Literary Accounts

Perhaps the most concise english account of the Najabat Khan dynasty in Kunjpur was written by Major Charles Francis Massey in 1890 in his encyclopaedia entitled: "CHIEFS AND FAMILIES OF NOTE IN THE DELHI, JALANDHAR, PESHAWAR AND DERAJAT DIVISIONS OF THE PUNJAB". The account must be viewed in the prysm of colonialism but is nevertheless a fascinating read. The tales of visitors from Ghourghusti is very relevant, as such visitations continued throughout the 20th century according to elders in Ghourghushti. Latterly Kunjpurean descendants have been visiting the birthplace and home of Nawab Najabat Khan in Mohalla Ishaq Zai, Ghourghushti.

Sir Charles Massey writes as follows in respect of the Kunjpura household:

"The Kunjpurias are amongst the best known of the Mahomedan families in the existing Dehli Division. The head of the house enjoys the title of Nawab, and their jurisdiction as semi-independent Chiefs was only lost to them under the operation of Lord Hardinge's order, dated 17th November, 1846, affecting all but nine of the petty rulers in the plains south and east of the Satlaj. They are Rohilas of Eusafzai origin, and class themselves with other Pathans settled in the Panipat Tahsil as Zaka Khels, though their identity with any existing tribe on the Peshawar Frontier has long since been lost. They marry amongst themselves, and all their social observances assimilate with those of their Pathan neighbours, classed generally as " Hindustanis". Yet it may be mentioned as tending to prove the undoubted Trans-Indus connection at some remote period and as showing the desire of the Kunjpurias to be esteemed as genuine Eusafzais, that even to the present day they are visited at uncertain intervals by men of the clan from Attock and Peshawar, whom they receive with honor as "cousins," and who, no doubt, find the occasional pilgrimage to Karnal one of profit as well as of pleasure.

The Kunjpurias are credited in the earlier Government records as having come from "Gurgusht in the Sinde country." By Sinde is probably intended in this case the country of the Upper Indus, for the large village of Gurgushti, in the Rawalpindi district, is close to the Indus or Sinde river, in the Chach plain north-east of Attock ; and the Pathans of Gurgushti are especially given to claiming kinship with the Kunjpura Chiefs.

Thus, in 1886, on the death of the late Nawab Mahomed AH Khan, a Gurgushti deputation duly appeared at Karnal to offer condolences, and to take back with them the presents such attention was bound to secure. But here the connection always ends, and there are no modern instances of Kunjpurias having secured Gurgushtian ladies as brides. The border Pathans would probably smile were such a request preferred by their brethren of the lower Panjab. Nothing certain is known regarding the settling of the Gurgushtis in India. They were classed as Rohila Pathans, and received employment about the Dehli Court in the early days of the Mahomedan conquests. But they were of small account until one of their number, Najabat Khan, founded the fortunes of the family by his own pluck and energy. He flourished in the early part of the eighteenth century, and after serving as a captain in the Imperial Forces, secured for himself a considerable tract of fertile land along an arm of the Jamna as it then flowed in a channel now dry, known as the Puran, in the present Pipli Tahsil of the Ambala district. He plundered the Bazidpur villages in the Bidauli pargana of the Sarkar Saharanpur, and built for himself in the Jamna marshes a strong tower which he named Kunjpura, or the Heron's Nest. His sons re-named it Najabat Nagar in his honor; but their children have ever since been known as Kunjpurias.

Najabat Khan was not allowed peaceful possession of his acquisitions. The old Bazidpur owners complained to Izat Khan, the Chakladar of Saharanpur, who advanced against the freebooter with such forces as he had at his command ; but Najabat held his own and slew the Imperial agent. This was more than even the effete Mahomedan Government of that day could stand. Mulraj, Governor of Panipat, was ordered to seize the person of the rebel and produce him before the Emperor at Dehli. But he was released in a few years, after the manner of the age, upon promise of paying a fine, which was never redeemed. Najabat Khan sided with Nadar Shah in his conquest of Dehli in 1739, and was recognised by the new power as rightful owner of the Kunjpura lands.

Kunjpura itself was regarded as a post of strategical importance, covering the Begi Ferry on the road from Saharanpur to Dehli, and commanding the Imperial bridge over the canal between Karnal and the fortified sarai at Gharaunda, in the direction of Panipat. It was the scene of many a struggle between the Imperialists and the Mahratas in the middle of the eighteenth century. In one of these castles, in 1760, Najabat Khan met with his death, defending the stronghold in the interests of the Abdalis against a sudden attack made by the Mahrata General, Sadasheo, who put the garrison to the sword and levelled the place with the ground, burning most of the villages in the neighbourhood.

