Darya Khan Daudzai was a horse trader from a village near Peshawar who later joined the Mughal service and became a high-ranking Mughal mansabdar. In 1630, he joined the rebellion of Khan Jahan Lodi and was a key figure in convincing the latter to make it a cause for ending Mughal rule in both India and Afghanistan. Their efforts were unsuccessful, and they suffered defeats at the hands of the Mughals.
After these failures, a large number of Pashtuns deserted Khan Jahan Lodi, leaving him with a small army. However, Darya Khan Daudzai stuck with Khan Jahan Lodi to the end. On the advice of Darya Khan Daudzai and some other Pashtun nobles, Khan Jahan Lodi decided to move to Punjab to get help from the Pashtuns of Pakhtunkhwa. Since all roads to Punjab through Malwa were blocked by Mughal forces, Khan Jahan Lodi decided to push on to Kalpi through Bundela territory.
During a journey through Bundela territory, now part of modern Uttar Pradesh, the rear guard of Khan Jahan Lodi's army was ambushed by the forces of Bikramajit Bundela, acting on behalf of his Mughal sovereign. Darya Khan Daudzai, commanding the rear guard with just 400 soldiers, chose to engage the attackers to allow Khan Jahan Lodi to escape. Darya Khan was fatally shot in the head by a musket ball, and all 400 Pashtun soldiers, including one of his sons, died heroically in the battle. Bikramajit then severed the heads of both Darya Khan and his son and sent them to the Mughal court. Thanks to the sacrifices of Darya Khan Daudzai and his men, Khan Jahan Lodi managed to escape on this occasion, though a month later, he and his entire family also perished in battle.
References: (1) Padshahnama by Abdul Hamid Lahori (2) Maathir-ul-Umara by Shah Nawaz Khan (3) Zakhirat al-Khawanin by Shaikh Farid Bukhari.
The following painting is attributed to Balchand who was one of the many Hindu painters working under the Mughals during the reigns of both Jahangir and Shah Jahan.
No comments:
Post a Comment