Mirza Ismail Beg Hamdani (died March 1794) was a Mughal Commander of

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

origin. Son of Mirza Munim Beg and a kinsman of

Mirza Najaf Khan Mīrzā Najaf Khān Bahādur, simply known as Mirza Najaf Khan (1723 – 26 April 1782) was an adventurer of Safavid lineage who came to Delhi around 1740 from Iran after Nader Shah had displaced the Safavid dynasty in 1736. He became a courtier ...

, he along with his family fled

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

at the rise of

Nadir Shah Nader Shah Afshar (; 6 August 1698 or 22 October 1688 – 20 June 1747) was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran and one of the most powerful rulers in Iranian history, ruling as shah of Iran (Persia) from 1736 to 1747, when he was a ...

Biography

Arriving in India many members of his family including him rose to high positions in 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 ...

. Initially a stalwart of the

Marathas The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...

he would defect in 1790, in order to check the rising power of

Mahadaji Shinde Mahadaji Shinde (23 December 1730 – 13 February 1794), later known as Mahadji Scindia or Madhava Rao Scindia, was a Maratha statesman and general who served as the Gwalior State, Maharaja of Gwalior from 1768 to 1794. He was the fifth and the ...

in the Mughal court. He would be defeated by the Marathas at the Battle of Patan whereafter he would flee to the

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

kingdom of

Jaipur Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...

and thereafter to

Jodhpur Jodhpur () is the second-largest city of the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, after its capital Jaipur. As of 2023, the city has a population of 1.83 million. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Jodhpur district and ...

. 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 The Agra Fort (''Qila Agra'') is a historical Mughal fort in the city of Agra, also known as Agra's Red Fort. Mughal emperor Humayun was crowned at this fort in 1530. It was later renovated by the Mughal emperor Akbar from 1565 and the presen ...

by the Maratha general

. He was put to death by the orders of Mughal emperor

Shah Alam II Shah Alam II (; 25 June 1728 – 19 November 1806), also known by his birth name Ali Gohar, or Ali Gauhar, was the seventeenth Mughal emperor and the son of Alamgir II. Shah Alam II became the emperor of a crumbling Mughal Empire. His power w ...

in March 1794.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beg, Ismail History of Xinjiang Uyghur people 1794 deaths