Adina Beg: Soldier, Statesman, Diplomat, Hero

Make sure to read the follow up post on Adina Beg’s significance to the Punjabi Muslim narrative.

The collapse of Mughal authority in 18^th century in Punjab saw breakdown of a centuries old order, which had brought peace and prosperity in Punjab. Revolts, invasions and raids were the new normal because no party could fully exert its authority in Punjab. While the Mughals were foreigners, it is pertinent to mention that Punjabi Muslims had excelled during their tenure holding nobility ranks all the way up Grand Vizier of the Empire.

Now despite making a numerical majority over their non-Muslim Punjabi counterparts it seems Punjabi Muslims simply did not have the ambition or political acumen to rule and were more interested with their tribal politics. Interestingly it is a theme that continues till this day which has had a detrimental effect on our people in more ways than one. Courage however, had nothing to do with this as Punjab’s history is replete with such stories. Take for example, Jasrath Khokhar who resisted Timur a man who even turned the Ottomans in to his vassal, with just 2000 of his tribesmen, the entire 1857 War of Independence in Punjab was lead by Punjabi Muslims such as Rai Ahmad Khan Kharal .

Early Life and Career:

The exception to this short sighted political nature of Punjabi Muslims was born Dina Arain to poverty in 1710 just eighteen miles away from Lahore in Sharakpur, he would later be known as Adina Beg. His working life started as a domestic servant at the homes of Mughal officers, which inspired him to try his luck in the army, which then saw him become a revenue collector. A local banker named Lala Shri Nawas was impressed by Adina’s work ethic and got him about six villages to do the same job and the business trips to Lahore also got him an intro with treasury office.

After the death of Sultanpur Faujdar towards the latter part of 1730s, Adina sought to fill the opening which he succeeded in doing due to his contacts in Lahore. A Faujdar was a local ruler of sorts responsible for all major administration duties from justice, policing to finance. Adina Arain who was now a Faujdar became Adina Beg Khan in order to fit in better with the Turkic dominated Mughal bureaucracy. He repaid Lala Shri Nawas, who had earlier gotten him the revenue collection of 6 villages by hiring him as his immediate assistant and his office superintendent was Bhwani Das, the brother in law of Shri Nawas.

Following the turbulent Nadir Shah invasion, Adina was quick to restore order and this impressed the Mughal Subedar or Viceroy of Punjab, Zakariya Khan who now promoted him to a Nazim of Jallandhar doab. One of Zakariya’s intentions was for Adina to suppress the rising influence of the Sikhs who had raised hell in the country side with the weakening of Mughal authority in Punjab.

By this point, the former domestic servant went from being a Faujdar to a Nazim of a Doab (administrative unit), but that wasn’t enough. Adina wanted more, he wanted it all in fact, but to achieve this in 18th century lawlessness that prevailed in Punjab, he had to play the diplomat and balance the powers in the region: Mughals, Sikhs, Afghans and Marathas. So, when the Viceroy Zakariya Khan ordered Adina Beg to put a stop on Sikh activity in Jullundher doab, Adina had other ideas and only after a more stricter order did he talked them in to moving over to Sirhind area and even hired one of their leaders, Jassa Singh Ramgharia in his office, which Jassa S.R. accepted. The idea here was to use the Sikhs as vassals in the future.

After the traumatic Nadir Shah episode, Zakariya Khan had no choice but raise revenues so he could pay his soldiers. Being unable to do so caused Adina being put behind bars and be replaced with Zakariya’s own son Shah Nawaz Khan as Nazim of Jullundher Doab. However, after a year Adina was released from prison. The much loved Mughal Viceroy, Zakariya Khan passed away in 1745 which kicked off a feud between his sons Yahya Khan and Shahnawaz Khan that was temporarily resolved by having the former appointed as Deputy Viceroy of Punjab and latter as Jullundher nazim respectively with their uncle Qamruddin Khan the official viceroy who was in fact stationed in Delhi court as Prime Minister.  

Adina’s role was to now balance the two brothers by being on good terms with both. He did his job as an administrator under his immediate boss, the Jullundher Nazim Shahnawaz and in 1746 he proved his loyalty to the Deputy Viceroy Yahya by going after the Sikhs. However, when the two brothers would eventually clash Adina backed the Jullundher Nazim Shahnawaz who captured and imprisoned Yahya. Later, Yahya Khan would be able to escape to Delhi and now without the bargaining chip Shahnawaz was rattled by the possibility of repercussions.  Shahnawaz Khan was then advised by Adina to ask for help from Ahmad Shah Abdali the founder of the Durrani empire, the proto-Afghan state. Shahnawaz proposed in his message to Abdali “Crown to Ahmad Shah and Wazirship to Shahnawaz”.  However, Adina who was in it for himself also played the diplomat and informed Delhi of Shahnawaz’s treachery. The Mughal Prime Minister Qamruddin Khan and uncle of Shahnawaz urged him to reconsider allying with the Durrani King as their family in all their years as nobility were never associated with treachery.