Najabat's eldest son Daler Khan succeeded in escaping across the Jamna, and had his revenge in the following year by taking part in the battle of Panipat, when the Mahratas suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Duranis. Daler Khan's assistance to the Duranis was evidently of considerable value, for the family possess Sanads bearing the seal of Ahmad Shah, reciting his services and those of his father to " this god-given Government, " and confirming him in the rule and revenues of Kunjpura, Indri and Azimabad. The grant extended over one hundred and fifty villages in the modern divisions of Karnal, Indri, Thanesar, Shahabad and Badauli. The Chief was bound to render active assistance in times of trouble, and he was made to keep up a large force of horse and foot for the Imperial services. The mahals of Karnal and Safidon were afterwards bestowed in lieu of certain other villages resumed.

Upon Daler Khan personally was conferred about this period the title of Bakhshi and Arjamand. But he lost much of his property shortly before his death in 1773, owing to the incursions of Raja Gajpat Singh of Jind and the other Sikh Chiefs, who were now busily feeling their way towards Dehli. His successor Gulsher Khan was unable to resist this forward movement, and gradually lost what remained of the family estates west of the Jamna. But the fortunes of the Kunjpurias revived about the year 1787, when Sindia checked the growing power of Patiala and expelled the Jind Raja Bhag Singh from Karnal.

Ten years later we find Gulsher recognised by General Perron as Nawab of Kunjpura for help rendered in chastising George Thomas and the Jind and Ladwa Chiefs, whose successful adventures had begun to awaken the fears of the Mahratas for the safety of their north-western border. Thus, Rahmat Khan, who succeeded his father Gulsher as Nawab in iSoi, was a personage of importance, whose alliance Lord Lake was glad to secure when gathering strength early in the century to crush Holkar and the combination of Sikh States headed by the Ladwa Chief. His son Bahadar Jang was awarded a jagir on life-tenure in seven villages of the Karnal pargana, under a Farman signed by Lord Lake in 1806, afterwards confirmed by a Sanad of Lord Minto, Governor-General. We find by a return prepared in 1809, that the Kunjpura Chief Rahmat Khan, with his brother Ghulam Mahayudin and their uncle Karam Sher Khan, were then possessed of one hundred and twenty villages in the parganas of Karnal, Indri and Badauli, yielding a revenue of nearly Rs. 90,000. Their holdings were subject to the condition of furnishing a contingent of twenty horse and six hundred foot. Rahmat Khan's estates in the Indri-Thanesar tract, yielding Rs. 72,000 per annum, were, under the Governor-General's Proclamation, dated 22nd August, 1811, confirmed to him as an independent and protected Chief. His son's jagir was situated in the Dehli territory, and was valued at Rs. 2,900 per annum.

The Saharanpur lands were held on zamindari tenure. By an Italanama issued in 1809, the Kunjpura Chiefs were estopped from levying tolls and customs duties upon goods crossing the Jamna in the neighbourhood of their estates. This curtailment of their privileges appears to have been the subject of a remonstrance on the part of the Nawabs, for various sums were paid to them from year to year after 1813 by way of compensation for loss of revenue ; and they continued to levy chungi upon articles consumed within the limits of the estate until 1843, when it was abolished under an order of Sir Henry Lawrence, then Assistant to the Governor- General's Agent. Since 1852 the Nawabs have been allowed a fixed sum of Rs. 3,210 annually in lieu of all claims to tolls and customs dues of every description. As already mentioned, the Nawabs lost their independent status in 1846 ;and three years later Lord Hardinge's action was confirmed by Lord Dalhousie, who, under a Proclamation of June, 1849, declared that, with the exception of nine States specified, "all the Chiefs would cease to hold sovereign powers, would lose all civil, criminal and fiscal jurisdictions, and would be considered as no more than ordinary subjects of the British Government in possession of certain exceptional privileges."Henceforth the Nawabs of Kunjpura were mere jagirdars, occasionally exercising judicial powers specially conferred. Much of the legitimate power and influence which this family might reasonably have exercised had been lost by the unhappy relations of different members who have quarrelled with each other, and especially with the head of the house for their own individual objects.

