Roshni at 06:47, 23 April 2026

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{{Short description|Mughal statesman and general (1672/1673–1739)}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Khan Dauran VII
| office = [[Mir Bakhshi]] of the [[Mughal Empire]]
| monarch = [[Muhammad Shah]]
| battles = {{hidden
| {{Tree list}}
* '''Campaign against the Sayyid brothers'''
** [[Battle of Hasanpur]]
{{Tree list/end}}
Battle of Rampura
----
{{Tree list}}
* '''[[Nadir Shah's invasion of India|Afsharid-Mughal war]]'''
** [[Battle of Karnal]]{{KIA}}
{{Tree list/end}}}}
| children = Mirza Ashraf
| relations = Muzaffar Khan (brother)
| death_date = 24 February 1739
| death_place = [[Karnal]], [[Delhi Subah]], [[Mughal Empire]]
| birth_date = 1672/1673
| birth_place = [[Agra]], [[Agra Subah]], [[Mughal Empire]]
| image =
| allegiance = [[Mughal Empire]]
| caption = Khan-i-Dauran
| birth_name = Khawaja Asim
| occupation = [[General (military)|General]], [[Subahdar]]
| native_name =
| native_name_lang = fa
| term_start = 8 October 1720
| term_end = 24 February 1739
| office2 = [[Subahdar]] of [[Agra Subah|Agra]]
| monarch2 = [[Farrukhsiyar]]
| successor1 = Ajit Singh
| successor2 = [[Saadatullah Khan I|Sadatullah Khan I]]
| predecessor1 = [[Ajit Singh of Marwar|Ajit Singh]]
| predecessor2 = Chabela Ram
| branch = [[Army of the Mughal Empire|Mughal Army]]
| honorific_prefix = Samsam-ud-Daulah
| office 3 =
| office1 = [[Subahdar]] of [[Gujarat Subah|Gujarat]]
| successor = [[Nizam-ul-Mulk, Asaf Jah I]]
| predecessor = [[Sayyid Hussain Ali Khan Barha|Ihtisham-ul-Mulk]]
| term_start1 = 1717
| term_end1 = 1719
| deputy1 = Haidar Quli Khan
| monarch1 = [[Farrukhsiyar]]
}}
'''Khan Dowran VII''' (1672/73 – 24 February 1739) was a Mughal statesman and general in the eighteenth century. Originally Khwaja Asim, he was made Samsam ud-Daula (''Sword of the State'') Khan-i Dauran and was the [[Mir Bakshi]] and [[Amir-ul-Umara]]. He was the head of all the imperial nobility and the commander-in-chief of the [[Army of the Mughal Empire|Mughal army]] during the reign of [[Muhammad Shah]],<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=RzBAAQAAMAAJ&dq=khan+dauran+chief+in+command&pg=PA198 |page= 198 |author= Muḥammad Laṭīf (Saiyid, khān bahādur.) |title= History of the Panjáb from the Remotest Antiquity to the Present Time |date= 1891 |publisher= Calcutta Central Press Company, limited}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=AxeWysRdCXEC&dq=khan+dauran+chief+of+nobility&pg=PA497 |page= 497 |author= Ippolito Desider |date= 2010 |title= Mission to Tibet: The Extraordinary Eighteenth-Century Account of Father Ippolito Desideri S. J. |isbn= 9780861716760 }}</ref>
and served the Emperor until his death at the [[Battle of Karnal]].

His brother, Muzaffar Khan, was the Mir-i-Atish (commander of the artillery),<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=tTJuAAAAMAAJ&q=muzaffar+khan+mir+atish |title= New History of the Marathas: The expansion of the Maratha power, 1707-1772 |page= 146 |author= Govind Sakharam Sardesai |date= 1948 |publisher= Phoenix Publications }}</ref> and the governor of [[Rajasthan|Ajmer]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NXsBAAAAMAAJ&q=ajmer |title= A Mughal Statesman of the Eighteenth Century, Khan-i-Dauran, Mir Bakshi of Muhammad Shah, 1719-1739 |page= 60 |author= Zahiruddin Malik |date= 1973 |publisher= Aligarh Muslim University |isbn= 9780210405444 }}</ref>

