Battle of the Malandari Pass (1586) | |||||
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Part of Afghan-Mughal Wars | |||||
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Belligerents | |||||
Afghan tribesmen | Mughal Empire | ||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||
Kalu Khan Yousafzai Mirwais Khan Yousafzai Ayub Khan Yousafzai Babu Khan Yousafzai Bostan Khan Aladad Khan Sargand Khan Quraish Khan Misri Khan Hindal Khan | Birbal † Aman Ullah Baig † Saeed Khan † Raja Dharm Singh † [2] Khwaja Arab Bakhshi † Mullah Sheri † [3] Zain Khan Koka Said Khan Ghakkar Abu Fateh | ||||
Strength | |||||
Unknown |
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Casualties and losses | |||||
Unknown |
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The Battle of the Malandari Pass was fought on 16 February 1586 in what is now the Buner District in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. The army of the Mughal Empire, led by Raja Birbal, was attacked by Yusufzai tribesmen, led by Malik Kalu Khan Yousafzai. [lower-alpha 1] [7] [8]
Birbal is believed to have died in the battle alongside 40,000 Mughal soldiers. [6]
The Mughals had annihilated the whole Yousafzai tribe after Mullah Meru's defeat and death in 1581 AD, and Kalu Khan Yusufzai decided to take over the task of restoring the Yousafzai's organisation and unity. In the jirga that Yousafzai organised after consulting his friends and supporters, Ayub son of Rusi, Babu son of Saifu Aba Khel Mandanr, Mirwais son of Mullah Meru, and other individuals associated with Yousafzai took part. Yousafzai's country was visited by this jirga as it preached about togetherness and issued ominous warnings about the consequences of divide.
Ain-i-Akbari claims that Kalu Khan travelled to Agra with the Mughal Emperor Akbar went to the Kabul region to chastise Mirza Muhammad. Kalu Khan was treated well, but he eventually left Agra. Khwaja Shamsuddin Khwafi detained Kalu Khan close to Attock and then took him to court. Kalu Khan ran away once more, went back home, and eventually became the leader of the seditious elements. Abu Fazal does not specifically state how Akbar took Kalu Khan to Agra or why or under what circumstances. [9]
The Yousafzai had selected Ghazi Khan Malezai to serve as their leader while Kalu Khan was away. But soon after, Ghazi Khan was killed in Bajaur in a battle with the Mughals. Kalu Khan, who had just returned from Agra, also joined the fight. He was once again chosen by Yousafzais to lead the tribe in Damghar, Swat. [10]
According to historians Jadunath Sarkar and Raghubir Sinh, there were quarrels between the leaders of the Mughal troops, with Birbal, Abul Fath and Zain Khan disagreeing on the course of action, and "On 16th February, (1586), during a disorderly march, the Afghans attacked in a Swat defile. Panic seized the disunited Imperial army and 8000 men lost their lives, including Rajah Birbal and many other high officers, while all their camp and equipage were plundered. The fugitives straggling in the hills were cut off." [11]
Between the Karakar Pass and the Malandari Pass, the Yusufzai Afghans under the command of Kalu Khan routed the combined forces of Zain Khan and Raja Birbal. Birbal lost his life in this battle. [12] [13] [14] According to Mughal historian Khafi Khan, 40,000–50,000 Mughal men perished in this battle. [15] However, Badayuni claims that around 8000 Mughal men perished as a result of the entire episode. [16] [17]
Akbar learned about the disaster two days later and an army under Rajah Todar Mal set off on 19 February to exact retribution against the Yusufzais, killing a large number of them and selling many survivors to Turan and Persia, as "the countries of Swat, Bajaur and Buner were cleansed of evildoers." [11]
Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim, known by his imperial name Jahangir, was Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal Emperor.
The Yusufzai or Yousafzai, also referred to as the Esapzai, or Yusufzai Afghans historically, are one of the largest tribes of Pashtuns. They are natively based in the northern part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to which they migrated from Kabul during the 16th century, but they are also present in parts of Afghanistan, including Kunar, Kabul, Kandahar and Farah. Outside of these countries, they can be found in Ghoriwala District Bannu, Balochistan Sibi (Akazai), Chagai (Hassanzai) and Rohilkandh.
Khošāl Khān Khaṭak (Pashto: خوشال خان خټک; Urdu, Persian: خوشحال خان خٹک; 1613 – 20 February 1689), also known as Khushal Baba, was a 17th-century Pashtun poet, chief, and warrior. Khushal Khan served the Mughal Empire protecting them from Pashtun warriors over most of his lifespan. After being expelled from his tribal chiefdom and replaced with his son by his Mughal superiors, Khushal Khan turned against the Mughals. Afterwards, Khushal preached the union of all Pashtuns, and encouraged revolt against the Mughal Empire, promoting Pashtun nationalism in the last years of his life through poetry. Khushal wrote many works in Pashto but also a few in Persian. Khushal is considered the "father of Pashto literature" and the national poet of Afghanistan.
