Aurangzeb and the Yusufzai revolt.

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Aurangzeb and the Yusufzais revolt 

Under Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire reached its zenith. However, in 1667, an incident took place which disturbed the relative peace in the North West frontier. The Yusufzais, a tribe in the NWFP, revolted against Aurangzeb, paving way for two other tribes to revolt against him in the future. While Aurangzeb was successful, the revolts did have several long term consequences.


Aurangzeb had to face numerous rebellions in his reign. One of the most significant one was the rebellion of the tribes of the North West Frontier Province.

The earliest tribe in the North West Frontier Province that one hears about are the Yusufzais. Dominant in the Swat region, which is now in present day Pakistan, no other ruler except for Akbar had tried to subjugate this tribe.  Literally- “the sons of Yusuf”, they have a history spanning over centuries. The tribe settled in Kabul when Babur’s uncle- Mirza Ulugh Beg was the ruler but in order to avoid being massacred, migrated to various places around the region till finally reaching Swat.


                                                   

The Yusufzai flag. Image source- https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b3/Flag_of_the_State_of_Dir.svg/340px-Flag_of_the_State_of_Dir.svg.png

The Yusufzais were highway robbers. After a complaint to Akbar regarding the plunder by the tribe of people travelling to India, Akbar decided to bring them under their control. His attempt was however, unsuccessful. It was in this campaign that his courtier Raja Birbal perished. Also around 1580’s there are now mentions of the Khattaks – a tribe in the NWFP  appointed to protect the highways.

The next time Yusufzais rose up completely in arms against a Mughal Emperor was during the time of Aurangzeb in 1667. The Yusufzais were also subdivided into various clans. Bhagu, the leader of one such clan put a man “Muhammad Shah” on the throne, as the king of the whole tribe and appealed to the Yusufzai clans to unite against the Mughal Empire. His move was successful, the united clan was able to cross the river Indus and plunder Mughal areas.

Aurangzeb immediately dispatched officers like the mir bakshi Mohammad Amin Khan, the subhedar of Kabul- Amir Khan, the faujdar of Attock Kamil Khan, and others. Included among these men was Kushal Khan Khattak, a man who had spent a large part of his life protecting Mughal roads and who, in a few years, would lead his own rebellion against the Mughals.

Even after a crushing defeat, the Yusufzais persevered and occupied the village of Ohind, near Attock. Nonetheless, the Mughal army was vast. Aurangzeb dispatched more troops and ultimately, the Yusufzais were pushed back to the land that they had come from. 

The revolt further led to the revolt of the Khattaks and the Afridis, a few years later. The crushing of these revolts had several long term effects on the Mughals. The Afghans, used to rough terrains similar to the ones in Rajputana, could no longer be employed by Aurangzeb in his wars against the Rajputs since he doubted their loyalty and a major trump card for the Empire was lost. Also even if the rebellion was crushed, the Yusufzai stronghold- Swat was still out of the Mughal control. 


  A Yusufzai soldier. Image source-https://previews.agefotostock.com/previewimage/medibigoff/81cc795bdcffb90e6ae9c8ab8f148143/mev-10511841.jpg


Source:

Samrin, F. (2006). YUSUFZAIS IN MUGHAL HISTORY. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 67, 292-300. Retrieved May 27, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/44147949

 

 

 

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