1791–1948 → 1931 127 km (49 sq mi) Area 127 km² | Established 1791 1931 22,107 Today part of Surat district | |
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The Sachin State (Gujarati: સચીન રિયાસત; Urdu: سچن ریاست) was a princely state belonging to the Surat Agency, former Khandesh Agency, of the Bombay Presidency during the era of the British Raj. Its capital was in Sachin, the southernmost town of present-day Surat district of Gujarat State.
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History
Sachin state was founded on 6 June 1791. Although over 85% of the subjects were Hindu, the state was ruled by Sunni Muslim Sufis of the Sidi dynasty of Danfa-Rajpuri and Janjira State. The Sidi dynasty is of African origin.
Sachin State was under the protection of the Maratha Peshwa until it became a British protectorate. The state became bankrupt in 1829 and during the period between 1835 and 1864 the state was under British civil administration. It had its own cavalry, currency, and stamped paper, as well as a state band that included Africans.
Fatima Begum (1892 - 1983), one of the early superstars in Indian cinema and India's first female film director, was allegedly married to Nawab Sidi Ibrahim Muhammad Yakut Khan III of Sachin State. But Sachin royal family sources cast a veil over this claiming no record of a marriage or contract having taken place between the Nawab and Fatima Bai or of the Nawab having officially recognised their children, Sultana, Zubeida and Shehzadi, as his own. Sultana, the daughter of Fatima Begum, became a leading figure in early Indian movies. Zubeida, leading actress of India's first talkie film Alam Ara (1931), was her younger sister.
Nawab Sidi Ibrahim Muhammad Yakut Khan III, Sachin State's last ruler, signed the accession to join the Indian Union on 8 March 1948. The state then became part of Surat district in Bombay Province.
After the Partition Zubaida stayed in India, while her sister Sultana moved to Pakistan where she married and had a daughter, Jamila Razzaq, who became a prominent Pakistani actress in the decade between the mid 1950s and the mid 1960s.
Rulers
The rulers of Sachin State bore the title 'Nawab' and were granted the right of a 9 gun salute by the British authorities.