Rai Ahmad Khan Kharal

Rai Ahmad Khan Kharal
Nawab of Jhamra
Sardar
Ravi da Raath
(King of Ravi)
Bornc. 1776
Jhamra, Sial State
(present-day Faisalabad District, Punjab, Pakistan)
Died21 September 1857(1857-09-21) (aged 80–81)
Gogera, Punjab Province, British India
(present-day Okara District, Punjab, Pakistan)
Burial1857
Jhamra, Punjab
DynastyKharal
FatherRai Nathu Khan Kharal
MotherFateh Bibi Kamoka
ReligionSunni Islam
Occupation

Rai Ahmad Khan Kharal[a] (c. 1776 – 21 September 1857), also known as Baba Kharal, was a Punjabi Muslim chieftain of the Kharal tribe who led the Gogera movement, a tribal rebellion in the Bar region of Punjab against the East India Company, during the Indian rebellion of 1857. He is regarded as a martyr and folk hero.[1][2][3]

Earlier in the 19th century, he fought against the rising power of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the Punjab as a youngster. According to local historical accounts, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh offered Ahmad Khan Kharal a gift, he instead requested the release of Muslim prisoners and captives held by the Sikh authorities, a request that was granted.[4] Ranjit Singh is also reported to have avoided direct confrontation with Kharal by bypassing his territories.[5] As an elderly man in his late seventies, he fought against the expansion of the British Empire, and was subsequently martyred by British forces.[6]

Biography

Ahmad Khan Kharal was born in Jhamra, near Tandlianwala, Faisalabad District into a landowning family of the Kharals[7][8] which was prominent in the Bar region. The Kharals are held to have embraced Islam through the influence of Baba Farid.[9]

The Kharals had vied for dominance with Bar tribal groups such as the Baghela, Kathia, Wattoo, Fatayana and others. Ahmad Khan Kharal was able to maintain influence and control over all of the Sandal Bar.[10]

Leopold Oliver Fitzhardinge Berkeley, better known as Lord Berkley, was the Assistant Commissioner of Gugera in 1857. He held a meeting with important personalities of Gugera including Ahmad Khan Kharal. Berkley demanded all the leaders to supply the British with men (soldiers) and horses to crush the ongoing revolt. To this, Ahmad Khan Kharal replied: "Kharals do not share women, horses and land with anyone" and left.[7]

Role in the Revolt of 1857

On July 8, the British arrested a large number of Joiya tribesmen, women and children after they refused to pay the heavy taxes.[10] When Ahmad Khan Kharal received this news, he planned to break into the Gugera jail and rescue the innocent people imprisoned there. With help of his Baghela, Fatayana, Wattoo and Kathia allies, Ahmad Khan Kharal attacked the Gugera Jail around 26 July. According to British records, 17 prisoners were killed, 33 were injured and 18 fled.[11][12] But native accounts disagree suggesting that 145 prisoners died and 100+ East India Company troops were also killed.[13] The British arrested Ahmad Khan Kharal but released him due to pressure from local tribes and insufficient evidence available to charge him.[10] Kharal continued resisting against the British after being released.[2]

In order to arrest Ahmad Khan Kharal, Berkley attacked Jhamra but was unsuccessful although he imprisoned 20 civilians including Ahmad Khan Kharal's youngest son Bala Khan Kharal. The British also took with them a large number of cattle.[10] Ahmad Khan Kharal with the help of Baghela, Kathia, Wattoo, Fatayana and Joiya tribesmen started a guerrilla campaign against the British. According to Punjab government records, the rebels numbered 20,000 to 30,000 men at their height.[12] John Cave-Browne writes that these rebels took refuge in thick jungles and grass and attacked in groups of 3,000-5,000 guerrillas. The sound of drum beating was the sign that they would attack.[14] The connection of Jhang to Lahore was completely cut on account of their actions. Ahmad Khan Kharal planned a major assault on Gugera with other tribal leaders in a secret meeting but the information was leaked by Sarfraz Kharal of Kamalia to the British. The British prepared themselves to face the upcoming assault and when the rebels attacked they were repulsed with heavy losses.[10]

Ahmad Khan Kharal with his companions fled to the jungles of Gashkori and continued the struggle. The British received news about Ahmad Khan Kharal's presence in the jungles of Gashkori and a force under Captain Black was sent there. The detachment succeeded in killing Ahmad Khan Kharal while he was offering afternoon prayers on 21 September 1857.[2][10][14] Many of his close companions, such as his deputy Sarang Khan Kharal, were also killed in this engagement.[14]

Acknowledging the profound impact of the fallen chief, Lieutenant N.W. Elphinstone wrote in his official report:[12]

"This expedition, though attended with severe loss on our side, thus ended in irreparable disaster for to the insurgents. Ahmad Khan (Kharral) had been chief instigator of the movement; his reputation for success in former insurrections was considerable, and his influece over the tribes on the Ravee unbounded."

