Bhopal State (pronounced [bʱoːpaːl] ) was an Islamic principality, founded in the beginning of 18th-century India by the Afghan Mughal noble Dost Muhammad Khan. It was a tributary state within the Maratha Empire during the 18th century (1737–1818), a princely state with rights to a 19-gun salute in a subsidiary alliance with British India from 1818 to 1947, and an independent state from 1947 to 1949. Islamnagar was founded and served as the State's first capital, which was later shifted to the city of Bhopal.
The state was founded in 1707 by Dost Mohammad Khan, a Pashtun soldier in the Mughal army, who became a mercenary after the Emperor Aurangzeb's death and annexed several territories to his fiefdom. It came under the suzerainty of the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1723 shortly after its foundation. In 1737, the Marathas defeated the Mughals and the Nawab of Bhopal in the Battle of Bhopal, and started collecting tribute from the state. After the defeat of the Marathas in the Third Anglo-Maratha War, Bhopal became a British princely state in 1818. The state was merged into the Union of India in 1949 as Bhopal. In 1901 the state had a population of 665,961 people occupying 6,902 sq. miles of land and an average revenue of Rs. 25,00,000.
Bhopal state was unique for a continuous lineage of four female Nawabs who ruled its throne for over a century between 1819 and 1926. During this period, the state was noteworthy for its immense contributions to the development of Islamic religious activities, cultural reform and educational efforts which caused a growing appreciation for its rulers in Indian political circles. Some of the Islamic revival activities of the Bhopal state were met with disapproval by the British authorities.
Contents
History
Establishment
The State of Bhopal was established by Dost Mohammad Khan (1672–1728), a pashtun soldier in the Mughal Army. 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 the Berasia estate. Later, he usurped the Rajput principality of Mangalgarh and the Gond kingdom of Rani Kamlapati, after the death of their female rulers to whom he had been providing mercenary services. He also annexed several other territories in Malwa to his state.
During the early 1720s, Khan founded the city of Bhopal into a fortified city and assumed the title of Nawab. Khan became close to the Sayyid Brothers, who had become highly influential king-makers in the Mughal court. Khan's support to the Sayyids earned him the enmity of the rival Mughal nobleman Nizam-ul-Mulk, who invaded Bhopal in March 1724, forcing Khan to cede much of his territory, give up his son as a hostage, and accept the Nizam's suzerainty.
Dost Mohammad Khan and his Pakhtun Orakzai dynasty brought Islamic influence to the culture and architecture in the foundation of Bhopal. Aside from the city of Bhopal, which was his capital, Dost Mohammad Khan also renovated the nearby fort of Jagdishpur and renamed it Islamnagar. Yet, Dost Mohammad was fated to suffer defeat in his declining years. After Khan's death in 1728, the Bhopal state remained under the influence of the Orakzai dynasty.
In 1737, Marathas under the leadership of Peshwa Baji Rao I, defeated the forces of the Mughals and the Nawab of Bhopal in the Battle of Bhopal. Following the victory of the Marathas, Bhopal came under the suzerainty of the Maratha Empire as a semi-autonomous state and remained so until the Third Anglo-Maratha War in 1818.
Dost Mohammad Khan's son and successor, Nawab Yar Mohammad Khan (r.1728-1742), moved the capital from Bhopal to Islamnagar. However, his successor, Nawab Faiz Muhammed Khan (r.1742–1777), moved back to Bhopal, which would remain the capital of Bhopal State until its fall in 1949. Faiz Muhammad Khan was a religious recluse, and the state was effectively ruled by his influential stepmother Mamola Bai.
The state became a British protectorate in 1818 after the Third Anglo-Maratha War and was ruled by the Orakzai descendants of Dost Mohammad Khan until 1949, when it was annexed by the Dominion of India after a popular revolt against the ruling dynasty.
Early rulers
By the 1730s, Marathas under the leadership of Peshwa Baji Rao I, defeated the forces of the Mughals and the Nawab of Bhopal in the Battle of Bhopal. Following the victory of the Marathas, Bhopal came under the suzerainty of the Maratha Empire as a semi-autonomous state.
