, G̲h̲āzi ’l-Dīn K̲h̲ān , Fīrūz D̲j̲ang (III), was named S̲h̲ihāb al-Dīn after his great-grandfather G̲h̲āzi ’l-Dīn K̲h̲ān, Fīrūz D̲j̲ang I [see s̲h̲ihāb al-dīn , mir ]. His mother was the daughter of the wazīr , Ḳamar al-Dīn K̲h̲ān (d. 1161/1746). He was eight years old when his father, (Mir) Muḥammad ¶ Panāh [ q.v.] died suddenly at Awrangābād in 1165/1752 during his abortive attempt to seize the viceroyalty of the Deccan. On his father’s departure for the Deccan, S̲h̲ihāb al-Dīn had been left behind at Delhi in the care of the minister, Abu ’l-Manṣūr Ṣafdar D̲j̲ang [ q.v.]. He seems to ha…

, town in Madhyā Pradēs̲h̲ (India) situated in 21° 18′ N. and 76° 14′ E., along the north bank of the Tāptī, with bathing-steps ( ghāts ) on the river-side and a solid masonry wall, pierced by a number of massive gates and wickets, on all the other sides. This wall was constructed by Niẓām al-Mulk Āṣaf D̲j̲āh I [ q.v.] in 1141/1728, during his governorship of Burhānpūr. The population in 1951 was 70,066. While the walled town occupies an area of 2½ sq. miles, numerous remains outside show that the suburbs, which now comprise ʿĀdilpūra, must have been very extensive. This town, which was of grea…

or Mir Muḥammad D̲j̲aʿfar K̲h̲ān ( Siyar al-mutaʾak̲h̲k̲h̲irīn , vol. ii in both the text and rubrics, and not D̲j̲aʿfar ʿAlī K̲h̲ān), son of Sayyid Aḥmad al-Nad̲j̲afī, of obscure origin, rose to be the Nawwāb of Bengal during the days of the East India Company. A penniless adventurer, like his patron Mīrzā Muḥammad ʿAlī entitled ʿAlīwirdī K̲h̲ān Mahābat D̲j̲ang (see the article ʿalī werdi k̲h̲ān ), he married a step-sister, S̲h̲āh K̲h̲ānim, of ʿAlīwirdī and served his master and brother-in-law as a commandant, before the latter ascended the masnad of Bengal i…

, term used in India for those African communities whose ancestors originally came to the country as slaves, in most cases from the Horn of Africa, although some doubtless sprang from the slave troops of the neighbouring Muslim countries. The majority, at least in the earlier periods, may well have been Abyssinian, but certainly the name was applied indiscriminately to all Africans, and in the days of the Portuguese slave-trade with India many such ‘Ḥabs̲h̲īs’ were in fact of the Nilotic and Bantu races. There is little detailed information concerning the numbers, the status an…

, inhabitants of India, who claim to be the modern representatives of the Ks̲h̲atriyas of ancient tradition. (From the Sanskrit rād̲j̲aputra “a king’s son”. For the connection between Rād̲j̲anya and Ks̲h̲atriya see Macdonell and Keith, Vedic index, i, s.v. Kṣatriya) The term Rād̲j̲pūt has no racial significance. It simply denotes a tribe, clan, or warlike class, the members of which claim aristocratic rank, a claim generally reinforced by Brahman recognition. The origin of the Rād̲j̲pūts is a problem which bristles with difficulties. The theory which was held earl…

(oudh), a tract of country comprising the Lucknow and Fayḍābād divisions of the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh. It has an area of 24, 168 square miles and a population of 15, 514, 950, of which 14, 156, 139 are to be found in the rural districts. (Census of India, 1951). From very early times Awadh, which forms part of the great alluvial plain of northern India, has been the peculiar home of Hindu civilisation. It corresponds roughly to the Middle Country, the Madhya-desha of the sacred Hindu writings, where dwelt the gods and heroes of the Epic Period whose deeds are recorded in the Mahābhārata …

or rohilas, the name given to Afg̲h̲āns of various tribes who came from Rōh [ q.v.] and settled in the 11th and 12th/17th and 18th centuries in Katahr [ q.v.] (in the western part of modern Uttar Pradesh) called Rohilkhand [ q.v.] after them. Bahādur K̲h̲ān Rohilla, a noble of S̲h̲āh D̲j̲ahān (1037-68/1628-58) founded S̲h̲āhd̲j̲ahānpur; and his brother Dilīr K̲h̲ān founded S̲h̲āhābād (1664). The area began to attract Afg̲h̲ān immigrants, among them a mercenary Dāwūd K̲h̲ān (killed in 1132/1720). Dāwūd Ḵh̲ān’s adopted son ʿAlī Muḥammad Ḵh̲…

