Rane Khan was a prominent

Bhishti The Bhishti or Bahishti are a Muslim tribe or found in North India, Pakistan and Nepal. They are also known as Abbasi, Bahishti Abbasi, Sheikh Abbasi and Saqqa. They often use the surnames Abbasi or Sheikh Abbasi. Bhistis traditionally se ...

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 ...

chief who was prominent in the

Maratha empire 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 ...

. Rane Khan was the son of Fateh Khan, who was a resident of Deopur 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 ...

. During 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 ...

, Rane Khan saved the life 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 ...

about whose position he knew nothing and took him to a safe town. Shinde called him "Bhai" or brother, and appointed him to a responsible position in his army. Soon Rane Khan was appointed as his commander-in-chief. In 1787, Rane Khan defeated 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 ...

under Ismail Beg.

Sindhia House of Scindia or earlier known as the Sendrak was a Hindu Maratha Royal House that ruled the erstwhile Gwalior State in central India. Ranoji Scindia rose as a prominent military commander under Peshwa Bajirao I. Ranoji and his descendants, a ...

appointed his able general Rane Khan at the head of a large force, supported by Jiva Dad Bakhshi. On September 28, 1788, Rane Khan occupied the Old city of Delhi. Rane Khan caught Ghulam Qadir and cut off his head, sending the body to

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 ...

. After the death of Ghulam Qadir, as his family had taken refuge with the

Sikhs Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Sikh'' ...

with their wealth, an army under Rane Khan, Ali Bahadur Khan and Kesho Rao used this reason as a pretext to launch an expedition against the Sikhs at

Patiala Patiala () is a city in southeastern Punjab, India, Punjab, northwestern India. It is the fourth largest city in the state and is the administrative capital of Patiala district. Patiala is located around the ''Qila Mubarak, Patiala, Qila Mubar ...

. A sum of fifty thousand was paid to avert the threat. Rane Khan died at Bharatpur in 1788. The descendants of Rane Khan continued to hold Jagirs and act as noblemen at the

Gwalior state The Gwalior State was a List of Maratha dynasties and states, state within the Maratha Confederacy located in Central India. It was ruled by the Scindia, House of Scindia (anglicized from Sendrak), a Hindu Maratha Confederacy, Maratha dynasty. ...

References

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1788 deaths Maratha Empire