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Ghulam Qadir (other)
Ghulam Kadir, fully Ghulam Abd al Qadir Ahmed Khan (1767/1769 – 3March 1789), was a leader of the Afghan Rohilla during the late 18th century in the time of the Mughal Empire. He is particularly known for blinding the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and occupying and plundering Delhi for two and a half months in 1788. Biography Early life Ghulam Kadir was the son of Zabita Khan. His father had assumed the leadership of a branch of the Afghan Rohilla after the death of his own father Najib-ud-Daula on 31October 1770. As the eldest son of Najib-ud-Daula, Zabita Khan had succeeded him and was invested as ''Mir Bakhshi'' (Head of the Mughal Army) by Shah Alam II on 29December 1770. Imprisonment in Qudsiya Bagh After several rebellions by the Rohillas led by Zabita Khan, Shah Alam II began a military campaign against him, led by the Maratha leader Mahadaji Shinde. During this campaign Ghulam Kadir, aged eight to ten, was captured in Ghausgarh (near Hasanpur Luhari in today's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mir Bakhshi
The ''Bakhshi'' () in the Mughal Empire denoted a number of hierarchical government officials, typically involved with military administration and intelligence. The offices were introduced during the reign of Mughal emperor Akbar. ''Bakhshis'' were found in both the central and provincial administration; the most notable kind of ''bakhshi'' was the ''mir bakhshi'', one of the empire's four ministers, broadly in charge of administering the '' mansabdari'' system (and the military therein). The ''mir bakhshi'' was the second-highest official in the Mughal Empire, after the imperial '' wazir''. Etymology The term ''bakhshi'' means 'giver', deriving from the verb ''bakhshidan'' (). In the view of historian William Irvine, the term refers to the ''bakhshi's'' function of offering recruitment into the army. Central administration Mir Bakhshi The ''mir bakhshi'' was the chief ''bakhshi'' of the Mughal Empire, and worked in the central administration. The position was also referr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mughal Harem
The Mughal Harem was the harem of Mughal emperors of the Indian subcontinent. The term originated with the Near East, meaning a "forbidden place; sacrosanct, sanctum", and etymologically related to the Arabic ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; female members of the family" and '' ḥarām'', "forbidden; sacred". It has the same meaning as the Turkish word '' seraglio'' and the Persian word '' zenana''. It is also similar to the Sanskrit word anthapura, meaning ‘the inner apartment’ of the household. It came to mean the sphere of women in what was usually a polygynous household and their segregated quarters which were forbidden to men. The Harem, being a forbidden place, was constant topic of speculation and curiosity. It was a vibrant and large physical space where women were arranged in regard to their proximity to the Emperor. History The women Harem women were composed of consorts (wives and slave concubines), female relatives of the Mughals emperors and sla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isma'il Beg
Mirza Ismail Beg Hamdani (died March 1794) was a Mughal Commander of Persian origin. Son of Mirza Munim Beg and a kinsman of Mirza Najaf Khan, he along with his family fled Persia at the rise of Nadir Shah. Biography Arriving in India many members of his family including him rose to high positions in the Mughal Empire. Initially a stalwart of the Marathas he would defect in 1790, in order to check the rising power of Mahadaji Shinde in the Mughal court. He would be defeated by the Marathas at the Battle of Patan whereafter he would flee to the Rajput kingdom of Jaipur and thereafter to Jodhpur. He would go to Kanaud, later known as Mahendragarh and attempt to marry the widow of Najaf Quli Khan. Despite her initial approval, she later chose not to marry him. Ismail Beg fled to Madhogarh and when the Marathas received this intel, Khande Rao marched against Madhogarh where Ismail Beg was captured in 1792 and imprisoned thereafter in Agra Fort by the Maratha general Mahadaji Shin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nawab Of Awadh
The Nawab of Awadh or Nawab of Oudh was the title of the rulers of Kingdom of Awadh (anglicised as Oudh) in northern India during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Nawabs of Awadh belonged to an Iranian dynasty''Encyclopædia Iranica'', R. B. Barnett of Sayyid origin from Nishapur, Iran. In 1724, Nawab Sa'adat Khan established the Kingdom of Awadh with their capital in Faizabad and Lucknow. History The Nawabs of Awadh were semi-autonomous rulers within the fragmented polities of Mughal India after the death of Aurangzeb in 1707. They fought wars with the Peshwa, the Battle of Bhopal (1737) against the Maratha Confederacy (which was opposed to the Mughal Empire), and the Battle of Karnal (1739) as courtiers of the Moghul. The Nawabs of Awadh, along with many other Nawabs, were regarded as members of the nobility of the Mughal Empire. They joined Ahmad Shah Durrani during the Third Battle of Panipat (1761) and restored Shah Alam II ( and 1788–1806) to the imperial thro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South Asia and Southeast Asia), and later with East Asia. The company gained Company rule in India, control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent and British Hong Kong, Hong Kong. At its peak, the company was the largest corporation in the world by various measures and had its own armed forces in the form of the company's three presidency armies, totalling about 260,000 soldiers, twice the size of the British Army at certain times. Originally Chartered company, chartered as the "Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East-Indies," the company rose to account for half of the world's trade during the mid-1700s and early 1800s, particularly in basic commodities including cotton, silk, indigo dye, sugar, salt, spices, Potass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805) was a British Army officer, Whig politician and colonial administrator. In the United States and United Kingdom, he is best known as one of the leading British general officers in the American War of Independence. His surrender in 1781 to a combined Franco-American force at the siege of Yorktown ended significant hostilities in North America. Cornwallis later served as a civil and military governor in Ireland, where he helped bring about the Act of Union; and in India, where he helped enact the Cornwallis Code and the Permanent Settlement. Born into an aristocratic family and educated at Eton and Cambridge, Cornwallis joined the British army in 1757, seeing action in the Seven Years' War. Upon his father's death in 1762 he succeeded to his peerage and entered the House of Lords. From 1766 until 1805, he was colonel of the 33rd Regiment of Foot. Cornwallis next saw military action in 1776 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doab
