

Gharib Nawaz was a Meitei ruler of Manipur Kingdom, ruling from c. 1709 until his death. He introduced Hinduism as the state religion of his kingdom (1717) and changed the name of the kingdom to the Sanskrit Manipur (1724). He changed his royal name from his birth name Pamheipa to the Persianate Gharib Nawaz.

The history of Manipur is reflected by archaeological research, mythology and written history. The Kangleipak State developed under King Loiyumba with its first written constitution in the early 12th century. Manipur under the 18th-century king Pamheiba saw the legendary burning of sacred scripture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meitei literature</span> Indian literature

Meitei literature, also known as Manipuri literature, is literature written in the Meitei language of Manipur. An ancient institution of learning, the Luwang Nonghumsang, later known as the Pandit Loishang, collected sources of indigenous Meitei knowledge and philosophy until the 18th century. Writing by Meiteis is assumed to go back to the Kingdom of Kangleipak in the early 12th century. The Meitei script is a Brahmic abugida. It is known only from the Puya manuscripts discovered in the first half of the 20th century. Manuscripts of the 18th and 19th centuries were written using the Bengali alphabet. The existence of the Meitei script in the 15th-century hinges on the authenticity of an inscription dated to the reign of Senbi Kiyamba. The first printed Manipuri book, Manipurer Itihas, appeared in 1890 from the Baptist Mission Press, Calcutta. Though the kings of Manipur had established contact with the British from the middle of the eighteenth century onward the real impact of the contact came much later. Johnstone Middle English School, based on the western system of education, was started in 1885 at Imphal, and in 1891 Manipur lost its independence to the British. British domination facilitated the introduction of new systems in the civil, political and educational spheres, which hastened the process of modernization in Manipur, exposed as it was to new ideas and influences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manipur (princely state)</span> 1110–1949 kingdom in South Asia, now Manipur state, India

The Manipur Kingdom was an ancient independent kingdom at the India–Burma frontier that was in subsidiary alliance with East India Company from 1824, and became a princely state in 1891. It bordered Assam Province in the west and British Burma in the east, and in the 20th century covered an area of 22,327 square kilometres and contained 467 villages. The capital of the state was Imphal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pratapgarh Kingdom</span> Medieval kingdom in the north-east of the Indian subcontinent

The Pratapgarh Kingdom was a medieval state in the north-east of the Indian subcontinent. Composed of the present-day Indian district of Karimganj, as well as parts of Tripura State and Sylhet, Bangladesh, the kingdom was ruled by a line of Muslim monarchs over a mixed population of Hindu and Islamic adherents. It was bordered by the larger kingdoms of Kachar, Tripura and Bengal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Sylhet</span>

The Greater Sylhet region predominantly included the Sylhet Division in Bangladesh, and Karimganj district in Assam, India. The history of the Sylhet region begins with the existence of expanded commercial centres in the area that is now Sylhet City. Historically known as Srihatta and Shilhatta, it was ruled by the Buddhist and Hindu kingdoms of Harikela and Kamarupa before passing to the control of the Sena and Deva dynasties in the early medieval period. After the fall of these two Hindu principalities, the region became home to many more independent petty kingdoms such as Jaintia, Gour, Laur, and later Taraf, Pratapgarh, Jagannathpur, Chandrapur and Ita. After the Conquest of Sylhet in the 14th century, the region was absorbed into Shamsuddin Firoz Shah's independent principality based in Lakhnauti, Western Bengal. It was then successively ruled by the Muslim sultanates of Delhi and the Bengal Sultanate before collapsing into Muslim petty kingdoms, mostly ruled by Afghan chieftains, after the fall of the Karrani dynasty in 1576. Described as Bengal's Wild East, the Mughals struggled in defeating the chieftains of Sylhet. After the defeat of Khwaja Usman, their most formidable opponent, the area finally came under Mughal rule in 1612. Sylhet emerged as the Mughals' most significant imperial outpost in the east and its importance remained as such throughout the seventeenth century. After the Mughals, the British Empire ruled the region for over 180 years until the independence of Pakistan and India. There was a complete list of the different amils who governed Sylhet which was recorded in the office of the Qanungoh of Sylhet. However, most complete copies have been lost or destroyed. Dates from letters and seal traces show evidence that the amils were constantly changed. In 1947, when a referendum was held, Sylhet decided to join the Pakistani province of East Bengal. However, when the Radcliffe Line was drawn up, Karimganj district of Barak Valley was given to India by the commission after being pleaded by Abdul Matlib Mazumdar's delegation. Throughout the History of Sylhet, raids and invasions were also common from neighbouring kingdoms as well as tribes such as the Khasis and Kukis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nongshāba</span> Ancient Meitei Lion God of Manipur

Nongshaba, also spelled as Nongsaba, is a Lion God in Meitei religion (Sanamahism) and mythology. He is also regarded as a king of the gods. He is credited with producing light in the primordial universe and is regarded as the maker of the sun. He is worshipped by the people of both the Ningthouja clans as well as the Moirang clans. God Nongshaba was worshipped by the people of Moirang clan as a lineage deity and regarded as the father of God Thangching (Thangjing). He is the greatest of the Umang Lais in Ancient Kangleipak but he made his only son Thangching (Thangjing) the chief deity of Moirang.

