Pashtuns
The Pashtuns known as ethnic Afghans and Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who live in Pakistan and Afghanistan in South-Central Asia. They speak the Pashto language and adhere to Pashtunwali, a traditional set of ethics guiding individual and communal conduct; the ethnogenesis of the Pashtun ethnic group is unclear but historians have come across references to various ancient peoples called Pakthas between the 2nd and the 1st millennium BC, who may be their early ancestors. Their history is spread amongst the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan, centred on their traditional seat of power in that region. Globally, the Pashtuns are estimated to number around 50 million, but an accurate count remains elusive due to the lack of an official census in Afghanistan since 1979; the majority of the Pashtuns live in the region regarded as Pashtunistan, split between the two countries since the Durand Line border was formed after the Second Anglo-Afghan War. There are significant Pashtun diaspora communities in the provinces of Sindh and Punjab in Pakistan, in particular in the cities of Karachi and Lahore.
A recent Pashtun diaspora has developed in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf in the United Arab Emirates. The Pashtuns are a significant minority group in Pakistan, where they constitute the second-largest ethnic group or about 15% of the population; as the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, Pashtuns have been the dominant ethno-linguistic group for over 300 years. During the Delhi Sultanate era, the 15th–16th century Lodi dynasty replaced the preexisting rulers in North India until Babur deposed the Lodi dynasty. Other Pashtuns fought the Safavids and Mughals before obtaining an independent state in the early 18th century, which began with a successful revolution by Mirwais Hotak followed by conquests of Ahmad Shah Durrani; the Barakzai dynasty played a vital role during the Great Game from the 19th century to the 20th century as they were caught between the imperialist designs of the British and Russian empires. The Pashtuns are the world's largest segmentary lineage ethnic group. Estimates of the number of Pashtun tribes and clans range from about 350 to over 400.
There have been many notable Pashtun people throughout history: Ahmad Shah Durrani is regarded as the founder of the modern state of Afghanistan, while Bacha Khan was a Pashtun independence activist against the rule of the British Raj. Some others include Malala Yousafzai, Shah Rukh Khan, Zarine Khan, Imran Khan, Farhad Darya, Abdul Ahad Mohmand, Ahmad Zahir, Zakir Husain, Hamid Karzai, Ashraf Ghani, Mullah Mohammed Omar; the vast majority of the Pashtuns are found in the traditional Pashtun homeland, located in an area south of the Amu Darya in Afghanistan and west of the Indus River in Pakistan, which includes Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern part of Balochistan. Additional Pashtun communities are located in Western and Northern Afghanistan, the Gilgit–Baltistan and Kashmir regions and northwestern Punjab province, Pakistan. There are sizeable Muslim communities in India, which are of Pashtun ancestry. Throughout the Indian subcontinent, they are referred to as Pathans. Smaller Pashtun communities are found in the countries of the Middle East, such as in the Khorasan Province of Iran, the Arabian Peninsula, North America and Australia.
Important metropolitan centres of Pashtun culture include Peshawar, Quetta, Mardan and Jalalabad. In Pakistan, the city of Karachi in Sindh province has the largest Pashtun diaspora communities in the world, with as much as 7 million Pashtuns living in Karachi according to some estimates. Several cities in Pakistan's Punjab province have sizeable Pashtun populations, in particular Lahore. About 15% of Pakistan's nearly 200 million population is Pashtun. In Afghanistan, they are the largest ethnic group and make up between 42–60% of the 32.5 million population. The exact figure remains uncertain in Afghanistan, affected by the 1.3 million or more Afghan refugees that remain in Pakistan, a majority of which are Pashtuns. Another one million or more Afghans live in Iran. A cumulative population assessment suggests a total of around 49 million individuals all across the world. A prominent institution of the Pashtun people is the intricate system of tribes; the Pashtuns remain a predominantly tribal people, but the trend of urbanisation has begun to alter Pashtun society as cities such as Kandahar, Peshawar and Kabul have grown due to the influx of rural Pashtuns.
