PLACES

SULTANPUR

Sultanpur, with 1084 inhabitants in 1961, is a village in Shahada taluka lying about 16 km. (ten miles) north of the taluka headquarters. It is a ruined city with an old fort or gadhi and walls enclosing about 2.590 km² (a square mile) of area. In one of the corners of this gadhi are five tombs known to the village populace as panch-pir. An annual urus is held in honour of these pirs.. A large number of defaced idols of Jain tirthankaras and yakahas have been found in and around this gadhi. On one such idol-base an inscription giving the date Sanwat 1217 has been discovered. From this and such other fragments it can be established with definite certainty that during the times of the Yadavas the place which later became known as Sultanpur was a place containing beautiful Jain temples. Its present name is said to date back to 1306 A.D. when Malik Kafur. Ala-ud-dins general stopped here for some time while on his wav to conquer the Deccan. [Briggs' Ferishta, I. 366.] It continued to be a part of Gujarat, till in 1370, it was taken by Malik Raja (1370.1399) the first Faruqi king of Khandesh. However, Malik's hold on Sultanpur did not last for long. Muzaffar, the Gujarat king, hastened for its recovery and Malik had to abandon it and flee to Thalner. [Persian Ferishta, II, 543, Briggs, IV, 283.]

In 1417 Sultanpur was laid waste by the joint forces of Malik Nasir of Khandesh (1400-1437) and Ghaznikhan of Malva but had to retire on the advance of the Gujarat army. [Briggs, Ferishta, IV, 292.]

In 1536 according to a promise made while a prisoner Muhammad III made over Sultanpur and Nandurbar to Mubarak Khan Faruqi of Khandesh. [Briggs' Ferishta II, 315.] Under Akbar, Sultanpur was a sub-division, pargana of the district, sarkar, of Nandurbar, and yielded a yearly revenue of 28.119,749 dams. [Gladwin's Ain-i-Akbari, II, 228.] The local story of the destruction of Sultanpur is that Yashvantrav Holkar, escaping from Poona came near Sultanpur, then part of Holkar's dominions and forming an alliance with the Bhils, plundered such of the people as would not acknowledge him as their king. Among those who refused allegiance was Lakshmanrav Desai, the chief man of Sultanpur. Taking up his quarters at Ghikli, a village 9.65 kin. (6 miles) west of Sultanpur whose Bhil Chieftain Jugar Naik was his friend, Yashvantrav sent a letter to Lakshmanrav asking him to pay Rs. 500. Lakshmanrav not only refused to pay but scoffed at Holkar's caste and taunted him for his illegitimate birth. One Kriparam Dayaram, a rich banker and one of the headmen of the town offered the tribute of Rs. 500 to Holkar. Satisfied by this that he might rely on a party in Sultanpur, Holkar with his Bhil ally, entered the town, and winning over the garrison plundered the Desai's house. Then the Bhils were let loose, the town was laid waste and all the people except one fled.

Writing of Sultanpur in 1826 Captain Clunes remarks: '' The remains of the walls, towers and buildings, show marks of what was a handsome town so late as 1803, the famine year, when the whole country was depopulated" [Itinerary. 90.] Besides the fort, originally an intricate building of mud faced with brick there are the remains of a great mosque known as Jumma Masjid. It is of no particular merit. On the banks of the river Susari and a little outside the village is a ruined temple of Mahadev built by Lakshmanrav Desai, who according to the story brought ruin on Sultanpur. There is also yet another small but well preserved temple built by Rani Ahilyabai Holkar (1800), the Queen of Indore. To the east of [lie village in an old garden enclosed by a 0.914 metre (three feet) thick brick faced mud wall. The most interesting ruin is the mansion of. Lakshmanrav, once a large handsome house, with a fine well watered garden.

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