Ruler Of India For A Day - The Forgotten Story Of Teen Chhatri And Bhishti Nizam Saqqa

Most people won't believe that a common man can unravel forgotten stories and legends of great significance to history, just sitting at home and doing random searches on internet. However, I might have just done this.

Located at Makanpur village of Indirapuram, Ghaziabad is a dilapidated 16th century Mughal era tomb lying in ruins, commonly referred as Teen Chhatri (meaning three umbrellas) by locals of the area. At one point in time, this pavilion tomb (also known as Hazire) might have been a beautiful example of Mughal architecture, build with red sandstone with lotus finial, ornate motifs and lattice screens - However, rapid development of the city and construction of high rise apartments and building all around make it barely visible. The condition of the monument is not very good - It seems that no proper maintenance or repair has been done over the years and the only thing keeping it from being demolished and encroached by more residential buildings is the fact that it is in the middle of local kabristaan (Muslim graveyard). Nobody knows for sure whose tomb is this but there is a story passed on by the locals which greatly attracted my attention - That this tomb belongs to some Sakka (may also be written as Saqqa) who was ruler of India for a day!

Sakka (or Saqqa) might be a name of a person but a quick internet search also tells us that this is a Turkish/Arabic word meaning water bearer (keep this thing in mind). According to this vague legend, this Sakka helped Babur, the first Mughal ruler of India, in a battle and as a gift for that, he was made ruler of India for a day. This is a pretty interesting story but it is vague and there is nothing to back it. This is where I started my research on Internet, trying to find any clues or information about this story or anything like this.

There are negligible material online regarding this monument and there is no direct reference to this story. However, after going through multiple related news articles and blog posts and doing some random searches using keywords, I actually found something amazing. There is actually another legend known to some people which is very similar to this but actually refer to Humayun, the second Mughal ruler of India and son of Babur. According to this story, during a battle against the Afghans (some believe this was actually the Battle of Chausa of 1539 against Sher Shah Suri), Humayun's army was badly defeated and he had to make a run for his life. He jumped in the Ganges river (some say his horse actually slipped) and soon found himself drowning. A Bhishti named Nizam saw Humayun drowning and jumped into the river to save him. For those who don't know, Bhishti is a Muslim community who were historically water bearers (noticed the resemblance?) and helped soldiers in battle by providing them water using their leather bags called mashq (or mashk). It is believed that Nizam used his mashq to keep Humayun afloat while saving him from drowning. After being saved, Humayun expressed his gratitude by making Nizam ruler of his empire for a day (some argue that it was for 1.5 or 2 days). Not much is known about what Nizam did as the ruler of India for a day but an extension of this story tells us that he cut his mashq into small stripes and got them gilded and stamped (recording his name and date of coronation) and issued it as currency (Some say that this made Nizam the first ruler of India to issue leather currency or coins). 

 

This version of story is actually much more known on Internet and across India - However, I didn't found anyone associating this with Teen Chhatri monument of Ghaziabad. Taking the extent of similarity between both the stories into consideration, I think it is quite possible that Teen Chhatri might be the tomb of Bhishti Nizam Saqqa who was ruler of India for a day. It is very possible that over the generations, details about the story (referred emperor was Babur or Humayun) and the last resting place of Nizam was forgotten by people - After all, he is not considered a "real" ruler according to history. If you think about it, this is actually a significant find -  Without any solid evidence of the existence of Bhishti Nizam Saqqa, this legend has mostly been regarded as "just a story". But now that we know the last resting place of Nizam Saqqa, people may start taking this legend more seriously. 

However, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We must remember that unless some kind of credible archaeological and historical study is conducted, nobody can confirm with full certainty whether there is some truth in this legend or whether my conclusion (that Teen Chhatri is the last resting place of the one-day ruler of India) is correct. Still, even without any solid proof, the association with this legend should be a reason enough for the preservation of this beautiful monument from being lost to time and obscurity.

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