Despite this, many people still identify themselves with various clans. The tribal system has several levels of organisation: the tribe, tabar, is divided into kinship groups called khels, in turn divided into smaller groups, each consisting of several extended families called kahols. Pashtun tribes are divided into four'greater' tribal groups: the Sarbani, the Bettani, the Gharghashti, the Karlani. Excavations of prehistoric sites suggest that early humans were living in what is now Afghanistan at least 50,000 years ago. Since the 2nd millennium BC, cities in the region now inhabited by Pashtuns have seen invasions and migrations, including by Ancient Indian peoples, Ancient Iranian peoples, the Medes and Ancient Macedonians in antiquity, Hephthalites, Turks and others. In recent times, people of the Western world have explored the area as well. Most historians acknowledge that the origin of the Pashtuns is some
Presidencies and provinces of British India
The Provinces of India, earlier Presidencies of British India and still earlier, Presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in India. Collectively, they were called British India. In one form or another, they existed between 1612 and 1947, conventionally divided into three historical periods: Between 1612 and 1757 the East India Company set up "factories" in several locations in coastal India, with the consent of the Mughal emperors or local rulers, its rivals were the merchant trading companies of Portugal, the Netherlands and France. By the mid-18th century three "Presidency towns": Madras and Calcutta, had grown in size. During the period of Company rule in India, 1757–1858, the Company acquired sovereignty over large parts of India, now called "Presidencies". However, it increasingly came under British government oversight, in effect sharing sovereignty with the Crown. At the same time it lost its mercantile privileges. Following the Indian Rebellion of 1857 the Company's remaining powers were transferred to the Crown.
In the new British Raj, sovereignty extended such as Upper Burma. However, unwieldy presidencies were broken up into "Provinces". In 1608, Mughal authorities allowed the English East India Company to establish a small trading settlement at Surat, this became the company's first headquarters town, it was followed in 1611 by a permanent factory at Machilipatnam on the Coromandel Coast, in 1612 the company joined other established European trading companies in Bengal in trade. However, the power of the Mughal Empire declined from 1707, first at the hands of the Marathas and due to invasion from Persia and Afghanistan. By the mid-19th century, after the three Anglo-Maratha Wars the East India Company had become the paramount political and military power in south Asia, its territory held in trust for the British Crown. Company rule in Bengal from 1793, ended with the Government of India Act 1858 following the events of the Bengal Rebellion of 1857. From known as British India, it was thereafter directly ruled by the British Crown as a colonial possession of the United Kingdom, India was known after 1876 as the Indian Empire.
India was divided into British India, regions that were directly administered by the British, with Acts established and passed in British Parliament, the Princely States, ruled by local rulers of different ethnic backgrounds. These rulers were allowed a measure of internal autonomy in exchange for British suzerainty. British India constituted a significant portion of India both in population. In addition, there were French exclaves in India. Independence from British rule was achieved in 1947 with the formation of two nations, the Dominions of India and Pakistan, the latter including East Bengal, present-day Bangladesh; the term British India applied to Burma for a shorter time period: starting in 1824, a small part of Burma, by 1886 two-thirds of Burma had come under British India. This arrangement lasted until 1937, when Burma commenced being administered as a separate British colony. British India did not apply to other countries in the region, such as Sri Lanka, a British Crown colony, or the Maldive Islands, which were a British protectorate.
At its greatest extent, in the early 20th century, the territory of British India extended as far as the frontiers of Persia in the west. It included the Aden in the Arabian Peninsula; the East India Company, incorporated on 31 December 1600, established trade relations with Indian rulers in Masulipatam on the east coast in 1611 and Surat on the west coast in 1612. The company rented a small trading outpost in Madras in 1639. Bombay, ceded to the British Crown by Portugal as part of the wedding dowry of Catherine of Braganza in 1661, was in turn granted to the East India Company to be held in trust for the Crown. Meanwhile, in eastern India, after obtaining permission from the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to trade with Bengal, the Company established its first factory at Hoogly in 1640. A half-century after Mughal Emperor Aurengzeb forced the Company out of Hooghly due to tax evasion, Job Charnock purchased three small villages renamed Calcutta, in 1686, making it the Company's new headquarters.
