| Historical region of North India Rohilkhand | |
 | |
| Location | Uttar Pradesh |
| State established: | 1690 CE |
| Language | Kauravi dialect ofHindi, StandardHindi, StandardUrdu, previously Rohilla Urdu andPashto |
| Dynasties | Panchala(Mahabharata era) Mughals(1526–1736) Rohillas(1736–1858) |
| Historicalcapitals | Aonla,Bareilly andRampur |
| Separatedsubahs | Bareilly,Bijnor,Budaun,Moradabad,Pilibhit,Rampur andShahjahanpur |
| Covering Territory | |
Rohilkhand (Hindi pronunciation:[ɾoːɦɪlkʰəɳɖ]) is a region in the northwestern part ofUttar Pradesh,India, that is centered on theBareilly andMoradabad divisions. It is part of the upperGanges Plain, and is named after theRohilla, a community ofPashtun heritage. The region was calledMadhyadesh and Panchala in theSanskrit epicsMahabharata andRamayana.[1] During the colonial era in India, the region was governed by theRoyal House of Rampur.[2]
Rohilkhand means "the land of theRohilla". The termRohilla first became common in the 17th century, withRohilla used to refer to the people coming from the land ofRoh which is a corruption ofKoh meaning mountains (i.e.Kohistan inPersian), which was originally a geographical term that corresponded with the territory fromSwat andBajaur in the north toSibi in the south, and fromHasan Abdal (Attock) in the east toKabul andKandahar in the west.[3] A majority of the Rohillas migrated fromPashtunistan to North India between the 17th and 18th centuries.
The Rohilla Afghan leader Daud Khan led the settlement in the Katehar region innorthern India under orders of the Mughal emperorAurangzeb (ruled 1658–1707) to suppress the Katheria Rajput uprisings. The Rajputs' first king was Raja Ram Singh Katheria. These katheriya Rajputs contained 18 clans of Rajput Vansh, including the Chauhan, Rathore, Gehlot, Sisodia, Nikumbh, and Pundir. Originally, some 20,000 soldiers from various Pashtun tribes (Yusafzai, Ghori, Osmani,Ghilzai, Barech,Marwat,Tareen,Kakar,Naghar,Afridi andKhattak) were hired as soldiers by the Mughals. Aurangzeb was impressed with their performance and an additional force of 25,000 Pashtuns was recruited from modernKhyber Pakhtunkhwa andAfghanistan and were given respected positions in the Mogul Army. Most Pashtuns settled in the Katehar region and brought their families fromKhyber Pakhtunkhwa andAfghanistan. DuringNadir Shah's invasion of northern India in 1739, led by the general Ahmed Shah Abdali, a new wave of Pashtuns increased the population to over 1,000,000. Due to the large settlement of Rohilla Afghans, the Katehar region became known as Rohilkhand.Bareilly was made the capital of the Rohilkhand state and it became Pashtun majority city withGali Nawaban as the main royal street. Other important cities wereMoradabad,Rampur,Shahjahanpur, andBadaun.[4][ISBN missing][5][ISBN missing]
In 1752, theMaratha were asked bySafdar Jang, theNawab of Oudh, to help him defeat Pashtun Rohilla. The Maratha forces and Awadh forces besieged the Rohillas, who had sought refuge inKumaon, but had to retreat whenAhmad Shah Abdali invaded India.[6][7]
After theThird Battle of Panipat, thousands of Pashtun andBaloch soldiers settled in northern India. These diverse ethnic, cultural, and linguistic groups merged over time to form the Urdu-speaking Muslims of South Asia.
During theCapture of Delhi (1771),Marathas defeated Rohilla chieftainZabita Khan. After taking control of Delhi, the Marathas sent a large army in 1772 to punish AfghanRohillas for their involvement in Panipat. They desecrated the grave of Rohilla chieftanNajib ad-Dawla and capturedNajibabad.[8] With the fleeing of the Rohillas, the rest of the country was burnt, with the exception of the city ofAmroha, which was defended by some thousands ofAmrohi Sayyid tribes. The Rohillas who could offer no resistance fled to theTerai region. Though the Marathas left Rohilkhand hastily due to the arrival of the monsoon, which was difficult for their armies, their threat forced the Rohillas to seek an alliance with the Nawabs of Awadh.
In the presence ofRobert Barker, the commander of the British East India company troops at Awadh, a treaty was signed betweenNawab Shuja-ud-Daula andHafiz Rahmat Khan on 15 June 1772, which ensured the safety of Rohilkhand by Awadh and its British allies from the Marathas in exchange for Rs 40 lakh. The families of the Rohilla chiefs imprisoned by the Marathas were also released, through the intervention of the Nawab.
In 1773, the Marathas once again crossed the Ganges at Ramghat inBadaun, and advanced towards Rohilkhand. The Nawab of Awadh with his British allies came to the aid of the Rohillas and the Marathas were forced to retreat. The Nawab of Awadh now demanded the payment that had been promised for his help. But Hafiz Rahmat Khan refused by sending letters to the Nawab and the British, pleading his inability to pay due to internal strife and discontent among his dependent chiefs.[9]
This led to theFirst Rohilla War. Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula’s troops, supported by British troops, invaded Rohilkhand. Hafiz Rahmat Khan was killed in the ensuingBattle of Miranpur Katra in 1774.[10]
Rohilkhand fell to Awadh, and was plundered and occupied. The majority of the Rohillas left. They fled across theGanges in numbers, to start a guerrilla war; or emigrated. A Rohilla state under British protection was set up inRampur.Faizullah Khan managed to become the nawab of the newly createdRampur State.
The whole of Rohilkhand (includingPilibhit andShahjanpur) was surrendered bySaadat Ali Khan II to theEast India Company by the treaty of 10 November 1801.[11]
| Name | Reign began | Reign ended |
|---|---|---|
| Ali Mohammed Khan | 1721 | 15 September 1748 |
| Hafiz Rahmat Khan (regent) | 15 September 1748 | 23 April 1774 |
| Faizullah Khan | 1774 | 24 July 1793 |
| Muhammad Ali Khan Bahadur | 24 July 1793 | 11 August 1793 |
| Ghulam Muhammad Khan Bahadur | 11 August 1793 | 24 October 1794 |
| Ahmad Ali Khan Bahadur | 24 October 1794 | 5 July 1840 |
| Nasrullah Khan (regent) | 24 October 1794 | 1811 |
| Muhammad Said Khan Bahadur | 5 July 1840 | 1 April 1855 |
| Yusef Ali Khan Bahadur | 1 April 1855 | 21 April 1865 |
| Kalb Ali Khan Bahadur | 21 April 1865 | 23 March 1887 |
| Muhammad Mushtaq Ali Khan Bahadur | 23 March 1887 | 25 February 1889 |
| Hamid Ali Khan Bahadur | 25 February 1889 | 20 June 1930 |
| Muhammad Said Khan Bahadur | 5 July 1840 | 1 April 1855 |
| Raza Ali Khan Bahadur | 20 June 1930 | 6 March 1966 |
| Murtaza Ali Khan Bahadur[a] | 6 March 1966 | 8 February 1982 |
The designationRohilla developed during the seventeenth century as a fairly broad notion of the people coming fromRoh orRõh, 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 isRoh 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.