Mulla Hasan looked out at the ocean. Moonlight reflected from the undulating surface and made it shimmer like a satin sheet. An occasional wave broke in the distance with a burst of bright white surf. Waves lapped the sides of the dhow and a few spilled over onto the deck. He leaned over and let his hand skim the water, and as he did some of it splashed on to his face. It felt cool and refreshing but as the salty water dribbled and cut through his parched, dry lips, he winced a little. It had been a long and tedious journey but Alhamdulillah a successful one. He reached into the pocket of his undershirt and felt the reassuring bulge of the carefully folded Firman he had received from the court in Bijapur.
As the first rays of the sun peered over the horizon, the pristine Konkan coastline overflowing with coconut and areca palms and bounded by the lush rolling hills of the Sahyadris came into view. To the west he could see the silhouette of the grand and imposing Janjira fort and further in the distance he saw the glittering bronze crescent mounted on top of the minaret at the Jamah Masjid in Rajpuri. He shook his son lying by his feet, “Abdul, wake up!” he shouted, “We are home.”
The Peshimam family has grown and spread to all corners of the world. Home is now Bombay or Dubai, Toronto or Miami, Pretoria, London or Karachi. It wouldn’t be surprising to find someone in Moscow or Sao Paulo in a few years, if they aren’t there already. But when did this journey begin and who started it? Where is our original home?
The Firman (royal edict) that Mulla Hasan received is the earliest document we have that gives us some clues. It is dated, Shawwal 1052 H, which is around December 1642 AD. Written in classical Farsi and maybe some Dakhni Urdu, it’s almost indecipherable. From the little that we can translate, it seems to be a judgement passed by the court of Adil Shah that commands the Siddis to stop meddling with the properties bestowed to the Mulla family for services rendered on behalf of the Sultanate of Bijapur.
Here is the original Firman:
Hawalmustaan Harkan
Firmane Maymoon sharfe sarowar yaft. Aanke izzat wa rafa’at dar satgoah shujaa’at wa shahaamat wa intabahe laikal maraheen wal al Hasan Siddi Yusuf farzandane Siddi Ambar daanraa Rajpuri ba inayate be gaayaate Padshahaneh nawazishe wa itafate khasarwanahah mumtaz wa sarfaraz budeh berand ke darin wi la Mulla Hasan bin Mulla Ibrahim bin Mulla Hussain bin Mulla Ali Khatibe Masjide Jamiah Danda Rajpuri mazkur ba dargahe Maula Iltimas namada’and ke khandkashta Kharshet baanki Danda dar mutasal Waghbil Khar Panji wa Darshet mauze Murud, Nandgaon wa kashta kavek darsawad pargana Diwa jumla chahar qata’a wa saleena panjadah sikah wa yak wa nim jattal bar chavari Rajpuri badale khidmate Khatibi khud aam lajam kar kard wa muwafik bahogota sal baad rawanast nazare inayat firman asharaf aatifat shud tahjjat quami bashad. Bna bar aan iltimas musharal alaika ba khatir aala awarda az rahe marrahim padshahnana wa farte awatife khasarwana bahagota saal baad mukarrar farmuda dahanida shud ast mee bayad ke hisbul mastur mukarrar danishta jari darand wa har zamunahae mamluke musharalialiha wa zamin Mulla Ibrahim bin Mulla Hussain wa dar khathae nurjail qadami wa jadid wa aanche paishtar lawani karda shud wa makhsus marsawali wa ba’aaraz bardar aazda saal marz dand wa gaira aan muwafiq bahgotah bagayat 1052 H. aasir khamsin walif chunanche muaf ast muaaf danishta jari darand wa zaminhaye wa darakhtahaye narjail bar Masjid mazkur wakf and muafik saala baad wakf shanakhta maqrur darand jumla inamate massajid wa zaminahaye khawmane aan masajid chunanche muwafike bahgotae saala baad matqadan jari wa rawanast muwafike aan rawa darand wa hashar wa panj bigha saro baddal khidmate muazani wa hajani masjid mazkur bar kasai Danda Rajpuri neez muwafik bahagota saala baad chunanche jari wa rawanast mukarur rawan danishta jari saajinda wa har saal ajar farman ne khwawand saal basaal awalad ahfad aanha ami maniya palwa’ata’an qaba jari dand ba’aad az naqal girifta asal farman baaz guzarand baad danishtas bar hukm asharaf waqidast
Rawand – tahrir fil tarikh gazah shawwal dar 1052 H
SEAL
Muhammad Adil Shah farzand Ibrahim Adil Shah Sani Barawangi Huzur Khurshid ba zahure Asharaf Akkdas Manman Aala.
The Firman lists the properties owned by the Mullas: areas near the villages of Murud, Danda and Nandgaon. It provides four generations of lineage from Mulla Hassan to Mulla Ali and refers to them as the Khatibs of the mosque at Rajpuri. It commands Siddi Yusuf, the Governor of the province of Rajpuri to stop interfering with the affairs of the Mullas.
Why would the Sultan rule against his own Governor in favor of an Imam? What started this dispute and who gave the lands to the Mullas and when? Before we can attempt to answer these questions, we need to step back to get a better picture of the historical landscape during this time and decades prior.