By the mid-18th century, the three principal trading settlements including factories and forts, were called the Madras Presidency, the Bombay Presidency, the Bengal Presidency — each administered by a Governor. Madras Presidency: established 1640. Bombay Presidency: East India Company's headquarters moved from Surat to Bombay in 1687. Bengal Presidency: established 1690. After Robert Clive's victory in the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the puppet government of a new Nawab of Bengal, was maintained by the East India Company. However, after the invasion of Bengal by the Nawab of Oudh in 1764 and his subsequent defeat in the Battle of Buxar, the Company obtained the Diwani of Bengal, which included the right to administer and collect land-revenue in Bengal
Maratha Army
Maratha Army refers to the land-based armed forces of the Maratha Empire, which existed from the late 17th to the early 19th centuries in India. The formation and decline of the armies of the Maratha Empire can be broadly divided into two eras Chhatrapati Shivaji, the founder of Maratha empire, raised a small yet effective land army. For better administration, Shivaji abolished the land-grants or jagirs for military officers and made a cash payment. During the 17th century the Maratha Army was small in terms of numbers when compared to the Mughals, numbering some 100,000. Shivaji gave more emphasis to infantry as against cavalry, considering the rugged mountainous terrain he operated in. Further, Shivaji did not have access to the North Indian horse trading market, dominated by the Mughals. During this era, the armies of the Marathas were known for their agility due to the light equipment of both infantry and cavalry. Due to the rugged terrain, artillery was not given much emphasis. Artillery was confined to the Maratha fortresses, which were located on hilltops, since it gave a strategic advantage and further these fortresses had abilities to withstand sieges.
The Marathas used weapons like muskets, firangi swords, bows, daggers, etc. The Maratha Army, during Shivaji's era was disciplined, it possessed infantry and artillery capability equivalent to the European standards. A case in point here is that the Marathas achieved success in systematic elimination of all forts which came their way during the Battle of Surat circa 1664. Regards the artillery, Shivaji hired foreign mercenaries for assistance to manufacture weapons; the hiring of foreign mercenaries was not new to the Maratha military culture. Shivaji hired seasoned cannon-casting Portuguese technicians from Goa; the Marathas attached importance to hiring of experts, which can be corroborated by the fact that important posts in the army were offered to the officers in charge of the manufacture of guns. The Army deployed musketeers as well - both regular and mercenaries. During the late 17th century, there is a mention of the Marathas using well-armed musketeers during their attack on Goa. Further, during the same period there is a mention of Marathas using Karnataki musketeers renowned for marksmanshipJadunath Sarkar the noted historian writes in his famous book namely military history of India about Santaji Ghorpade, a brilliant strategist who defeated Mughals in the 27 year war: "He was a perfect master of this art, which can be more described as Parthian warfare than as guerrilla tactics, because he could not only make night marches and surprises, but cover long distances and combine the movements of large bodied over wide areas with an accuracy and punctuality which were incredible in any Asiatic army other than those of Chengiz Khan and Tamurlane".
During the 18th century the Maratha army continued its emphasis on its light cavalry, which proved better against the heavy cavalry of the Mughals. Post 1720, the armies of the Maratha Kingdom started making their presence felt in Northern India and scored numerous military victories due to the skills of Peshwa Bajirao I as a great cavalry leader and military strategist. Bajirao Peshwa used smothering tactics; the Marathas under Bajirao I would use their artillery to create a blanket of projectiles to smother the enemy. From the 17th century till the mid-18th century the artillery of the Marathas was more dependent on foreign gunners rather than their own. In June 1756 Luís Mascarenhas, Count of Alva, the Portuguese Viceroy was killed in action by Maratha Army in Goa. Circa 1750s, the Marathas endeavored to hire the services of the French General Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau for training purposes, but when they failed in their efforts, they managed to hire Ibrahim Khan Gardi. Ibrahim Khan was an artillery expert trained under the leadership of Bussy.
