Dost Mohammad Khan (c. 1657–1728) was the founder of Bhopal State in central India. He founded the modern city of Bhopal, the capital of the modern day Madhya Pradesh state.
An Afghan from Tirah, Dost Mohammad Khan joined the Mughal Army at Delhi in 1703. He rapidly rose through the ranks, and was assigned to the Malwa province in Central India. After the death of the Emperor Aurangzeb, Khan started providing mercenary services to several local chieftains in the politically unstable Malwa region. In 1709, he took on the lease of Berasia estate, while serving the small Rajput principality of Mangalgarh as a mercenary. He invited his Pashtun kinsmen to Malwa to create a group of loyal associates. Khan successfully protected Mangalgarh from its other Rajput neighbors, married into its royal family, and took over the state after the death of its heirless dowager Rani.
Khan sided with the local Rajput chiefs of Malwa in a rebellion against the Mughal Empire. Defeated and wounded in the ensuing battle, he ended up helping an injured Sayyid Hussain Ali Khan Barha, one of the Sayyid brothers. This helped him gain the friendship of the Sayyid brothers, who had become highly influential king-makers in the Mughal court. Subsequently, Khan annexed several territories in Malwa to his state. Khan also provided mercenary services to the Rani Kamlapati, the ruler of a small Gond kingdom, and received the territory of Bhopal (then a small village) in lieu of payment. After the Rani's death, he killed her son and annexed the Gond kingdom. During the early 1720s, he transformed the village of Bhopal into a fortified city, and claimed the title of Nawab, which was used by the Muslim rulers of princely states in India.
Khan's support to the Sayyid Brothers earned him the enmity of the rival Mughal nobleman Nizam-ul-Mulk. The Nizam invaded Bhopal in March 1724, forcing Khan to cede much of his territory, give away his son as hostage and accept the Nizam's suzerainty. In his final years, Khan sought inspiration from Sufi mystics and saints, veering towards spiritualism. He and the other Pashtuns who settled in Bhopal during his reign, brought the Pashtun and Islamic influence to the culture and architecture of Bhopal.
At its zenith, the Bhopal State comprised a territory of around . Nearly a century after Khan's death, the state became a British protectorate in 1818, and was ruled by the descendants of Dost Mohammad Khan till 1949, when it was merged with the Dominion of India.
Early life Dost Mohammad Khan was born in 1657 at the Tirah region in the Subah of Kabul situated on the North-western frontiers of the Mughal Empire (now corresponding to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan). His father Nur Mohammad Khan was an Afghan nobleman belonging to the Mirazikhel clan of the Orakzai tribe."Mirazi" is probably of "Mir Aziz". (Shaharyar M. Khan, 2000) This tribe lived in & continues to lives in Tirah and the Peshawar region.
In his mid-20s, Dost Mohammad Khan was engaged to Mehraj Bibi, an attractive girl from a neighboring Orakzai clan. However, Mehraj was later betrothed to his cousin, because Khan's character was seen as too aggressive and rough. An angry Khan killed his cousin, leading to his ostracism from his family.
Attracted by the promise of a bright future in the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb's service, Khan set out for Jalalabad, near Delhi, where his Pashtun relatives had settled. He was welcomed by the family of his relative Jalal Khan, the Mughal mansabdar (a military aristocrat) of Jalalabad's suburb Lohari. He arrived in Jalalabad sometime between 1696 and 1703, and spent some time with Jalal Khan's family. During a birthday celebration, a fight broke out between Dost and one of Jalal Khan's sons, over one of the young housemaids. Jalal Khan's son attacked Dost with a bow and arrow, and Dost killed him with a dagger in retaliation.
Following this incident, Dost Mohammad Khan decided to flee to Delhi, the Mughal capital. His horse collapsed and died after six hours of galloping. Khan continued his journey on foot and reached Karnal. While waiting in front of a bakery to steal some food, he was recognized by the old clergyman Mullah Jamali of Kashgar, who had taught him Koran in Tirah. Mullah Jamali had left Pashtunistan, and had founded a madrasa (Muslim school) in Delhi. Khan spent around a year in Delhi under Mullah Jamali's shelter, after which he decided to join the Mughal army. The Mullah helped him financially by giving him a horse and five asharfis (gold coins).
Mughal military service
In 1703, Dost Mohammad Khan enlisted with Mir Fazlullah, Aurangzeb's Keeper of Arms. Around 1704, he was ordered to quell a rebellion by the governor Tardi Beg, who commanded a sizable force in the Bundelkhand region. Khan led the Mughal regiment of Gwalior in a battle with Tardi Beg's forces led by General Kashko Khan. Although injured by the swords of Kashko Khan's guards and a mahawat (elephant rider), Khan managed to kill Kashko Khan in the battle. He delivered Kashko's severed head to Mir Fazlullah in Delhi.
In 1705, Mir Fazlullah presented Dost Mohammad Khan's regiment to the emperor Aurangzeb. According to the Khan's rozanmacha (daily diary), Aurangzeb was impressed by him, presented him with two fistfuls of gold coins, and asked Fazlullah to treat him well and give him an appropriate command. In return, Khan conveyed his loyalty to the Emperor. Following this, Khan rose rapidly through the ranks, and was assigned to the Malwa province in central India. Malwa was politically unstable at the time, and Aurangzeb had been replacing the governors in rapid succession. The Marathas, the Rajput chieftains and Muslim feudal chiefs were agitating for power in and around the region, and the Mughals were facing several revolts.
