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of wisdom. One winter night the jackals were howling around Seetpur, one
legend goes. Tahir Khan, the Liberal, asked his wazir what made them howl.
The wazir answered: “The cold.” The Nahar ordered clothes to he made for
them. Next night the jackals howled again, and the Nahar asked his wazir
what they were howling for. The wazir replied, "They are invoking blessings
on you for your generosity". The Makhdums of Seetpur, on the contrary, were
good governors. They dug canals, extended cultivation, and one of them
founded the town of Rajanpur.
The divided and weakened state of Seetpur attracted the attention of the
Nawabs of Bahawalpur first at the beginning of the eighteenth century. They
ruled over a part of the district for a hundred years, and left their mark on it
by their public works and by introducing an organized revenue
administration. The State of Bahawalpur traces its origin to Sadiq
Muhammad Khan, son of Mubarak Khan, a distinguished resident of
Shikarpur in Sindh. For some reason not ascertained, Sadiq Muhammad
Khan had to flee from the enmity of Nur Muhammad Kalhora, first of the
Kalhora governors of Sindh. Sadiq Muhammad Khan left Shikarpur in 1727,
and passed with his family and a body of followers through the territory of
Muzaffargarh to Bet Dabli on the borders of Layyah. He was closely followed
by the Sindhi troops under Mir Shah Dad Khan. A skirmish took place in
which the Sindhis were defeated. Sadiq Muhammad Khan then took refuge
with the Makhdums of Uch, who sent him to Hayat Ullah Khan, Governor of
Multan, with their recommendations. Hayat Ullah Khan granted him a jagir
south of the Sutlej. Sadiq Muhammad Khan distinguished himself as an
extender of cultivation and a suppressor of robbers. His next promotion was
the grant of the town and country of Farid, a robber chief whom he defeated
and killed with his followers. In 1739, Sadiq Muhammad Khan obtained the
title of Nawab from Nadir Shah and, in the anarchy following the invasion of
Nadir Shah, succeeded in seizing the country bounded by the Sutlej on the
north, Bikaner on the east, Sindh on the south and the Indus on the west.
Sadiq Muhammad Khan was succeeded by his son Bahawal Khan, who
founded the town of Bahawalpur, and who is remembered as Bahawal Khan
the Great. It was in the time of his successor, Mubarak Khan, that the
Nawabs of Bahawalpur first established themselves permanently in the
district. In 1751, Mubarak Khan seized Mudwala, a village on the right bank
of the Chenab between Shehr Sultan and Alipur, just opposite to the junction
of the Sutlej and Chenab, from the Nahars. Later, in the same year, he took
Bet Doma, a village and tract south of Seetpur, from Makhdum Sheikh Raju
of Seetpur. Bahawal Khan II was the next nawab. In 1781, he took the
pargana of Jatoi from Makhdum Sheikh Raju.
It was about 1790 that the Indus left its old course which joined the Chenab
close to Uch and took the bed it now occupies. The south of the district was
thus laid open to the attacks of Bahawalpur, and the nawab at once availed
himself of the opportunity. He took Alipur, Shehr Sultan, Seetpur and
Khairpur without a contest; and proceeded to take whole of the western and

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