Shahnawaz was convinced by his uncle’s letter, so when Abdali did invade India in 1748, the first of ten, Shahnawaz chose to resist instead. A force of Kasur based Afghans (Pashtuns) lead by Jumla Khan who were sent to out on behalf of Mughals to resist the Durranis instead of fighting them ended up joining Abdali’s army. Adina Beg was the only notable commander on the Indian side that can be found to put any resistance, but without reinforcements from Delhi had to retreat out of Lahore.

Especially after Nadir Shah’s invasion the Mughals were a shell of their former glorious self, but were able to resist Abdali enough to keep him in Punjab. This happened at the March 11^th, 1748 Manupur battle between Mughals-Abdali saw Prime Minister Qamruddin die and Adina wounded twice. With his advance checked, Abdali would eventually return to the Pashtun belt, the Sikhs would also be emboldened by Mughal-Durrani confrontation, but the person who perhaps gained the most from this was son of Qamruddin, Muin-ul-Mulk or Mir Mannu who would eventually set up shop in Lahore as the Mughal Viceroy of Punjab.

The first order of business was restraining Sikhs and Adina Beg, who was earlier demoted from Jullundher Nazim, when he was imprisoned by Zakariya Khan for not being able to raise money after Nadir Shah’s invasion was tasked with it. As discussed earlier, navigating 18^th century Punjab was no easy task for anyone much less those with ambitions of ruling and Mughal authority was collapsing in Punjab at this point, so Adina could not put all his eggs in one basket but also could not simply ignore his employer’s demands who were still rulers of the day.

So, Adina in 1748 went after Sikhs in a battle which saw 600 casualties on Sikh side, but was forced to retreat. Muin-ul-Mulk set out from Lahore himself this time to Amritsar and commanded Adina to join with his troops, so they can lay siege to Ram Rauni fort. One of Adina Beg’s chief employees Jassa Singh Thoka switched sides after receiving a letter from the Sikh fort threatening ex-communication from the community.  After four months of skirmishes, Muin-ul-Mulk was advised by Diwan Kauramal that its best to negotiate with Sikhs than continue the siege, which the Viceroy did against Adina Beg’s protests who wanted complete victory. So, for quarter of the revenue in the area, the matter was brought to rest for the time being. This also gave Sikhs time to regroup and unify under Dal Khalsa banner, an organized army of sorts lead by none other than Jassa Singh Ahluwalia.

Abdali invaded Punjab in 1749 and the Mughals acknowledged his revenue claims and a third time in 1751, which ended up being a physical clash and everything within 80 kms of Lahore was laid to waste by the invading Durrani army. Diwan Kauramal suggested holding out as the Afghans were running out of provisions and the approaching hot weather will compel the them to leave. Adina Beg going against his rival Diwan’s suggestion advised immediate action. Muin-ul-Mulk went with Adina’s advice and saw himself lose, Kauramal was killed, Adina ended up pulling out his own troops.  Muin-ul-Mulk though was able to sweet talk his way with Abdali in to retaining his Viceroy position, but this time on behalf of Durranis. Now Punjab was officially annexed from Delhi to Kabul.

Sikhs now were even more brave as they saw Muin’s power evaporate, so they started to carry out their activities once again. Adina in order to not be seen as traitor for pulling out earlier against Abdali proceeded to punish the Sikhs in his Jullundher Doab while also reaching an informal agreement of limiting their raids. He also employed many Sikhs in his service. However, to keep his current employer happy Adina would send a few Sikhs captives here and there to Lahore for Muin-ul-Mulk to punish and keep up appearances.

In 1753, Muin-ul-Mulk was poisoned or some say he fell off his horse to death. Either ways his wife the infamous Mughlani Begum became Subedar of Punjab on behalf of Durrani Empire. The Begum’s personal life attracted a lot of heat from Delhi court where eunuchs bossed around army officers and her affairs with younger men were talk of the town which prompted Mughals to wrestle back Punjab, but Durranis prevented them in doing so. Adina Beg however, was at peace during this chaos in his Jullundher doab and by now had no real master to oversee him, he enjoyed independence.

The Afghans (Pashtuns) of Uttar Pradesh better known as Rohillas also began to see themselves as being independent from the weakening Mughals and made a move on Sirhind region of Punjab on March 11^th, 1755 and the Mughal ruler there Sadiq Beg  requested help from Adina Beg because his own Malerkotla Afghan troops ended up joining their co-ethnics. Adina could not sit by idly and decided to take the Malerkotla and Rohilla Afghans on with an army of 50,000 horse and foot each.