He played a major role in re-configuring the Maratha artillery. He served the Marathas in the infamous Third Battle of Panipat. In a bid to Westernize the artillery, circa 1777, there is a mention of a Portuguese officer named Naronha heading the Peshwa’s artillery and further he had a number of European artillery men working under him. During the notable Third Battle of Panipat in 1761, out of the total 70,000 Maratha Army men, some 8000 or 9000 were artillery, they possessed 200 cannons (consisting of heavy field-pieces as well as light camel or elephant-mounted zambaruks During this era, sources state that the Marathas made use of both flintlocks and matchlocks and that their matchlocks had a technological advantage having superior range and velocity. However at Third Battle of Panipat, they possessed just swords and spears whilst Abdali possessed a larger force with flintlock muskets. Post 1761 Mahadaji Shinde, a distinguished Maratha Maharaja, focused his attention on European artillery and secured the services of the noted Frenchman Benoît de Boigne.
Benoît de Boigne had received training from the best of the European military schools. Mahadji's army chiefs were all Shenvi Brahmins. Following suit, the other Maratha chiefs such as the Holkars, the Bhosales raised French-trained artillery battalions. Further circa 1784, Mahadaji Shinde established a military-industrial complex for the armies of the Maratha near Agra; the ordnance factories of the Marathas made use of sophisticated indigenous technologies with more of adaptation as against innovat
Protectorate
A protectorate, in its inception adopted by modern international law, is a dependent territory, granted local autonomy and some independence while still retaining the suzerainty of a greater sovereign state. In exchange for this, the protectorate accepts specified obligations, which may vary depending on the real nature of their relationship. Therefore, a protectorate remains an autonomous part of a sovereign state, they are different from colonies as they have local rulers and people ruling over the territory and experience rare cases of immigration of settlers from the country it has suzerainty of. However, a state which remains under the protection of another state but still retains independence is known as a protected state and is different from protectorates. In amical protection, the terms are very favorable for the protectorate; the political interest of the protector is moral or countering a rival or enemy power. This may involve a weak protectorate surrendering control of its external relations.
Amical protection was extended by the great powers to other Christian states and to smaller states that had no significant importance. In the post-1815 period, non-Christian states provided amical protection towards other much weaker states. In modern times, a form of amical protection can be seen as an important or defining feature of microstates. According to the definition proposed by Dumienski: "microstates are modern protected states, i.e. sovereign states that have been able to unilaterally depute certain attributes of sovereignty to larger powers in exchange for benign protection of their political and economic viability against their geographic or demographic constraints". Examples of microstates understood as modern protected states include Andorra, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Niue, the Cook Islands, Palau. Conditions regarding protection are much less generous for areas of colonial protection; the protectorate was reduced to a de facto condition similar to a colony, but using the pre-existing native state as an agent of indirect rule.
A protectorate was established by or exercised by the other form of indirect rule: a chartered company, which becomes a de facto state in its European home state, allowed to be an independent country which has its own foreign policy and its own armed forces. In fact, protectorates were declared despite not being duly entered into by the traditional states being protected, or only by a party of dubious authority in those states. Colonial protectors decided to reshuffle several protectorates into a new, artificial unit without consulting the protectorates, a logic disrespectful of the theoretical duty of a protector to help maintain its protectorates' status and integrity; the Berlin agreement of February 26, 1885 allowed European colonial powers to establish protectorates in Black Africa by diplomatic notification without actual possession on the ground. This aspect of history is referred to as the Scramble for Africa. A similar case is the formal use of such terms as colony and protectorate for an amalgamation, convenient only for the colonizer or protector, of adjacent territories over which it held sway by protective or "raw" colonial logic.
In practice, a protectorate has direct foreign relations only with the protecting power, so other states must deal with it by approaching the protector. The protectorate takes military action on its own, but relies on the protector for its defence; this is distinct from annexation, in that the protector has no formal power to control the internal affairs of the protectorate. Protectorates differ from League of Nations mandates and their successors, United Nations Trust Territories, whose administration is supervised, in varying degrees, by the international community. A protectorate formally enters into the protection through a bilateral agreement with the protector, while international mandates are stewarded by the world community-representing body, with or without a de facto administering power. Han dynasty: Protectorate of the Western RegionsTang dynasty: Protectorate General to Pacify the West Protectorate General to Pacify the North Protectorate General to Pacify the EastYuan dynasty: Goryeo Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten Various sultanates in the Dutch East Indies Trumon Sultanate, Langkat Sultanate, Deli Sultanate, Asahan Sultanate, Siak Sultanate and Indragiri Sultanate in Sumatra Jogjakarta Sultanate, Mataram Empire and Surakarta Sunanate, Duchy of Mangkunegara and Duchy of Paku Alaman in Java.
