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Introdution :
Some articles published in the magazine, ‘Janmabhoomi’ on Historical Events of Nadiad are reproduced here. The original language has been kept. Events cover the period between 15th to the 19th century.
Historical Nadiad- Moiuddin Firozkhan
Ahmedshah sat on the throne at Ahmedabad by killing his grand father with a bowl of poison in Samvat 1467. The ‘suba’ (a governor of a province) of Baroda and cousin to the sultan, Moiuddin Khan revolted against the Sultan as he desired the throne of Ahmedabad. Mouiddin collected an arm including chiefs like Hisa, Mulk Bhandari and his son Malik Khusaru, Pragdas, Jivandas etc on the outskirts of Nadiad.
Bhikankhan and Adam Sultan brought Ahmedasha’s Afghan army to the spot. It is possible that the war between the two armies took place on the Bokad grounds where Ahmedshah’s army was trounced by the one of Mouddinkhan. But Mouddin had to run away to Khambhat (western Gujarat port town) following a serious feud among his men concerning the booty. This incident is noted in ‘Mirat e Sikandari’.
Sheikh Attaullah
In Samvat 1497 after Ahmedshah’s death at Ahmedabad, his sn Mhammadshah became the new sultan of Gujarat. During the last year of his reign the Sultan of Malwa attacked Gujarat with 80000 horsemen. On hearing the news, the frightened sultan sought advice of a trusted Bania friend of his.
The Bania friend advised the Sultan to collect all his jewels and wealth and important belongings and flee to the sea in ships. Bania’s logic was that upon finding the palace at Ahmedabad empty, the Sultan of Malwa would just react just like a rat would react upon finding a house without food and return where he came from. The advice of the Bania was accepted by the Sultan.
Syed Attaulla heard the story and confronted the Bania who had advised the Sultan with a dagger drawn at the Bania’s throat. The Bania retorted saying that it was the Sultan’s fault to have sought advice of a novice in such matters like the Bania . Attaullah l;et the Bania go but went overnight to Nadiad where the Sultan’s son Jalalkhan lived.
Jalalkhan
Syed Attaullah came to Nadiad and upon arrival met Jalalkhan and taunted him saing that the Sultan was preparing for fishing in the sea along with all his wealth. Syed then asked Jalalkhan as to what his response would be in the event of the Khilji of Malwa attacked Gujarat and Jalalkhan was the Sultan of Gujarat.
Jalalkhan apparently replied that he woul fight the attacking Sultan of Malwas with all his might and continue to do so till his last drop. Syed was impressed with the answer and brought Jalalkhan back to Ahmedabad in the night, entering the town secretly. Next, the Sultan was murdered by a bowl of poison and Jalalkhan was declared the Sultan of Gujarat with a new name, Kutbuddin. The Syed is buried at ‘Asuria’- Astodia-Darwaza in Samvat 1507.
Mad Elephant
In Samvat 1500, the Sultan of Malwa postponed his idea of attacking Bharuch and returned in the direction of Baroda with the intention of looting it. After looting Baroda, on their way to Nadia, an elephant of the Sultan went mad and entered the town of Nadiad at night. The Brahmns of Nadiad using swords killed this elephant.
When the Sultan came to know the story he apparently expressed astonishment that Brahmins could kill a mad elephant and praised the quality of air and water that must have produced such bravery in the region. It may be noted here that the town of Nadiad was not a fort town as the elephant had entered the town in the night. The Sathodara Brahmins were the ones who had killed the elephant.
Mominkhan
In 1770 Mominkhan was appointed the ‘Hakem’ ( an administrative post of the Gujarat Sulatante) of Surat by Badshah Farokhshikhar. The towns of Vadodara, Bharuch, Petlad, Dholka and Nadiad also came under Mominkhan’s jurisdiction..
Mominkhan ran the administration of these five ‘paraganas’ himself for one year. After that he went away to Surat, keeping his representatives in these towns to run the business of administration. But in Samvat 1790 Petlad’s ‘haken’ Dhanrup Bhandari died and Mominkhan had to take control of Nadiad, Matar, Petlad and Mahudha again.
Ratansing Bhandari
Maharj Abhesing of Jodhpur was the ‘Subedar’ of Ahmedabad during this time. But Abhsing lived in Delhi, giving his power to his assistant Ratansing. Thus, the administration of Gujarat came in the hands of Ratansing bhandari. In Samvat 1771 Ratansing took Dholka in his control while Sorab became’ Subedar’ of Viramgam by Barhanullah’s intervention.
Ratansing disliked the turn of events and attacked Sorabkhan’s camp, injuring Sorab. Sorabkhan died of his injuries eventually. Apparently Mominkhan had helped Sorabkhan in the past, which is why Ratansig also attacked Mominkhan. After this attack, Mominkhan once again ran away to Khambhat.
