Daulat Khan Mayi
Daulat Khan Mayi | |
|---|---|
 Daulat Khan (Khawas Khan) in c. 1620.[1] | |
| Mughal governor of Thatta | |
| In office 2 July 1635 – 24 June 1640 | |
| Monarch | Shah Jahan |
| Preceded by | Yusuf Muhammad Khan Tashqandi |
| Succeeded by | Khawaja Kamgar Ghayrat Khan |
| Mughal governor of Kandahar | |
| In office 27 August 1646 – 22 February 1649 | |
| Preceded by | Sai'd Khan |
| Succeeded by | Mihrab Khan (as Safavid governor) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1590 |
| Died | c. 1650 |
Daulat Khan Mayi, also known as Khawas Khan and Daulat Khan Bhatti, was a Mughal administrator who served as Subahdar (governor) of Thatta Subah during 1635–1640 and then of Kandahar during 1646–1649. His surrender of the fort of Kandahar to the Safavid ruler Shah Abbas II on 22 February 1649 after a siege of 57 days marked the third and final loss of Kandahar by the Mughals.
Early life
Daulat Khan was born in the Subah of Lahore in c. 1590 and belonged to the Mayi clan of the Bhatti tribe of Punjab. He started his career in the service of Sheikh Farid Bukhari, a prominent noble, and owing to his physical beauty and valour soon caught the attention of emperor Jahangir. He was made the captain of imperial guard, and after distinguishing himself in the Deccan wars, rose to be the commander of 5000 during the reign of Shah Jahan.[2]
Career
On 2 July 1635 Daulat Khan was appointed to the Thatta Subah with a rank of 3000/2000, where he remained until 24 June 1640.[3][4] Much of his tenure at Thatta was uneventful other than an episode in 1636 in which he arrested an imposter of the rebel Mughal prince Baisunghar and sent him to the imperial court where he was put to death.[5]
On 27 August 1646,[4] Daulat Khan was appointed with a rank of 4000/4000 (promoted to 5000/5000 on 13 May 1647)[4] to the governorship of Kandahar, over which Safavids had claim since the time of Tahmasp I. Hearing of the disaster of the Mughal army at Balkh and Badakhshan, Shah Abbas II led an army of 40,000 to Kandahar and besieged it in December 1648. The Mughal garrison under Daulat Khan fought for one and a half months but by February defeatist attitude spread among the soldiers, who due to winter did not hope for reinforcement to arrive before spring. When Daulat Khan tried to enforce discipline it resulted in a mutiny. Ultimately, Daulat Khan surrendered the fort to Shah Abbas on 22 February, 1649.[6] He died shortly after.[1]
References
- 1 2 Coomaraswamy, Ananda (1930). "School of Jahangir (1606–1628)". Mughal Painting. Catalogue of the Indian Collections in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Vol. VI. Harvard University Press. p. 45. OCLC 718504799.
- ↑ Sarkar, Sir Jadunath (1912). "First Siege of Qandahar". History of Aurangzib: Reign of Shah Jehan. M.C. Sarkar & sons. pp. 134–138. OCLC 5733274.
- ↑ Lari, Suhail Zaheer (1994). "The Mughals". A History of Sindh. Oxford University Press. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-19-577501-3.
- 1 2 3 Lahauri, Abdul-Hamid (2025). Thackston, W. M. (ed.). Padshahnama: A Chronicle of the Reign of Shahjahan. Iranian and Persian Studies. Vol. 2: 1637–1647. Translated by Thackston, W. M. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. pp. 96, 276, 325. doi:10.1007/978-981-96-5925-8. ISBN 978-981-96-5924-1.
- ↑ Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (2005). "The Legend of Sultan Bulaqi and the Estado da India, 1628–40". Explorations in Connected History: Mughals and Franks. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. pp. 115–116. ISBN 978-0-19-566866-7.
- ↑ Eraly, Abraham (2000). "The Paradise on Earth". Emperors of the Peacock Throne: The Saga of the Great Mughals. New Delhi: Penguin Books. pp. 322–323. ISBN 978-0-14-100143-2.
Further reading
- Khan, Samsamudaula Shah Nawaz (2003). "Daulat Khan Mayi". Maathir-ul-Umara. Vol. I. Translated by Beveridge, H.; Prashad, Baini (2nd ed.). Kolkata: The Asiatic Society. pp. 467–471. ISBN 81-7236-145-9.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link) CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - Kewal, Ram (1985). "Daulat Khan Bhatti". Tazkiratul-umara of Kewal Ram: Biographical Account of the Mughal Nobility, 1556–1707 A.D. Translated by Husain, S. M. Azizuddin. Munshiram Manoharlal. pp. 66–67.