Sandila Hardoi

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

For the town of same name in Tonk district see Sandila

Hardoi district map

Sandila (सण्डीला) is a town and tahsil in Hardoi district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Location

Sandila is around 50 kilometres away from Lucknow, Located midway between Hardoi and Lucknow. Sandila is a well-connected town with roads leading in all directions and a major rail line passing through the south side of town.

Variants

• Sital Purwa (सीतल पुरवा)
• Makhdumpura (मखदुमपुरा)

Founder

• Shandilya

History

According to tradition, Sandila was originally founded by the Arakhs and called Sital Purwa. The Arakhs were then driven out in the late 14th century by a Muslim force under Sayyid Makhdum Ala-ud-Din. The town's name supposedly derives from an exclamation from Makhdum Ala-ud-Din, who had been given a charter by the Delhi Sultan but threw it into the Yamuna on the way there, saying "Sanad Allah", or "God be my charter". The place he settled is called Makhdumpura in his honor, and his dargah still stands here.

The growth of Sandila was sped up by an influx of refugees, many of whom are said to have been fleeing persecution by Muhammad Shah Tughlaq. His successor Firoz Shah visited Sandila twice, once in 1353 on the way to Lucknow and again in 1374 on the way to Bahraich. The oldest mosque in Sandila, now in ruins, was built in 769 AH on his orders. The Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi records that Sandila was ruled by Malik Hisam-ul-Mulk in 1375, and in 1394 it came under the control of Khwaja-i-Jahan, the first ruler of the Jaunpur Sultanate.

By the time of Sher Shah Suri, Sandila had become so crowded that one Sayyid Husain founded a new town next to it, called Ashraf Tola.The Sayyids were supporters of Sher Shah, and when Humayun was returned to power, he expelled them and looted the city. The Sayyids' estates were given to the Chandelas instead, but the Sayyids gradually recovered them beginning during the reign of Aurangzeb and then especially under the Nawabs of Awadh.

Up to this point, Sandila had never been a centre of government. In fact, the lack of government officials here made Sandila a convenient refuge for people who wanted to avoid imperial writs. That changed during the reign of Akbar, who transferred the qazi of Mahona to Sandila, and then the other pargana officials came to follow. This is reflected in the Ain-i-Akbari, which lists Sandila as the seat of a pargana in Lucknow sarkar of Awadh subah. It supplied the imperial treasury with a revenue of 10,623,901 dams and contributed a force of 5,000 infantry and 100 cavalry to the imperial army.Sandila itself is recorded as having a brick fort at the time.[2] In addition, another mosque was built in Akbar's time, in 962 AH. Another historic monument is the Bara Khambha, or "hall of twelve pillars", was built in 971 AH; it contains the tomb of Makhdum Sahib, the ancestor of Sandila's preeminent Muslim family.

A third old mosque was built in 1121 AH according to its Persian-language inscription. In 1850 the European traveller W. Sleeman visited Sandila; he described it as somewhat in decline but "well-situated and possessing an excellent climate."

At the turn of the 20th century, Sandila was the 7th-largest city in the Awadh region, with a population of 16,843 people. A slight majority (8,876) were Muslim, while Hindus formed the second-largest religious group (7,948). Sandila then comprised four mohallas: Ashraf Tola, Malkhana, Mandai, and Mahetwana. The town had a tehsil office, a police station, and a town hall, along with a post office, a cattle pound, and a dispensary.[2] There was a middle school, a boys' lower primary school funded by the municipality, a private school in Ashraf Tola, and two girls' lower primary schools. A new sarai, called the Quinn Sarai, had recently been built by Kunwar Durga Parshad near the railway station. Sandila hosted markets on Tuesdays and Saturdays; the main items for sale were paan, ghee, and laddu. It was also known for door pardahs and coloured cotton tablecloths "of a pretty design in large checks." Firewood was also exported to Lucknow via train. The largest source of income for the municipal government was through the collection of octroi.

Apart from this, the Begum Qudsia Aizaz Rasul (2 April 1909 – 1 August 2001) was the only Muslim woman in the Constituent Assembly of India that drafted the Constitution of India. Qudsia was married in 1929 to Nawab Aizaz Rasul, the taluqdar (landowner) of Sandila in Hardoi district of what was then Oudh (now a part of Uttar Pradesh). The match was arranged by Sir Malcolm Hailey and the marriage was entirely harmonious. Two years after the wedding, when Qudsia was fourteen, her father died in 1931. Shortly after this happened, her in-laws came and took her away to Sandila, which was to be her home in life and where she lies buried after her death. In Sandila, Qudsia came to be addressed after her husband's name as "Begum Aizaz Rasool," and this is the name by which she is known in all public records.

Economy

Important industries include sweets — its laddus are especially well-known — as well as beedi production and zardozi work.

सण्डीला

सण्डीला (Sandila): उत्तर प्रदेश राज्य के हरदोई ज़िले में स्थित एक नगर है। यह प्रदेश की राजधानी लखनऊ से पश्चिम 50 किमी0 दूर लखनऊ और हरदोई के मध्य में स्थित है। सण्डीला का लड्डू बहुत प्रसिद्ध है। यह बीड़ी उत्पादन और जरदोज़ी के काम के लिए जाना जाता है। यह भूभाग प्राचीन काल में नैमिषारण्य तीर्थ का हिस्सा था और यहीं पर शाण्डिल्य ऋषि ने तपस्या की थी। सण्डीला कस्बे के पश्चिम सिरे पर एक विशाल सरोवर के किनारे लगभग 1000 वर्ष पुराना मां शीतला देवी का भव्य मन्दिर है। इस मन्दिर की ऐतिहासिकता के बारे में बताया जाता है कि जबसे यहां शाण्डिल्य ऋषि ने तपस्या की थी तभी से यहां मां का वास है। ब्रिटिश शासन काल में एक अंग्रेज गर्वनर यहां शिकार खेलने आया था, उसने जंगल के बीच छोटी मठिया में देवी की मूर्ति को देखा और उस मूर्ति पर पूजन सामग्री पुष्प आदि चढ़े दिखाई दिये। यह मूर्ति मां शीतला की थी जो आज भी मौजूद है। इस मूर्ति के अवतरण के बारे में कोई जानकारी नहीं है। मठिया के पास एक छोटा सा तालाब था जो आज विशाल सरोवर (तीर्थ) के रूप में विद्यमान है। कहते हैं माता के दर्शन के बाद उस गर्वनर पर मां का इतना प्रभाव पड़ा कि उसने जंगल में शिकार करने पर पाबन्दी लगा दी।

सण्डीला का प्राचीन इतिहास उपलब्ध नहीं हो पाया है। स्थानीय परंपरा के अनुसार सण्डीला को अरख लोगों ने बसाया था और इसका नाम सीतल पुरवा था। अरख लोगों को 14वीं सदी के उत्तरार्ध में सैयद मखदुम अला-उद-दिन की मुस्लिम सेना ने खदेड़ कर भगा दिया था। कस्बे का नाम खुद के नाम पर मखदुमपुरा कर दिया। अरख लोग कहाँ गए यह स्पष्ट नहीं हो पाया परंतु खोज करने पर अरक, अरख या अर्ख नाम से पंजाब और हरयाणा के जाटों में एक गोत्र मिलता है। H.A. Rose ने इनको मुहम्मदन जाट लिखा है और जींद में पाया जाना बताया है। संभवत: ये पाणिनि द्वारा अष्टाध्यायी (4.2.90) में उल्लेखित अर्क लोग ही थे जो ईरान के Markazi प्रांत के रहने वाले थे क्योंकि इस प्रांत की राजधानी का नाम अरक था।