Rohilla

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Rohilla
Pashtun tribes

Rohillas are a mixed Indian community of

northern India in the 1720s, the first of whom was Ali Mohammed Khan.[4][5]

The Rohillas are found all over Uttar Pradesh, but are more concentrated in the Rohilkhand regions of

Indo-Caribbean ethnic group.[6] After the 1947 Partition of India, many of the Rohillas migrated to Karachi, Pakistan as a part of the Muhajir
community.

Origin

Miniature. “Portrait of a Rohilla Afghan”, Northern India; 1821-1822. An inscription on the back identifies him as a member of the Barech family

The Indian term "Rohilla" originated from

Dardic and Tajik Dehqan population, who were collectively termed Yusufzais to the outside. A further migration continued towards Northern India, where typically inhabitants in the valley without land and those seeking trade opportunities quitted the country of Roh and migrated to India.[9] The immigration of Pashtuns from the Peshawar valley was further exacerbated with the collapse of Mughal authority and the invasion of Nader Shah.[10]

This community over generations had become culturally closer to the

Muhammadzai and Afridi tribes who were inhabitants of the Peshawar valley. A majority of Rohillas migrated from Pashtunistan to North India between the 17th and 18th century.[17]

Among the Rohillas were long-domiciled Indian descendants, who were known as the country-born.[

Pashtun arrivals from the Northwest swelled their ranks, who were termed "Vilayati".[citation needed] All were collectively termed Rohillas, thus the Rohillas were in the process of developing a real or fictive kinship based on newly forged marriage alliances, consisting of Indian Pathan families, converted Hindus and new arrivals from the Northwest.[21][page needed
]

History

Early history

Najib-ud-Daula
in 1755. 1814–15 painting.

The founder of the state of Rohilkhand was

mercenaries had immigrated to the region. Daud Khan adopted two Hindus, converted them to Islam, and provided them a proper religious education. These were Ali Muhammad Khan and Fath Khan-i-Saman. They were trained as mercenaries, and the former was put at the head of his following, which included both Pashtuns and various Hindustanis.[25]

Establishment of the Rohilla state

Sowar of Rohilla Cavalry, Watercolour on European paper, by a Company artist, 1815

The rise of the Rohilla state owed mainly to Ali Muhammad Khan, who succeeded Daud Khan's jagirs in 1721.[

Katehar region came to be known as Rohilkhand. The conversion of Hindus to Islam further resulted in its rapid growth.[citation needed] As Ali Muhammad Khan returned to Rohilkhand, Bareilly was made the capital of this newly formed Rohilkhand state.[citation needed
]

When Ali Muhammad Khan died, leaving six sons. However, two of his elder sons were in

Sirhind. When he was completely defeated in his attempt to enter the Jalandhar Doab, he was forced to abandon all his territory.[32] The Marathas invaded Rohilkhand, and as the chiefs could offer no effective resistance, they fled to the Terai, whence they sought the aid of Shuja-ud-Daula of Awadh. Shuja-ud-Daulah came to their aid, and their combined forces in November 1759 drove the Marathas across the Ganges, after inflicting severe losses upon them.[citation needed] Qutb Khan Rohilla defeated and beheaded the Maratha general Dattaji at Burari Ghat.[33][full citation needed
]

Following the Battle of Panipat in 1761

In the

Marathas. He not only provided 40,000 Rohilla troops but also 70 guns to the allied. He also convinced Shuja-ud-Daula, the Nawab of Oudh, to join Ahmad Shah Abdali's forces against the Marathas. In this battle, the Marathas were defeated and as a consequence the Rohilla increased in power.[citation needed
]

The Marathas invaded Rohilkhand to retaliate against the Rohillas' participation in the

Oudh attacked the Rohillas.[37]

Afterwards, the Rohillas were attacked by the neighbouring kingdom of Oudh led by the Nawab

better source needed] Warren Hastings' role in the conflict was publicized during his impeachment.[citation needed
]

From 1774 to 1799, the region was administered by Khwaja Almas Khan, a

Establishment of Rampur State

Princely flag of Rampur.
This Afghan Bangash Nawab is not to be confused with the Rohilla Ali Mohammed Khan
Nawab Muhammad Khan Bangash, ca 1730, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris

While most of Rohilkhand was annexed, the Rohilla State of Rampur was established by Nawab

better source needed
]

The Qissa-o-Ahwal-i-Rohilla written by Rustam Ali Bijnori in 1776 provides an example of the refined Urdu prose of the Muslim Rohilla elite in Rohilkhand and Katehr.[46]