As far back as 1806 the differences between Rahmat Khan and his brother Ghulam Mahayudin, regarding the succession to the patrimony, terminated in an open rupture. Their armed retainers came to blows, and antiquated pieces of cannon were used by the combatants within hearing of the cantonment of Karnal. The Kunjpura people were described in an official report of those days as " turbulent and unruly beyond any other race in India, given to habits of aggression, violence and contempt of all order and authority." The aim of the younger brother Ghulam Mahayudin was to dismember the inheritance on the strength of an alleged custom, under which the sons of the Chief by his first wife were said to have right to share the patrimony between them. Being unable to prove this allegation, he repeated his demand in another form, requiring the assignment of a number of villages, equal almost to one-half of the estate, for his separate maintenance. After much squabbling and not a little bloodshed, the parties referred their quarrel to arbitration, and formally agreed to abide by the finding in presence of Mr. Metcalfe, Agent, and his Assistant Mr. W. Fraser. Hereunder, certain villages were assigned to Ghulam Mahayudin for the purpose of providing him with a proper maintenance, and not with the object of giving him a separate share or splitting up his father's property. The grantee was in held free from liability to contribute towards the support of his younger brother, whose maintenance became a charge upon the possessions of the Nawab. In reporting this decision the position of Ghulam Mahayudin was explained by Sir C. T. Metcalfe in the following terms: — " Had the question then been as to the right of Ghulam Mahayudin to a portion as one of several younger brothers, he must, I conceive, have received a smaller provision than he obtained. But that was not the question, nor was the matter settled on any ground of right. The adjustment was simply on agreement between the parties, both yielding to the opinions of the arbitrators.

Ghulam Mahayudin Khan was more in the character of a rival than of a younger brother. His pretensions arose out of circumstances antecedent to our Rule. We had strictly refrained from interference in the affairs of the petty States on our frontier. The two brothers were at war, and if the scene of action had not been within a few miles, or perhaps within sight, of one of our cantonments, they would have been left to fight it out, and would probably have destroyed each other, or would have fallen under the domination of some superior State. The arrangement concluded between them was considered by me more as a treaty of peace between contending parties than as a legal settlement of mutual rights."

Nawab Rahmat Khan died in 1822, and was followed by his son Bahadar Jang, who held the estate for six years. On his death the life-jagir in pargana Karnal lapsed to Government under the terms of the Sanad of 1806. He was succeeded in default of male issue by his next brother Ghulam AH Khan, who was duly recognised by the Governor-General as "rightful successor to the principality of Kunjpura." Ghulam All's younger brothers lost no time in following their uncle's example, and in 1834 one of them, Shahbaz Khan, put forward a claim to ownership in one-third of the estate. This was rejected by Sir George Clerk, Political Agent at Ambala, who, in reporting the case to the Governor-General's Agent at Dehli, remarked : — ** If the Kunjpura lands are to be regarded as private property, no time should be lost in subjecting this inheritance to the rules of sharia. But if it be deemed expedient to maintain the Chief in respectability and authority, the provision of gtizara for his brother should be left in a measure to the Nawab's discretion." Sir Charles Metcalfe in reply (dated 12th December, 1836), laid down on the authority of the Lieutenant-Governor, North- Western Provinces, that " Kunjpura must be regarded as a principality, and the younger branches must depend upon the older for support ; the amount of this provision being regulated by the custom of the family." On the death of Ghulam Mahayudin in 1841, his assigned villages reverted to the Nawab Ghulam Ali Khan, with the exception of the one village of Biana and the lands of seven wells in Kunjpura, which were apportioned for the maintenance of Mahomed Yar Khan, son of the deceased. In 1843 the Nawab had an opportunity of proving his loyalty by furnishing a party of fifty sowars to assist in suppressing the disturbances at Kaithal, described in another chapter, brought about by the decision of Government to treat the estate as an escheat on the death without issue of Bhai Ude Singh. The men remained at the disposition of Sir Henry Lawrence for two months, and their services were duly acknowledged in a letter of thanks to the Nawab. He was again forward in assisting during the First Sikh War with carriage and supplies. Nawab Ghulam Ali Khan died in 1849, and was succeeded by his only son Mahomed Ali. His latter years had been embittered by violent family quarrels, instigated by Ghulam Mahayudin's son Mahomed Yar Khan of Biana.