==Background==
Khwaja Asim was an Indian Muslim,<ref>{{cite book |quote=Khan-i-Dauran, an Indian born Muslim|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=gxluAAAAMAAJ&q=indian+born+Muslim |page= 159 |year= 1982 |title= Historians of Medieval India |author= Mohibbul Hasan |publisher= Meenakshi Prakashan }}</ref> who was born in 1672–73 in Agra, where his father Khwaja Qasim was living in retirement after giving up his job in the army.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NXsBAAAAMAAJ&q=khwaja+qasim+dauran |title=A Mughal Statesman of the Eighteenth Century, Khan-i-Dauran, Mir Bakshi of Muhammad Shah, 1719-1739 |page=4 |publisher=Aligarh Muslim University |author= Zahiruddin Malik |year=1973 |isbn=9780210405444 }}</ref> He was a member of the [[Naqshbandi]] Khwajazadah family,<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=C4dDAAAAYAAJ&q=at+Akbarabad+Agra+,+and+a+man+of+elegant+stature+and+imposing+appearance+,+Khw%C4%81j%C4%81h+Asim+entitled+Ashraff+Kh%C4%81n |page= 236 |author= Syed H. Askari |publisher= Janaki Prakashan |title= Iqbalnama: by an anonymous contemporary writer |year= 1983 }}</ref> who were natives of Agra.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7X9DAAAAYAAJ&q=khwaja+asim+agra |title= Medieval India QuarterlyVolume 5 |date=1963 |page= 89 |publisher=Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University. }}</ref> He was an ethnic Hindustani.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9w9uAAAAMAAJ&q=khan+dauran+hindustanis |page=36 |author= Sunanda Bhattacharya |date=1993 |title=Role of Jats and Rajputs in the Mughal Court, 1707-1740 |publisher=Books Treasure }}</ref> When Khwaja Asim grew to manhood, he along with his brothers went to the [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan]] in search of employment, and entered the service of Prince [[Muhammad Kam Bakhsh|Kam Bakhsh]] who took him into service and raised him as a [[mansabdar]].<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=N4BDAAAAYAAJ&q=khan+dauran+khwaja+asim |title= Medieval India: Volume 1 |page= 136 |publisher= Aligarh Muslim University. Department of History. Centre of Advanced Study |author= Not given |year= 1969}}</ref> One author asserts that Khwaja Asim had been a play-fellow of prince [[Farrukhsiyar]], but as he was at least eleven years older, this can hardly be correct. His intimacy with the Prince was founded, however, on joining him in wrestling, archery, riding, polo-playing and other war-like exercises, of which Farrukhsiyar was passionately fond.<ref name="Irvine 1971 p265">{{cite book |title= Later Mughal |author= William Irvine |author-link=William Irvine (historian)|year= 1971 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ak5oFjTys8MC&dq=khan+dauran+khwaja+asim&pg=PA265 |page= 265 }}</ref>

Ashub says that his ancestor, Khan Baha-ud-Din Naqshband, had been the Pir and Murshid of all Turan and Turkistan.<ref>{{cite book |title=Parties And Politics At The Mughal Court |year=1959 |author= Satish Chandra |author-link=Satish Chandra (historian) |page=211 |url= https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.119114/page/n258/mode/1up?view=theater}}</ref>

