Fateh Khan Barakzai was named Wazir. In September 1801, Shah Shuja, the brother of Shah Zaman was entrenched at Peshawar, which had been his father Taimur Shah’s summer capital. Wazir Fateh Khan attacked Peshawar and took it, but Shah Shuja was able to escape. In 1803, Shah Shuja was able to seize the throne from his half-brother Mahmud, whom he captured but decided to spare. Shah Shuja had a golden opportunity to mend fences with the Barakzais at that moment, but he gave Fateh Khan the cold shoulder. This was a decision he was to regret.
The intrigues continued. Fateh Khan made various attempts to restore Mahmud to the throne and also supported the claims of other Sadozai princes, but Shah Shuja managed to cling on to power.
In the meantime, in neighbouring Punjab, the young Sukerchakia monarch was going from strength to strength. Further east, the British were capturing province after province and had become the undisputed masters of the territories east of the Yamuna river.
The Indian colonies were already the jewel in the British crown and there was a constant fear in the minds of the British that India would be attacked from the northwest by a Franco-Russian army, as the two nations, opposed to Britain, had formed an alliance. As a defensive strategy against the Franco-Russian alliance, the British sought alliances with both Kabul and Lahore, as Afghanistan and Punjab would both have to be crossed by an invading army from the northwest.
In 1808, Charles Metcalfe was dispatched on a mission to conclude a treaty with Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The meeting between Metcalfe and Ranjit Singh and the young British envoy resulted in the Treaty of Lahore in 1809. This alliance, created between the British and Ranjit Singh, essentially set the Sutlej River as his eastern boundary and left him free to pursue his territorial ambitions northwards and westwards.
In 1809, Monstuart Elphinstone led a similar mission to Shah Shuja’s court. After initial misgivings, the Shah received Elphinstone cordially in his court. Shah Shuja was a highly cultured and refined man, lacking perhaps in the ruthlessness that was required by a king to survive and thrive in his times. The son and grandson of kings, he enjoyed beauty and art, and was himself an accomplished poet. The glory and the riches of the Sadozai court and its power are important to understand, to fully appreciate the tragedy that was about to befall the king.
Monstuart Elphinstone describes the splendour of the Sadozai court on his visit to Shah Shuja’s palace at Bala Hissar in Peshawar:
We thought at first the king had on armour of jewels but on close inspection we found this to be a mistake and his real dress to consist of a green tunic with large flowers and gold and precious stones over which were a large breastplate of diamonds shaped like two fleurs-de-lis, large emerald bracelets on the arms above the elbow and many other jewels in different places. In one of the bracelets was the Cohi Noor, known to be one of the largest diamonds in the world. The crown was about nine inches high—the whole so complicated and so dazzling that it was difficult to understand and impossible to describe.
The room was open all around the centre and was supported by four high pillars in the midst of which was a marble fountain. The floor was covered with the richest carpets and around the edges were strips of silk embroidered with gold for the Khans to stand on. The view from the hall was beautiful. Immediately below was an extensive garden full of cypresses and other trees and beyond was a plain of the richest verdure. Here and there were pieces of water and shining streams and the whole was bounded with mountains, some dark and others covered with snow.24
According to William Dalrymple, another notable event occurred in 1809. Shah Zaman, Shah Shuja’s older brother had hidden the Kohinoor, which had once adorned the peacock throne of the Mughals, before being captured and blinded. He also hid a huge ruby known as the Fakhraj, the family’s other very valuable gem. On being questioned about the gems’ whereabouts, Shah Zaman indicated that several years earlier he had hidden the Fakhraj under a rock in a stream near the Khyber Pass. He had slipped the Kohinoor into a crack in the wall of the cell where he was held captive. Shah Shuja immediately dispatched a force to recover the two gems. The Kohinoor was in the possession of a Muslim fakir or holy man, who unaware of its value, was using it as a paperweight! The Fakhraj was found with a student, who had discovered it when he went to a stream to wash his clothes. Both gems were brought back to Shah Shuja.25
While the British mission was still at Peshawar, Shah Shuja received word of a new rebellion by his half-brother Mahmud, who had taken Kandahar and Kabul, and was on his way to Peshawar with Fateh Khan Barakzai at his side. Shah Shuja rallied his forces and met the rebels at Gandamak, a village between Kabul and Peshawar. Mahmud Shah and Fateh Khan won a great victory.
Shah Shuja was no longer the ruler of Afghanistan.