The Marathas conquered several nearby states, including Indore to the west and Gwalior to the north, but Bhopal remained a Muslim-ruled state under Dost Mohammed Khan's successors. Subsequently, Nawab Wazir Mohammed Khan, a general, created a stable semi-autonomous state.
Nawab Jahangir Mohammed Khan established a cantonment at a distance of one mile from the fort. This was called Jahangirabad after him. He built gardens and barracks for British guests and soldiers in Jahangirabad.
In 1778, during the First Anglo-Maratha War, when the British General Thomas Goddard campaigned across India, Bhopal was one of the few states that reached out to the British. In 1809, during the Second Anglo-Maratha War, General Close led a British expedition to Central India. The Nawab of Bhopal petitioned in vain to be received under British protection. In 1817, when the Third Anglo-Maratha War broke out, a treaty of dependence was signed between the British Government of India and the Nawab of Bhopal. Bhopal remained a friend of British Government during the British Raj in India.
In February–March 1818, Bhopal became a princely state in British India as a result of the Anglo-Bhopal treaty between the East India Company and Nawab Nazar Muhammad (Nawab of Bhopal during 1816–1819). Bhopal state included the present-day Bhopal, Raisen, and Sehore districts, and was part of the Central India Agency. It straddled the Vindhya Range, with the northern portion lying on the Malwa plateau, and the southern portion lying in the valley of the Narmada River, which formed the state's southern boundary. Bhopal Agency was formed as an administrative section of Central India, consisting the Bhopal state and some princely states to the northeast, including Khilchipur, Narsingarh, Rajgarh, and after 1931 the Dewas states. It was administered by an agent to the British Governor-General of India.
The rule of the Begums
Between 1819 and 1926, it was ruled by four women – Begums – unique in the royalty of those days. Qudsia Begum was the first woman ruler, who was succeeded by her only daughter Sikandar Begum, who in turn was succeeded by her only daughter, Shah Jahan Begum. Sultan Shah Jahan Begum was the last women ruler, who after 25 years of rule, abdicated in favour of her son, Hamidullah Khan. The rule of Begums gave the city its waterworks, railways, a postal system and a municipality constituted in 1907.
During this period, Bhopal state became a major hub of religious leaders and activists of the so-called Indian "Wahhabi" movement (the followers of Sayyid Ahmad Shahid) such as Munshi Jamal al-Din, Siddiq Hasan Khan, Abdul Jabbar, Abdul Rahman and Ali Karim. Siddiq Hasan Khan would eventually rise to position of virtual ruler of the state after his marriage to the widowed Shah Jahan Begum in 1870; resulting in the ascendancy of the Ahl-i Hadith movement. Various Islamic educational and political reforms were initiated by Khan and the doctrines of the Ahl-i Hadith became the state religion under his reign.
In 1819, 18-year-old Qudsia Begum (also known as Gohar Begum) took over the reins after the assassination of her husband. She was the first female ruler of Bhopal. She refused to follow the purdah tradition. She declared that her 2-year-old daughter Sikander will follow her as the ruler. None of the male family members dared to challenge her decision. She cared very well for her subjects and took her dinners only after receiving the news every night that all her subjects had taken meals. She built the Jama Masjid (mosque) and her beautiful palace the 'Gohar Mahal'(also called Nazar Bagh) in Bhopal. She ruled till 1837 when she died having adequately prepared her daughter for ruling the state.
In 1844, Sikander Begum succeeded her mother as the ruler of Bhopal.
During the Indian rebellion of 1857, she sided with the British and crushed all those who revolted against them. She did a lot of public welfare too – she built roads and reconstructed the fort. She also built the Moti Masjid (meaning the Pearl Mosque) and Moti Mahal (the Pearl Palace).
During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the Bhopal state sided with the East India Company, as per the treaty of 1818. The rebellion in Bhopal and neighbouring areas was suppressed by Sikander Begum in its initial stages.
