Roh (historical region)

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Roh was a historical region in present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan [1] which was the original homeland of the Indian community of Rohillas. [2] [3] The historical region of Rohilkhand in India derives its name from the Rohilla community. [4] Some of the dynasties of India, namely Lodi, Sur and Karrani dynasties, originated from Roh.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Bareilly</span>

According to the epic Mahābhārata, Bareilly region (Panchala) is said to be the birthplace of Draupadi, who was also referred to as 'Panchali' by Kṛṣṇā. When Yudhishthira becomes the king of Hastinapura at the end of the Mahābhārata, Draupadi becomes his queen. The folklore says that Gautama Buddha had once visited the ancient fortress city of Ahicchattra in Bareilly. The Jain Tirthankara Parshva is said to have attained Kaivalya at Ahichhatra.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Rohilkhand</span> Early modern kingdom in North India (1721–1774)

The Kingdom of Rohilkhand was a late modern Indian kingdom under nominal Mughal suzerainty, that rose under the declining Mughal Empire in 1721 and continued to exist until 1774 when it was defeated by Oudh the British transformed its significantly reduced borders into the princely state of Rampur. Nawab Ali Mohammed Khan became the first Nawab of Rohilkhand, having been previously elected as overlord by various Afghan chiefs at the age of fourteen. He would carve out the future kingdom from the collapsing Mughal Empire and go on to the found the Rohilla dynasty. The crown would go on being held by the Rohillas until the kingdom came to an end in 1774, and thereafter the same dynasty would rule over Rampur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rohilla dynasty</span> Prominent dynasty in North India (1721–1947

The Rohilla dynasty was a dynasty that ruled over much of North-West Uttar Pradesh in the form of Rohilkhand and later until 1947, the Princely state of Rampur. At the height of their power the dynasty ruled over the Kingdom of Rohilkhand and held suzairnty over the Kingdom of Kumaon and Kingdom of Garhwhal.

References

  1. Balfour, Edward (1883). The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia Commercial, Industrial and Scientific, Products of the Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Kingdoms, Useful Arts and Manufactures · Volume 3. London: Bernard Quaritch. p. 433. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  2. Gommans, Jos J.L. (1995). The Rise of the Indo-Afghan Empire: C. 1710-1780. BRILL. p. 219. ISBN   9004101098. The designation Rohilla developed during the seventeenth century as a fairly broad notion of the people coming from Roh or Rõh, corresponding roughly with the mountainous terrain of the eastern Hindu Kush and the Sulaiman Range. Only in the seventeenth-century Indian and Indo-Afghan works do we find Roh frequently used as a more specific geographical term which corresponded with the territory stretching from Swat and Bajaur in the north to Sibi and Bhakkar in Sind, and from Hasan Abdal in the east to Kabul and Kandahar in the west.
  3. Wink, André (2020-08-06). The Making of the Indo-Islamic World: c.700–1800 CE. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-1-108-41774-7.
  4. Yule, Henry; Burnell, A.C. (2013). Hobson-Jobson The Definitive Glossary of British India. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 444. ISBN   9780199601134 . Retrieved 7 January 2024.