Sumbawa Sultanate and Bima Sultanate in Lesser Sunda Islands. Pontianak Sultanate, Sambas Sultanate, Kubu Sultanate, Landak Sultanate, Mempawah Sultanate, Matan Sultanate, Sanggau Sultanate, Sekadau Sultanate, Simpang Sultanate, Sintang Sultanate, Sukadana Sultanate, Kota Waringin Sultanate, Kutai Kertanegara Sultanate
Malhar Rao Holkar
Malhar Rao Holkar was a noble of the Maratha Empire, in present-day India. Malhar Rao is known for being the first Maratha Subhedar of Malwa in Central India, he was the first prince from the Holkar family. He was one of the early officers to help spread the Maratha rule to northern states and was given the state of Indore to rule by the Peshwas. Malhar Rao Holkar was from the Dhangar community, a pastoral group, not technically a part of the Maratha caste, he was born on 16 March 1693 in the village of Hol, near Jejuri, Pune District to Khanduji Holkar of Vir. Malhar Rao grew up in Taloda at house of Bhojirajrao Bargal, he married Gautama Bai, his uncle's daughter, in 1717. He married Bana Bai Sahib Holkar, Dwarka Bai Sahib Holkar, Harku Bai Sahib Holkar, a Khanda Rani; this Khanda Rani status stems from the fact that she was a Rajput princess, he had sent his sword to represent him at the wedding, to maintain appearances. Holkar lived at a time when it was possible for ambitious people to improve their standing substantially.
And in 1715 he was serving in forces under the control of Kadam Bande in Khandesh. Adopting the mercenary approach to service, common at the time, Holkar was a part of the expedition to Delhi organised by Balaji Vishwanath in 1719, fought against the Nizam in the Battle of Balapur of 1720 and served with the Raja of Barwani. In 1721, having become disllusioned with Bande, Holkar became a soldier in the service of the Peshwa, Bajirao. Became was soon able to move up the ranks. Participation in the Peshwa's campaign of 1723-24 was followed by a diplomatic role, settling a dispute with the state of Bhopal. Holkar was commanding a force of 500 men in 1725 and in 1727 he received a grant so that he could maintain troops in various areas of Malwa. Successful work during the Battle of Palkhed of 1728, during which he disrupted the supplies and communications of the Mughal armies, further increased his status; the Peshwa improved that as a counter to a perceived threat from less loyal supporters and by 1732, when the Peshwa gave him a large portion of western Malwa, Holkar had command of a cavalry force comprising several thousand men.
One of the foremost commanders of the Maratha Empire, he participated in the great victory near Delhi in 1737, the defeat of the Nizam at Tal Bhopal in 1738. He wrested Bassein from the Portuguese in 1739, he received Rampura and Tonk in 1743, for the assistance given to Madhosingh I of Jaipur in his contest with Ishwari Singh. Granted an Imperial Sardeshmuckhi for Chandore, for his gallantry in the Rohilla campaign of 1748. From 1748 onwards, Malhar Rao Holkar's position in Malwa became secure, he became ‘Kingmaker’ in Northern and Central India and master of an extensive territory lying on both the sides of the Narmada as well as Sahyadri. Malharrao Holkar, Jayappa Shinde, Gangadhar Tatya, Tukojirao Holkar, Khanderao Holkar went to help Safdarjung against Shadulla Khan, Ahmed Khan Bangash, Mohamud Khan, Bahadur Khan Rohilla as per the directions of Peshwa Balaji Bajirao. In the Battle of Fatthegad and Farukhabad, they defeated the Rohillas and Bangash; when Mughal Emperor came to know that Ahmed Shah Abdali had attacked Punjab in December 1751, he asked Safdarjung to make peace with Rohillas and Bangash.
