The Founder of The State of Bhopal

Dost Mohammad Khan was the founder of the city of Bhopal and the Bhopal state in Central India.
He was born in Tirah (A modern-day part of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border) around 1672 to a Pathan nobleman. He was brought up in the warrior tradition of his clan and received religious education through a succession of imams. In 1697 he was engaged to Mehraj Bibi, an attractive high-born girl of the neighboring clan, but later the families betrothed Mehraj Bibi to one of Dost’s cousins because they felt that dost was too rough and aggressive a character. Insulted, he created a rumpus and killed his cousin, and forced marriage on Mehraj Bibi. As a result, dost was ostracized by his family, leading to him leaving Tirah.
He started towards Jalalabad in India, where he knew that his Afghan relatives had settled. Dost found a temporary shelter in the family of Sardar Jalal Khan, who was a Mansabdar of Lohari. One day a quarrel between dost and one of Jalal Khan’s sons over a girl, Dost killed his opponent with a dagger. He knew he had to flee the place. He was all alone, with no friends in an alien land. After about 6 hours of continuous galloping, his horse collapsed and died. Dost had to travel of rest of the journey by foot. He reached Karnal, penniless, and had not eaten for days. This is when Mullah Jamali, the Imam who had taught Dost the Quran when he was a young boy in Tirah, found him. Dost stayed in Mullah Jamali’s house for almost a year, after which he went over to pursue his dream of enlisting in the Mughal army. He enlisted with Mir Fazlullah, Aurangzeb’s keeper of arms. Around 1704, Dost was ordered to quell a rebellion by Governor Tardi Beg in Bundelkhand. After a fierce battle, Dost returned to Delhi in triumph.
Dost soon enhanced his reputation as an intrepid fighter, a charismatic leader, and a loyal, selfless standard-bearer of the Mughal emperor. He was speedily promoted and given a high military rank and was assigned to the Malwa region.
At the time, Malwa was settled by the indigenous Gonds and Bhils who had settled the region for centuries. The Rajputs, who had extended their control from the Rajputana and the Marathas, also influenced the region.
As Dost reached Bhilsa, news of Aurangzeb’s death arrived. The Mughals collapsed into a civil war. Dost was approached for allegiance by two of Aurangzeb’s warring sons but, he declined to say that as he had taken loyalty to the emperor, he could not raise his sword against his sons. Soon after 1707, the Mughal empire crumbled rapidly. In this chaos, Dost was reduced to the loyalty of his 50 afghan kinsmen who served as mercenaries to local chieftains. Dost fought for several kings, including the Raja of Sitamau, Mohammad Farooq the governor of Bhilsa, and Diye Bahadur, the Mughal deputy governor of Malwa. Finally, Dost was employed by Anand Singh Solanki of Mangalgarh. After Anand Singh’s death, Dost continued to provide his services to his mother, the Dowager Rani. In 1709, Dost in an attempt to carve out a small fiefdom for himself took the lease of Berasia, a small rented estate 22 miles North of Bhopal.
Soon, the Rajput neighbors of the Rani of Mangalgarh banded up against the growing power of the Rani, under the Thakur of Parason, and gathered for battle. At Parason, the battle raged for several days without either side making gains. After a few days during Holi, the Thakur sent for a truce to celebrate the festival. Dost agreed, but he fought to win by hook or by crook. During the Holi celebrations, the Rajputs were drunk and with their guard down. Dost attacked the Rajputs late at night and routed the enemy.
In another incident, Dost agreed to negotiate a treaty with Narsingh Rao Chauhan, a neighboring Rajput chief. Both sides agreed to meet at Jagdishpur, 20 miles South of Berasia. Dost pitched his tent next to River Tahal and after a sumptuous lunch he had arranged, he stepped outside his tent to order pan and itr. This was the signal for his soldiers to cut the ropes of the tent and murder the Rajputs. The slaughter was gruesome and the river Tahal went red with the blood. From that day onwards the river is known as the Halal. Dost renamed Jagdishpur to Islamnagar and soon strengthened the fort making it his headquarters.
