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Sayidd Iliyas
Sharzah Khan (I)
(–1665)

Biographical

Sharzah Khan

Sayyid Iliyas, a member of the Mahdavi sect, was known as Sharzah Khan I, and led the Bijapuri vanguard during the invasion of Sunda and Bednur in 1663. On 2 April 1665, amid the war with Jai Singh, he collapsed and died while returning from the battlefield, having just rescued his young son, Sayyid Habib, who had single-handedly charged into a group of Mughal troops and become surrounded. Bombay Selection No. 422 notes that there was no visible cause of death, such as a wound or gunshot, suggesting apoplexy or heart failure. However, the Mughal official history, Alamgirnamah, written by Mirza Muhammad Kazim, records that Sharzah Khan was fatally struck by a musket shot in the arm and a spear thrust to the shoulder, with his son sustaining severe injuries. English Factory Records, Jai Singh’s despatches, and Bijapuri historians all agree in declaring Sharzah Khan the bravest of the brave among the warriors of the Deccan. He was the father of Sharzah Khan II.

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