These unfortunate dissensions, adverse to the best interests of the family, brought the estate to the verge of ruin, and paralyzed all attempts at vigorous action during the crisis of 1849, when a display of active loyalty would have for ever secured the Kunjpuras a high place in the esteem of the Paramount Power. Nawab Mahomed Ali Khan was only twenty years of age when his father died. He was beset with troubles from the commencement, due to the active opposition and underhand intrigues of his uncles Shahbaz Khan and Janbaz, who were leagued with their cousin Mahomed Yar Khan of Biana to bring the head of the house to ruin, and thus secure a partition of the property amongst all the cousins. They accused the Nawab, through his step-mother, of having poisoned his elder brother in order to secure his own succession. But the charge was declared after investigation to be unfounded.

His next trouble was concerning the succession to the estate of his cousin Tafazal Hasain, who died in 1851, and whose father Karam Sher Khan had been assigned lands for his maintenance in Ghir and portions of Kunjpura Proper. These duly passed to Tafazal Hasain, and his widow now set up Barkat Ali, the son of a slave-girl, as his rightful successor. The decision of Government was in favour of direct heirs of Karam Sher Khan, excluding illegitimate offspring. With regard to the Nawab, it was held that his rights were only reversionary on the failure of all Karam Sher's immediate heirs. Meanwhile the Biana branch had not been idle. Mahomed Yar Khan continued to press his suit, reducing the demand to one-fourth of the whole estate; but this was finally rejected, in 1851, by the Commissioner of Ambala. A fight next took place over the Nawab's reversionary rights in Mahomed Yar's Biana holdings, which dragged through the courts for many years. The Financial Commissioner ruled, in 1857, that Mahomed Yar was merely a life-tenant, as his father Ghulam Mahay udin had never been acknowledged owner of a separate estate. In 1857 Nawab Mahomed Ali Khan responded to the call of the Commissioner and placed the whole of his horse and footmen at the disposal of Government. They were stationed at Thanesar, and assisted in preserving order and in supporting the executive authority. The Nawab's service commutation payment was remitted for one year, and the demand was permanently reduced by one-half. The family quarrels, which had been allowed to pend during the Mutiny, broke out afresh in 1859.

Amongst other enormities, the Nawab was charged with attempting to assassinate one of his kinsmen. This accusation of course fell to the ground. He was next reported as being in league with the Wahabis of Satana. The matter was enquired into, and the result was communicated to the Nawab in a letter from Government to the Commissioner, in which the following paragraph is deserving of record : — " The Lieutenant-Governor requests you will inform the Nawab that in the opinion of the Government, so far from the accusations made by informers having brought any discredit on him, the enquiries made have resulted highly to his honor as tending to show that, although efforts were made to implicate him by sending the messenger of the fanatics to him on the ostensible plea of obtaining charity from him, these efforts proved wholly unsuccessful."

Nawab Mahomed Ali Khan's life was spent to the last in defending himself against a series of wholly groundless attacks made by his numerous relatives. It will serve no purpose to describe them here, and a mere list of the disputes would be of no value to those who have access to the fuller records of the public offices. But in the course of these disputes, settled either judicially or by interference of the executive, certain matters were decided which deserve a short notice. The sons of Sher Ali Khan, granduncle of the Nawab, were, in 1875, awarded a joint maintenance of Rs. 666 per annum by the Nawab, voluntarily at the suggestion of the Commissioner of Dehli. Next, Faiz Mahomed Khan, son of the Nawab's granduncle Ghulam Rasul, who died in 1876, claimed to retain three wells in Kunjpura and an annuity of Rs. 167 as his hereditary right. The case dragged on until 1884, when Sir Charles Aitchison consented to act as arbitrator. His Honor found that as Faiz Mahomed refused compliance with the conditions as to service and obedience to the Nawab, which are usual in the family on the part of those who receive maintenance, he was not entitled to the same amount as had been granted to others in the same degree of relationship, and that Rs. 293-7 ^ Y^^'' was a proper sum for his maintenance.