==Life==
[[File:Khan-i Dauran Khan's House.png|thumb|Khan-i Dauran Khan's House, Agra]]
When [[Farrukhsiyar]] rose as the heir to the throne, Khwaja Asim felt like a "falcon newly mounted". Farrukhsiyar attempted to raise Khan-i-Dauran as a favourite in order to establish independence from the rule of the Indian Muslim [[Sayyid Brothers]].<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=vDscEAAAQBAJ&dq=khan+dauran+bakhshi+sayyids&pg=PA9 |title= Modern Indian History |page= 9 |author= V. D. Mahajan |date= 2020 |isbn= 9789352836192 }}</ref> He was made a mansabdar of 7000/7000 zat and sowar,<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SFhuAAAAMAAJ&q=five+lakh |title= Shahjahanabad, a city of Delhi, 1638-1857 |page= 81 |author= Shama Mitra Chenoy |date= 1998 |publisher= Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers|isbn= 9788121508025 }}</ref> and was made the head of the Wala-Shahis, who were distinguished by their red turbans.<ref>{{cite book |title= Later Mughal |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ak5oFjTys8MC&dq=khwaja+asim+wala+shahi&pg=PA260 |date= 1971 |author= William Irvine |page= 260 }}</ref> When [[Sayyid Hussain Ali Khan Barha|Sayyid Hussain Ali Khan]] was made the Viceroy of the Deccan and left to take personal charge of the provinces, the Sayyids agreed on the insistence of the Emperor to give Khan-i-Dauran the roles of the [[Mir Bakhshi]] as the deputy.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=0Rm9MC4DDrcC&dq=mir+bakhshi+khan+dauran&pg=PA478 |title= Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals Part - I |page= 478 |author= Satish Chandra |year= 2005 |publisher= Har-Anand Publications|isbn= 9788124110669 }}</ref> In this period he was the governor of both Agra and Gujarat.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.117946/page/n19/mode/2up?q=Risalah |title=A Mughal Statesman Of The Eighteenth Century |author= Zahiruddin Malik |date=1973 |publisher= Aligarh Muslim University }}</ref>

After the overthrow of the Sayyid Brothers, during which Khan-i Dauran fought Abdullah Khan at the Battle of Hasanpur,<ref>{{ cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=NXsBAAAAMAAJ&q=After+the+battle+of+Hasanpur+,+Muhammad+Shah+appointed+him+Mir+Bakhshi+with+the+rank+of+8,000+/+8,000+and+the+title+of |title= A Mughal Statesman of the Eighteenth Century, Khan-i-Dauran, Mir Bakshi of Muhammad Shah, 1719-1739 |date= 1973 |page= 106 |author= Zahiruddin Malik|isbn= 9780210405444 }}</ref> Khan-i-Dauran took Husain Ali Khan's place as Mir Bakhshi with the rank of 8000 zat and sowar, and was made the Amir-ul-Umara.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=NXsBAAAAMAAJ&q=ashraf |page= 7 |title= A Mughal Statesman of the Eighteenth Century, Khan-i-Dauran, Mir Bakshi of Muhammad Shah, 1719-1739 |author= Zahiruddin Malik |date= 1973 |publisher= Aligarh Muslim University|isbn= 9780210405444 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=RAFDAAAAYAAJ&dq=samsam+daula+mir+bakhshi&pg=PA79 |page= 79 |publisher= Uttar Pradesh Historical Society |title= Journal: Volumes 6-8 |date= 1993 }}</ref> He had success in driving [[Nizam-ul-Mulk, Asaf Jah I|Asaf Jah I]] away from the court to the Deccan,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m3gtAAAAMAAJ&q=dauran |title= Punjab |date= 1982 |publisher= Sang-E-Meel Publications |author= Zulfiqar Ahmed }}</ref> after which all power practically fell into the hands of the Mir Bakhshi, Khan-i-Dauran.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=KYvjZN6pXYEC&dq=samsam+daulah+chief+general&pg=PA211 |title= the Turks in India |author= H. G. Keene |publisher= University Press of the Pacific |date= 2001 |page= 210 }}</ref> From this point until his death in 1739, Khan-i-Dauran retained his position at court, whoever was in power.<ref name="Irvine 1971 p265"/> Khan-i-Dauran charged the next Wazir, [[Roshan-ud-Daulah]], of corruption, which resulted in the dismissal of his post.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=y7YBAAAAMAAJ |title= Rediscovering Delhi |author= Maheshwar Dayal|date=1975 |page= 133 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SLw6DwAAQBAJ&dq=raushan+dismissed&pg=PA267 |title= Complete Indian History for IAS Exam:Highly Recommended for IAS, PCS and other Competitive Exam|page= 267 |author= Praveen Kumar |publisher=Educreation Publishing}}</ref> He only employed Indian Muslims as soldiers.<ref>{{cite book |title=Parties And Politics At The Mughal Court |date=1959 |author= Satish Chandra |page=211 }}</ref> Ashub says that his patronage of Hindustanis resulted in the decline of the descendants of Irani and Turani servants of [[Muhammad Azam Shah|Azam Shah]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.119114/page/n293/mode/2up?q=hindustanis |title=Parties And Politics At The Mughal Court |date=1959 |author= Satish Chandra |page=246 }}</ref>

