HistoriCity| Sambhal: A political and military battlefield throughout history

Sikandar later founded the town of Agra and shifted the capital there in 1505 but in these four short years, Sambhal acquired prominence.

Myths and legends about Sambhal abound. But legends notwithstanding, the history of Sambhal gains a semblance of credulity only after Sultan Sikandar Lodi made the town his capital for four years between 1500 and 1504. Sikandar had become disillusioned with Delhi, his father Bahlol Khan’s favoured city, which had been ruined by factional wars among the various Afghan tribes vying for India. Sikandar later founded the town of Agra and shifted the capital there in 1505 but in these four short years, Sambhal acquired a prominence, which continued to grow for centuries.

The mosque in Sambhal might well be older than Babar to judge from its appearance. (PTI file photo)

Scholars have surmised that the heavily forested region must have been a part of ancient political formations since the Vedic times when it was perhaps part of the Panchala kingdom. Evidence of the presence of empires and kingdoms have not been found yet but given its proximity to Delhi and its strategic location, Sambhal is likely to have been an important region and source for forest produce throughout the last two millennia. Even today, the region is well-known for sugarcane farming and is one of the biggest centres for menthol, which is largely exported.

A copperplate inscription discovered in a scrap shop in neighbouring Moradabad in 1993 tells us that in the early 9th century, Nagabhatta II, a Pratiraha king referred to Sambhal as Sambhulika while making donations to Brahmins. Legends mention about the town’s establishment by Tomars in 700 CE, followed by the battles between Tomars and the Chauhan hero, Prithvi Raj. The 1911 British Gazetteer records, “the traces of the former Hindu occupation are numerous. Raja Jagat Singh, the reputed founder of the town, is said to have built sacred shrines for pilgrims and 19 wells or bathing-places, all of which are still recognised. The Hindus record the tradition that in the days of Prithvi Raj his daughter Bela performed Sati after the death of her husband Parmal of Mahoha”.

B M Sankhder writes in “Sambhal: A Historical Survey: “In the early period, Sambhal was surrounded on all sides by thick forests. The aboriginal tribes which inhabited this region were Ahirs, Gonds, Bhils... Towards the beginning of the eleventh century, there was an extensive colonisation by various Rajput tribes, which continued for a long period…”

Legend also tells us about a great intellectual duel between a Brahman and Islamic clerics while Sambhal was the capital under Sikandar Lodi. The debate over theism had a violent end: Lodhan, the Brahmin man, was executed for defying the bigoted Sultan.

Afghan factionalism was rampant and more often than not guided religious, secular and even sporting arenas. Sikandar Lodhi, who loved Chogun, a form of modern-day Polo, often played the game with other Afghan nobles. It was at Sambhal that one such tournament turned into a bloody fight, which eventually sowed the seeds of Pathan disunity so deep that Babur, a Moghul, could turn it in to a fertile ground for raising his empire.

Did Babur destroy a temple at Sambhal?

The Babri Masjid at Ayodhya carried an inscription that said the mosque was erected in the name of the great founder of the Mughal dynasty. However, the Supreme Court accepted that despite all the legends and beliefs there was no evidence to show that a temple was destroyed to build the mosque. A very similar pattern is being seen in the current ongoing controversy at Sambhal where four people have died during communal clashes. Based on legends, myths and divisive propaganda communities, particularly in Uttar Pradesh’s Ganga-Yamuna doab who symbolise the composite culture of India are being pitted against one another taking the judicial route.

British colonial records were typically based on inputs provided by elite Hindus and Muslims. Both groups narrated their own versions of history and sometimes invented stories to further their own interests. In the case of the Jami Masjid in Sambhal, British ASI survey and Gazettes record both views: the Hindu tradition that a Vishnu Harihar temple stood where the mosque was later erected, and also that Babur couldn’t have possibly demolished a temple as other non-Hindu kingdoms such as the Lodis and before that, the Ghaznavid and Ghuri invaders would have not allowed a lofty temple to stand for five centuries.

The 1879 ASI report, written with the newly laid down divide-and rule policy in the wake of the 1857 mutiny, says this about the Jami mosque: “The principal building in Sambhal is the Jami Masjid which the Hindus claim to have been originally the temple of Hari Mandir…The Muhammadans ascribe the erection of the building to the time of the Emperor Babar, and point to an inscription inside the masjid, which certainly contains the name of Babar, but which the Hindus assert to be a forgery of late date”.

The 1911 Gazette of Muradabad district records the following about the Jami masjid, “At the beginning of his brief reign, the emperor himself seems to have visited the place and set up an inscription in the great mosque, of which Hindu Beg claims to have been the builder. It is almost impossible, however, to suppose that it was Babar who replaced the temple of Vishnu with the mosque, for the former would never have been permitted to remain in so prominent a position during so many centuries of Muslim rule and it is certain that Sikandar Lodi, a bigoted iconoclast, would not have allowed a Hindu shrine to occupy the loftiest site in his temporary capital”.

It further says, “the mosque at Sambhal might well be older than Babar, to judge from its appearance. The architecture resembles that of Pathan buildings, such as the great mosque at Badaun…the whole structure is very plain, severe and massive, and if Hindu materials have been employed, the ornamentation has been very effectually concealed, since the only traces of Hindu carving visible are two rosettes on the stone slabs of the stops leading from the eastern gateway to the quadrangle”.

HistoriCity is a column by author Valay Singh that narrates the story of a city that is in the news, by going back to its documented history, mythology and archeological digs. The views expressed are personal.