After a few abortive attempts to take Kandahar and Peshawar, Shah Shuja sought refuge in Attock with its governor, Jahandad Khan and from there proceeded to Kashmir, which was governed by Ata Mohammad Khan Barakzai, another of Payanda Khan’s numerous sons, and half-brother to Wazir Fateh Khan Barakzai. Ata Mohammad professed loyalty to Shah Shuja, but on his arrival, cast him in chains and imprisoned him. Shah Shuja’s wives and children, as well as the blind Shah Zaman and his family had already entered Punjab and had been given asylum by Ranjit Singh in Rawalpindi. When Shah Zaman started sending envoys to various courts, seeking their assistance in regaining the throne of Kabul, the Afghan royal household was shifted to Lahore where a more watchful eye could be kept over them.
It was an ironic twist of fate.
Just a few decades earlier, the shadow of the Sadozais had loomed large over Punjab. Ahmad Shah Durrani’s repeated invasions had created absolute terror in the minds of the Punjabis; a popular saying of the time captures the feelings of the common people succinctly: ‘Khada Peeta Laahe Daa, Baaki Ahmad Shahe Da!’ (Whatever we can eat and drink [or consume now] is ours, everything else belongs to Ahmad Shah.)
The seraglio of Shah Shuja included a remarkable woman. Her name was Wafa Begum and she was the daughter of Payanda Khan, the former patriarch of the Barakzai clan and sister to twenty-two brothers. Shah Shuja had married her in 1803, in an attempt to mend the rift between the Sadozais and the Barakzais.
After the arrival of Shah Shuja’s harem in Lahore, an envoy arrived from Wazir Fateh Khan, proposing that the Afghans and the Sikhs mount a joint expedition to capture Kashmir. Kashmir was always a highly coveted possession, and even though Ata Mohammad Khan was Wazir Fateh Khan’s half-brother, they were sworn enemies.
Wafa Begum was sick with worry. Mindful of the bad blood between the Barakzais and the Sadozais, Wafa Begum had good reason to fear for her husband’s life; her half-brothers were not known for their kindness and she was aware that Shah Zaman’s slaying of their father would never be forgiven. She could not let him fall into the hands of Wazir Fateh Khan, whose victory over Ata Mohammad was inevitable, particularly if the Sikhs joined hands with the Afghans, motivated by the prospect of plundering Kashmir’s riches.
According to William Dalrymple, who addresses the episode of the Kohinoor at length, she was known among the British for her ‘coolness and intrepidity’, an evaluation that was borne out by what transpired next.26 Sohan Lal Suri, the official biographer in Ranjit Singh’s court, documents that Wafa Begum, deeply distressed at her husband’s imprisonment, petitioned Ranjit Singh and requested that a campaign be launched to rescue him. In return she offered the Kohinoor, the only thing of great value that was still in her possession.
In the spring of 1812, troops under the command of Diwan Mohkam Chand, one of Ranjit Singh’s ablest generals, were dispatched to Kashmir. A few days later, Wazir Fateh Khan crossed the Attock River to enter Ranjit Singh’s territories, prompting him to pitch his camp at Rohtas, blocking Wazir Fateh Khan’s passage to Kashmir. The Wazir requested a personal meeting with Ranjit Singh and arrived, accompanied by eighteen of his brothers, all fully armed and ready to assassinate Ranjit Singh if he did not join in the expedition to take Kashmir. A deal was struck betwee
n the Barakzai chief and the Sukerchakia King; the terms: fifty per cent of the plunder and an annual levy of nine hundred thousand rupees!
On 1 December 1812, the Sikh and Afghan armies set out to take Kashmir. Wazir Fateh Khan showed great haste and pulled ahead by two marches, arousing the suspicions of the wily Diwan Mohkam Chand, who knew that Shah Shuja’s fate was sealed if the Wazir got to him first. Mohkam Chand, intimately familiar with the terrain, led his forces on a shorter route and surprised the Afghans by arriving ahead of them at the fort of Shergarh, where Shah Shuja was being held captive. While the Afghans were busy looting, Mohkam Chand spirited Shah Shujah away to Lahore, much to the chagrin of Wazir Fateh Khan, who refused to part with any of the plunder. Ranjit Singh also negotiated successfully with Jahandad Khan, the Governor of Attock and took control of the strategic fort, which stood at the entrance of the Khyber Pass, the gateway to Punjab from Afghanistan.