Khan-i-Dauran was the head of the Mughal army at the [[Battle of Karnal]].<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9w9uAAAAMAAJ&q=khan+dauran+head+army |title= Role of Jats and Rajputs in the Mughal Court, 1707-1740 |date= 1993 |author= Sunanda Bhattacharya |page= 37 }}</ref> During [[Nader Shah]]'s invasion of the Mughal Empire, Muhammad Shah sent out a request for troops throughout his lands and gathered a large force to face the invaders. One of the Mughal nobles who answered the call of the Emperor was Khan Dowran, being appointed commander in chief of the Mughal army upon [[Muhammad Shah]]'s request. After the arrival of a contingent of Mughal forces under the command of Sa'adat Khan, the rearguard of this reinforcing column came under attack from Persian skirmishes who looted the baggage. Sa'adat Khan set out in pursuit and was lured into battle.

[[File:A painting in Chehel Sotoun2.jpg|Depiction of the Battle of Karnal|thumb]]
After reports came into the Mughal camp, Muhammad Shah strongly favoured aiding Sa'adat Khan's troops but Khan Dowran advised caution, stating any aid given to Sa'adat khan would only involve a greater number of Mughal troops in Sa'adat Khan's defeat. After Muhammad Shah questioned his courage, Khan Dowran donned his armour and set out to link up with Sa'adat Khan. Khan-i Dauran declared that it was not the Indian style to abandon a friend, even if he was imprudent.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f_RtAAAAMAAJ&q=even+if+he+was+imprudent+.+%27+Let+others+do+as+they+please |title= The Forgotten Mughals: A History of the Later Emperors of the House of Babar, 1707-1857 |page= 195 |author= G. S. Cheema |date= 2002 |isbn= 9788173044168 }}</ref> However, Nader Shah sent out a number of troops to feign retreat and managed to separate Khan Dowran and Sa'adat Khan and defeat each in detail. Khan Dowran's soldiers were decimated and he himself was badly injured and died later that evening after being carried back to the Mughal camp by his retainers. Although Khan-i-Dauran had set out with his cavalry to engage the enemy, the rest of the army under the Nizam remained inert during battle, who, according to the Siyar-ul-Muhtakhrin, "probably hoped to take the places of these rivals at court if they perished". The Nizam had held a grudge on Khan-i Dauran, as the latter had likened his function to the dance of an old monkey from the Deccan, when the Nizam had come to court in his Deccan attire and made obeisance in the Mahratta fashion.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=m3gtAAAAMAAJ&q=nizam+mahratta+fashion |page= 107 |title= Punjab |author= Zulfiqar Ahmad |publisher= the University of Michigan |date= 1982 }}</ref> The Mughal emperor himself also remained "imbecile and stood like a wooden figure", far away from the battlefield, "but more as a distant spectator of the battle rather than a participator in it".<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=d1wUgKKzawoC&dq=saadat+khan+baggage&pg=PA148 |title= Advanced Study in the History of Modern India 1707-1813 |author= Jaswant Lal Mehta |date= 2005 |page= 148 }}</ref> The wounded body of Khan-i-Dauran was brought back to the Mughal camp, where he regained consciousness and said in a weak voice, "I have myself finished my own business. Now you know and your work knows. Never take the Emperor to Nadir, nor conduct Nadir to Dihli, but send away that evil from this point by any means you can devise." He then relapsed into unconsciousness and died within two days.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ak5oFjTys8MC&dq=khan+dauran+head+army&pg=RA1-PA355 |title= Later Mughal |author= William Irvine |year= 1971 |page= 355 }}</ref> His brother Muzaffar Khan and elder son Muharram Khan were among the dead.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.117946/page/n105/mode/2up |title= A Mughal Statesman Of The Eighteenth Century |date=1973 |author= Zahiruddin Malik |page=102}}</ref>