Safdarkhan Babi
At this time the term of administration and control of Mahudha, Matar and Nadiad had expired and the new control was given by Bhandari to Safdarkhan Babi, replacing Mominkhan. Around the same time, Damaji Gaekwad was appointed the representative of Gujarat.
Damaji appointed Rangoji for his work as his assistant. Kantaji felt slighted in the new scheme of things and fought a battle with Rangoji in Samvat 1791 at Anand-Mogri. Kantaji was defeated in this battle, running ways to Petlad.
At Petlad, Mominkhan was trying to raise an army to fight Rangoji. But Damaji compelled Mominkhan again to go back to Khambhat. These battles were fought in the areas controlled by Safdarkhan Babi who suffered losses due to these battles and had to go away to Radhanpur.
Sherkhan Babi and Shubhechand Marwadi
Ratansig Bhandari was deeply cross with Mominkhan’s behaviour during the siege of Viramgam. It was for this reason that he appointed Sherkhan Babi as his representative in Naidad, Matar and Petlad. But as he was engaged with Mominkhan , Ratansing appointed Shubhechand Marwadi to keep a check on the account books. Sherkhan Babi lived in Kheda at this time.
In Samvat 1783, Maharj Abhesing lost confidence of the Sultan of Gujarat following which Mominkhan was appointed the 54th ‘Subedar’ of Gujarat. On Mominkhan’s ascendence to power, Sherkhan Babi decided not to rule Petlad, Matar and Nadiad and went to Wadashinor to live there as a private neutral citizen.
Loot of Nadiad and Mahudha
Mominkhan was followed by Fakr Uddollah as the ‘Subedar’ of Gujarat. During this time
Khandera Gaekwad’s cohorts Punaji Vittal and Trambak Pandit had altercations with Udollah. Pandit lived in Ahmedabad as the deputy of Khanderao. Punaji and Pandit both had altercations with Safdarkhan’s eleder brother Jawamardkhan.
Arounfd this time, Khanderao’s widow sent Rangoji to Ahmedabad after Khanderao’s death. Rangoji sacked Pandit upon his arrival in Ahmedabad and collected the Maratha portion of the produce of the town himself. Learning this, Punaji Vittal sent Krushna Pandit and Gangodhar to Ahmedabad with a small army.
They came to Ahmedabad and sacked the Muslim officers and took the adminstration in their hands. Rangoji sought help of Sherkhan Babi who consented to help but did not have the required money to do so. He then looted Nadiad and Mahudha and sent the required money to Rangoji.
Jagirdar Kosaji
On orders from Damajirao Gaekwad, Kosaji Jagirdar ( who lived in Nadiad then ) marched in the directon of Ahmedabad and on route looted Mehmdawad. Ahmedabad was in the hands of Jawamardkhan and Kosaji was fighting with Damaji against Jawamardkhan.
Damaji Gaekwad in Nadiad
Collecting ‘khandani’ ( tax or loot) on the banks of the river Vatrak, Damaji went to Kapadvanj and defeated Sherkhan Babi there. He came to Nadiad from there and appointed Sevakram his representative to collect his portion of taxes of Gujarat.
In this year the mint at Ahmedabad stopped producing coins bearing the insignia of the emperor at Delhi. The power of the Delhi emperor remained only in name and Gujarat became the battleground for the greed of Amirs and Marathas trying to make a quick fortune.
Fall of the Mughals and the rise of Marathas
Vallabhdas Vaghji Bin Govind died in Samvat 1788. We do not have authoritative documents as to till when did the ‘desaigiri’ last in the hands of his son Shamaldas. The time was chaotic then. Moghuls were collapsing at Delhi.
The power of the Moghul ‘Subas’ (provincial governors) in Gujarat was gradually declining. Marathas had started penetrating Gujarat. In 1778 Abhesing was the Suba of Ahmedabad as the deputy of Maharaj Abhesing.
But Mominkhan was appointed the suba in place of Maharaja Abhesing following decline in trust of the Sultan.Ratansing Bhandari sent this news to Abhesing who in turn ordered Ratansig not to surrender his powers to Mominkhan and instead fight him. Thus Mominkhan fought with Ratansing.
Mominkhan had sought Damaji and Rangoji’s help
Mominkhan had sought Damaji and Rangoji’s help at an appropriate time to capture Ahmedabad. Mominkhan had by now surrounded Ahmedabad with his troops. In return of their help, Mominkhan had pledged half of Ahmedabad to Damaji and Rangoji. Ratansing Bhandari stoutly defended the city of Ahmedabad and in the end arrived at a financial arrangement with Mominkhan to handover the city amicably.
