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{{Short description|17th-century Mughal Empire noble}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| monarch = [[Shah Jahan]]
| office = [[Mir Bakhshi|Mir Bakhshi of the Mughal Empire]]
| term_start = 1644
| term_end = 1647
| office1 = [[Subahdar]] of [[Delhi Subah|Delhi]]
| battles = [[Siege of Parenda (1634)|Siege of Parenda]]<br />[[Battle of Shibarghan (1646)]]
| name = Asalat Khan
| monarch1 = Shah Jahan
| successor =
| predecessor1 =
| predecessor =
| successor1 =
| death_date = 1647
| children = [[Iftikhar Khan (governor)|Iftikhar Khan]] (son)<br />Multafat Khan (son)
| parents = Mir Miran Yazdi (father)
| birth_name = Mir Abdul Hadi
| image = Portrait of Asalat Khan.jpg
| caption = Portrait of Asalat Khan {{circa|1645}}, [[Smithsonian Institution]]<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Glynn |first=Catherine |date=2000 |title=A Rājasthānī Princely Album: Rājput Patronage of Mughal-Style Painting |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3249919 |journal=Artibus Asiae |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=239–257 |doi=10.2307/3249919 |jstor=3249919 |issn=0004-3648|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
| image_size = 180px
| relations = Khalilullah Khan (brother)
}}
'''Mir Abdul Hadi''' (died 1647), known by the title '''Asalat Khan''', was a noble and general of the [[Mughal Empire]] during the reign of [[Mughal emperor]] [[Shah Jahan]]. He briefly served as the empire's ''[[mir bakhshi]]'' (paymaster-general), one of the highest positions in the empire's administration. He played key roles in leading [[Shah Jahan's Central Asian campaign]].

== Origins ==
Mir Abdul Hadi was the son of Mir Miran Yazdi, a Persian nobleman with origins in [[Yazd]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Koch |first1=Ebba |title=The complete Taj Mahal: and the riverfront gardens of Agra |last2=Barraud |first2=Richard André |date=2006 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |isbn=978-0-500-28984-6 |edition= |location=London |pages=31, 32, 61, 64}}</ref> Mir Abdul had a younger brother named Khalilullah Khan.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hasan |first=Maulvi Zafar |url=https://archive.org/details/maluvi-zafar-hasan-monuments-of-delhi/page/260/mode/2up |title=Monuments of Delhi. 2: Delhi Zail |date=1997 |publisher=Aryan Books International |isbn=978-81-7305-112-8 |editor-last=Page |editor-first=J. A |edition=1. Repr. with new introd. and photogr |location=New Delhi |pages=200}}</ref> Mir Miran fled Persia in 1607 for fear of persecution, finding refuge in Mughal India, but left his son behind. In 1612, a Mughal nobleman named Khan Alam travelled to Persia as an ambassador on behalf of emperor [[Jahangir]]; the emperor requested Persia's ruler [[Shah Abbas I]] that the ambassador bring Mir Abdul Hadi and his brother back to India.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> Mir Abdul Hadi accompanied Khan Alam to India in 1618.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=O’Brien |first=Janet |date=2024-12-19 |title=Invader Enthroned: The Indian Portraits of Nadir Shah and Their Local and British Collectors |url=https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/ars/article/id/7032/#fig06 |journal=Ars Orientalis |volume=54 |doi=10.3998/ars.7032 |issn=2328-1286|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }}</ref>

== Career ==
Mir Abdul Hadi entered Mughal service towards the end of Jahangir's reign. He received the title of "Asalat Khan" from the next Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, in 1630. In 1632 he was made the ''[[Bakhshi (Mughal Empire)|bakhshi]]'' (administrator) of the ''ahadis'' (royal guard). He served in the [[Deccan]], playing a key role in capturing [[Bhalki Fort]]. He then participated in the Mughal [[Siege of Parenda (1634)|siege of Parenda]] around 1633, for which he was rewarded by being appointed ''[[subahdar]]'' (governor) of [[Delhi Subah|Delhi]] and Jaunpur.<ref name=":1" /> During his governorship of Delhi, Asalat Khan built a ''bund'' (dam) at [[Palam]] over a stream. The ''[[Padshahnama]]'' records a hunting retreat of Shah Jahan in 1638, that took place at a park watered by this dam.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Parpia |first=Shaha |date=2018-07-03 |title=Hunting ground, agricultural land and the forest: sustainable interdependency in Mughal India 1526–1707 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01433768.2018.1534456 |journal=Landscape History |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=37–38 |doi=10.1080/01433768.2018.1534456 |issn=0143-3768|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Asalat Khan was raised to the position of second ''bakhshi'' (assistant to the ''mir bakhshi)'' in 1639. Between 1641 and 1642, Asalat Khan combated [[Raja Jagat Singh]], as one of the Mughals' three commanders in a campaign against the [[Nurpur kingdom|kingdom of Nurpur]]; the rebellion was subdued.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Jeratha |first=Aśoka |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l2oZiyOqReoC&dq=%22asalat+khan%22+%22nurpur%22&pg=PA46 |title=Forts and Palaces of the Western Himalaya |date=2000 |publisher=Indus Publishing |isbn=978-81-7387-104-7 |pages=46–49 |language=en}}</ref> In 1644, he was promoted to the post of ''mir bakhshi'', making him the chief of military administration in the Mughal Empire;<ref name=":1" /> he would serve until 1647.<ref name=":0" />