His younger son Mirza Ashraf Samsam-ud-Daula, who was made a captive by Nader Shah, was given the title of Khan-i Dauran and the post of Mir-i-Atish by Muhammad Shah, and became the Mir Bakhshi of [[Alamgir II]] with the title of Amir-ul-Umara.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7QhuAAAAMAAJ&q=673 |title= Muslim Society in Northern India During the Eighteenth Century |page= 296 |author= Muhammad Umar |publisher= the University of Michigan|date= 1998 |isbn= 9788121508308 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title= A Mughal Statesman Of The Eighteenth Century |date=1973 |author= Zahiruddin Malik |page=102}}</ref>

==Personality==
[[File:Ghalib at the Last Mushaira.jpg|Scene from a Mushaira|thumb]]
Much of Khan-i-Dauran's prestige may have been derived from his commanding presence. A contemporary tells us that when he walked up the audience hall with a group of followers, his head would be seen towering far above the others.<ref name="Irvine 1971 p265" />

[[Faaiz Dehlvi|Nawab Sadr-ud-Din Muhammad Khan Fa'iz]], the first poet in Northern India who wrote a Diwan in [[Rekhta]] or Urdu in 1715, participated in [[Mushaira|Musha'irahs]] and academic gatherings at the residence of Khan-i-Dauran, and these he describes vividly in the ''Risala-i Manazrat''.<ref>{{cite book |title= The Reign Of Muhammad Shah 1919-1748 |author= Zahiruddin Malik |date= 1977 |url= https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.131341/page/n397/mode/2up }}</ref> Khan-i Dauran was a man of smooth plausible speech, with little knowledge of Persian. Instead, Khan-i Dauran spoke an elegant [[Urdu]], ornamented with Persian phrases.<ref>{{cite book |title= Shahjahanabad:The Sovereign City in Mughal India 1639-1739 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=vJ0e0kfgttUC&dq=khan+dauran+elegant+urdu&pg=PA138 |author= Stephen P. Blake |date= 2002 |publisher= Cambridge University Press |page= 139 | isbn=9780521522991 }}</ref> Khan-i Dauran thought it pretentious to use Persian in everyday conversation or at home; it left one open to ridicule and criticism.<ref>{{cite book |title= Shahjahanabad:The Sovereign City in Mughal India 1639-1739 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=vJ0e0kfgttUC&dq=khan+dauran+pretentious&pg=PA134 |author= Stephen P. Blake |date= 2002 |publisher= Cambridge University Press |page= 134 | isbn=9780521522991 }}</ref> Khan-i Dauran also owned a big library. He fixed a daily allowance for the famous Urdu poet of the time, [[Mir Taqi Mir]]. Once he was pleased with a Kashmiri poet, Mullah Sata'i, and rewarded him with two thousand rupees. But the latter requested the Mir Bakhshi for a mansab, after which Khan-i Dauran brought him to recite a qasidah in court for the Emperor. The poet received a mansab, jagir, service in the province of Kashmir.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Mughal Statesman Of The Eighteenth Century |author= Zahiruddin Malik |date=1973 |page=108 |publisher= Aligarh Muslim University }}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Nader Shah]]
*[[Mughal Empire]]
*[[Muhammad Shah]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Cust, Edward, ''Annals of the wars of the eighteenth century'', Gilbert & Rivington Printers:London, 1862.
* Dupuy, R. Ernest and Trevor N. Dupuy, ''The Harper Encyclopedia of Military History'', 4th Ed., HarperCollinsPublishers, 1993.
* Axworthy, Michael, "The Sword of Persia; Nader Shah, from Tribal Warrior to Conquering Tyrant", I B Tauris, 2009.

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050715074949/http://www.sikh-history.com/sikhhist/events/nadir.html Nadir Shah's invasion in India]
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060313205326/http://haryana-online.com/History/battle_of_karnal.htm Battle of Karnal 1739 - History of Haryana]}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dowran 07}}
[[Category:18th-century Mughal Empire people]]
[[Category:1670s births]]
[[Category:1739 deaths]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]

Khan Dowran VII - Revision history

Roshni at 06:47, 23 April 2026