Ranjit Singh had delivered in his promise to Wafa Begum and delivered her husband Shah Shuja safe and sound to her in Lahore. Sohan Lal reports that Kharak Singh, Ranjit Singh’s oldest son and heir apparent, and Bhaiya Ram Singh, a senior courtier were sent to welcome Shah Shuja and bring him to Lahore with great pomp and show. A comfortable mansion and a large sum of money were placed at the deposed king’s disposal.
The grandson of Ahmad Shah Durrani, the scourge of Punjab was now at the mercy of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who having kept his end of the bargain, was now anxious to get his hands on the fabulous Kohinoor. The historical accounts of what happened next are somewhat divergent.
Khushwant Singh’s version suggests that Shah Shuja and Wafa Begum evaded requests to part with the diamond, even when Ranjit Singh, cognisant of its great value offered a token payment of three hundred thousand rupees and a jagir (property) yielding fifty thousand rupees a year. Eventually, Ranjit Singh lost patience and made a ‘peremptory’ demand for the diamond, placing a heavy guard on the Afghan family and putting them on reduced rations until they yielded.
William Dalrymple offers a highly sensationalised account, which according to him is drawn from the memoirs of Shah Shuja. Dalrymple offers this quote from Chapter 26 of the Shah’s memoirs, titled Waqi’at-i-Shah Shuja:
The ladies of our harem were accommodated in another mansion to which we had most vexatiously no access. Food and water rations were reduced or arbitrarily cut off, our servants sometimes allowed to go and sometimes forbidden from going about their business in the city. It was a display of oafish bad manners both vulgar and tyrannical as well as ugly and low-natured.
Dalrymple goes on to claim that at the lowest ebb of his fortunes, Shah Shuja was put in the cage and according to his own account, his eldest son Prince Timur was tortured in front of him until he agreed to part with his most valuable possession.
The 1840 edition of a journal called The Calcutta Review, contained an autobiographical account by Shah Shuja, translated by Lieutenant Bennet. This is clearly the same work referred to by Dalrymple. The following account tells us how Shah Shuja parted with the Kohinoor and appears in Bennet’s translation of Chapter 26 of Shah Shuja’s memoirs:
On the morning of the second day, Bhaiya Ram Singh returned to demand the Kohinoor for the Maharaja. We responded that it was not in our possession, but given the kindness we had been shown, we would consider Ranjit Singh’s demands. When Ram Singh returned the next day, he got the same response. For the next month we were treated somewhat harshly; guards were placed at our dwelling, preventing us from meeting with our family and we were denied certain necessities. We were then asked if we would part with the jewel in exchange for cash. Bhaiya Ram Singh returned with fifty thousand rupees and we agreed to give the jewel to his master once a formal treaty was signed. Two days later Ranjit Singh visited us in person and after swearing on the Sikh holy book, signed a paper, offering us the provinces of Kot Cumeelah, Jung Shal and Kuleh Noor, and offering assistance and treasure to help us recover our throne. We then exchanged turbans as a pledge of eternal friendship and we gave him the Kohinoor. Two days later all restrictions were removed and we were able to meet our family again.
The account by Sohan Lal, Ranjit Singh’s official court biographer, is consistent with Bennet’s translation of Shah Shujah’s memoirs.27 It is clear from the account that there was some coercion involved. The story about locking Shah Shuja in a cage seems to be an example of the sensationalising of the Kohinoor episode, which several historians and writers have indulged in. From the Shah’s perspective, it must have been painful to part with the diamond, but it must be remembered that by all accounts, he was an honourable man and he must have been acutely aware of the fact that he owed his life to Ranjit Singh, who had emptied his treasury for the Kashmir campaign to rescue him. Furthermore, his wife had clearly promised the diamond to Ranjit Singh and it would be dishonourable to renege on the promise.
It was indeed a strange twist of fate! The most fabulous diamond in the world; the pride of the mighty Mughals; taken unceremoniously by Nadir Shah, the Persian conqueror; seized by Ahmad Shah who became the mighty king of Afghanistan, and then surrendered by his grandson to the upstart Maharaja of Punjab, who had risen from unprepossessing beginnings and become the master of the lands that all these conquerors had ruled in turn!
The rise of the Sukerchakias had indeed been spectacular.
Wazir Fateh Khan did not take kindly to the loss of Attock to Ranjit Singh. When diplomatic attempts to regain control over the fort failed, he roused the frontier Afghan tribes and declared a jihad against the Sikhs. The Sikh forces, led by Diwan Mohkam Chand, faced the Afghans in a stalemate for three months, until he managed to manoeuvre his troops between the Afghans and the Attock River, cutting off their water supply. Finally, a battle was fought at Mansar, in which the Sikh cavalry punched through the ranks of the thirsty Afghans and forced them to flee.
