in gujarat, most of the sayyid families are descended from individuals invited by the muslim rulers of gujarat to serve as advisers and administrators, and granted "jagirs". during the period of sultan mahmud begada (1458–1511), the sayyid of gothada, thasra, and pali, a zaidi sayyidsaadat-e-bara. sultan mahmud begada provided land to three sayyid brothers and a grant to settle there after the victory of pavagadh fort. in 1484 the young sultan, after laying siege to the fort for twenty months, conquered it on 21 november 1484. he then transferred his capital to champaner, which he completely rebuilt at the foothills of the pavagadh fort, calling it muhammadabad. during mughal rule in gujarat (1570–1750), they held the majority of the civil and ecclesiastical posts. for example, the sayyids of thasra, kheda district were invited to serve as administrators and judges by the mughal emperor, aurangzeb, and provided land grants to settle there. they also provided an important element in the mughal army, and many are still found in the old muslim garrison towns such as ahmedabad. in addition, many of the early sufi saints that came to gujarat belonged to sayyid families. most of these sayyid families came from central asia, iran, yemen, oman, basra, and bahrain.