Muhammad Khan Bangash

The first immigrants to Mau were the descendants of the Khwaja Bayazid Ansari, the ethnic Ormur leader and founder of the Roshaniyya movement who had settled in Mau and Shamsabad. Muhammad Khan's father, Ain Khan Bangash, who belonged Karlani Khaghzai clan[7] of the Pashtun Bangash tribe had migrated from his native lands in the time of Aurangzeb and settled in Mau Rashidabad, gained service under the descendants of the Ansaris, married in Mau and had left two sons.[8] His son, Muhammad Khan, gained a reputation as one of the most powerful of the Indo-Afghan mercenaries who inhabited that part of Hindustan, and eventually came to establish the territories that were consolidated into the state of Farrukhabad. He was rewarded the jagir of Farrukhabad area and part of Bundelkhand.[7][9] In India they were referred to as qaum-i-bangash which became a wider and more diffused label.

Being few in number, the bulk of Muhammad Khan's soldiers were elite slaves known as 'disciples', who played a significant role as a kind of artificial family in-group attached to their patron. These were primarily former Hindu Rajputs and sometimes Brahmins who were adopted, converted to Islam, given a new name and submitted to a regime of religious, literary and military training which was focused on the transformation of the recruit's identity. Hence the natural sons of Muhammad Khan were to be considered the brothers of the adopted sons, who were referred to as 'atfal-i-sarkar' or children of the state.[10] Before Muhammad Khan's death, the separation between the various tribes and castes broke down, forming a homogenous group, so that Muhammad Khan had founded his own Indian Muslim tribe or caste. To increase his independence from his nobles further, he continued to encourage immigration from the northwest.[11]

The state of Farrukhabad was named after Muhammad Khan's patron the Emperor Farrukhsiyar.[7][1][12] In 1713, he was appointed a courtier by Emperor Farrukhsiyar and founded the town of Farrukhabad in 1714. [2] He founded the town of Mohammadabad after his name and the town of Qaimganj after his son Qaim Khan's name.[7] During Saadat Khan's journey to Awadh, he stayed at Farrukhabad. Muhammad Khan Bangash gave him information about the strength, pride and resources of Shaikhzadas (a community which ruled Lucknow).[13] He advised Khan to befriend the sheikhs of Kakori, adversaries of the Shaikhzadas, before entering Lucknow. Bangash became Saadat Khan's closest ally. However, Saadat Khan began to go out of his ways to curry favour with the emperor. This obsession annoyed other nawabs and subahdars. Among them was Bangash himself, who was angry at the latter for backing Chhatrasal and instigating him.[7]

He served in the campaign led by the Sayyid Brothers against the Jat leader Churaman (October 1722 - September 1723) and Ajit Singh of Marwar.[14] In 1730, emperor Muhammad Shah appointed him as the Subahdar of Malwa. However, he was unable to cope with the repeated Maratha incursions and was removed from the post in 1732. He was appointed Subahdar of Allahabad for the admirable job he did against Chhatrasal the first time.[7] On account of his failure in Bundelkhand against Chhatrasal the second time, he was removed from the governorship of Allahabad as well.[1]

At his death his dominions included the entire Doab from Koil in the North, to Kora in the South, including all of Farrukhabad and parts of Cawnpore, Shahjahanpur, Budaun and Aligarh.[15][2] His brother Himmat Khan Bangash was the father of Nawab Murtaza Khan of Jahangirabad, and the grandfather of the Urdu poet Nawab Mustafa Khan Shefta.[16]

Muhammad Khan Bangash was illiterate and could not understand a single word of Persian due to which he had to be accompanied by one of his sons.[5][4] He was also unable to understand either Turki or Pashto.[18] Contemporaries were amazed by the discrepancy between his great wealth & power and his simple personal habits. However, this roughness and general lack of adab could be rather embarrassing, especially during audiences at the imperial Mughal court. His descendants were more fully accommodated to the royal nawabi lifestyle and the etiquette of an Indo-Persian court.[4]

Muhammad Khan practised the Indian custom of Utara, the act of dismounting, tying the tunics together and fighting on foot to the death, a peculiarity of Indian Muslims horsemen of which they were very proud, which William Irvine says specially affected Indians such as the Barha Sayyids. This was something boasted by the Hindustani Muslims to be proof of exceptional courage.[19] He had his soldiers dismount and tie the skirts of their heavy plaited coats (Jamaah) to fight to the death when in crisis.[20][21]

Muhammad Khan Bangash was succeeded by his eldest son Qaim Khan in 1743.[22][7] Qaim Khan was later succeeded by Ahmad Khan Bangash, his younger brother and Muhammad Khan Bangash's second son.[2][4][1]

These were the following Nawabs of Farrukhabad-[1]

• Nawab Muhammad Khan Bangash
• Nawab Qaim-Jang Qaim Khan Qaim-ud-daula
• Nawab Ahmad Khan Bangash (took part in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761 alongside Ahmad Shah Abdali )
• Nawab Muzaffar-Jang Daler Himmat Khan
• Nawab Nasir-Jang Imdad Hussain Khan
• Nawab Tafazzul Hussain Khan

• Srivastava, Ashirbadi Lal (1954), The First Two Nawabs of Awadh, Shiva Lal Agarwal