Mir Abdul Hadi (died 1647), known by the title Asalat Khan, was a noble and general of the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...

during the reign of

Mughal emperor The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...

Shah Jahan Shah Jahan I, (Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram; 5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), also called Shah Jahan the Magnificent, was the Emperor of Hindustan from 1628 until his deposition in 1658. As the fifth Mughal emperor, his reign marked the ...

. He briefly served as the empire's ''

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'' we ...

'' (paymaster-general), one of the highest positions in the empire's administration. He played key roles in leading

Shah Jahan's Central Asian campaign The Mughal Central Asia Campaign, also known as the Balkh Campaign, was a military campaign from 1646–1647 undertook by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan against the Uzbek Khanate of Bukhara in Central Asia. It notably involved an Indian army crossing ...

Origins

Mir Abdul Hadi was the son of Mir Miran Yazdi, a Persian nobleman with origins in

Yazd Yazd (; ) is a city in the Central District of Yazd County, Yazd province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. At the 2016 census, its population was 529,673. Since 2017, the historical city of Yazd is rec ...

. Mir Abdul had a younger brother named Khalilullah Khan. Mir Miran fled Persia in 1607 for fear of persecution, finding refuge in Mughal India, but left his son behind. In 1612, a Mughal nobleman named Khan Alam travelled to Persia as an ambassador on behalf of emperor

Jahangir Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim (31 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal emperors, Mughal ...

; the emperor requested Persia's ruler

Shah Abbas I Abbas I (; 27 January 1571 – 19 January 1629), commonly known as Abbas the Great (), was the fifth Safavid shah of Iran from 1588 to 1629. The third son of Shah Mohammad Khodabanda, he is generally considered one of the most important rulers ...

that the ambassador bring Mir Abdul Hadi and his brother back to India. Mir Abdul Hadi accompanied Khan Alam to India in 1618.

Career

Mir Abdul Hadi entered Mughal service towards the end of Jahangir's reign. He received the title of "Asalat Khan" from the next Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, in 1630. In 1632 he was made the '' bakhshi'' (administrator) of the ''ahadis'' (royal guard). He served in the

Deccan The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound by the mount ...

, playing a key role in capturing Bhalki Fort. He then participated in the Mughal siege of Parenda around 1633, for which he was rewarded by being appointed ''

subahdar Subahdar, also known as Nazim, was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty, Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, and the Mughal era who was alternately designated as Sahib- ...

'' (governor) of

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

and Jaunpur. During his governorship of Delhi, Asalat Khan built a ''bund'' (dam) at

Palam Palam (phonetically Pālam) is a major residential colony located in South West district of NCT of Delhi, India. It is one of 70 Vidhan Sabha constituencies of the Delhi National Capital Territory in northern India. History Palam is listed i ...

over a stream. The ''

Padshahnama Padshahnama or ''Badshah Nama'' (; ) is a group of works written as the official history of the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan I. Unillustrated texts are known as ''Shahjahannama'', with ''Padshahnama'' used for the illustrated manuscri ...

'' records a hunting retreat of Shah Jahan in 1638, that took place at a park watered by this dam. Asalat Khan was raised to the position of second ''bakhshi'' (assistant to the ''mir bakhshi)'' in 1639. Between 1641 and 1642, Asalat Khan combated

Raja Jagat Singh Raja Jagat Singh was a Rajput ruler of the Nurpur kingdom. History When the Nurpur kingdom was being heavily taxed in 1630 by the Mughals, its king Raja Jagat Singh instead of taxing sided with people, who were starving during the famine a ...

, as one of the Mughals' three commanders in a campaign against the kingdom of Nurpur; the rebellion was subdued. In 1644, he was promoted to the post of ''mir bakhshi'', making him the chief of military administration in the Mughal Empire; he would serve until 1647. Around this time, Shah Jahan had stabilised the Mughal position in the northwestern frontier of the empire (modern-day Afghanistan) and cast his sights towards Central Asia, aiming to attack the Uzbeks who had threatened the Mughal hold over

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

in the past. In October 1645, Shah Jahan instructed Asalat Khan to recruit troops at Kabul, with the intention of using the city as a staging ground for the Central Asian campaigns. He also instructed Asalat Khan to carve an invasion route to

Badakhshan Badakhshan is a historical region comprising the Wakhan Corridor in northeast Afghanistan, eastern Tajikistan, and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in China. Badakhshan Province is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Much of historic ...

by clearing roads and constructing bridges. Soon after military incursions and reconnaissance had started, Asalat Khan led a sixteen-day expedition over the

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central Asia, Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and eastern Afghanistan into northwestern Pakistan and far southeastern Tajikistan. The range forms the wester ...

, seizing livestock and prisoners as retaliation for local rebellion. By July the Mughal army had reached

Balkh Balkh is a town in the Balkh Province of Afghanistan. It is located approximately to the northwest of the provincial capital city Mazar-i-Sharif and approximately to the south of the Amu Darya and the Afghanistan–Uzbekistan border. In 2021 ...

and captured it with minimal resistance; however, its ruler Nazr Muhammad attempted to escape with his treasure. Asalat Khan pursued and intercepted him at the vicious Battle of Shibarghan (1646), which resulted in Mughal victory in July. Shah Jahan subsequently ordered festivities for eight days, and Asalat Khan's rank was raised to 5000. However, Nazr Muhammad was not captured, and he later escaped to

Isfahan Isfahan or Esfahan ( ) is a city in the Central District (Isfahan County), Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan province, Iran. It is the capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is located south of Tehran. The city ...

. Asalat Khan died prematurely in the winter of 1647, while still stationed in Balkh for the ongoing Central Asian campaign, from exposure to cold conditions.

Personal life

Asalat Khan owned a ''

haveli A ''haveli'' is a traditional townhouse, mansion, or manor house, in the Indian subcontinent, usually one with historical and architectural significance, and located in a town or city. The word ''haveli'' is derived from Arabic ''hawali'', me ...

'' (residence) in

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

along the right bank of the

Yamuna River The Yamuna (; ) is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in List of major rivers of India, India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of about on the southwestern slopes of B ...

, close to the

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal ( ; ; ) is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his belo ...

complex; the structure is not fully preserved. Around 1644, the surgeon

Gabriel Boughton Gabriel Boughton was an East India Company (EIC) ship surgeon who travelled to India in the first half of the seventeenth century and became highly regarded by Mughal Empire, Mughal royalty. He became the centre of a legend surrounding the acqu ...

joined the service of Asalat Khan in Agra, after the latter requested the

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 A ...

Surat Surat (Gujarati Language, Gujarati: ) is a city in the western Indian States and territories of India, state of Gujarat. The word Surat directly translates to ''face'' in Urdu, Gujarati language, Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of t ...

for a European surgeon. The same surgeon accompanied him to

during his military deployment. Asalat Khan had a son named Iftikhar Khan, a Mughal noble who served the position of ''akhtah begi'' (imperial stablemaster) during the reign of

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

. He also had a son named Multafat Khan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Asalat Mughal nobility 1647 deaths Mughal generals