Around this time, Shah Jahan had stabilised the Mughal position in the northwestern frontier of the empire (modern-day Afghanistan) and cast his sights towards Central Asia, aiming to attack the Uzbeks who had threatened the Mughal hold over [[Kabul]] in the past. In October 1645, Shah Jahan instructed Asalat Khan to recruit troops at Kabul, with the intention of using the city as a staging ground for the Central Asian campaigns. He also instructed Asalat Khan to carve an invasion route to [[Badakhshan]] by clearing roads and constructing bridges. Soon after military incursions and reconnaissance had started, Asalat Khan led a sixteen-day expedition over the [[Hindu Kush]], seizing livestock and prisoners as retaliation for local rebellion.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gates |first1=Scott |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UnkeBQAAQBAJ&dq=asalat+khan+kaushik&pg=PA63 |title=War and State-Building in Afghanistan: Historical and Modern Perspectives |last2=Roy |first2=Kaushik |date=2014-11-20 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4725-7219-6 |pages=63–64 |language=en}}</ref> By July the Mughal army had reached [[Balkh]] and captured it with minimal resistance; however, its ruler Nazr Muhammad attempted to escape with his treasure. Asalat Khan pursued and intercepted him at the vicious [[Battle of Shibarghan (1646)]], which resulted in Mughal victory in July. Shah Jahan subsequently ordered festivities for eight days, and Asalat Khan's rank was raised to 5000. However, Nazr Muhammad was not captured, and he later escaped to [[Isfahan]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Mughal warfare: Indian frontiers and highroads to empire, 1500-1700 |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-203-40258-0 |editor-last=Gommans |editor-first=Jos J. L. |series=Warfare and history |location=London New York |pages=183–184}}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Citation |title="The Battle of Shahbarghan", Folio from a Padshahnama (Chronicle of the Emperor) |date= |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/453276 |access-date=2025-01-22 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art}}</ref>

Asalat Khan died prematurely in the winter of 1647, while still stationed in Balkh for the ongoing Central Asian campaign, from exposure to cold conditions.<ref name=":0" />

== Personal life ==
Asalat Khan owned a ''[[haveli]]'' (residence) in [[Agra]] along the right bank of the [[Yamuna River]], close to the [[Taj Mahal]] complex; the structure is not fully preserved.<ref name=":0" /> Around 1644, the surgeon [[Gabriel Boughton]] joined the service of Asalat Khan in Agra, after the latter requested the [[East India Company]] in [[Surat]] for a European surgeon. The same surgeon accompanied him to [[Balkh]] during his military deployment.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kochhar |first=Rajesh |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781003466406 |title=Science and the British Empire |date=2024-02-20 |publisher=Routledge India |isbn=978-1-003-46640-6 |edition=1 |location=London |language=en |chapter=English Surgeons and Company Trade Concessions |pages=8–14 |doi=10.4324/9781003466406-2}}</ref> Asalat Khan had a son named [[Iftikhar Khan (governor)|Iftikhar Khan]], a Mughal noble who served the position of ''akhtah begi'' (imperial stablemaster) during the reign of [[Aurangzeb]]. He also had a son named Multafat Khan.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Van Meersbergen |first=Guido |date=2019 |title=The Diplomatic Repertoires of the East India Companies in Mughal South Asia, 1608-1717 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26824320 |journal=The Historical Journal |volume=62 |issue=4 |pages=890 |jstor=26824320 |issn=0018-246X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=van Meersbergen |first=Guido |title=Practices of diplomacy in the early modern world c.1410-1800 |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group |isbn=978-1-138-65063-3 |editor-last=Sowerby |editor-first=Tracey Amanda |series=Routledge research in early modern history |location=London; New York, NY |pages=147 & 157 |chapter=The Dutch merchant-diplomat in comparative perspective: Embassies to the court of Aurangzeb, 1660-1666 |editor-last2=Hennings |editor-first2=Jan}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Asalat}}
[[Category:Nobility from the Mughal Empire]]
[[Category:1647 deaths]]
[[Category:Mughal generals]]
[[Category:Iranian emigrants to the Mughal Empire]]
[[Category:17th-century Mughal Empire people]]
[[Category:17th-century Iranian people]]

Asalat Khan - Revision history

TeganJ7136381 at 16:42, 3 January 2026