A third dispute arose after the death of Mahomed Yar Khan in 1882, on the application of his son Ahmad Hasan to be recorded as jagirdar of Biana and owner of sundry plots in that estate and in Kunjpura. He gained his suit in so far as he was permitted to retain possession of the so- called fort in Biana with a few acres of land in the neighbourhood, but the assigned revenue was declared to have reverted to the Nawab. In addition, the Nawab's estate has been charged with a life-provision of Rs. 1,200 per annum for the support of his cousin Ahmad Hasan. Finally, Nazar Mahomed, son of the Nawab's uncle Janbaz Khan, put in a claim for continuance to him of his deceased father's maintenance allowance of Rs. 1,200 per annum. The decision of the Lieutenant-Governor was communicated in a letter to the Commissioner of Dehli, dated the 2nd July, 1888, in which His Honor recorded his opinion that, according to precedents, "the allowance granted to the son of a Nawab of Kunjpura is reducible when he dies, unless there is some special agreement or order of Government or of the Courts to the contrary in any particular case." The claimant was accordingly awarded a life-allowance of Rs. 900 per annum, subject to deduction of commutation and income tax, and to acquiescence in certain conditions which may be summarized as follows : — That the grantee bring no suit against the Nawab, nor attempt to alienate or pledge his allowances, and that he acknowledge the grant as strictly limited for the period of his own life-time, his heirs having no claim whatever upon the estate.

Nawab Mahomed Ali Khan died in 1886. His name stood third on the list of Imperial Darbaris in the Dehli Division. He had exercised powers as a Magistrate and Civil Judge since 1860 within the limits of his estate. The present Nawab Ibrahim Ali Khan, eldest surviving son of Mahomed Ali Khan, is a minor, and his property has come under the management of the District Court of Wards. He is studying at the Aitchison College. The late Nawab had arranged for the maintenance of his younger sons by assigning them certain lands acquired for this purpose some- time before his death. These boys are being educated at Karnal. The Kunjpura estate consists of jagir and revenue-paying lands in the Indripargana of Karnal and in the districts of Muzafarnagar and Saharanpur, as well as of numerous houses in Karnal, Kunjpura, Indri and Taraori. At the last-named place the Nawab is owner of the ancient Imperial Sarai, a building of considerable architectural interest. The land-revenue assignments, after deducting one-sixteenth as service commutation, are assessed at Rs. 27,673 per annum, derived from thirty-eight villages, mainly in the Khadar portion of the Indri pargana. In some of these villages the revenue is shared with Sikh jagirdars. In Taraori, for instance, the Sardar of Shamgarh takes two-fifths of the demand. The proprietary holdings comprise twelve entire villages and portions of forty-six villages. These yield a rental of Rs. 23,130 annually, while about Rs. 14,000 are received in the form of house-rent, garden income and miscellaneous revenue. Further mention may be made of the Ghir Branch, now represented by Ahmad Hasan Khan, grandnephew of Ghu1am Nabi, A portion of the Ghir lands had been held by Jamiat Singh of Thanesar. The remainder was so badly managed by Ghulam Nabi Khan that in 1837, on the complaint of the cultivators, his judicial powers were cancelled, and in 1860, in lieu of jagir rights, his nephews were awarded a cash allowance of Rs. 4,000 per annum. This is still paid from the district treasury, although the representatives of Ghulam Nabi persist in styling themselves jagirdars.

The existing arrangement is distinctly to their benefit, in as much as the assessment of their old holding under the recent settlement is considerably less than the pension they are permitted to enjoy. Ahmad Khan's name is on the Provincial Darbar List.

The family branches of the Kunjpura Nawabs are so numerous and their numbers so scattered that it becomes a matter of difficulty to trace up every individual. Many of Najabat Khan's descendants have disappeared for years past from the parent home, and have permanently severed their connection with the head of the house. Ghulam Mahomed Khan, son of Game Khan, quarrelled with the Chief, after the manner of his kinsmen, and settled at Panipat. His children have married there and acquired lands. The line of Ikhtiar Khan claims a distinguished representative in Ghulam Ahmad Khan of Gwalior, Member of the Council of Regency, and author of many Urdu works of great literary merit. His sons have received education at the Aligarh College. Two of Sher Ali Khan's sons, nephews of Nawab Rahmat Ali, have served Government. Ali Ahmad retired on a Tahsildar's pension in 1889, and his brother Asghar Ali still holds the post of Tahsildar in the Ambala district. No other member of the family appears to have distinguished himself in a public capacity.

The system of splitting up the allowances into even shares has extinguished in the holders all natural desire to rise above the level of petty pensioners. They are content to live in semi-poverty, preferring sloth and personal ease to the honest ambition which secures to persons less favoured by birth the larger share of the loaves and fishes of this life. "

An urdu booklet on Nawab Najabat Khan has also been written by Akbar Khan (Sarkhel) entitled "Tazkira Nawab Najabat Khan" published in 2002.