Now on, half of Ahmedabad belonged to the Moghuls and the other half to the Marathas. By Samvat 1794, Marathas were the de facto rulers of Gujarat. By now political power of the Moghuls at Delhi had drastically declined. It is probable that the Marathas did not recognize Vallabhdas’s Badshahi Sanad Desaigiri.
Marathas were known for rapidly changing their officials; their favorite officers were the ones who managed the most amount s of money for the Maratha treasuries. Also, Marathas always considered Moghuls their enemies secretly and followed the policy of distrusting the officials appointed by the Moghuls.
More often than not Marathas changed the Moghul appointed officials upon capturing power in a province. It is therefore natural that the Marathas.In Samvat did not recognize Vallabhdas’s Sanad 1801. Damaji awarded the ‘jagir’ of Nadiad to his brother Khanderao. Now on Khanderao ruled Nadiad as a ‘Suba’.
But his style of functioning had always been an independent one; Damaji always tried to appease him. Damaji died in Samvat 1823-24. For some time before Damaji’s death., Khanderao had been functioning as an independent administrator of Nadiad. Nadiad became the capital of Khanderao.
Santaram Maharaj and Pujabhai
Pujabhai Shamalbhai was in the sixth generation ago of today’s Rambhai who lives in the Lakhawad. Pujabhai was a servant in the service of the Peshwa’s army at Surat. It was in surat that Pujabhai had met Santaram Maharaj and also taken his preaching. After this encounter with the Santaram Maharaj, Pujabhai is said to have resigned from his job with the Peshwas and returned to Nadiad.
Santaram Maharaj in Nadiad
Santaram Maharaj came to Nadiad in Samvat 1872 during his travels. He had put up at a farm at Dumkakui where he sat in the bark of an old and large ‘Rayan’ tree. (Rayan is a small yellow sweet fruit) He never asked for food from the farm laborers nor did the laborers paid any attention to him.
Santaram Maharaj shows his powers
During one reaping season a farm laborers came to a well to fetch water for himself and his other four colleagues. Santaram Maharaj was at the very well for his bath. He told the laborer to leave the rope at the well after the latter finished drawing water from the well. The laborer disregarded the instruction and left the well , taking the rope along with him.
Later on the laborer had to come back to the well to fetch more water and as he came he beheld Santaram Maharaj still bathing and another rope. He was astonished to see the sight and called others to see the spectacle. All of them apologized for their behavior to the Santaram Maharaj.
The story spreads
The story of Santaram Maharaj’s power spread like air in all directions. People of the town started paying him visits. During this time a Kanbi ( a caste in Gujarat) came to Santram Maharaj complaining that his buffalo had stopped giving milk.
Santaram Maharaj just gave him an empty vessel and told him to go to his buffalo and come back to him with the vessel full with the milk till the brim. Kanabi went to the buffalo and by some miracle the buffalo started giving milk at that very instance. This Kanbi had immense faith in the powers of the Santaram Maharaj.
Faith of the people increase
People’s faith in Santaram Maharaj was rapidly increasing and more and more people from the surrounding area started visiting him. As the place of his abode was far from the town, Pujabhai requested the Maharaj to come and settle at the present location,. During those days the present location had a mound of small stones. Maharaj stayed put here till one day when he decided to move. Pujabhai , on hearing the news came to the spot.
Pujabhai requested Maharaj not to go
By the time Pujabhai arrived, Santaram Maharaj had already covered the distance to Panchotar Vad. Sleeping on the road in front of Maharaj, Pujabhai entreated Maharaj not to leave and come back to the mound.
Maharaj agreed but on the condition that Pujabhai would look after hi. In return, Pujabhai obtained promise from the Maharaj not to leave or take ‘Samadhi’ without Pujabhai’s consent. Then the Maharaj returned to his place and pronounced that his abode will one day extend all the way to Panchotara Vad.
Samadhi of Santaram Maharaj
Fifteen years after the said incident, in Samvat 1897 in the month of Posh (according to the Hindu calendar, Posh is a month), Santaram Maharaj decided to take his Samadhi. ( Samadhi is to die at will) Pujabhai and hios son had already died by this time and Pujabhai’s grandson was away at Kheda. The grandson sent a message from Kheda requesting Maharaj his Samadhi till the next full moon day.
Samadhi on Maha Poonam
The grandson,Bapubhai was present when the Santaram Maharaj prepared for the Samadhi ditch. There were unlit lamps near the prepared ditch. After a while Maharaj entered the ditch and asked Bapubhai to put clods of earth back in the ditch.
Then apparently the Maharaj asked Bapubhai to demand whatever he wanted in life to which Bapubhai said that with grace of the Maharaj he had everything that he needed in life and that he did not desire anything worldly . Further pressed by the Maharaj, Bapubhai asked that the temple and the abode of Maharaj must attain more glory after the departure of the Maharaj.
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