Mohan Lal Zutshi
KLS (popularly known as Mohan Lal Kashmiri; 1812 – 1877) was an Indian traveler, diplomat, and author. He is credited as being an important player in the so-called
Great Game
The Great Game was a rivalry between the 19th-century British Empire, British and Russian Empire, Russian empires over influence in Central Asia, primarily in Emirate of Afghanistan, Afghanistan, Qajar Iran, Persia, and Tibet. The two colonia ...
—possibly the first notable Indian one.
He also played a central role in the
First Anglo-Afghan War
The First Anglo-Afghan War () was fought between the British Empire and the Emirate of Kabul from 1838 to 1842. The British initially successfully invaded the country taking sides in a succession dispute between emir Dost Mohammad Khan ( Bara ...
of 1838–1842. His biography of
Dost Mohammad Khan
Dost Mohammad Khan Barakzai (Pashto/; 23 December 1792 – 8 June 1863), nicknamed the Amir-i Kabir, was the founder of the Barakzai dynasty and one of the prominent rulers of Afghanistan during the First Anglo-Afghan War. With the decline of ...
, the
Emir of Afghanistan in
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 ...
, is a primary source on the war.
Mohan Lal's wife, Hyderi Begum, was a Muslim scholar. During the
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...
, she was said to have maintained a diary of events in Delhi.
Early life and family
Mohan Lal (also called Ram Nath) was from a
Zutshi family of
Kashmiri Pandits
The Kashmiri Pandits (also known as Kashmiri Brahmins) are a group of Kashmiri Hindus and a part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community of India. They belong to the Pancha-Gauda, Pancha Gauda Brahmin group from the Kashmir Valley, located w ...
. His great grandfather, Pandit Mani Ram, had a high rank at the Mughal Court in the reign of
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 ...
. His father, Rai Brahm Nath, also known as Rae Budh Singh, worked for a time for
Mountstuart Elphinstone
Mountstuart Elphinstone (6 October 1779 – 20 November 1859) was a Scottish statesman and historian, associated with the government of British India. He later became the Governor of Bombay (now Mumbai) where he is credited with the open ...
on a diplomatic mission to Peshawar (1808–1809).
Mohan Lal studied at the
Delhi College, one of the first Indian students to be educated in the English curriculum there.
His only brother, Kedar Nath Zutshi, was a Deputy Collector in
Ambala
Ambala () is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India, located on the border with the Indian state of Punjab (India), Punjab and in proximity to both states capital Chandigarh. Politically, Ambala ...
,
Panjab Province, and died in 1855.
Travels with Burnes
In 1831 Lieutenant (later Captain) Sir
Alexander Burnes
Captain Sir Alexander Burnes (16 May 1805 – 2 November 1841) was a Scottish explorer, military officer and diplomat associated with the Great Game. He was nicknamed Bokhara Burnes for his role in establishing contact with and expl ...
of the
East India Company's service was deputed by the British Government to gather information in the countries lying between India and the Caspian. He was directed to appear as a private individual with a small retinue maintaining a character of poverty. Mohan Lal was engaged by Burnes primarily to assist him in his Persian correspondence and also because Burnes believed that his youth and creed would free him from all danger of his entering into intrigues with the people among whom he was going to travel. Mohan Lal's official title was ''
munshi
During the Mughal Empire, ''Munshi'' () came to be used as a respected title for persons who achieved mastery over language and politics in the Indian subcontinent. Use in Bengal
The surname "Munshi" ( Bengali: মুন্সি) is used by bot ...
'', but Mohan Lal preferred the title "Persian secretary".
Alexander Burnes and Mohan Lal led an expedition to Central Asia in 1832–1834 for procuring political and military intelligence and became firm friends.
First Anglo-Afghan War

Later, Mohan Lal was the
Commercial Agent for the British on the Indus and Political Assistant to Burnes in
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 ...
during the
First Anglo-Afghan War
The First Anglo-Afghan War () was fought between the British Empire and the Emirate of Kabul from 1838 to 1842. The British initially successfully invaded the country taking sides in a succession dispute between emir Dost Mohammad Khan ( Bara ...
. He witnessed the killing of Burnes by an angry mob in Kabul at the start of the war, which he described in a book he later wrote describing the ''Life of Amir Dost Mohammed Khan''.