Mahesh Das, popularly known by his title RajaBirbal, was an Indian minister and commander of the Mughal Empire. He is mostly known in the Indian subcontinent for the folk tales which focus on his wit. He was appointed by Akbar as a 1556–1562 and was one of his most important courtiers, part of a group called the navaratnas. In February 1586, he led an army to crush an unrest in the north-west Indian subcontinent where he was killed along with many troops in an ambush by the rebel tribe. He was the only Hindu to adopt Din-i Ilahi, the religion founded by Akbar.
Mirza RajaMan Singh I was the 24th Maharaja of Kingdom of Amber from 1589 to 1614. He also served as the Subahdar of Bengal for three terms from 1595 to 1606 and the Subahdar of Kabul from 1585 to 1586. He served in the Mughal Army under Emperor Akbar. Man Singh fought sixty-seven important battles in Kabul, Balkh, Bukhara, Bengal and Central and Southern India. He was well versed in the battle tactics of both the Rajputs as well as the Mughals. He is commonly considered to be one of the Navaratnas, or the nine (nava) gems (ratna) of the royal court of Akbar.
Buner District is a district in the Malakand Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Before receiving the status of a district in 1991, it was a tehsil within Swat District.
Bāyazīd Khān Ansārī, commonly known as Pīr Rōshān or Pīr Rōkhān, was an Ormur warrior, Sufi poet and revolutionary leader. He wrote mostly in Pashto, but also in Persian, Urdu and Arabic. His mother tongue was Ormuri. He is known for founding the Roshani movement, which gained many followers in present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan, and produced numerous Pashto poets and writers.
Najib ad-Dawlah, also known as Najib Khan Yousafzai, was a Rohilla Yousafzai Afghan who earlier served as a Mughal serviceman but later deserted the cause of the Mughals and joined Ahmad Shah Abdali in 1757 in his attack on Delhi. He was also a House Chief of Rohilkhand, and in the 1740s founded the city of Najibabad in Bijnor district, India. He was instrumental in winning the Third Battle of Panipat.
Karakar Pass is a mountain pass in the Hindu Kush, connecting Swat and Buner in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. From the top of the pass, one can view Buner Valley.
Raja Bhagwant Das was the 23rd Kacchwaha ruler of Amber. He also served as the Subahdar of Lahore and the Subahdar of Kabul for a few months in 1586. His sister, Mariam-uz-Zamani, was the chief consort of Mughal emperor Akbar. His son, Man Singh I, one of the Navaratnas of Akbar became the highest-ranking official of his court and his daughter, Man Bai, was the first and chief wife of Prince Salim.
The History of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa refers to the history of the modern-day Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Kalu Khan is a village located between Shawwa-Adda and Adina village on the main Mardan–Swabi road in Khyber–Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, popularly known as Akbar the Great, and also as Akbar I, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expand and consolidate Mughal domains in the Indian subcontinent. He is generally considered one of the greatest emperors in Indian history and led a successful campaign to unify the various kingdoms of Hindūstān or India proper.
The Mandanr, also known as Mandar or Mandan are a Pashtun tribe which are a branch of the larger Yusufzai tribe of Pashtuns in Afghanistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Malakand Agency was one of the agencies in the North West Frontier Province of British India and later of Pakistan until 2010. It included the princely states of Chitral, Dir and Swat, and an area around the Malakand Pass known as the Malakand Protected Area. The largest city in the area was Mingora, while the three state capitals were Chitral, Dir, and Saidu Sharif. In 1970, following the abolition of the princely states, the agency became the Malakand Division, which was divided into districts, one of which was the Malakand Protected Area, known as Malakand District. In 2000 the Malakand Division was abolished. Despite the constitutional changes since 1970, the expression Malakand Agency is still used, sometimes of the entire area of the former Agency, but more often of Malakand District.
Khan Roshan Khan Yousafzai was a Pashtun historian, educationalist, and writer from Pakistan known primarily for being president of the Muslim League in Swabi and for writing books on the history of the Pashtun people.
Zain Khan Koka was a leading official in the Mugal Empire under Akbar, including serving for a time as governor of Kabul.
Kalu Khan Yusufzai was an Afghan warrior and military leader in 16th century who inflicted one of the greatest defeat of the Mughal Empire. He is known for leading the Yusufzai Rebellion against Mughals at the Karakar Pass in which Prominent Mughal commanders including Raja Birbal was killed by Yousafzai tribesman in 1586 during the Afghan-Mughal Wars
The Afghan-Mughal wars were a series of wars that took place during the 16th and 18th centuries between the Mughal Empire of India and different Afghan tribes and kingdoms.