Aurangzeb and the Yusufzai revolt.
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
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.jpgSource:
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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