Rohilkhand

Rohilkhand means the "land of the Rohilla." The term Rohilla first became common in the 17th century, with Rohilla used to refer to the people coming from the land of Roh. Roh was originally a geographical term that corresponded with the territory stretching from Swat and Bajaur in the north to Sibi in the south, and from Hasan Abdal (Attock) in the east to Kabul and Kandahar in the west.[2] A majority of the Rohillas migrated from Pashtunistan to North India between the 17th and 18th centuries.

Rohilkhand lies on the upper Ganges alluvial plain and has an area of about 25,000 km²/10,000 square miles (in and around the Bareilly and Moradabad divisions).

The Ganges Doab to the south and west, Kumaon to the north, Nepal to the east, and the Awadh region to the southeast mark its borders.

Rohilkhand includes the cities of Amroha, Bahjoi, Bareilly, Bijnore, Budaun, Kakrala, Khutar, Moradabad, Najibabad, Pilibhit, Rampur, and Shahjahanpur.

The Rohilla Afghan leader Daud Khan lead the settlement in the Katehar region in northern India on order of the Mogul emperor Aurangzeb (ruled 1658–1707) as part of an effort to suppress the Katheria Rajputs uprisings. Rohilla Rajput's first king was Raja Ram Singh Katheria. These Rohilla Rajputs contains 18 reputed clans of Rajput Vansh. Some of these clans are Chauhan, Rathore, Gehlot, Sisodiya, Nikumbh, and Pundir. Originally, some 20,000 soldiers from various Pashtun tribes (Yusafzai, Ghori, Osmani, Ghilzai, Barech, Marwat, Tareen, Kakar, Naghar, Afridi and Khattak) were hired as soldiers by the Monguls. Aurangzeb was impressed with their performance and an additional force of 25,000 Pashtuns were recruited from modern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan and were given respected positions in the Mogul Army. Nearly all of Pashtuns settled in the Katehar region and also brought their families from modern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan. During Nadir Shah's invasion of northern India in 1739, lead 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 gained fame as Rohilkhand. Bareilly was made the capital of the Rohilkhand state and it became Pashtun majority city with Gali Nawaban as the main royal street. Other important cities were Moradabad, Rampur, Shahjahanpur, Badaun, and others.[3][4]

The Marathas were requested by Safdarjung, the Nawab of Oudh, in 1752, to help him defeat Pashtun Rohilla. The Maratha forces and Awadh forces besieged the Rohillas, who had sought refuge in Kumaon but had to retreat when Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded India.[5][6]

After the Third Battle of Panipat fought in 1761 between the Ahmad Shah Durrani and Maratha Empire, thousands of Pashtun and Baloch soldiers settled in northern India. These diverse ethnic, cultural and linguistic groups merged over the centuries to form the Urdu speaking Muslims of South Asia.

In 1772, Marathas, led by Mahadji Shinde, defeated Rohilla chieftain Zabita Khan, whose possessions lay waste to Rohilkhand. They subsequently destroyed the Rohilla tribal chief Najib-ul-Daula's grave, scattering his bones.[7] During 1772–73, Mahadji destroyed Pashtun Rohillas and captured Najibabad. After plundering Rohillakhand, Maratha proceeded towards Oudh. Foreseeing the same fate as Rohilla, Nawab made frantic calls to British troops in Bengal.

The British company knew Nawab of Oudh posed no danger for the British company, whereas the Maratha wanted to invade Bengal and Bihar after overrunning Oudh. The British dispatched 20,000 British troops on the order of the Viceroy of British India to free Rohillakhand from Maratha and give it to Nawab. The Maratha and British armies came face to face in Ram Ghat, but the sudden demise of the Peshwa and the civil war in Pune to choose the next Peshwa forced the Maratha to retreat. Rohilla decided not to pay, absent a war between the two states. The British made Oudh a buffer state in order to protect it from the Maratha, and from there on, British troops protected Oudh. The subsidy of one British brigade to provide protection to Nawab and Oudh from Maratha was decided to be Rs 2,10,000.[8]

Rohilkhand was under the rule of Rohillas with their capital in City of Bareilly until the Rohilla War of 1774–75. The Rohillas were defeated and driven from Bareilly by the Nawab of Oudh with the assistance of EEIC troops. The state of Rampur was then established under the Nawab of Oudh. In 1803, the British annexed Rohilkhand in Upper Doab.

• Nawabs of Rampur

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Rohilkhand

• Sarai Rohilla Railway Station
• Jewan
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