On 12 April 1752 Safdarjung agreed to help Marathas but the Emperor didn’t ratify the agreement and instead signed a treaty with Ahmed Shah Abdali on 23 April 1752. At the same time, the Peshwa asked Malharrao Holkar to return to Pune as Salabat Khan had attacked the city; the Marathas besieged Kumher Fort from 20 January to 18 May 1754. The war continued for about four months. During the war Khanderao Holkar, son of Malhar Rao Holkar, was one day inspecting his army in an open palanquin, when he was fired upon from the fort; the cannonball hit and killed him on 24 March 1754. Malhar Rao wanted to take revenge, he vowed that he would cut off the head of Maharaja Suraj Mal and throw the soil of fort into Yamuna after destroying it. The Marathas increased pressure and Suraj Mal defended pacifly, but Suraj Mal was isolated as no other ruler was ready to help him. At this moment, Maharaja Suraj Mal was counseled by Maharani Kishori, who assured him not to worry and started diplomatic efforts. Feroze Jung III, aided by the Marathas led by Malhar Rao Holkar, defeated Safdarjung.
At this the Emperor camped at Sikandarabad. On the other hand, the Maratha chieftain Sadashivrao Bhau, Malhar Rao Holkar and 2,000 Maratha's and their ally Feroze Jung III routed Imperial Mughal Army of the Mughal Emperor Ahmad Shah Bahadur at the First Battle of Sikandarabad; the Emperor fled to Delhi. She contacted Diwan Roop Ram Katara, she knew that there were differences between Malharrao Holkar and Jayappa Sindhia and that Jayappa Sindhia was firm in his determinations. She advised Maharaja Suraj Mal to take advantage of mutual differences within Marathas. Diwan Roop Ram Katara was a friend of Jayappa Sindhia, she requested Diwan Roop Ram Katara to take a letter from Maharaja Suraj Mal proposing a treaty. Jayappa Sindhia contacted Raghunathrao. Raghunathrao in turn advised Holkar to sign a treaty with Suraj Mal. Malhar Rao Holkar assessed the situation and consented for the treaty due to possibility of isolation; this led to a treaty between both rulers on 18 May 1754. This treaty proved beneficial for Maharaja Suraj Mal.
Malharrao Holkar, Shamsher Bahadur, Gangadhar Tatya, Sakharambapu and Maujiram Ban
Shah Alam II
Ali Gohar known as Shah Alam II, was the sixteenth Mughal Emperor and the son of Alamgir II. Shah Alam II became the emperor of a crumbling Mughal empire, his power was so depleted during his reign that it led to a saying in the Persian language, Sultanat-e-Shah Alam, Az Dilli ta Palam, meaning,'The empire of Shah Alam is from Delhi to Palam', Palam being a suburb of Delhi. Shah Alam faced many invasions by the Emir of Afghanistan, Ahmed Shah Abdali, which led to the Third Battle of Panipat between the Maratha Empire, who maintained suzerainty over Mughal affairs in Delhi and the Afghans led by Abdali. In 1760, the invading forces of Abdali were driven away by the Marathas, led by Sadashivrao Bhau, who deposed Shah Jahan III, the puppet Mughal emperor of Feroze Jung III, installed Shah Alam II as the rightful emperor under the Maratha suzerainty. Shah Alam II was considered the only and rightful emperor, but he wasn't able to return to Delhi until 1772, under the protection of the Maratha general Mahadaji Shinde.