This was a watershed event. Sikhs had skirmished with the Afghans for decades, often inflicting heavy blows, but had never fought them head-on earlier. The fort of Attock, the gateway to Punjab had been in the hands of invaders from Khorasan and beyond for more than eight hundred years. Lahore erupted with joy on learning about the great victory.
In June 1813, secret letters dispatched by Shah Shuja were intercepted by Ranjit Singh. It appeared that the deposed Shah was conspiring against his host by encouraging Wazir Fateh Khan to attack Punjab, which the Afghans felt was rightfully their territory. Subsequently, it came to light that Shah Shuja had similarly approached the British, suggesting that they overthrow Ranjit Singh and share the spoils of Punjab with the Afghans. A furious Ranjit Singh decided he had had enough of the deposed Afghan King. Aware that Wafa Begum and the Shah were plotting their escape from his territories, he relieved them of some more of their wealth and allowed them to escape across the Sutlej, where they sought refuge with the British at Ludhiana.
In August of 1818, Mahmud Shah’s son, Kamran, in an act of utter stupidity murdered Wazir Fateh Khan Barakzai, who had been responsible for defeating Shah Zaman and Shah Shuja and for placing Mahmud Shah on the throne of Afghanistan. Wazir Fateh Khan’s brothers swore revenge and civil war broke out in Afghanistan, sounding the death-knell for the Sadozai dynasty.
Wazir Fateh Khan, who was the real power behind Mahmud Shah, had sent his favourite and most competent brother, Dost Mohammad to Herat, where Prince Kamran was governor, to thwart an impending Persian attack. When Kamran refused to co-operate, Dost Mohammad, accompanied by Jai Singh Attariwala, a dissident Sikh chief who had fallen out with Ranjit Singh, forced his way into Kamran’s palace. According to Kamran, Jai Singh Attariwala ‘laid hands’ on one of his sisters, thus dishonouring her. Kamran promptly complained to his father, Shah Mahmud, blaming Wazir Fateh Khan for the dishonouring of a noblewoman by an ‘infidel’ Sikh. Fateh Khan was flayed alive and hacked to pieces, with utter disregard for the service that he had rendered Mahmud Shah over the years.
Azeem Khan Barakzai, now the oldest brother, left Kashmir for Kandahar
, leaving another brother, Jabbar Khan, in charge of the kingdom and successfully drove Mahmud Shah out of Kabul.
Ranjit Singh boldly used the opportunity to expand his territories. Multan, which had been an Afghan state was taken after a tough campaign. The Maharaja then proceeded to attack Kashmir and take it from Jabbar Khan, ending sixty-seven years of Afghan rule in the province. Ranjit Singh had now successfully stripped the Afghans of all their territories east of the Indus.
In 1822, Azeem Khan marched to Peshawar with Jai Singh Attariwala to subdue the Sikhs, but strife in Afghanistan forced him to return. His march, however, brought a speedy response from Ranjit Singh, who left for the Afghan frontier and demanded tribute from the Governor of Peshawar, another Barakzai brother named Yar Mohammad Khan. Yar Mohammad, who feared his brother Azeem Khan and Ranjit Singh equally, presented the Maharaja with a couple of fine horses which appeased him and then fearing his brother’s wrath, fled to the tribal territories. Azeem Khan returned in March of 1823 and the stage was set for the great battle of Naushera.
The Afghans were routed and Azeem Khan, who was not wounded in the battle died of what Olaf Caroe calls a ‘broken heart’, unable to deal with the disgrace of the defeat and the slaughter of thousands of Afghans and frontier tribesmen.
Ranjit Singh swooped down upon Peshawar, the summer capital of the Afghan Kings. According to Afghan accounts, the Sikhs advanced to Peshawar killing and plundering. They battered down the Bala Hissar fort and sacked the fair palace within where fourteen years years earlier Shah Shuja had received Elphinstone so regally. They cut the cypresses and muddied the pools in the royal gardens, the cavalry ravaging square miles of the orchards of plum, peach, apricot and pear, that Peshawar was famous for. The name of the ‘Sikhashai’—the Sikh rule—became a synonym for oppression and devastation. No architectural monuments of any value were left in Peshawar after the Sikh occupation of 1823.
The Camel Merchant of Philadelphia Page 5
