Nawab "Ghazanfar-Jang" Bangash Khan (1665–1743) was the first

Nawab Nawab is a royal title indicating a ruler, often of a South Asian state, in many ways comparable to the Western title of Prince. The relationship of a Nawab to the Emperor of India has been compared to that of the Kingdom of Saxony, Kings of ...

Farrukhabad Farrukhabad is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Farrukhabad tehsil. This city is on the banks of river Ganges is from the national capital Delhi and from the state capital Lucknow. His ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

, India. He was a "Bawan Hazari Sardar" (Commander of 52,000 men strong force) in the

Mughal Army The army of the Mughal Empire was the force by which the Mughal emperors established their empire in the 16th century and expanded it to its greatest extent at the beginning of the 18th century. Although its origins, like the Mughals themselve ...

. He served as governor of

Malwa Malwa () is a historical region, historical list of regions in India, region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic plateau, volcanic upland north of the ...

and

Allahabad Prayagraj (, ; ISO 15919, ISO: ), formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi, Varanasi (Benar ...

provinces 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 ...

. He was also viceroy of Assam from 1735 to 1743. Although regarded as rude and illiterate, not understanding a single word of Persian or

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

, he was well regarded for his loyalty, and it is believed that had fortune sided with him he would have been able to establish a kingdom rivalling those in the Deccan or

Awadh Awadh (), known in British Raj historical texts as Avadh or Oudh, is a historical region in northern India and southern Nepal, now constituting the North-central portion of Uttar Pradesh. It is roughly synonymous with the ancient Kosala Regio ...

Life

The first immigrants to Mau were the descendants of the Khwaja Bayazid Ansari, the ethnic Ormur leader and founder of the Roshaniyya movement who had settled in Mau and Shamsabad. Muhammad Khan's father, Ain Khan Bangash, who belonged Karlani Khaghzai clan of the Pashtun Bangash tribe had migrated from his native lands in the time 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 ...

and settled in Mau Rashidabad, gained service under the descendants of the Ansaris, married in Mau and had left two sons. His son, Muhammad Khan, gained a reputation as one of the most powerful of the Indo-Afghan mercenaries who inhabited that part of Hindustan, and eventually came to establish the territories that were consolidated into the state of Farrukhabad. He was rewarded the ''

jagir A jagir (), ( Hindustani: जागीर/جاگیر, ''Jāgīr''), ( Marathi: जहागीर, ''Jahāgīrá'') also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar ( Zamindar ...

'' of Farrukhabad area and part of

Bundelkhand Bundelkhand (, ) is a geographical and cultural region and a proposed state and also a mountain range in central and North India. It corresponds to the Post-Vedic Chedi kingdom. The hilly region is now divided between the states of Uttar Prad ...

. In India they were referred to as ''qaum-i-bangash'' which became a wider and more diffused label. Being few in number, the bulk of Muhammad Khan's soldiers were elite slaves known as 'disciples', who played a significant role as a kind of artificial family in-group attached to their patron. These were primarily former Hindu Rajputs and sometimes Brahmins who were adopted, converted to Islam, given a new name and submitted to a regime of religious, literary and military training which was focused on the transformation of the recruit's identity. Hence the natural sons of Muhammad Khan were to be considered the brothers of the adopted sons, who were referred to as 'atfal-i-sarkar' or children of the state. Before Muhammad Khan's death, the separation between the various tribes and castes broke down, forming a homogenous group, so that Muhammad Khan had founded his own Indian Muslim tribe or caste. To increase his independence from his nobles further, he continued to encourage immigration from the northwest. The state of Farrukhabad was named after Muhammad Khan's patron the Emperor Farrukhsiyar. In 1713, he was appointed a courtier by Emperor Farrukhsiyar and founded the town of

in 1714. He founded the town of Mohammadabad after his name and the town of Qaimganj after his son Qaim Khan's name. During Saadat Khan's journey to

, he stayed at

. Muhammad Khan Bangash gave him information about the strength, pride and resources of Shaikhzadas (a community which ruled

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

). He advised Khan to befriend the

sheikh Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...

s of Kakori, adversaries of the Shaikhzadas, before entering

. Bangash became Saadat Khan's closest ally. However, Saadat Khan began to go out of his ways to curry favour with the emperor. This obsession annoyed other ''nawabs'' and ''subahdars''. Among them was Bangash himself, who was angry at the latter for backing Chhatrasal and instigating him. He served in the campaign led by the Sayyid Brothers against the Jat leader Churaman (October 1722 - September 1723) and Ajit Singh of Marwar. In 1730, emperor Muhammad Shah appointed him as the ''

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- ...

