Dr. B. D. Sharma
For stability, progress and prosperity our country needs discipline, emotional integration and a sense of unity. It is, therefore, worthwhile to pay due homage to freedom fighters like Nawab Siraj-ud Daula of Bengal, Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan of Mysore and to Ashfaqullah Khan of Kakori fame.
It was Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, who compelled the British Government at the peak of its power to remove the Black Hole Memorial-a stigma on the fair name of Nawab Siraj-ud Daula. Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan stand supreme among freedom-fighters-time and again they compelled British arms to surrender ignominiously.
Half Baked Tales and other lies: The other side of Tipu Sultan
When Ashfaqullah Khan was asked to offer an apology to the British Government, he retorted sharply, ‘Let a Muslim also sacrifice his life for the country.’ Of such stuff were the brave souls who broke but would not bend made. In the military sphere, in modern India, there is one such person and his achievements require impartial and unbiased judgement. He is Nawab Amir Khan, the ruler of Tonk State in Rajasthan from A.D. 1817 to 1834. He is popularly known as Mir Khan or Amir Khan Pindari or Pindara.
Historical facts do not however, corroborate the common assumptions about him. Let us acquaint ourselves with his life and activites to be in a position to form our independent and impartial opinion about him.
Who is Amir Khan Pindari ?
Amir-nama the biography of Amir Khan was compiled in Persian by Munshi Basawan Lal Shadan, a Saxena Kayastha of Bilgram, in 1240 .H., A.D. 1824. Amir Khan was an Afghan of the Buner tribe known as Salarzai. His grandfather, Tale Khan, migrated to India, early in the eighteenth century during the reign of Mohammed Shah. He took service under Ali Mohammed Khan, a Rohila of distinction in Rohilkhand. When the emperor besieged Aonla, Tale Khan defended himself for eight days without any external help. Mohammed Shah was amazed by this exhibition of undaunted courage and offered to take Taleh Khan in the imperial service.
Talch Khan declined the offer. His son Hayat Khan, acquired a piece of land at Sambhal in Moradabad district. Nawab Amir Khan was born in A.D. 1182 (1767) at Sambhal in Mohalla Sera Tereina to the tiller-father.
Bahadur Shah Zafar, a Sufi King convicted as a Wahabi rebel.
When Amir Khan was twenty, he left his home to earn his livelihood. First he tried to get himself enlisted in Mahadaji Scindia’s army but luck did not favour him. On account of his youth and lack of experience, De Biogne, the French Commander, did not consider Amir Khan suitable for military service. Consequently, for the next few years, Amir Khan served as a mercenary wherever he could secure lucrative employment.
It the beginning Amir Khan and his companions were appointed as Sebun-dies or men of the local militia. In short, Amir Khan had to contend with poverty in the initial stages but he had firm faith in God. Opportunity came his way when internal troubles became rife at the Court of Bhopal (1794-96), with the death of its able minister, Chotey Khan. He was engaged by Hayat Mohammad Khan, the ruler of Bhopal, to support his cause. For the first time fortune smiled upon Amir Khan, but he remained there for only about a year. Next he fought for the Rajput Chiefs-Durjan Sal and Jai Singh Khichi who had been expelled from their fort Raghugarh by Daulat Rao Scindia, Mahadaji’s successor.
Amir Khan Pindari displayed his military talents here and was promoted to the command of 500 in view of his indomitable courage and personal valour. He then entered into the service of Bala Rao Inglia, who raised Amir Khan to the command of 1500 and handed over the fort of Fatehgarh to him. But he could not retain it for long. Amir Khan next turned into a staunch adherent of Jaswant Rao Holkar in A.D. 1768 after Holkar escaped from Nagpur. Amir Khan was upgraded for his gallantry by Jaswant Rao Holkar who was so impressed by him that both became comrades-in-arms and Holkar promised to share his future conquests with Amir Khan.
Amir Khan Pindari won laurels against Daulat Rao Scindia and Peshwa Baji Rao II, and compelled them to flee to the British for asylum. The two (Scindia and the Peshwa) then entered into Subsidiary Alliance with the British. He fought the British and was offered land worth 18 lakhs by the Nizam of Hyderabad through his Prime Minister Mushir-ul-Mulk. He was also offered 60 lakhs by Arthur Wellesley, but he was unwilling to betray his friend, the Holkar, and declined the tempting offers. The Amir-nama informs us that he tore up the promisory notes (hundies).
Why did Subhas Chandra Bose feel the need to acknowledge Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar?
Amir Khan Pindari & Hindu- Muslim Unity
The cordial relations of Amir Khan and Jaswant Rao Holkar are a unique example of Hindu- Muslim amity. Sironj was handed over to Amir Khan Pindari by Jaswant Rao Holkar in 1798. Tonk and Pirava passed to him in 1806.
Nimbhahera was added to his dominions in 1809 and lastly Chhabra in 1816. Holkar duly recognized the meritorious services of Amir Khan and bestowed upon him the title of Nawab. Out of a sense of gratitude Amir Khan too styled himself on his seal as ‘Fidvi Jaswant Rao Holkar.’ Once Holkar even attempted to get Amir Khan poisoned, but the attempt failed.
