Adina
Beg Khan (1710-1758)
A Smart
Punjabi
While studying history, we usually mislead by “titles”.
Look this name, Adina Beg Khan who looks Turk or Afghan yet he was an Arian
Punjabi who ruled Lhore, Jlandhar, Sir-hind and had vassal states like Jammu, Kaporthala
and Kangra. He managed Sikh pinjabies, Marathas, Dehli and Afghans smartly. He
was born near Lhore at Sharaqpur Sharief in 1710. With his political maneuverings
he managed to rule out Dehli & kabul supremacy and used Turk titles for
himself like beg and khan which was a usual practice. Just check Beg, Khan, Singh, Aga (agha), these
are titles like “sir” or Khan Bhadur yet now we have an impression that these
are hereditary but it was not. We usually attribute them either with race,
ethnicity or area which mislead history in general. Adina was “Dina” who was
born in the Punjab at the time when States or provinces were gaining power,
moving towards autonomy and had semi independence, based on particular areas. From
Bengal to Punjab we had more than a dozen semi independent groups in different areas,
associated with river channel trades. Some linked with sea trade like Surat (Indian
Gujrat) or Lhori Bandar (Thatta, now in Sindh but was linked with Lhore via
multan) while many were linked with land trade routes. They were centers of
revenue. Even in Mughal times they had semi independence yet it was colonial
rule in which they experienced centralism and by using modern state craft
especially Law, education and centralized administration British Indian
administration ruined their history smartly. So when Adina born there was a
rise of semi independent states. Those states were quarreling and negotiating
with one another and we had many examples from Bengal till Kabul yet our
colonial masters told us that they were only quarreling. At that time we had
British and French powers in our lands who also participated in power struggle.
Mughals practically lost their authority till 1739 when Nadir Shah came which
enabled emerging powers to get more strength. Adina beg started his political
journey when he became faug-dar of Jalandar doab (old name bast doab) which was
very rich in revenue. According to Hein Sin , a 7th century chine’s
traveler, that area was very rich. He managed power players smartly and then
with smart political maneuverings he ruled the Punjab. From Dina, he became
Adina and then selected titles like Beg and Khan for himself, a usual tradition.
His story reminds us that there were many adinas at our lands but we usually
failed to recognized them due to their titles. Read it and enjoy histograpghy ,
one day we South Asians will able to change colonial history and can include
such things in our textbooks too.
You people are not ashamed to tell false history
ReplyDeleteyou can correct it, accusation is no solution but try to give some arguments
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