, cawnpore, a city situated on the banks of the Ganges river in Uttar Pradesh province in the Indian Republic at lat. 26° 281 N. and long. 80° 201 E., and also the name of an administrative district of that province. Until the later 18th century, Kānpur was little more than a village known as Kanbaiyāpur or Kanhpur, and since it was situated on the western frontiers of Awadh or Oudh [ q.v.], the district of Kānpur was disputed in the middle decades of the 18th century by the Nawwābs of Awadh, the Mug̲h̲al emperors in Dihlī and the expanding power of the Marāthās. Af…

, a ruined city of Gud̲j̲arat in Western India, Lat. 22° 29′ N., long. 73° 32′ E., about 78 miles south-east of Aḥmadābād, taken by the Gūd̲j̲arāt sulṭān Maḥmūd S̲h̲āh I ‘Begadā’ on his conquest (889/1484) of the adjoining stronghold ¶ of Pāwāgaŕh, which had successfully resisted Aḥmad S̲h̲āh I in 821/1418. The Begadā occupied Čampānēr forthwith, building a city wall with bastions and gates (called Ḏj̲ahānpanāh; inscription EIM 1929-30, 4-5), and a citadel ( bhādar ). He renamed the city Maḥmūdābād, and it was his favourite residence until his deat…

, an ancient town of India, in lat. 28°3′N. and long. 76°10′E., in the modern Haryana State, some 80 miles south-west of Dihlī. It was probably (Ishwari Prasad, Life and times of Humayun , 95) the birthplace of S̲h̲īr S̲h̲āh, his family having been associated with the place for some time. But Nārnawl has much older Islamic associations, with the inscription at the dargāh of S̲h̲āh Wilāyat showing that the saint was living here in and before 531/1137, i.e. over fifty years before the Muslim conquest of Dihli; his dargāh shows signs of the pre-Muslim style of cofferedroof construction…

, an ancient townoflndiain west K̲h̲āndēs̲h̲ [ q.v.; Map], situated in lat. 21°22′N., long. 74°4′E., in the valley of the River Tapti and formerly an important trade centre. As Nandigara it is said to have been founded by Nanda Gawlī, a local tribal chief, and it is asserted that it remained in his family “until conquered by the Muhammadans under Muin-ud-din Chishti” ( IGI 2, xviii, s.v. 362-3, Nandurbar ) ; this sounds improbable, and perhaps refers to an early Ṣūfī settlement. Its possession seems to have changed at various times between Gud̲j̲arāt and K̲h̲āndēs…

, Mīr , the name of G̲h̲āzī ’l-Dīn K̲h̲ān, Fīrūz D̲j̲ang (II), was the eldest son of Niẓām al-Mulk Āṣaf D̲j̲āh I and a grandson of G̲h̲āzī ’l-Dīn K̲h̲ān, Fīrūz D̲j̲ang I, Indo-Muslim noble of the late Mug̲h̲al period. He grew up at the court of Muḥammad S̲h̲āh [ q.v.], the Mug̲h̲al emperor of Dihlī and on attaining his majority was married to a daughter of the minister, Iʿtimād al-Dawla Ḳamar al-Dīn K̲h̲ān (not to be confounded with Čīn Ḳi̊li̊č K̲h̲ān, Niẓām al-Mulk [ q.v.], who also bore the same name). He started his official career as Bak̲h̲s̲h̲ī of the Aḥadīs and o…

, mīr muḥammad amīn b. sayyid muḥammad naṣīr al-mūsawī , was a native of Nīs̲h̲āpūr who founded the Awadh dynasty of Nawwāb-Wazīrs (1136/1724-1167/1754). The exact date of his arrival in India is not known, but this much is certain, that he was in the service of Sarbuland Ḵh̲ān, commandant of Karā-Mānikpūr, in 1123/1711. On the accession of Farruk̲h̲-siyar to the throne of Delhi (1124/1713-1131/1719), he managed to obtain the post of a nāʾib-karōrī (a revenue official), through the good offices of Muḥammad Ḏj̲aʿfar, a manṣabdār . In 1132/1719 he was appoint…