Dost records in his diary that a force was sent from the Mughal court in Delhi to quell the Rajput rebellion which was taking place in Malwa. Dost sided with the Rajputs and in the ensuing battle, he was wounded and lost consciousness and was abandoned on the battlefield by his army. Being himself wounded he ended up helping a fellow soldier who later turned out to be Sayyid Hussain Ali Barha, who was the younger of the Sayyid brothers who were behind the power of the Mughal Court in Delhi. Dost was offered the governorship of Allahbad by the Sayyid brothers, but he refused, wanting to stay in Malwa. He returned to Mangalgarh with generous gifts from the Sayyid brothers.
Shortly after reaching Mangalgarh, the Dowager Rani died without a direct heir. Dost has redeemed his pledge to the Rani and considered himself absolved of any further fidelity to Mangalgarh. He plundered the treasury and took over the jewels and gold coins that belonged to the Rajput principality. During this period, Dost extended his control over the districts of Doraha, Sehore, Ichawar, Ashtha, and Sujalpur.
Ginnor was a famous fortress of the Gonds, and Nizam Shah Gond, lord of Ginnor, had been poisoned by his relative, the chief of Chainpur Bári. Rani Kamlapati, the widow of Nizam Shah, and her son Naval Shah were living in the fort of Ginnor. The Rani hearing of the valor of Dost Mohammad Khan invited him secretly to avenge the death of Nizam Shah on the chief of Bari and offered him the sum of one lakh rupees. Dost Muhammad Khan collected his forces and was victorious. Rani Kamalapati did not have the sum of one lakh rupees as promised, so instead, she gifted the village of Bhopal to him. Dost also added the territories of Bari to his dominions and became manager for the Rani Kamlapati. Dost gave loyal support to Rani Kamalapati and her son Nawal Shah until she died in 1723 after which he took over the palace and the treasury of her kingdom. He also took over the strategic fort of Ginnor and consolidated his rule over southern Bhopal.
One day Dost and his favorite wife Fatah Bibi rode out for shikar. After several hours in the heat, they found a cool place to rest next to the lake of Bhopal. Later, Dost fell asleep and dreamt of a saint asking him to build a fort. This was the origin of the Fatehgarh fort near the village of Bhopal. In 1722 Dost laid the foundation of the fort with his own hands and named it Fatahgarh after his beloved wife.
For Dost the rivalry between the Mughal Court and the Nizam, Asaf Jah was a turning point. Asaf Jah was a loyal, upright, and highly accomplished aide of Aurangzeb. He had reached one of the highest ranks in administration under Aurangzeb. After the death of Aurangzeb and the rise of the Sayyed brothers, the differences between them and the Nizam grew and suspicion developed. After treachery by the Sayyed brothers, the Nizam removed himself South to the Deccan.
Because of the rise of the Peshwa and the Nizam’s power in the South and their open defiance of the Mughal court, the hostility between the Sayyed brothers and the Nizam reached a tipping point.
Emperor Mohammad Shah marched South to subjugate his opponents, he also aligned some Rajput chieftains. He was faced with the joint might of Peshwa Baji Rao and the Nizam.
On June 19, 1720, in the battle of Khandwa, the Mughal army was defeated. The Mughal emperor returned to Delhi while Dost earned the wrath of the Marathas and the Nizam for opposing them.
In 1723 the Nizam sent an army to Bhopal and Dost didn’t resist for long. After a brief siege of Islamnagar Dost called for a truce in which Dost acknowledged Nizam’s superiority, ceded territory including the Islamnagar fort, paid a tribute of ten lakhs, presented him an elephant, and gave up his 14-year-old son and heir Yar Mohammad Khan. The Nizam assumed sovereign control over Bhopal appointing Dost as the Kiledar.
The last years of Dost’s life had seen him hang on precariously to the state that he had founded with such valor and sacrifice. He was also inclined towards religious devotion seeking inspiration from Sufis and saints. Dost died of illness in March 1728 at the age of around 56 and was buried in the Fatehgarh Fort.