Murad Fatayana, a trusted associate of Ahmad Khan Kharal, took revenge of Ahmad Khan's killing and killed Lord Berkley alongside 50 British and Indian troops in a successful attack two days after Kharal's death.[15] The rebellion continued until it ended in 1858 as local tribes lost to British reinforcements.[10][14][13]

Death

Tomb of Rai Ahmad Khan Kharal in Jhamra

Ahmad Khan Kharal’s head was decapitated and put on display at Gugera Jail.[16] A few days later, one of his supporters stole the head and buried it in his ancestral graveyard in Jhamra.[16] The local dhola poems recited after his death describe Ahmad Khan's martyrdom as Britain lowering the head of Punjab:[17]

احمد خاں شہید ہویا تاں سِر پَنجاب دے نوُں جا گھَتیا اے ہَتھ

With Ahmad Khan's martyrdom, Britain has lowered the head of Punjab.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Punjabi: رائے احمد خاں کَھرل, pronounced [ɾaːeː ɛɦməd̪ xãː kʰəˈɾəl]

References

  1. ↑ Butt, Saeed Ahmed (July–December 2015). "Rai Ahmad Khan Kharral (Myth or Reality)" (PDF). Journal of the Punjab University Historical Society. 28 (3). Punjab University, Lahore: 173–191. ISSN 2415-5373. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 May 2018. Retrieved 6 January 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 Shahid Siddiqui (17 October 2016). "Ahmed Khan Kharal and the Raj". The News International newspaper. Archived from the original on 30 November 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
  3. ↑ "Past in Perspective (Profile of Rai Ahmad Khan Kharal)". The Nation newspaper. 25 June 2019. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
  4. ↑ "Rai Ahmad Khan Kharral" (PDF). Butt, S. A. (2015). Journal of the Punjab University Historical Society (JPUHS), 28(2), 173–190, p. 175.
  5. ↑ Sargana, Turab-ul-Hassan. "Gugera Movement 1857: Nature, Extent and Significance". Journal of Pakistan Vision 14, no. 2 (2013): 200–201.
  6. ↑ Neeraj A. Gupta. The Role of the Indian Diaspora in the Indian National Freedom Movement (Ahmad Khan Kharal: Rises as Free Fighter). Cambridge Scholars Publishing via Google Books. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-0364-4543-0.
  7. 1 2 Miraj, Muhammad Hassan (15 April 2013). "Kharal and Berkley". Dawn. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2026.
  8. ↑ Miraj, Muhammad Hassan (22 April 2013). "Kharal and Berkley II". Dawn. Archived from the original on 19 June 2013.
  9. ↑ Eaton, Richard M. (July 2009). "Shrines, Cultivators, and Muslim 'Conversion' in Punjab, 1300–1700". The Medieval History Journal. 12 (2): 191–220. doi:10.1177/097194580901200202. ISSN 0971-9458.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sargana, Turab ul Hasan (2020). Punjab and the War of Independence 1857-1858 from Collaboration to Resistance (1st ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press via Google Books. ISBN 9780190701840.
  11. ↑ General Report on the Administration of the Punjab Territories, from 1856-57 to 1857-58 Inclusive: Together with a Brief Account of the Administration of the Delhi Territory, from the Re-occupation of Delhi Up to May 1858. Printed at the Chronicle Press, by Mahomed Azeem. 1854.
  12. 1 2 3 Government Records: Mutiny records. Correspondence and reports. Lahore, India: Punjab Government Press. 1911. p. 49.
  13. 1 2 "Tributes to A.D. Aijaz, the oral historian of Kharal's resistance". Dawn. 8 July 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Cave-Browne, John (1861). The Punjab and Delhi in 1857: Being a Narrative of the Measures by which the Punjab was Saved and Delhi Recovered During the Indian Mutiny. William Blackwood and Sons.
  15. ↑ Punjab (India) (1911). Government Records: Mutiny records. Correspondence and reports. Punjab Government Press. p. 51.
  16. 1 2 Mirzā, Shafqat Tanvīr (1992). Resistance themes in Punjabi literature. Internet Archive. Lahore, Pakistan : Sang-e-Meel Publications. pp. 111–112. ISBN 978-969-35-0101-8.
  17. ↑ Sargana, Turab ul Hassan (2020). Punjab and the War of Independence 1857-1858 from Collaboration to Resistance. Oxford University Press. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-19-070184-0.
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