August 13, 2006

A senior air force officer talking about the times of his forefathers in the tribal areas of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) said those were the days when Rohilkhand was like Dubai. Everyone wanted to go there to make money. Dr Azmat Hayat Khan, Director, Centre for Central Asian Studies, University of Peshawar, quoted an Afghan scholar: “If you want to see Pakhtoonwali in practice, go to Rohilkhand.”

It was not only in search of fame and fortune that Rampur attracted the Afghans, as a Pushto poet has recorded. When Hindustan became hell for the Afghans, they took refuge in Rampur. When, for instance, the Afghans were pushed out of Kandahar by the Iranians, they came over to Rampur and the adjoining areas. This gathering of the Afghans under the Rohilla leadership was a source of strength which helped in their extending their control all around. The Rohillas had become so confident that Nawab Ali Mohammad Khan dreamt of ascending the imperial throne after the death of Mohammad Shah. But it was not to be. When the emperor died, the Nawab himself was bedridden.

The author feels if the Rohillas had taken over from the imbecile, pleasure-loving decadent descendants of Taimur (founder of the Mughal dynasty) India, particularly the Muslims, would have been spared the ignobility of being enslaved by bandits coming from far off lands.

Those were interesting times when the Rohillas moved from their mountains to the Gangetic plain to settle. They came in waves after waves and burst forth as a formidable military power. The whole of the subcontinent was in turmoil. Indigeous forces were struggling to carve the grand old Mughal empire and threatening its very survival. And there were the marauding foreigners, the British, cunningly expanding their influence and control, subjugating one principality after another. On one side of the land the Rohillas made, their home was the fast-vanishing remnants of the Mughal empire and on the other, the decadent Oudh.

In the midst of all that, these conservative men from the mountains, virtuous Muslamans all, dreamt of laying the foundations of a state of the righteous. That was not to be. The British and the Nawab of Oudh joined hands to extinguish the flame of their self-assertion and self-identification.

It is after a long time that a comprehensive account of the Rampur state and its people has been published. The last one being the authentic history of Rohilkhand, published in 1904 and republished in 1918, Akhbarus Sanadid, by Moulvi Najmul Ghani Khan, a poet in his own right, a scholar of repute and a native of Rampur, who wrote extensively on religion, and history, among other topics.

The book under review, deals with a fascinating people who appeared as players at a critical juncture of the history of the subcontinent, leaving a stamp of their own on times that followed. It is an unconventional book in many ways. To begin with, the author has not set the bar high enough for himself. Nor is he circumvent in expressing his preferences, leaving it to the editor/compiler to balance the narration with his own corrective footnotes. It is not that he doesn’t appreciate that history has to be secular, for commenting on Hakim Moulvi Najmul Ghani Khan, the writer, appreciates that the Hakim did not write history from a religious or sectarian point of view.

The crest of the Rampur State on the front cover of the book says it all. One would think it was an official publication of the erstwhile princely state. The full back cover is adorned with the picture of the author who died in 1993, in Karachi. It is sad to learn that the book’s author, editor/compiler and the financier all died before its publication. The introductory remarks by Mohammad Zakir Ali Khan, president of Tanzeem-i-Ahbab-i-Rampur, provide some background on the author and publication of this book, a unique presentation that deserves attention for its information on Rohilkhand and specially Rampur. The writer hopes the book he has put together would help the generation of Rampur that has grown up after the partition of India, both in Pakistan and India, or elsewhere, in knowing the deeds of their elders.

The continuity of the Afghan lifestyle in Rampur is remarkable. From folklore and folk music to their sports and games the Rohillas are transplanting their culture in the far off distant lands. With the exception of the sport of Buzkashi, the Rampuris enjoyed all games played by the Afghans. And they have added one of their own, Santhmari, which became a favourite of Mughal princes and was played till about 1910AD. The game was played by man and elephant, their bodies lubricated and made slippery making it difficult to get hold of each other.

Above all, the Pakhtoon code of conduct, Pushtunwali, called Pathanwali by the Rohillas, is a stringent way of life followed by men of honour.

The British annexed most of Rohilkhand in their occupied territories but were forced to leave Rampur with the Rohillas because of the guerrilla war waged from the jungles of Kumayon where the Rohillas had established themselves. After the demise of the Moghuls and the end of the Nawab rule in Oudh, Rampur was destined to provide refuge to the artists, scholars, poets, men of religious learning, from both Delhi and Lucknow. It became a potent and vital centre of literary poetic activity and developed a literate culture in a non-literate society, as Louis Dupree will put it. Its Madressa attracted scholars and students from all over India and beyond, from Central Asia and Afghanistan. Its library which the Rohilla leaders founded soon after establishing themselves, grew gradually in stature, thanks to their love for books and according to one writer, within a century became equal to the libraries of Cordoba and Baghdad of yore. This phenomenon itself deserves the attention of scholars.

With an abundance of both religious and secular scholars, poets, men of letters, saints and Sufis gathered from all over India and beyond, Rampur developed a tolerant, nurturing and caring culture which survived the states’ merger with India and the pains of Partition.

When the British left India, the people stood up against the Nawab’s accession with India and demanded accession with Pakistan. Regarding the tension between the rulers and the people of Rampur, the editor refers to the covenant between them at the time of the creation of the state that the people, especially the Pathans, were not subjects but partners in governance. The covenant, the editor says, was respected till the reign of Nawab Kalb-i-Ali Khan but under Hamid Ali Khan, and after him Raza Ali Khan, it was thrown to the wind. The rights of the people were disregarded and outsiders were inducted in running the affairs of the state.