Siege Of Bhopal – The Legends

The siege of Bhopal was the only major confrontation in the history of Bhopal. It also turned out to be the defining moment of Bhopal’s history, because immediately after this event, Bhopal was given protection by the British army. As pointed out earlier, the siege also brought out the best and worst from all and sundry Bhopalis. There was treachery, when the guards of Budhwara gate were bought off, and opened the gates to the Marhattas. However, Bakshi Bahadur held fort with few pathans, till Wazir arrived with additional forces, with the Bhopali men and women showering stones and boiling water on the Marhattas. Bakshi Bahadur was grievously injured during this attack. Although Ghous, the nawab, chose to stay away from the battlefield, his wife Zeenat Begum, daughter Gohar Ara and Moiz stayed and were heavily involved in the war. Zeenat and Gohar were on the forefront in leading the women of Bhopal and bravely took part in almost every front. Once when Moiz was injured firing a canon, Zeenat took over after offering her dupatta to bandage the wounds to Moiz, and continued till Moiz could recover and resume.

The Bourbons also payed back their debt to the late Mamola Bai, who had given shelter to fleeing Salvador de Bourbon. Known as Inayat Masih in Bhopal, he fought side-by-side with his son Shahzad Masih - Balthazar-de-Bourbon, Wazir Mohammad Khan and his son Nazar Mohammad Khan. During this battle, the starving Bhopalis had to eat stones of Tamarind (Imli) and roasted leaves, which started the trend of famous Bhopali gutkha. Even after the battle was over but the people of Bhopal did not stop taking Gutkha, instead they made certain modifications to make the Gutkha tasty. Now Gutkha was prepared with cut beetle nuts and other ingredients.

The famous Zari Batua (pouch) also came into existence to keep and carry Gutkha. In Olden times, special Gutkha was prepared for Muharram. The battle ended in the month of Muharram in which Bhopal emerged victorious. This is a reason of Muharram being observed by all Muslims and Hindus, even eunuchs, of Bhopal