Muhammad Muradyab Khan (Nawab Sarbuland Khan)

This article is about the Sindhi shah. For the 20th-century king of Sindh, see Kalhora.

Muradyab Khan Kalhoro, Muhammad Muradyab Khan Kalhoro (Nawab Sarbuland Khan) (urdu) (محمدمرياب خان كلهورو المعروف نواب سربلندخان), was the Subedar of Sindh appointed by Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah, and was given the imperial title Sarbuland Khan.

Different agents appointed by the king’s orders.

On receiving the news of Mián Núr Muhammad’s death, the king, who had again been influenced by the slanders of some malicious people of his court, named Ismáíl Khán Piní to be his agent in Sind, and the latter had already proceeded as far as Muhammadábád, and had sent off a few men under Sayyed Sháh Muhammad to Tattá, and others towards the sandy desert, where they pillaged the villages of Thár and Hingórjah. Soon after the arrival of lsmáíl Khán’s men, one Sálih Khán came to Tattá on behalf of the late administrator Gul Muhammad Khán Khurásání to collect the revenue demands. But just before that the king’s ambassador Muhammad Beg Shámalí had come to Tattá and appointed Áká Muhammad Sálih as the agent in charge of Tattá and taking some nobles of the place had started for the royal camp. Sálih Khán’s men would not allow Áká Muhammad Sálih to carry on the State duties. When Muhammad Beg Shámlú, who on receiving orders to that effect had sent back the nobles, arrived at the camp, he was blamed for not making a good selection for the collection of revenue at Tattá. A fresh order was therefore issued appointing Kází Muhammad Mahfúz to the post. Again the nobles were required to pay respects to the king at his camp.

Muhammad Murádyáb Khán appointed to be the ruler with the title of Nawáb Sarbuland Khan.

While the Kázi’s eldest son was quarrelling with Sálih Khán as to who should collect the revenue and other Government dues, information was received that the king had appointed Muhammad Murádyáb Khán to be the ruler of Sind with the title of “Nawáb Sarbuland Khán.” It would appear that all this time the late Mián’s envoy Díwán Gidúmal had been at work in the court of the king and had now succeeded in securing the king’s good will, as the chiefs and nobles had paid allegiance to the king and Muhammad Atur Khán had been given up as a hostage. So the nobles went direct to Umarkót to meet their new ruler, who on receiving the honour now marched to his capital. Shekh Zafarulláh was appointed to be the administrator of Tattá and once more there was peace and order at that place.

The reception of the Mián at Nasarpúr.

Díwán Gidúmal had joined Muhammad Murádyáb Khán in the vicinity of Umarkót and had given him the order of rulership and the robe of honour, which he had brought from the king. The plain near Nasarpúr was adorned with tents and flags to be the first camp of the new ruler on his return to his country. The Mián encamped at the place and spent several days there, founding a new town at the place, calling it Murádábád after his name.

Battle of Manupur

Main article: Battle of Manupur (1748)

In 1748 Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded Indus River Valley prompting Muradyab Khan Kalhoro the Subedar of Sindh to dispatch reinforcements to assist the Mughal Army along the river banks. Prince Ahmad and the respected Grand Vizier Asaf Jah I were dispatched by the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah to command a large Mughal Army of 75,000 to confront the advancing Durrani's. At Sirhind both forces fought a decisive battle and Prince Ahmad was nominally victorious.

The Mián marches against the Jám of Kakrálah and defeats him.

About the close of the year he determined to settle theaffair of the Jám of Kakrálah. He marched against him and defeated him after several battles. The Jám was removed from Kódáriah and confined at Kakrálah, his headquarters. The land of Óchtah, Lanjárf, Mirán and Kachah was taken into his own possession by the Mián, who fixed upon the last named place to be the chief centre of stores, and strengthened each of the above places with a fort.

The Mián’s rupture with his nobles, who conspire against him.

For the next two years the Mián ruled the country quietly and satisfactorily, but in the fourth year of his reign, symptoms of misrule and confusion began to appear, as he altogether changed his behaviour and commenced ill-treating the Siraí chiefs and oppressing his subjects. Having been much annoyed and hard pressed owing to the pecuniary demands of the king, Mián Muhammad Múrad determined to retire after sweeping his country clean of whatever he could lay his hands upon. With that object in view he had already commenced sending up his treasures to the port of Mascat. About the close of the year he thought of starting from his capital and while passing through the territory of the Jám of Kakrálah, of laying waste to it and plundering it. He therefore proposed to send a large army to that State. The Siraí chiefs, who on the occasion of the last treaty, had sworn on the Korán not to make any breach of the terms, opposed him, and refused to join him in the undertaking. They withdrew, and combining together promised to espouse the cause of Mián Ghulám Sháh and to put him on the throne.

Muhammad Murád dethroned and Mián Ghulám Sháh elected.

Mustering strong among themselves on the night preceding 13th Zí-Hajj, 1170 A.H. (1757 A. D.) the Sirái nobles besieged the Mián’s residence and took him and his favourite chiefs prisoners. The next morning his brother Mián Ghulám Sháh was placed on the throne. He tried his best to please the nobility as well as the common people, who had been much oppressed by Muhammad Murád.*

The town of Alahábád founded, and the revolt of Muhammad Murád’s brother Ahmadyár Khán.

Soon after the Áshúrah (the 10th of Muharram) of the new year, that accursed town was surrounded by the floods of the river, so that Mián Ghulám Sháh deserted it and built another city near his father’s Muhammadábád and called it Alahábád. All the chiefs and nobles recognized him as their ruler and paid homage to him, except Ahmadyár Khán, brother by the same mother to Muhammad Murádyáb, who was then at Khudábád, and Maksúdah Fakír, son of Bahár Sháh, who at first left his father’s side with the intention of adhering to Mián Ghulám Sháh’s cause, and subsequently came and entered the Mián’s service, apparently to avoid unpleasant results.

The Mián’s other brother Atur Khán appointed as ruler by the royal decree.

Meanwhile Atur Khán, who was a hostage with the king, represented his case in person very strongly and succeeded in having the order of rulership passed in his own name. Hearing this, Ahmadyár Khán began to collect forces. The Siraí chiefs now repented of what they had done and knowing that Atur Khán had been duly appointed as a ruler by royal decree, thought it prudent to submit to him. Mián Ghulám Sháh therefore had no other alternative but to move with his whole army to the sandy desert on 25th of Saffar of the same year. After he had travelled a few stages, Maksúdah Fakír having received letters from Atur Khán to that effect, set Muhammad Murádyáb at liberty, and deserting Miáu Ghulám Sháh’s cause, and taking some Siraí chiefs with him started to meet the newly appointed ruler, while Mián Ghulám Sháh with Rájah Líkhí, a few other friendly chiefs and a selected band of soldiers hastened away to a distance.

References

This article includes content derived from "History of Sind - translated from Persian books" by Mirza Kalichbeg Fredunbeg (1853–1929), published in Karachi in 1902 and now in the public domain.