Nawab Faizullah Khan ruled for 20 years. He was a patron of education and began the collection of Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Hindustani manuscripts which are now housed in the Rampur Raza Library. After his death his son Muhammad Ali Khan took over. He was assassinated by Rohilla elders after reigning for 24 days, and Muhammad Ali Khan's brother, Ghulam Muhammad Khan, was proclaimed Nawab. The East India Company took exception to this, and after a reign of just 3 months and 22 days, Ghulam Muhammad Khan was besieged and defeated by East India Company forces. The East India Company supported Muhammad Ali Khan's son, Ahmad Ali Khan, to be the new Nawab. He ruled for 44 years. He did not have any sons, so Muhammad Saeed Khan, son of Ghulam Muhammad Khan, took over as the new Nawab after his death. He established Courts and improved the economic conditions of farmers. His son Muhammad Yusuf Ali Khan took over after his death and his son, Kalb Ali Khan, became the new Nawab after his death in 1865.[citation needed]

Nawab of Rampur Reign Began Reign Ended
2 Faizullah Khan 15 September 1774 24 July 1793
3
Muhammad Ali Khan Bahadur
24 July 1793 11 August 1793
4
Ghulam Muhammad Khan Bahadur
11 August 1793 24 October 1794
5
Ahmad Ali Khan Bahadur
24 October 1794 5 July 1840
- Nasrullah Khan - Regent 24 October 1794 1811
6
Muhammad Said Khan Bahadur
5 July 1840 1 April 1855
7
Yusef Ali Khan Bahadur
1 April 1855 21 April 1865
8
Kalb Ali Khan Bahadur
21 April 1865 23 March 1887
9
Muhammad Mushtaq Ali Khan Bahadur
23 March 1887 25 February 1889
10
Hamid Ali Khan Bahadur
25 February 1889 20 June 1930
- General Azeemudin Khan - Regent 25 February 1889 4 April 1894
11
Raza Ali Khan Bahadur
20 June 1930 6 March 1966
12
Murtaza Ali Khan Bahadur
- Nawabat abolished in 1971
6 March 1966 8 February 1982
13 Murad Ali Khan Bahadur 8 February 1982 Incumbent

Between 1774 and 1857

Rohilla horsemen in the British Indian army, 1814

They were generally settled in villages, in many of which they own and cultivate the soil, and in some of which they formed large brotherhoods, approaching those of Jats and Rajputs, with a similar constitution.[citation needed] Evidence from 1857 suggests that the survival of degrees of Pathan-derived lineage based identity in villagers of the old Rohilkhand districts. These identities were marked as much by signs of assimilation and transformation as any continuity.[47]

Between 1857 and 1947

Shaukat Ali
was a leader of the Khilafat Movement

The period between the revolt of 1857 and the independence of India in 1947 was a period of stability for the Rohilla community. In 1858, the British colonial government issued a general pardon to all those who had taken part in the Indian Rebellion and restored many lands. Some of the tribes were punished for aiding the rebels. Some tribes had to migrate to

Ahmad Raza Khan, was also born among the Rohillas and the city of Bareilly became an important centre of Islamic learning in Northern India.[citation needed
]

While a majority of Rohillas remained landowners and cultivators, a significant minority took to western education, and entered professions such as law and medicine. They also began to take an interest in the political debates during the last decade of the 19th Century. Some of them joined the newly formed

Kamboh. Thus at the dawn of independence, the Rohilla were losing their distinct community status.[48][full citation needed
]

Present circumstances

The independence of Pakistan and India in 1947 had a profound effect on the Rohilla community. The vast majority of them emigrated to Pakistan in 1947. Those that were left in India, were affected by the abolishment of the zamindari system in 1949, as well as the ascension of the State of Rampur to India and many of them migrated to join their kinsmen in Karachi, Pakistan. The Rohilla now form two distinct communities with the majority in Pakistan and a small minority residing in India.[citation needed]

In India

The Rohilla now form one of the larger Muslim as well as Hindu Rohilla Rajput communities of Uttar Pradesh and are found throughout Uttar Pradesh, with settlements in Rampur, Bareilly, Shahjahanpur in Rohilkhand being the densest Rampur. Rampur was established by Hindu Rohilla Rajput king Raja Ram Singh (909 to 966 A.D.) in the 9th century. Till 1254 it was being ruled by Rohilla clan king Maharaja Ranveer Singh Rohilla, who was killed on the day of Rakshabandhan festival by Nasiruddin Changej. Prior to that Nasiruddin Changej was defeated by Maharaja Ranveer Singh Rohilla, but left without killing. He took help of Rajpurohi Pandit Gokul Nath Pandey, who told that Rohilla Rajputs worship Arms at Raksha Bandhan and do prayers. It was while Maharaja Ranveer Singh Rohilla was doing worship of Lord Shiva, under planned conspiracy he was attacked and killed by Royal Army from Delhi led by Nasirudding Changej of Ghulam Vansh, who ruled Delhi.[citation needed]

