The Bhikampur and Datawali principality is in

Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh Aligarh (; formerly known as Koil) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capital, New Delhi. ...

. For nearly four centuries, before the advent of

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, it was ruled by the descendants of a

Sherwani A sherwani is a long-sleeved outer coat worn by men in South Asia. Like the Western frock coat, it is fitted, with some waist suppression; it falls to below the knees and is buttoned down the front. It can be collarless, have a shirt-style col ...

Pathan Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...

from

Jalalabad Jalalabad (; Help:IPA/Persian, ͡ʒä.lɑː.lɑː.bɑːd̪ is the list of cities in Afghanistan, fifth-largest city of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 200,331, and serves as the capital of Nangarhar Province in the eastern part ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. The Sherwani clan were practically independent rulers in the period between the collapse of

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...

and the rise of the

History

The clan had two main branches, the lineage of Bhikampur and that of Datawali, and practiced

cousin marriage A cousin marriage is a marriage where the spouses are cousins (i.e. people with common grandparents or people who share other fairly recent ancestors). The practice was common in earlier times and continues to be common in some societies today. ...

to an almost exclusive degree. The family tree presents a bewildering array of interlocking relationships. Their marriage patterns kept the family properties intact, while taking a toll on the health of their increasingly inbred offspring. The Sherwanis were a family that displayed an intriguing combination of the progressive and the conservative: They were supporters of education, whether Islamic or western, and promoters of education for women, although the women of the family maintained strict purdah and were educated at home. Their loyalist politics were manifested in civic service and membership in reform associations, along with resistance to the growing forces of anti-British activism before and after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. File:Muzammilullah Sherwani 1.jpg, Sir Muhammad Muzammilullah Khan File:Rehmatullah Sherwani.jpg, Nawab Rehmat Ullah Khan Sherwani

Notable members

The Sherwani clan of Aligarh district produced a number of notable people: * Zahida Khatun Sherwani (1894-1922):( Bhikampur ) : Daughter of Nawab Sir Muzammil Ullah Khan Sherwani, An Indian poet and writer who wrote under pen name Zay Khay Sheen in the

Urdu language Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

and was also an activist for women's rights. * Masud Husain Khan (1919-2010): the Father of Urdu-Linguistics, and the fifth

Vice-Chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...

Jamia Millia Islamia Jamia Millia Islamia is a Public university, public and research university located in Delhi, India. Originally established at Aligarh, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, United Provinces (present-day Uttar Pradesh, India) during the British R ...

.''Prof Masud Husain turns 90''
/ref> He was married to Nawab Faiz Ahmed Khan's great-granddaughter.

References

{{reflist Former principalities History of Uttar Pradesh Nawabs of India Pashtun diaspora in India Pashtun dynasties Quasi-princely estates of India Zamindari estates