Amir Khan however did not retaliate. And their friendship continued til the death of Jaswant Rao Holkar in 1811. The policy of non-intervention adopted by the East India Company in 1805 was a blessing for the predatory hordes and the Pindaris. Nawab Amir Khan with his artillary became the terror of Central India and Rajputana. The impact of his arms was felt in every nook and corner and he was dreaded everywhere and was looked upon as invincible.
The principal Rajput States – Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur – suffered heavily at his hands. The Amir-nama informs us that he had planned to drive the British out of the country with the collusion of Maharaja Ranit Singh of the Punjab, or with the help of Shah Shuja of Kabul, and also with the aid of his clansmen from the tribal areas of the North-West Frontier. Somehow his schemes did not materialize.
In the period of anarchy or Ghadar (1805-16), Nawab Amir Khan Pindari established an intimate friendship with the Rajput Chief of Jhala Zalim Singh of Kota who kept his family at the fort of Sher Garh until Amir Khan Pindari was installed as the Nawab of Tonk in 1817. It was during the anti-Pindari drive that the British Government opened negotiations with Nawab Amir Khan and other rulers of Central India and Rajputana to enlist their cooperation in the ensuing campaign.
When the British forces entered Malwa, Nawab Amir Khan made overtures to them through his agent Lala Niranjan Lal. Amir Khan’s proposals were too extravagant and were eventually rejected. The talks lingered on but the matters came to a head when the Nawab besieged the fort of Madhorajpura under the sceptre of Jaipur. Amir Khan appears to have realized at that critical moment that he had no prospect of a successful resistance against the British Generals, Donkin and Ochterlony, specially when he was left alone.
Raja Mahendra Partap: A Great Man Reduced to Jaat Raja by the Politics
The terms offered him by the East India Company were most liberal. Amir Khan Pindarihad no other option but to accept them gracefully. Finally the soldier of fortune carved out Tonk State for himself and became its first ruler in 1817, under the title of Amirud-Daula.
He visited Ajmer in A.D. 1832 to attend the Darbar of the Governor General, Lord William Bentinck. The Nawab paid a courtesy call on His Excellency on January 9, 1832 and impressed him immensely with his free and frank views. Such was the magnetic personality of Nawab Amir Khan that Mr. Henry T. Prinsep, the Foreign Secretary to the Govern ment of India, undertook to translate Munshi Basawan Lal’s Amir-nama from Persian to English under the title of The Pathan Soldier of Fortine Amirud Daula Nawab Amir Khan. Nawab Amir Khan feigned for 17 years and passed away in 1250 a.H. A.D. 1834 at the ripe age of sixty-seven.
Munshi Debi Prasad, the renowned historian of Rajasthan, has translated the Amir-nama in Urdu entitled Iftikhar-ul-Twarikh with lucid explanatory notes. Luckily the learned author has also dealt briefly with Nawab Amir Khan’s correspondence with the contemporary chiefs of India and outside, including references to the Amirs of Sindh, the Maharaja of Jodhpur, the Chief of Shaikhawati, the Ruler of Sistan and the tribal chiefs of the North- West Frontier.
It is indeed high time for a proper reappraisal of the brave warrior who had exchanged his turban with Jaswant Rao Holkar, Maharana of Udaipur and Maharaja of Jodhpur. He was also the Rakhiband Bhai of Jhala Zalim Singh’s wife. His son, Wazirud-Daula, was a close relative of the Mughal Emperor Akbar II. Our late President, Dr. Zakir Husain, belonged to his tribe. And finally, to dub such a brave man as a Pindari is simply a distortion of history. Dr. Tarashankar Banerii of Vishwa-bharati University, Shantiniketan, emphatically asserts that Amir Khan was not a Pindari. The writer of this article agrees in toto with Dr. Banerji. The late Dr. K.R. Qanungo has aptly remarked, ‘History cannot be said to have yet done justice to this last great Pathan military genius of India. It is a dark spot of our history.’
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Basawan Lal Shadan: Amir-nama (Oalmi) Persian.
- John Malcolm: A Memoir of Central India, Vol. 1 & II.
- Mill & Wilson: History of British India.
- Gazetteer Tonk (1886).
- The Imperial Gazetteer of India Vol. XXIII, Clarendon Press (1908).
- Munshi Debi Prasad’s Iftikharul Twarikh (Urdu).
- Mohd. Asghar Ali Abroo : Tarikh Tonk (Urdu).
- Dr. K.R. Qanungo : Historical Essays.
- Dr. S.N. Qanungo : Jaswant Rao Holkar-the golden rogue.
- Dr. Tarashankar Bannerji: The Marathas and the Pindaris, A study in their relation-ship: Was Amir Khan a Pindari, Raj. Hist. Congress, Pali Session, 1974.
- Dr. B.D. Sharma : Muarif (Azamgarh) & Journal of Raj. Institute of Historical Research, Jaipur.