After Indian independence
Sultan Kaikhusrau Jahan Begum's son, Nawab Hamidullah Khan, ascended the throne in 1926. He was Chancellor of the Chamber of Princes. He was the last ruling nawab of Bhopal. An active member of the independence movement, Hamidullah Khan was a delegate at the Round Table Conference from 1930 to 1932, an active member of the All-India Muslim League, and a close political ally of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. However, like the rulers of Kashmir, Hyderabad, Sikkim, and others, he desired to maintain his state's autonomy. Bhopal, along with Hyderabad and Travancore, became one of the Indian princely states which officially refused to join either the Dominion of India or the Dominion of Pakistan. As a Muslim ruler in Central India, Hamidullah Khan opposed the Partition of India, in part because he feared it would marginalise Muslims outside West or East Pakistan, and instead sought regional Muslim autonomy within India.
Hamidullah Khan expressed his wish to retain Bhopal as a separate independent state in March 1948. Agitations against the Nawab broke out in December 1948, leading to the arrest of prominent leaders including Bhai Ratan Kumar Gupta and Shankar Dayal Sharma, the future president of India on 5 & 6 January 1949 respectively. Sharma was sentenced to eight months imprisonment for violating restrictions on public meetings; some other satyagrahis like Ram charan Rai, Biharilal Ghatt, Thakur Lalsingh, Laxminarayan Sinhal were also arrested. Amidst the Vilinikaran Andolan, many were shot dead by the Nawabi police, including the martyrs of Boras. Sardar Patel took the situation seriously, sent V P Menon for the Merger Agreement negotiations on 23 January 1949. Later, in February 1949, the political detainees were released and the Nawab Bhopal had to sign the agreement for merger on 30 April 1949.
The Bhopal princely state was taken over by the Union Government of India on 1 June 1949. The new Bhopal State was declared a "Part C" state, governed by a chief commissioner appointed by the President of India. Sindhi refugees from Pakistan were accommodated in Bairagarh, a western suburb of Bhopal.
The eldest daughter of Nawab Hamidullah Khan and presumptive heiress, Abida Sultan, gave up her right to the throne and opted for Pakistan in 1950. Therefore, the Government of India excluded her from the succession and her younger sister Begum Sajida succeeded in her stead. In 1971, all princely titles and privy purses were abolished by the Indian government.
List of rulers of Bhopal
Nawab Dost Mohammad Khan (1707–1728). Afghan adventurer with a flair for opportunism and intrigue, and few if any scruples. Came to India as a youth, took service in the Mughal army, and later founded Bhopal State during the anarchy following the death of emperor Aurangzeb.
Sultan Muhammad Khan (1728–1742). Born 1720, legitimate son of Dost Mohammad. Succeeded aged eight under the regency of his much older half-brother. Attempted to seize real power in 1742 when the regent died, but was defeated by the regent's family. Abdicated the throne in return for an estate.
Nawab Yar Mohammad Khan (regent and de facto ruler, 1728-42). Eldest but illegitimate son of Dost Mohammad. Never proclaimed himself ruler.
Nawab Faiz Mohammad Khan (1742–1777). Eldest son of regent Yar Mohammad. A religious and unworldly man, he left administration to his step-mother, Mamola Bai, a lady of Rajput birth who had been instrumental in securing the throne for him. No children.
Nawab Hayat Mohammad Khan (1777–1807). Second son of Yar Mohammad. When besieged by the Marathas in 1795, he sought the help of a distant but agnatic cousin, Wazir Mohammad, and later put him in charge of administration. Thus did Wazir Khan, ancestor of the future royal family, gain ascendency in the Bhopal court.
Nawab Ghous Mohammad Khan (1807–1826). Son of Hayat Mohammad and father of Begum Qudsia. He lost confidence in himself after losing battles to the Marathas in the first few months of his reign. He remained Nawab till his death, but appointed Wazir Mohammad as regent and himself lived quietly at Raisen on a pension.
("Regent" and de facto ruler) Nawab Wazir Mohammad Khan (reign of Ghous Mohammad Khan) – (1807–1816)
("Regent" and de facto ruler) Nawab Nazir Mohammad Khan (born 1793, tenure 1816–1819) - Second son of Wazir Mohammad Khan. Succeeded his father as regent and quickly became a favourite of Nawab Ghous Mohammad, who gave him his daughter Qudsia in marriage. During his brief tenure, Bhopal entered into subsidiary alliance with the British and regained significant territory as part of the agreement. He died aged 26 in a gun-related accident, leaving only one daughter.