Shali 251 Shams Shali, CS-' author of a Diwan, which goes after his name, Diwan Shahli. Shama'-ul-Mulk, ^^-^t title of the ruler of Jurjan named Kabus. Shamgar, J^'^, vide Kabus. He is called Shamgir by Daulat Shah. Shamru, Samru or Sombre, Jj*^- His real name was Walter Eeinhard, a person of obscure parentage in the Electorate of Treves. He entered early as a common soldier the service of the French, taking ioi his Nom-de-Guerre, Summer, which his comrades, from his saturnine complexion, turned into Sombre, and the Indians, by corruption, Samrii and Shamru. At length he repaired to Bengal, and enlisted in one of the bwiss Companies then employed at Calcutta ; but at the ead of eighteen days deserted to the French at Chandarnagar, where he became a Serjeant. Deserting this post, he fled into the Upper Provinces and was for some time a private trooper in the cavalry of Safdar Jang, father to Shuia-uddaula. This service he quitted, and led a vagabond life in different provinces; but in 1760 was with the rebel Faujdar of Purnia Khadim Husam Khan. Upon his being expelled from Bengal, Shamru left him and entered into the service of Gregory, an Armenian then in high favour with Nawab Kasim 'All Khaa and distinguished with the title of Gurgin Khan. From him he had the command of a battalion of sepoys, and after- wards obtained from the nawab the addition of another. In this station he massacred the English captives at Patna in 1763. Some time previous to the^ battle of Buxar, he treacherously deserted ^asim 'All with his corps, and embraced the service of the Nawab Shuja- uddaula, who had gained him over by bribes. Upon the nawab's defeat at Buxar, he was entrusted with the pro- tection of the Begams, and remained with the nawab till he had made peace with the English ; when, fearful of being delivered up to them, he retired to Agrah, and entered into the pay of the Jat raja Jawahir Singh ; but quitted him for the service of the raja of Jaipur, who soon dismissed him on a remonstrance from the English General. He then again served the Jats ; quitted them once more, and came to DehH. from whence he followed the fortunes of Nawab Najaf Khan, in whose service he died. Such are the outlines of the fortune of this man, who had some merit as a soldier, but wholly obscured by a tTeacherous and blood-thirsty disposition. His corps was continued after his death, in the name of his son and a favourite concubine, who received for their maintenance the sum of 65,000 rupees per month. He died or was murdered in the year 1778 A. D., 1192 A. H., at Agrah, where his tomb is to be seen in the Eoman Catholic Burial-ground with a Persian inscription in verse, men- tioning the year of his death and his name. Vide next article. Sh.amru Begana, Xr^> ^^e celebrated princess of Sardhana, whose original name is Zeib-un-Nisa, was the wife, or rather concubine of Shamru or Sombre. She held an extensive jaglr at Sardhana, and died on the 27th of January, 1836 A. D., 8th Shawwal, 1251 A H., aged 88 lunar years. She was buried in the church of Sardhana of which she was the founder. She was one of the oldest and most sincere allies of the English. At her death she left upwards of six lakhs of rupees to various charitable and pious purposes, and gave instructions for founding a college for young men, to serve on the apostolic mission of Thibet and Hindustan. Captain Mundy in his '• Jour- nal of a Tour in India," says that the history of her life, if properly known, would form a series of scenes, such as perhaps, no other female could have gone through. Colonel Skinner had often, during his service with the Mahrattas, seen her, then a beautiful young woman, lead- ing on her troops to the attack in person, and displaying in the midst of carnage, the greatest intrepidity and presence of mind. The Begam contracted a lawful marriage in 1793. Her first lord, Reinhardt, who bought her when a young and handsome dancing girl ; married, and converted her to the Roman Catholic religion. Her second husband was a French adventurer, a soldier of fortune named Levassoult who commanded her small army. It is of this man that the following anecdote is related, which is wondrous strange, if it be true. vSkinner used to say that her husband had become possessed of wealth, power, and a numerous army ; of these his ambitious wife coveted the undivided possession, and she then accom- plished her purpose. A mutinous disposition, on the subject of pay, having manifested itself among his body- guard, the I5egam, then about twenty-five, exaggerated the danger to her husband, and got intelligence conveyed to him that the rebels had formed a plan to seize and confine him, and to dishonour his wife. They, conse- quently, arranged to escape together from the fury of the soldiery ; and at night, started secretly from their palace, in palankeens. Towards morning the attendants, in great alarm, announced that they were pursued ; and our heroine, in well- feigned despair, vowed that, if their escort was overcome, she would stab herself to the heart. The devoted husband, as she expected, swore he would not survive her. Soon after, the pretended rebels came up, and after a short skirmish drove back the attendants, and forced the bearers to put down the palankeens. At this instant he (Sombre) heard a scream and his wife's female slave rushed up to him, and exclaimed that her mistress had stabbed herself to death. The husband, true to his vow, instantly seized a pistol, and blew out his own brains. His tomb is at Sardhana. Shamsheir Bahadur I, j<>^0^'*^^ an illegitimate offspring of the Peshwa Baji Rao Marhatta by a Musal- man concubine named Mastanf, who brought him up in the Muhammadan religion. He was severely wounded in that famous battle which took place between the Marhattas and Ahmad Shah Abdali in January, 1761 A. D., got to Dig where Siirajmal Jat had his wounds treated with the greatest care, but he died soon after, and was buried at Dig. Shamsheir Bahadur II, Ji^y Nawab of Banda, was the eldest son of 'AH Bahadur, the son of Shamsheir Bahadur I, the son of Baji Rao Peishwa. He succeeded to the territories of his father in Bundelkhand about the year 1802 A. D., but subsequently a pension or stipend of four lacs of rupees annually was granted him in per- petuity by the British Government. He died on the 30th August, 1823 A. D., 21th Zil-Ka'da, 1238 A. H., and was succeeded by his brother Zulfikar 'All Khan, Shams Fakhri, iSj^' lT**? a poet. Shamsheir Khan, ij-=^j'^*'^, a nobleman at whose request a prose abridgement of the Shahnama of Firdausi was made by Tawakkul Munshi in 1652 A. D., 1063 A. H. Shams Shahab Afif, '-^^ v^f-- ur*^, the son of Malik Sad-ul-Mulk who was Amaldar of Abuhar and Dibalpdr in the reign of Sultan Ghayas-uddi'n Tughlak. He was born the very day that Sultan Firoz Shah came into the world, i. e., in the year 1309 A. D., 709 A. H., and was the grandfather of Shams Siraj Afi'f, the author I of the Tarikh Firoz Shahi. I Shams Siraj Afif, jl^" u^*, the grandson of