In Pakistan

In Pakistan, the Rohillas and other Urdu-speaking Pathans have now completely assimilated into larger Urdu speaking community. There is no sense of corporate identity among the descendants of Rohilla Pathans in Pakistan with high degree of intermarriage with other Muslims. They mainly live in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, and other urban areas of Sindh.[49][full citation needed]

Notable Rohillas

See also

References

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  4. ^ a b c Potter, George Richard (1971). The New Cambridge Modern History. Cambridge University Press. p. 553.
  5. ^ Impeaching for Imperialism, MALICK GHACHEM, Boston Review, February 20, 2020
  6. ^ "Afghan Muslims of Guyana and Suriname". Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Vol 22, No 2, 2002. 3 November 2004. Archived from the original on 23 May 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2019.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  7. .
  8. . The designation Rohilla developed during the seventeenth century as a fairly broad notion of the people coming from Roh or Rõh, corresponding roughly with the mountainous terrain of the eastern Hindu Kush and the Sulaiman Range. Only in the seventeenth-century Indian and Indo-Afghan works do we find Roh frequently used as a more specific geographical term which corresponded with the territory stretching from Swat and Bajaur in the north to Sibi and Bhakkar in Sind, and from Hasan Abdal in the east to Kabul and Kandahar in the west.
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  12. ^ Robert Nichols (2006). A history of Pashtun Migration 1775 - 2006 (PDF). p. 36.
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  15. . The nomenclature ' Rohilkhand ' gained currency particularly after Ali Muhammad Khan , the adopted son and successor of Daud Khan defeated Raja Harnand and occupied Katehr in 1742
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  17. ^ Haleem, Safia (24 July 2007). Study of the Pathan Communities in Four States of India. Khyber Gateway. This is the area in U.P (Uttar Pradesh) Province, in which Pashtoons were either given land by the emperors or they settled for Trade purposes. Roh was the name of the area around Peshawar city, in Pakistan. Yousafzai Pathans especially Mandarr sub clan, living in this valley were also known as Rohillas when they settled down the area was known as Katehr, which literally means soft well-aerated loam which is extremely suitable for cultivation. It later became known as Rohil Khand (the land of the Rohillas). The great majority of Rohillas migrated between 17th and 18th Century.
  18. ^ Robert Nichols (2006). A history of Pashtun Migration 1775 - 2006 (PDF). p. 36.
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  22. ^ Ḥusain, M.; Pakistan Historical Society (1957). A History of the Freedom Movement: 1707-1831. A History of the Freedom Movement: Being the Story of Muslim Struggle for the Freedom of Hind-Pakistan, 1707-1947. Pakistan Historical Society. p. 304. Retrieved 30 July 2022. Amongst other prisoners he obtained a young Jat boy of eight years . Daud took a fancy to him and adopted him as his son and named him ' Ali Muhammad Khan.
  23. ^ Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta Sastri (1952). History of India: Modern India. the University of Michigan. p. 42.
  24. ^ (India), Uttar Pradesh (1959). Uttar Pradesh District Gazetteers: Jaunpur.
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  28. ^ Nawab was the title of notables during the Mughal era in India, who helped the central authority govern different statelets within the South Asia. During the colonial, new nawabs were created because of various land grants given to the pro-British Indian elite.
  29. ^ Mohammad Shah (1702–1748) was a Mughal emperor of Mughal empire between 1719 and 1748
  30. ^ Uttar Pradesh District Gazetteers: Garhwal. Government of Uttar Pradesh. 1986. p. 34. Dunde Khan ; Fateh Khan retained possession of Budaun and Usehat , while Abdullah Khan ( Ali Muhammad's son ) was established in possession of Ujhani and Sahaswan . Kot was given to Sardar Khan and Salempur was kept by Hafiz Rahmat
  31. ^ Hari Ram Gupta (1987). History of the Sikhs: Evolution of Sikh confederacies, 1708-1769. Munshiram Manoharlal. p. 339.
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  33. ^ Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society: Volume 39. Pakistan Historical Society. 1991.
  34. ^ Ahmad Shah Abdali (died 1772) adopted the title of Durr-i Dowran (pearl of pearls), which gave the name to the dynasty he established, the Durrani, which lasted in Afghanistan until 1973
  35. ^ The Great Maratha Mahadji Scindia by N. G. Rathod p.8-9
  36. ^ Poonam Sagar (1993). Maratha Policy Towards Northern India. Meenakshi Prakashan. p. 158.
  37. ^ Jos J. L. Gommans (1995). The Rise of the Indo-Afghan Empire: C. 1710-1780. Brill. p. 178.
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