''Doab'' () is a term used in South Asia Quote: "Originally and chiefly in South Asia: (the name of) a strip or narrow tract of land between two rivers; spec. (with) the area between the rivers Ganges and Jumna in northern India." for the tract Quote: "confluence, land between two rivers, used in India of the tongue of land between the Ganges and Jumna, and of similar tracts in the Punjab, etc., lit. ‘two waters’ " of land lying between two confluent rivers. It is similar to an interfluve. Quote: " a tract of land between two rivers : interfluve" In the ''Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary'', R. S. McGregor refers to its Persian origin in defining it as ''do-āb'' (, literally "two odies ofwater") "a region lying between and reaching to the confluence of two rivers." Khadir, bangar, barani, nali and bagar Since North India and Pakistan are coursed by a multiplicity of Himalayan rivers that divide the plains into ''doabs'' (i.e. regions between two rivers), the Ind ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salimgarh Fort
Salimgarh Fort (Salim's Fort) was built in 1546 AD, in Delhi, in a former island of the Yamuna River, by Islam Shah Suri, Salim Shah Suri, son of Sher Shah Suri. There was a pause in Mughal rule when in 1540 AD Sher Shah Suri defeated the Mughal emperor Humayun (and ousted him from Delhi) and established the Sur Empire rule in Delhi. The Surid dynasty rule lasted till 1555 AD when Humayun regained his kingdom by defeating Sikander Suri, the last ruler of the dynasty. During the Mughal period, in later years, while building the Red Fort and Shahjahanbad, several Mughal rulers reigned, including Emperor Shahjahan, who is credited with completing Shahjahanabad in 1639 AD had camped at the fort. It is said that Humayun had camped at the fort for three days before launching his successful attack for recapturing Delhi. Aurangzeb, the Mughal emperor, converted the fort into a prison, which practice was perpetuated by the British who took control of the fort in 1857. The fort is part ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sepoy
''Sepoy'' () is a term related to ''sipahi'', denoting professional Indian infantrymen, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire and the Maratha. In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its European counterparts employed locally recruited soldiers within India, mainly consisting of infantry designated as "sepoys". The largest sepoy force, trained along European lines, served the British East India Company. The term "sipahi" (or sometimes "sepoy") continues in use in the Indian, Pakistan and Nepalese armies, where it denotes the rank of private. Etymology In Persian (Aspa) means horse and Ispahai is also the word for cavalrymen. The term ''sepoy'' is the anglicised form of the Persian word (), meaning the traditional "infantry soldier" in the Mughal Empire. In the Ottoman Empire the term was used to refer to cavalrymen. Historical usage The term ''sepoy'' came into common use in the forces of the British East India Com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sardhana
Sardhana is a city and a municipal board in Meerut district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is northeast of New Delhi and 13 mi from Meerut. It is 5 km from Meerut Karnal National Highway and 12 km from National Highway 58. It is famous for its cloth and timber industries, and its church. History Being close to Hastinapur, which is also in Meerut district, the capital of Kauravas of Mahabharata, Sardhana is also known for the ancient Mahadev Temple that is believed to be dating from the Mahabharata period. It was here that the Pandavas prayed before leaving for the Lakshagrah, the notorious palace made of Lac (resin), lac by Duryodhana, at the confluence of the Hindon River, Hindon and Krishna rivers (Kali River, ''Kali Nadi''). This palace was located at ''Varnavrat'', the present Barnava, where the prince resided with their mother Kunti. In the 19th century, Sardhana was the capital of the Begum Samru, born as Farzana Zebunisa in 1751, and considered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Reinhardt Sombre
Walter Reinhardt Sombre (born Walter Reinhardt or Reinert; ) was a European adventurer and mercenary in India from the 1760s. Early life Sombre is thought to have been born in Strasbourg or Treves. His birthplace and nationality, being given in various sources as Austrian, French, German, Luxemburger, or Swiss, are uncertain. Another version is that he was born in a village called Simmern near Trier (Treves). Only one location has documentary support as Walter Reinhard's birthplace in a Protestant church register: Eisenberg in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The register indicates he was born there on 27 January 1723. He grew up among the Sinti Family Pfisterer who spoke a language similar to Hindi until he was 14 and went to France. Career He entered early into the French Service assuming the name of Summer, but due to the darkness of his complexion, he received the French nickname Sombre. His nickname was a '' nom de guerre'' and is more commonly used for him in Indian sour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Begum Samru
Joanna Nobilis Sombre ( – 27 January 1836), popularly known as Begum Samru (née Farzana Zeb un-Nissa),. a convert Catholic Christian, started her career as a nautch (dancing) girl in 18th-century India, and eventually became the ruler of Sardhana, a small principality (''jagir'') near Meerut. She was the head of a professionally trained mercenary army, inherited from her European mercenary husband, Walter Reinhardt Sombre. This mercenary army consisted of Europeans and Indians. She is also regarded as the only Catholic ruler in Northern India, as she ruled the principality of Sardhana in 18th- and 19th-century India. Begum Sumru died immensely rich but without an heir. Her inheritance was assessed at approximately 55.5 million gold marks in 1923 and 18 billion deutsch marks in 1953. Her inheritance continues to be disputed to this day. An organisation named "Reinhards Erbengemeinschaft" still strives to resolve the inheritance issue. Life Begum Samru was of slight stat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
