Isa Khan Munj

Isa Khan Munj, was a Punjabi Muslim warlord from the Munj tribe of the cis-Sutlej territory in the Mughal Empire.[1][2][3] He is credited with the killing of the Mughal prince Azam Shah during the Battle of Jajau, and for establishing an independent territory that defied Mughal authority.

Isa Khan belonged to the Munj Rajput tribe of the Jalandhar Doab. He collected an armed retinue, grabbing the land of others and plundering trade caravans. He constructed the Isa Khan Kot.[4] During the Battle of Jajau, he served Shah Alam I and struck Azam Shah with a bullet to the head.[5] In 1711, Isa Khan in the Battle of Hoshiarpur inflicted a severe defeat on the Sikhs who had risen up against the Mughals under Banda Singh and sacked the provincial capital of Sirhind a year prior.[6] For his military services in helping enthrone Jahandar Shah, he was made a mansabdar of 5000, and the deputy Faujdar of the Doab. However, he forcibly collected rent for himself and the imperial officers were not able to collect from the jagirs in the region. He gained control of the land extending from Badresa at the Beas river to his headquarters at Tihara along the Sutlej.[7] He killed Kapura Brar, the chief of Kotkapura and an ancestor of the dynasty of the Faridkot state.[8] He plundered the caravans of Delhi and Lahore.[9] In 1718, he rose in rebellion against the Mughals,[10] instigated by Khan-i Dauran. During this time period even the Lahore governor Abd al-Samad Khan famed for supressing Banda Singh's rebellion could not proceed from Delhi to Lahore without precautions.[1] Later it was in this rebellion that Isa Khan along with his father Daulat Khan, were killed by the combined strength of the Mughal forces and the Brars of Kotkapura.[8]

References
  1. Hari Ram Gupta (1944). Studies In Later Mughal History Of The Punjab 1707 To 1793. pp. 27–28.
  2. G. P. Ranken (1895). Notes on the Pathans of the Pathan Recruiting District. the University of Wisconsin - Madison. p. 28.
  3. The Panjab Past and Present: Volume 21. Department of Punjab Historical Studies, Punjabi University. 1987.
  4. James Sutherland Cotton (1907). Imperial Gazetteer of India. Clarendon Press. p. 90.
  5. William Irvine (1971). Later Mughal. Atlantic Publishers & Distri. p. 33.
  6. Irvine, William (1971). Later Mughal. Atlantic Publishers & Distri. p. 119.
  7. Surinder Singh (2022). Medieval Panjab in Transition:Authority, Resistance and Spirituality C.1500 – C.1700.
  8. Harbans Singh (1992). The Encyclopedia of Sikhism. p. 306-307. ISBN 9788173802041.
  9. Shāhnavāz Khān Awrangābādī (1979). The Maāt̲h̲ir-ul-umarā. Janaki Prakashan. p. 688.
  10. Surjit Singh Gandhi (1999). Sikhs in the Eighteenth Century:Their Struggle for Survival and Supremacy. Singh Bros. p. 77. ISBN 9788172052171.


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