He fought against the British East India Company at the Battle of Buxar. Shah Alam II was known by the pen-name Aftab, his poems were guided and collected by Mirza Fakhir Makin. Ali Gohar was born to "Shahzada" Aziz-ud-Din, son of the deposed Mughal Emperor Jahandar Shah, on 25 June 1728. Alongside his father, he grew up in semi-captivity in the Salatin quarters of the Red Fort. However, unlike the majority of Mughal princes growing up in similar circumstances, he is not recorded to have become a decadent prince by the time his father became emperor, therefore was given high appointments in the course of his father's reign. Upon his father's accession, he became the "Wali Ahd" of the empire, became his father's principal agent, though all power lay in the Wazir Imad-ul-Mulk's hand, his quarrels with that amir, fear for his own life, caused him to flee from Delhi in 1758. Prince Ali Gauhar, afterwards Emperor Shah Alam II, had been the heir apparent of his father Alamgir II. Prince Ali Gauhar's father had been appointed Mughal Emperor by Vizier Feroze Jung III and Maratha Peshwa's brother Sadashivrao Bhau who had dominated and killed Alamgir II and kept Prince Ali Gauhar under surveillance.
Prince Ali Gauhar organized a militia and made a daring escape from Delhi, Prince Ali Gauhar appeared in the Eastern Subah in 1759, hoping to strengthen his position by attempting to regaining control over Bengal and Odisha. Soon however, Najib-ud-Daula, forced the usurper Feroze Jung III to flee from the capitol after he gathered a large Mughal Army outside Delhi, which deposed the recreant Shah Jahan III. Najib-ud-Daula and Muslim nobles planned to defeat the Marathas by maintaining correspondence with the powerful Ahmad Shah Durrani. After Durrani decisively defeated the Marathas, he nominated Ali Gauhar as the emperor under the name Shah Alam II. In 1760, after Shah Alam's militia gaining control over pockets in Bengal and parts of Odisha, Prince Ali Gauhar and his Mughal Army of 30,000 intended to overthrow Mir Jafar and Feroze Jung III after they tried to capture or kill him by advancing towards Awadh and Patna in 1759, but the conflict soon involved the intervention of the assertive East India Company.
The Mughals intended to recapture their breakaway Eastern Subah led by Prince Ali Gauhar, accompanied by a Militia consisting of persons like Muhammad Quli Khan, Kadim Husein, Kamgar Khan, Hidayat Ali, Mir Afzal and Ghulam Husain Tabatabai. Their forces were reinforced by the forces of Najib-ud-Daula and Ahmad Shah Bangash; the Mughals were joined by Jean Law and 200 Frenchmen and waged a campaign against the British during the Seven Years' War. Prince Ali Gauhar advanced as far as Patna, which he besieged with a combined army of over 40,000 in order to capture or kill Ramnarian a sworn enemy of the Mughals. Mir Jafar was in terror at the near demise of his cohort and sent his own son Miran to relieve Ramnarian and retake Patna. Mir Jafar implored the aid of Robert Clive, but it was Major John Caillaud, who dispersed Prince Ali Gauhar's army in 1761 after four major battles including Battle of Patna, Battle of Sirpur, Battle of Birpur and Battle of Siwan. After negotiations assuring peace Shah Alam II was escorted by the British to meet Mir Qasim the new Nawab of Bengal, nominated after the sudden death of Miran.
Mir Qasim soon had the Mughal Emperor's investiture as Subedar of Bengal and Odisha, agreed to pay an annual revenue of 2.4 million dam. Shah Alam II retreated to Allahabad was protected by the Shuja-ud-Daula, Nawab of Awadh from 1761 until 1764. Meanwhile, Mir Qasim's relations with the British East India company began to worsen, he initiated reforms that withdrew the tax exemption enjoyed by the British East India Company, he ousted Ramnarian a sworn enemy of the Mughal Empire and created Firelock manufacturing factories at Patna with the sole purpose of giving advantage to the newly reformed Mughal Army. Angered by these developments the East India Company sought his ouster. Court intrigues encouraged by the East India company forced Mir Qasim to leave Bengal and Odisha. Mir Qasim on his part encouraged Shuja-ud-Daula the Nawab of Awadh and Shah Alam II to engage the British. Shah Alam II was acknowledged emperor by the Durrani Empire, his declared reign extended to the 24 Parganas of the Sundarbans, Mir Qasim, Nawabs of Bengal and Murshidabad,Raja of Banares, Nizam of Hyderabad, Nawab of Ghazipur, Sahib of Punjab, Hyder Ali's Mysore, Nawab of Kadapa and Nawab of Kurnool, Nawab of the Carnatic of Arcot and Nellore, Nawab of Junagarh, Rohilkhand of Lower Doab, Rohilkhan
Maharaja
Mahārāja is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or "high king". A few ruled mighty states informally called empires, including ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire, Maharaja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, but'title inflation' soon led to most being rather mediocre or petty in real power, while compound titles were among the attempts to distinguish some among their ranks; the female equivalent, denotes either the wife of a Maharaja, in states where, customary, a woman ruling without a husband. The widow of a Maharaja is known as a Rajmata "queen mother". Maharaja Kumar denotes a son of a Maharaja, but more specific titulatures are used at each court, including Yuvaraja for the heir; the form Maharaj indicates a separation of noble and religious offices, although the fact that in Hindi the suffix -a is silent makes the two titles near homophones. The word Maharaja originates in Sanskrit and is a compound karmadhāraya term from mahānt- "great" and rājan "ruler, king").