(deccan). This word is derived from the Sanskrit word daks̲h̲iṇa ‘right (hand)’, hence ‘south’, since the compass points were determined with reference to the rising sun. The conventional line dividing north India from the south is formed by the south-western spurs of the Vindhyas along with their continuation called the Satpuŕās; peninsular India to the south of this line is usually further divided into (i) Deccan proper, extending up to the Tungabhadra, and (…

, the name of a city, district and division of the state of Maharashtra in the Indian Union, formerly in the Central Provinces of British India; the city lies on the Nāg river in lat. 21° 10’ N. and long. 79° 12’ E. The history of this area, which roughly corresponds to Gondwāna, has been profoundly influenced by the long range of the Sātpura hills through which the Burhānpur-Asīrgaŕh gap provided the chief route from Hindustan to the Dakhan. When the Muslim invaders first came into contact with Gondwāna, it contained four independent Go…

, (now simply known as Ḥiṣār; Anglo Indian: Hissār), a citadel town in the Indian Pand̲j̲āb, situated in 29 10′ N. and 75° 44′. E. on the railway from Lahore to Delhi via Bhat́t́ind́a ¶ [ q.v.]. It is the headquarters of the district, of the same name, which lies in a dry sandy plain, known from ancient times as Harīāna. It was founded by Fīrūz S̲h̲āh Tug̲h̲luḳ (reigned 752/1351-790/1388) in 757/1356, after whom it takes its name, on the site of two villages known as Kadās Buzurg and Kadās K̲h̲wurd (cf. S̲h̲ams Sirād̲j̲ ʿAfīf, Taʾrīk̲h̲-i Fīrūz S̲h̲āhī , Calcutta 1891, …

, town in East Pand̲j̲āb, India, situated 30° 21′ N and 76° 52′ E, 125 miles from Delhi on the way to Sirhind. The town consists of the old town and the cantonments, four miles away. The population in 1951 was 146,728. Though the neighbourhood of Ambāla played an important role in early Indian history, the town itself is first mentioned in the Safar-nāma-i Ḳāḍī Taḳī Muttaḳī (Bid̲j̲nawr 1909, 2 ff.), according to which it was occupied by the Muslims at the time of the second invasion of India by Muʿizz al-Dīn b. Sām in 587/1192. Iltutmis̲h̲ (608-33/1211-36) is reported to have appointed a ḳāḍī …

rose to power in Mysore (Mahisur) during the second half of the 18th century. His family claimed descent from the Ḳurays̲h̲ and to have migrated to India from Mecca at the end of the 10th/16th century. He was born in 1721 at Dodballāpur, 27 miles north-west of Bangalore. When he was five years of age his father, Fatḥ Muḥammad, a soldier of fortune, lost his life while in the service of the Nawāb of Sira. Left an orphan, Ḥaydar was brought up by his cousin, Ḥaydar Ṣāḥib, an officer in the Mysore …

, Mīrzā Maḥmūd b. Zayn al-Dīn Aḥmad, Nawwāb of Bengal, d. 1170/1757. The Nawwāb Nāẓims of Bengal arose, like local ruling families of this time in Ḥaydarābād and Awadh (Oudh) [ q.vv.], from provincial governorships of the declining Mug̲h̲al empire of the first half of the 12th/18th century. Sirād̲j̲ al-Dawla was the grandson and heir of ʿAlīwirdī K̲h̲ān Mahābat D̲j̲ang, ṣūbadār of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa for the Mug̲h̲al emperor. On ʿAlīwirdī K̲h̲ān’s death in 1169/1756, he himself became governor of Bengal and Bihar, Orissa having fallen into the hand of the Marāt́hās [ q.v.], against …

, mīr g̲h̲ulām ʿalī b. nūḥ al-ḥusaynī al-wāsiṭī , b. at Bilgrām on 25 Ṣafar 1116/29 June 1704; he received his early education from Mīr Ṭufayl Muḥammad Bilgrāmī ( Subḥat al-Mard̲j̲ān 99-4) and later studied with Mīr ʿĀbd al-Ḏj̲alīl Bilgrāmī ( Maʾāt̲h̲ir al-Kirām , i, 257-77). In 1151/1738 he performed the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina and learnt ḥadīt̲h̲ from S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ Muḥammad Ḥayāt Sindī al-Madanī and ʿAbd al-Wahhāb Ṭanṭāwī ( Maʾāt̲h̲ir al-Kirām, i, 162). He returned to India in 1152/1739, and settled at Awrangābād where he died in 1200/1786; he was buried at Ḵ…