(C) Copyright of Prabuddha Biswas
[Published in HT Patna Live, Wednesday, December 11, 2002]
IN PATNA, TWO OF THE MUGHAL RULERS WERE CROWNED; FARRUKHSIYAR AND SHAH ALAM II
THE RECORD REVEALED THAT SOME OF THE MUGHAL RULERS WERE CORONATED TWICE AND MANY OF THEM WERE CROWNED OUTSIDE CAPITAL ALSO
THE FIRST CORONATION OF FARRUKHSIYAR TOOK PLACE AT PATNA WHILE THE SECOND CORONATION TOOK PLACE AT AGRA
FARRUKHSIYAR'S PLACE OF CORONATION AT PATNA WAS THE 'SHADMAN MOSQUE' IN THE SPRAWLING AFZAL KHAN BAGH'
The
Shadman Mosque, adjacent to the eastern boundary of the football ground of the
Bihar College of Engineering; with its sprawling garden complex, ‘Afzal Khan
Bagh’ at Patna, had been the coronation centre of the Mughal ruler
Farrukhsiyar. The coronation of Farrukhsiyar brought the city of Azeemabad
(Patna) in the centre stage of Mughal power politics.
The
early eighteenth century records reveal that the Mughal ruler stayed in the
Afzal Khan Bagh for few months before proceeding towards Agra for the final
assault.
But
the Shadman Mosque and the Afzal Khan Bagh went into oblivion for some time and
then rediscovered by Prof. Askari few years back which brought this historical
place in the spotlight for the first time. It is generally believed that the
coronation of Mughal rulers had taken place only once and that too in the
capital city of Delhi, Fatehpur Sikri or Agra. But the records revealed that
some of the Mughal rulers were coronated twice and many of them were crowned
outside the capital also.
In
Patna, two of the Mughal rulers were crowned, the first being Farrukhsiyar and
the second was Shah Alam II.
Farrukhsiyar,
the Mughal ruler crowned in Patna; was the second son of Prince Azim-us-Shan
and was born at Aurangabad (Deccan) on September 11, 1683 AD.
When
his father Azim-us-Shan became the vice regal head of the eastern province of
Bengal and Orissa, Farrukhsiyar had a taste of princely life partially at Dacca
and Murshidabad.
Later,
Farrukhsiyar developed a special bond with Patna when his father Azim-us-Shan
was transferred there (but the family remained in Murshidabad) in 1704 AD.
Azim-us-Shan gave it a facelift and renamed it as Azimabad.
When
Azim-us-Shan left Bengal along with his first son for West, in order to seize
the Mughal throne in the event of the death of aged Bahadur Shah I,
Farrukhsiyar was at Murshidabad.
The
forlorn Farrukhsiyar proceeded for Patna enroute to Delhi after receiving a
message from his father. But while nearing Patna, he received the news of the
death of his father and elder brother in a battle on the banks of River Ravi,
near Lahore. Hence, he was forced to abort his trip to Patna and explore his
own chances of getting the Mughal throne.
Initially,
the power brokers cold-shouldered him, but the pleadings of his mother, his
first wife Fakhr-un-Nisa (daughter of a reputed Hussain Syed of Manzindran,
Iran Muhammad Taqi) and his youngest daughter softened the heart of Syed
Hussain Ali Khan, the then governor of Biihar.
The
noted saints, sages and seers of this place, especially Mulla Shadman, disciple
of Shah Shahbagh of Bhagalpur forecasted Farrukhsiyar’s accession to the
throne.
The
public opinion also swung in favour of Farrukhsiyar in the sweet memory of his
father, who had successfully beautified Patna as a mini capital city.
On Mulla
Shadman’s suggestion, Farrukhsiyar shifted from ‘Bagh Jafar Khan’, Patna City,
where he was encamping to a place next to the mosque built by the noted Sufi
saint Mulla Shadman and started offering prayers in the said mosque.
Ultimately
on March 27, 1712 AD, Farrukhsiyar was formally escorted from the mosque of the
garden place Afzal Khan Bagh, immediately west of it and formally crowned in
the august presence of Mulla Shadman and the ceremony was performed by Syed
Hussain Ali Khan.
A
little later Farrukhsiyar left for Delhi in the company of Hussain Ali,
collecting army and arms on way. His victory over Jahandhar Shah took place near
Agra on December 10, 1712.
And
on January 11, 1713 AD, Farrukhsiyar had his second coronation at Agra.
The
much reduced Afzal Khan Bagh exists in Patna as the football ground of the
Bihar College of Engineering and on the east of it can be found a broken and
badly vegetated grave of Mullah Shadman, which needs repair and a long
Nort-South corridor also needs to be constructed to protect it as well as to
provide shade for sport lovers.
The
present edifice of the mosques, where Farrukhsiyar stayed before and after the
coronation was reconstructed by one Zulfikar Ali (during 1832-33 AD), whose
wife was reported to have inherited the garden mosque from her uncle Mulla
Shadman.
It
has recently been repaired without any change in its size and shape and very often
visited by Hindus and Muslims to offer prayers for the fulfilment of their
hopes.
[Text:
Prabuddha Biswas & Pics: Anil Kumar]
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