It has the Latin cognates magnum "great" and rex "king". Due to Sanskrit's major influence on the vocabulary of most languages in Greater India and Southeast Asia, the term Maharaja is common to many modern languages of India and Southeast Asian languages such as Kannada, Hindi, Rajasthani, Telugu, Punjabi, Sylheti, Gujarati and Thai; the Sanskrit title Maharaja was used only for rulers who ruled a large region with minor tributary rulers under them. Since medieval times, the title was used by monarchs of lesser states claiming descent from ancient Maharajas. On the eve of independence in 1947, British India contained more than 600 princely states, each with its own native ruler styled Raja or Rana or Thakur or Nawab, with a host of less current titles as well; the British directly ruled two-thirds of the Indian subcontinent. The word Maharaja may be understood to mean "ruler" or "king", in spite of its literal translation as "great king"; this was because only a handful of the states were powerful and wealthy enough for their rulers to be considered'great' monarchs.
The word, can mean emperor in contemporary Indian usage. The title of Maharaja was not as common before the gradual British colonisation of India and after which many Rajas and otherwise styled Hindu rulers were elevated to Maharajas, regardless of the fact that scores of these new Maharajas ruled small states, sometimes for some reason unrelated to the eminence of the state, for example, support to the British in Afghanistan, World War I or World War II. Two Rajas who became Maharajas in the twentieth century were the Maharaja of Cochin and the legendary Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala. Variations of this title include the following, each combining Maha- "great" with an alternative form of Raja'king', so all meaning'Great King': Maharana, Maharawat and Maharaol. Maharajah has taken on new spellings due to migration, it has been shortened to Mahraj and Maraj but the most common is Maharajah and Maharaj. Despite its literal meaning, unlike many other titles meaning Great King, neither Maharaja nor Rajadhiraja, nor its equivalent amongst.
Maharaja,'Maharajadhiraja', never reached the standing required for imperial rank, as each was soon the object of title inflation. Instead, the Hindu title, rendered as Emperor is Samraat or Samraj, a personal distinction achieved by a few rulers of ancient dynasties such as the Mauryas and Guptas. Dharma-maharaja was the devout title of the rulers of the Ganga dynasty. In the Mughal Empire it was quite common to award to various princes a series of lofty titles as a matter of protocolary rank; the British would, as paramount power do the same. Many of these elaborate explicitly on the title Maharaja, in the following descending order: Maharajadhiraja Bahadur: Great Prince over Princes, a title of honour, one degree higher than Maharajadhiraja. Maharajadhiraja: Great Prince over Princes, a title of honour, one degree higher than Sawai Maharaja Bahadur. Sawai Maharaja Bahadur: a title of honour, one degree higher than Sawai Maharaja. Sawai Maharaja: a title of honour one degree higher than Maharaja Bahadur.
Maharaja Bahadur: a title of honour, one degree higher than Maharaja. Maharaja itself could be granted as a personal. H. the Maharaj Rana of Jhalawar Maharaja-i-Rajgan: great prince amongst princes Maharaja Sena Sahib Subah of Nagpur, another Mahratta s