Mīr Lutfullāh Khān Bahādur Shirāzī, was a Mughal official who held a number of positions during his life such as the Faujdar of Shujabad Sarkar from 1656 to 1658 and the faujdar of Sylhet Sarkar up until 1663.

Bayazid of Sylhet, also called Bayazid Karrani II, was a ruler in Sylhet during the early 17th century, in what is present-day Bangladesh. A prominent member of the Baro-Bhuiyan, Bayazid led military opposition against the Mughal Empire's expansion into eastern Bengal. His surrender following a sanguineous battle in 1612 ultimately resulted in their annexation of Sylhet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thongalen</span> Ancient Meitei god of death

Thongalen is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld in Meitei mythology and religion of Ancient Kangleipak. He is the Guardian God of the nadir. The underworld, which is the land of death, has Khamnung Sawa as its capital in Meitei mythology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laikhurembi</span> Goddess in Meitei mythology

Laikhurembi is a goddess in Meitei mythology and religion of Ancient Kangleipak. She is the goddess of justice, good counsel, divine law, order and secrecy. She is the chief Queen of God Thongaren . She is the daughter of Lairen Humchouba. She is one of the divine incarnations of Leimarel Sidabi. She is one of the most important Umang Lais. Her pantheon is maintained particularly by the Taibungjam clan of Meitei ethnicity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lainaotabi</span>

Leima Lainaotabi or Leinaotabi is a goddess in ancient Meitei mythology and religion. She is the youngest wife of God Thongalel of the underworld kingdom. Thongalel sent her to be the wife of Poireiton, her brother-in-law. Lainaotabi gave birth to a son with Poireiton. Her legend says she made the first clay pot. She was worshipped by the people of Ashangbam clan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pureiromba</span>

Pureiromba is a God in Meitei mythology and religion. He is the giver of rain and agricultural prosperity. He is one of the major Umang Lai deities. He is the Ancestor God of the Angom clan of the Meitei ethnicity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meitei mythology</span> Myths of the Ancient Meiteis

Meitei mythology or Manipuri mythology is a collection of myths, belonging to the religious and cultural traditions of the Meitei people, the predominant ethnic group of Manipur. It is associated with traditional Meitei religion (Sanamahism). Meitei myths are a part of Meitei culture and explain various natural phenomena, how the human civilization developed, and the reasons of many things happening. Most of the Meitei legends are found in the Meitei language texts.

Meidingu Naophangba was a Meetei ruler of Ningthouja dynasty of Ancient Manipur. He is the successor of Naokhamba and the predecessor of Sameiraang. He promulgated a proto-Constitution in 429 AD, which later grew into the Loyumba Shinyen, a written constitution in 1100 AD, during the reign of King Loyumba. He is one of the most outstanding figures in the history of Meitei architecture of Ancient Manipur. He laid the foundation stone of the Kangla, the "Namthak Sarongpung", which is the holiest place to the Manipuri ethnicity. During his reign, the coronation hall in the Kangla was inaugurated and a hog was sacrificed. According to the Loyumba Shinyen, he took command from Mangang Luwang Khuman for the administration of justice in the kingdom. According to the Chakparol, the ten villages of the Chakpas separated during his reign. It was right from his reign that the newcomers (immigrants) were assigned and admitted to the yek salai (clans) and the yumnaks (families) of the Meitei ethnicity. According to the Thengkourol, copper and brass were imported from Burma and China during his reign.

The Loyumba Shinyen, also termed as the Loyamba Sinyen, is an 11th-12th century ancient Meitei language written constitution, regulated in the Ancient Kangleipak during the rule of King Loyumba. A promulgation of the proto-constitution in 429 AD by King Naophangba was reduced to a final format in 1100 AD. Historically, it is the first written constitution, and one of the well recorded Ancient Meitei language texts of the kingdom. Its Constitutionalism was replaced by the Manipur State Constitution Act 1947, that was functional until Manipur was merged into Republic Of India on October 15, 1949.

References

  1. 1 2 Nazir (2013), p. 40.
  2. ↑ Irene (2010), p. 26.
  3. 1 2 Khan (2014), p. 117.
  4. ↑ Sanajaoba (1988), pp. 116, 162.
  5. ↑ Sanajaoba (1988), p. 116.
  6. ↑ Nazir (2013), p. 92.
  7. ↑ Choudhury (2000), pp. 288–90.
  8. 1 2 Nazir (2013), p. 27.
  9. ↑ Ali (1965), p. 69.
  10. 1 2 Sanajaoba (1988), p. 162.
  11. ↑ Khan (2014), p. 121.
  12. ↑ Irene (2010), p. 28.
  13. 1 2 3 Nazir (2013), p. 31.
  14. ↑ Irene (2010), p. 34.
  15. 1 2 Irene (2010), p. 9.
  16. ↑ Khan (2014), pp. 117–18.
  17. ↑ Kipgen (2010), p. 50.
  18. 1 2 Khan (2014), p. 132.
  19. ↑ Irene (2010), pp. 196, 209.
  20. ↑ Irene (2010), pp. 58, 190.
  21. ↑ Khan (2014), p. 119.
  22. ↑ Nazir (2013), pp. 87–90.
  23. ↑ Irene (2010), p. 194.
  24. ↑ Nazir (2013), pp. 90–92.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.