On 11^th April, 1755 both Qutb and Jamal Khan who lead the invading Rohillas and Malerkotla Afghans respectively were slain in an engagement giving Adina Beg a decisive victory. This win also saw Adina get pulled back in to the Mughal sphere once again, who now under Alamgir II were grateful for this service. Adina now controlled a lot more areas in Punjab, but this wasn’t going to be enough and Adina Beg targeted Lahore next.  

This happened when Mughlani Begum who resented her uncle Abdullah Khan, the Durrani governor of Punjab for not letting her rule instead. She decided to switch sides and requested help from Delhi (Mughals) in the form of offering her daughter for marriage to a prominent noble. The army which saw Abdullah Khan desert Lahore without a fight also had Adina Beg in it with his troops. Adina would still remain in Jullundher as he knew Abdali would react to this and deferred some control to a deputy in Lahore. This control on Lahore was short lived and the Mughlani Begum’s uncle indeed returned with a well equipped force to regain control and his position, but not without constant harassment from Sikhs who didn’t exactly allow Durranis to rule Punjab very easily.

The November of 1756 saw Ahmad Shah Abdali invade India again in which he extracted enough booty that his personal load alone was to be loaded on 28000 horses and mules. Adina Beg had retreated to Kangra Hills himself waiting for after effects. Abdali left his 11 year old son, Timur Shah and in effect his guardian, Jahan Khan in charge as Subedar (or Viceroy) of Punjab who in 1755 commanded Adina Beg to present himself and serve as Jullundher Doab’s Nazim for Durranis or his Jullundher area will be laid to waste.

Adina was wary of the Durranis and the latter followed up with their threat. Adina then pleaded that he will indeed serve, but to be excused from appearing in court. He was excused as long as he could raise 36 lakh rupees. Adina was summoned in again to plan a suppression of Sikhs, but sent agents instead and while excused again he was to attend Lahore court anyhow. Refusal lead to Jahan Khan’s rage and Adina retiring in foothills. The Durrani party meant to retrieve Adina was decisively defeated by Adina’s troops and his newly formed Sikh allies. Sar Buland Khan, an Afghan general was also slain in this encounter. However, never to rely on one player, he decided whether to reconcile with Afghans or even reach out to the rising Marathas.

Adina Beg convinced Marathas under Ragunath Rao to come invade Punjab on his behalf, which saw a unique indigenous alliance between Marathas, Sikhs and Punjabi Muslims tribes loyal to Adina Beg. The army’s ceaseless advance saw the Afghans evacuate Lahore without much of a fight and they were not chased beyond Attock. Being a frontier province, Marathas did not seem interested in ruling and left it to Adina Beg as long as he produced a tribute of 75 lakh rupees.

Dream realized:

At last he had done it, Muhammad Latif in his History of Punjab “The Sikhs he amused, the Delhi Court (Mughals) he despised, the Afghans (Durranis) he bewildered and the Marathas he effectually influenced in his favour to break the power of both the Sikhs and the Afghans and to obtain his own independence”. The man whose working life started out as a literal domestic servant was now the ruler of Punjab. Up until that point he had seen six Mughal governors, invasion of Nadir Shah and four by Ahmad Shah Abdali’s in to India. Now from Lahore, Multan and Thatta provinces (present day Sindh) were his to rule and appoint his own deputies. While on paper he was still a Viceroy to a higher power, Marathas in this case, given his previous employment record it is evident he ruled for himself and sought sovereignty at every point possible, which can be seen by his efforts of balancing every player and not relying on any power too much.

Later career and Death:

Adina Arain was the first Punjabi of any religion to form an autonomous government in Punjab with a native administration. Not only that, he was also the first Punjabi ruler to assemble an army exclusively of indigenous origin and mostly but not exclusively of Punjabi Muslims, which he would later aim to use for neutralizing his now former Sikh allies.

Bhatti, Gheba, Gakhars, Janjuas, Randhawas and Warraich were some of the prominent Muslim tribes to be part of this force. After an initial defeat at the hands of Sikhs at a town ironically he himself had founded years earlier by the name of Adinanagar, Adina became more aggressive and demanded every zamindar’s allegiance to root out Sikhs. This paid off later at a rebellion he was successfully able to put out near Amritsar and capturing the fort forcing the Sikh rebels to flee. This was to be his last hurrah however, Adina Beg Khan born Adina Arain passed away from cholic in his headquarters at Batala and laid to rest on 11^th Moharram in 1758.  

Read follow up post on Adina Beg’s significance to the Punjabi Muslim narrative.

References:

-History of the Punjab by Syed Muhammad Latif

-History of the Sikhs: Evolution of Sikh Confederacies by Hari Ram Gupta

-Later Mughal History of Panjab by Hari Ram Gupta