'' of

. However, he was unable to cope with the repeated

Maratha The Marathi people (; Marathi: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-A ...

incursions and was removed from the post in 1732. He was appointed ''

'' of

for the admirable job he did against Chhatrasal the first time. On account of his failure in Bundelkhand against Chhatrasal the second time, he was removed from the governorship of

as well. At his death his dominions included the entire Doab from Koil in the North, to Kora in the South, including all of Farrukhabad and parts of Cawnpore, Shahjahanpur, Budaun and Aligarh. His brother Himmat Khan Bangash was the father of Nawab Murtaza Khan of Jahangirabad, and the grandfather of the

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

poet Nawab Mustafa Khan Shefta.

Later Mughal-Maratha Wars

, Chhatrasal had rebelled against the

and established an independent kingdom. In December 1728, a Mughal force led by the distinguished commander Muhammad Khan Bangash attacked him, and besieged his fort with his family. Chhatrasal had sought Peshwa Bajirao I's assistance, but the latter was busy in

at that time. In March 1729, the Peshwa

Baji Rao I Bajirao I (né Visaji, ; 18 August 1700 – 28 April 1740) was the 7th Peshwa of the Maratha Empire. He was appointed Peshwa at the age of nineteen by Shahu I, following the death of his father, Balaji Vishwanath. He is credited with establi ...

finally responded to Chhatrasal's request and marched towards Bundelkhand. Chhatrasal also escaped his captivity and joined the Maratha forces. After they marched to Jaitpur, as a result Bangash was defeated in the

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

and retreat from Bundelkhand. Chhatrasal's position as the ruler of Bundelkhand was restored.

Personality

Muhammad Khan Bangash was illiterate and could not understand a single word of Persian due to which he had to be accompanied by one of his sons. He was also unable to understand either Turki or

. Contemporaries were amazed by the discrepancy between his great wealth & power and his simple personal habits. However, this roughness and general lack of ''adab'' could be rather embarrassing, especially during audiences at the imperial Mughal court. His descendants were more fully accommodated to the royal ''nawabi'' lifestyle and the etiquette of an Indo-Persian court. Muhammad Khan practised the Indian custom of ''Utara'', the act of dismounting, tying the tunics together and fighting on foot to the death, a peculiarity of Indian Muslims horsemen of which they were very proud, which William Irvine says specially affected Indians such as the Barha Sayyids. This was something boasted by the Hindustani Muslims to be proof of exceptional courage. He had his soldiers dismount and tie the skirts of their heavy plaited coats (Jamaah) to fight to the death when in crisis. File:Tomb of Mohd. Khan Bangash Nawab.jpg, The Tomb of Nawāb Muḥammad Khān Bangāsh in

Succession

Muhammad Khan Bangash was succeeded by his eldest son Qaim Khan in 1743. Qaim Khan was later succeeded by Ahmad Khan Bangash, his younger brother and Muhammad Khan Bangash's second son.

Nawabs

These were the following Nawabs of Farrukhabad: * Nawab Muhammad Khan Bangash * Nawab Qaim-Jang Qaim Khan Qaim-ud-daula * Nawab Ahmad Khan Bangash (took part in the

Third Battle of Panipat The Third Battle of Panipat took place on 14 January 1761 between the Maratha Empire and the invading army of the Durrani Empire. The battle took place in and around the city of Panipat, approximately north of Delhi. The Afghan (ethnonym), Af ...

in 1761 alongside Ahmad Shah Abdali ) * Nawab Muzaffar-Jang Daler Himmat Khan * Nawab Nasir-Jang Imdad Hussain Khan * Nawab Tafazzul Hussain Khan

References

Bibliography

*{{citation, title = The First Two Nawabs of Awadh , first = Ashirbadi Lal , last = Srivastava , authorlink = Ashirbadi Lal Srivastava , date = 1954 , publisher = Shiva Lal Agarwal , url = https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.12411/page/n33 People from Farrukhabad Nawabs of India 18th-century Mughal Empire people 1743 deaths 1665 births Indian people of Pashtun descent