He survived the massacres of 1841 and continued to keep Calcutta informed of events in the Afghan capital from the house of a merchant where he had taken refuge. His reports contained many strong and cogent criticisms of the behaviour of British Officers, and particularly Sir
William Hay Macnaghten and General
William Elphinstone
William Elphinstone (143125 October 1514) was a Scottish statesman, Bishop of Aberdeen and founder of the University of Aberdeen.
Biography
He was born in Glasgow. His father, also William Elphinstone, later became the first Dean of the Facu ...
.
Mohan Lal had learned
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 ...
in
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 travelled in the garb of a
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
, under the pseudonym of "Aga Hasan Jan" or as "Mirza Quli Kashmiri" in
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 ...
and
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
collecting information vital for his British superiors.
During the First Anglo-Afghan War, he was instrumental in setting up and expanding the British intelligence network in Afghanistan and is also alleged to have had a major hand in arranging the assassination, by poisoning, of
Mir Masjidi Khan, a major Afghan resistance leader. He found out and handed over to the British authorities secret letters written by the rulers of
Kandahar
Kandahar is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city, after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118 in 2015. It is the capital of Kandahar Pro ...
to
Mehrab Khan, the ruler of
Kalat, exhorting him not to allow passage to the invading British army. He managed to obtain the services of very important functionaries like Mohammed Tahir, Haji Khan Kakari, Abdul Majeed Khan, Akhundzada Ghulam and Mullah Nasooh in Kandahar and Sardar Abdul Rashid Khan, a nephew of the Emir Sardar
Dost Mohammad Khan
Dost Mohammad Khan Barakzai (Pashto/; 23 December 1792 – 8 June 1863), nicknamed the Amir-i Kabir, was the founder of the Barakzai dynasty and one of the prominent rulers of Afghanistan during the First Anglo-Afghan War. With the decline of ...
in
Ghazni
Ghazni (, ), historically known as Ghaznayn () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana (), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan with a population of around 190,000 people. The city is strategica ...
. He played a major role in securing the release of British prisoners held hostage in
Bamiyan. He tried to bring peace between the British and the Afghans during such inflammatory situations.
Later life
After the war, Mohan Lal travelled to Europe: In 1844 he sailed from Bombay via Egypt to Britain. During his time in Europe he met
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
,
Prince Albert
Prince Albert most commonly refers to:
*Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria
*Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco
Prince Albert may also refer to:
Royalty
* Alb ...
and
Frederick William IV of Prussia
Frederick William IV (; 15 October 1795 – 2 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, was King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 until his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to as the "romanticist on the th ...
, the latter gifting Mohan Lal an inscribed ivory carving of himself.
During his travels in Europe, Mohan Lal was photographed in 1844 by
Robert Adamson and
David Octavius Hill. Today his photo is contained in the
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
National Galleries Scotland: Portrait is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. Portrait holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Collec ...
. While in Scotland, Mohan Lal was also portraited by the famous Scottish painter
William Allan. The painting was exhibited by the
Royal Scottish Academy
The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country's national academy of art. It promotes contemporary art, contemporary Scottish art.
The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy ...
in 1845 under the title "Mirza Mohun Lal, Persian secretary to the British Mission at Cabool, and who had previously accompanied Sir Alexander Burnes on his journey to Bokhara".
The current location of the painting, which was sold on 18 April 1850, is unknown.
In 1846 he attended the burial of
Dwarkanath Tagore in London.
Mohan Lal retired at the age of 32, disappointed that he had not been properly rewarded for his contributions to the British cause in the First Anglo-Afghan War. His later years were spent in obscurity and financial troubles. His marriage to Hyderi Begum is said to have taken place in 1857. His wife was portraited by
Paul Fischer.
Mohan Lal died in Delhi in 1877 in obscurity. According to his biographer
Hari Ram Gupta, Mohan Lal is reported to have written an extensive diary until his death, but by 1943 its location was no longer known.
Publications
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* Reprinted (1979): Lahore: Al Biruni, 1979
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Honours
* Knight of the
Order of the Lion and the Sun
The Imperial Order of the Lion and the Sun (Persian language, Persian: نشان سلطنتی شیر و خورشید) was instituted by Fat′h Ali Shah Qajar, Fat’h Ali Shah of the Qajar dynasty in 1808 to honour foreign officials (later extend ...
(1833).
*
Order of the Durrani Empire
Further reading
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References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lal, Mohan
1812 births
1877 deaths
People of the First Anglo-Afghan War
Indian diplomats
Kashmiri Hindus
Kashmiri Pandits
Zakir Husain Delhi College alumni