News of the death of Emperor Aurangzeb on 3 March 1707 reached Khan, when he was at Bhilsa. A war of succession broke out between Aurangzeb's sons, two of whom approached Khan for allegiance. However, Khan refused to side with either of them, saying that he could not raise his sword against any of his sons since he had taken an oath of being loyal to the late Emperor.
Mercenary career Following the death of the emperor Aurangzeb, Malwa started witnessing power struggles between the various chieftains in the area due to lack of a central authority. Dost Mohammad Khan became the leader of a band of around 50 Pathan mercenaries, and started providing the local chieftains protection against pillage and strife. These chieftains included the Raja Reshb Das (1695–1748) of Sitamau, Mohammad Farooq (Governor of Bhilsa), Diye Bahadur (the Mughal Deputy Governor of Malwa) and Raja Anand Singh Solanki of Mangalgarh.
Mangalgarh was a small Rajput principality in Malwa, ruled by Raja Anand Singh Solanki. The dowager mother of the Raja had taken a great liking to Dost Mohammad Khan. After the Rajas's death at Delhi, she appointed him the kamdar or mukhtar ("guardian") of Mangalgarh, around 1708. Khan was tasked with protecting the dowager Rani (queen) and her estate. During his service at Mangalgarh, he married Kunwar Sardar Bai, the daughter of Anand Singh, who later converted to Islam and adopted the name Fatah Bibi (also spelled Fateh Bibi). Khan married several other women, but Fatah Bibi remained his favorite wife.
Over the next few years, Khan operated out of Mangalgarh, working for anyone willing to pay for his reputed mercenary services.
Berasia estate
In 1709, Dost Mohammad Khan decided to build a feudal estate of his own. Berasia, a small mustajiri (rented estate) near Mangalgarh, was under the authority of the Delhi-based Mughal fief-holder Taj Mohammad Khan. It suffered from anarchy and lawlessness due to regular attacks from highwaymen and plunderers. Advised by Mohammed Sala, Sunder Rai and Alam Chand Kanoongo, Dost Mohammad Khan took on the lease of Berasia. The lease involved an annual payment of 30,000 rupees, which he was able to pay with help of his wife Fatah Bibi, who belonged to the Mangalgarh royal family. Khan appointed Maulvi Mohammad Saleh as the qazi (judge), built a mosque and a fort, and installed his loyal Afghan lieutenants in various administrative capacities.
Dost Mohammad Khan also tried to gain some territories in Gujarat, but was unsuccessful. After being defeated by a Maratha warlord during an unsuccessful raid in Gujarat, he was imprisoned by his own rebel soldiers. He was freed after his wife Fatah Bibi paid a ransom to his captors.
The rampant power struggles and disloyalty, especially his imprisonment by his own men after the Gujarat raid, had made Khan distrustful of people around him. He, therefore, invited his kinsmen in Tirah to Malwa. Khan's father, Mehraj Bibi (his wife – the girl he was engaged to in Tirah) and his five brothers arrived in Berasia in 1712, with around 50 tribesmen of the Mirazikhel. His father died in 1715, shortly after arriving in Berasia. His five brothers were Sher, Alif, Shah, Mir Ahmad and Aqil; all except Aqil died in subsequent battles. The Pashtuns who had accompanied Khan's immediate family, later came to be known as "Barru-kat Pathans", and their families became highly influential in Bhopal. They were known as the Barru-kat ("reed cutter") Pathans since they initially made their homes with thatched reeds.
Struggles with the local chieftains The Rajput neighbors of Mangalgarh, led by the Thakur (chief) of Parason, formed an alliance to counter the growing power of the Rani of Mangalgarh. The ensuing battle between Mangalgarh and the Thakur went on for days. During the festival of Holi, the Thakur insisted on a truce for celebrations. Dost Mohammad Khan agreed to the ceasefire, but also sent a spy dressed as a beggar to the Thakur's camp. The spy came back with the news that the Rajputs were in a state of drunken revelry. Khan violated the truce and raided the enemy camp at night, defeating the Rajput chieftains decisively. Dost also conquered the other adjoining Rajput territories such as Khichiwara and Umatwara.
In 1715, Khan ran into conflict with another neighboring Rajput chief, Narsingh Rao Chauhan (also known as Narsingh Deora), who owned the fortified village of Jagdishpur near Berasia. Narsingh Deora demanded tribute from the Patel of Barkhera in Dillod, who had earlier given shelter to Dost after he fled away from the Mughal camp. Khan agreed to negotiate a treaty with Narsingh, and the two parties met at Jagdishpur, with 16 men on each side. Khan pitched a tent on the banks of Thal river (also known as Banganga) for the meeting. After a lunch arranged by him for both the parties, he stepped outside on the pretext of ordering ittar (perfume) and paan (betel leaf), which was actually a signal for Khan's hiding men to kill the Rajputs. It is said that the Thal river appeared red with the blood of the victims, and therefore was renamed to "Halali" river (the river of slaughter). After this incident, Khan renamed Jagdishpur to Islamnagar, strengthened the fort and made the place his headquarters.
Khan's cousin Diler Mohammad Khan (or Dalel Khan) had also acquired some territory, establishing the Kurwai State. In 1722, he visited Berasia with a proposal that the two cousins join hands in extending their territory, and their acquisitions of land and property be equally divided. However, Dost Mohammad Khan got his cousin murdered.