Of all the ancestors of the Chib Rajputs, none is held in deeper reverence than Baba Shadi Shaheed. Born a prince of the Chib house, the son of Raja Gor Paal Chand and sixth in descent from Raja Chib Chand, he is named in the family’s shajra as Raja Shadab Khan, also called Sandeep Chand or Raja Dharam Chand (some records give Sadip Chand). He was the first of his line to embrace Islam, and with him the names in the shajra change from Chand to Khan. To later generations he became Shadi Shaheed, Shadi the martyr, and every Muslim Chib family traces its descent from him.
Embracing Islam
The historians of the Punjab hill states, Hutchison and Vogel, wrote that the ruling family of Bhimber accepted Islam at a date that is uncertain, “but probably not later than the time of Babar”. In their account the head of the family, Sadi, received confirmation of his lands from the first Mughal emperor and took the name Shadab Khan. Another tradition, recorded in the Punjab glossary of tribes, places his death in the reign of Aurangzeb, so the exact dates remain a matter of discussion.
Whatever the date, the change was lasting. The Chibs of Bhimber became Muslims, yet they kept their Rajput name, their title of Raja and their pride in Katoch descent. This union of Islamic faith and Rajput honour remains the foundation of Chib identity today.
Service and martyrdom
Shadab Khan is said to have accompanied Emperor Humayun on several of his campaigns. He did not die peacefully: he was killed by one Pir Haibat of Kandahar, and since then he has been venerated as a saint and a shaheed. His tomb near Bhimber, known in old records as Sur Sadi Shahid, became a place of pilgrimage for people of every faith.
Father of the Muslim Chibs
Colonial records call Shadi Khan “the ancestor of all the Muhammadan Chibhs”. The shajra names his sons Raja Rupo Khan, Raja Mal Khan and Raja Bhom Khan, and Bhom Khan’s sons Raja Ghaghi Khan and Raja Ghani Khan. The ruling line of Bhimber descended through Raja Ghani Khan, from whom the senior branch, the Ghaniyal Chibs, takes its name: his descendant Raja Madan Khan was the father of Ismail Khan, ancestor of the last rajas of Bhimber, and of Darya Khan, jagirdar of Ali Malot, ancestor of the Chibs of Malot. Historical records list fourteen septs of the clan descended from Shadi Khan’s sons and grandsons, among them the Rupyal (from Rup Khan), the Ghaniyal and the Ghaghial.
Visit our page on the shrine of Baba Shadi Shaheed at Jandi Chontra, or find his place in the family tree.
Sources
- J. Hutchison and J. Ph. Vogel, History of the Panjab Hill States, vol. II (Lahore, 1933), “Bhimbar and Khari-Khariyali”, pp. 725–729.
- H. A. Rose, A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province, vol. II (Lahore, 1911), “Chibh”, pp. 169–170.
- Shajra-e-Nasab (family tree) of the Chib Rajputs of Malot, Azad Kashmir.