“The story told in this chapter is of a person who came from humble stock and rose to eminence step by step, not by favor of any man, certainly not by subservience either to the ruling authorities or to popular ideas; but simply by the operation of that natural law, which in troubled times brings the strongest mind, be it where it may, to the post of highest command” ¹
Adina Beg was born in the early 18th century in a village near Lahore. He spent most of his youth in Jalandhar, the stronghold of his Arain tribe, where he began his career working in Mughal households. He eventually joined the army, however was soon disillusioned by the prospects of a soldier, and decided instead to pursue civil administration. Adina quickly showed promise, and in short order had worked his way up to becoming one of the principal revenue collectors of the Jalandhar Doab.
Rise to Power
Calamity soon struck with the invasion of Nadir Shah, which left the Punjab devastated, and severely weakened Mughal authority in the region. In this vacuum rose the Sikhs, who used the opportunity to plunder the populace and settle old scores with the remaining Mughal officials. Punjab governor Zakariya Khan succeeded in pushing the Sikh insurgents out of Majha, but this only led to many of them settling east in Jalandhar. In a surprise move Zakariya appointed Adina Beg as governor of the Jalandhar Doab, tasking him with crushing the Sikhs and bringing order to the territory. Adina accomplished the latter, but avoided the former. As Diwan Bakhtmal observed;
“Adina Beg was a greedy man. He did not crush the Sikhs. If he had intended to do so, it was not a difficult task. But he had this idea in mind, that if he quelled the Sikhs, some other tax-farmer might be entrusted with the government of the Doab for a higher sum and he might be dismissed. He therefore treated the Sikhs well and settled terms with them. For this reason the Sikhs grew stronger and they gradually occupied many villages.” ²
Adina soon coopted a number of Sikhs into his administration, including prominent chief Jassa Singh Ramgarhia. Those unwilling to submit he pushed further east into Sirhind.
Adina’s reign as Jalandhar governor was short-lived, as he was soon imprisoned by Zakariya for withholding revenue. Adina escaped, but his Hindu assistant Bhawani Das was captured and subjected to excruciating torture. The latter displayed admirable loyalty however, refusing to betray Adina even after being thrown in boiling water. Moved by the display of devotion, Zakariya allowed Adina to return to Jalandhar, albeit as a deputy governor under his son Shahnawaz.
Zakariya soon died, and the Punjab became consumed in a succession crisis that saw the late governor’s sons, Shahnawaz and Yahiya Khan, pitted against each other. Seizing the opportunity, Adina led the forces of Shahnawaz in the pivotal attack on Lahore. The campaign was successful; Shahnawaz assumed the governorship of Lahore, with Adina doing the same for the Jalandhar doab.
Unhappy with this arrangement, the Mughals of Delhi began to threaten action against Punjab. Seeing an opening, Adina convinced Shahnawaz to petition the Afghan king Abdali to invade, offering Punjab’s allegiance in return for fending of Delhi. At the same time, he sent a letter to Delhi warning that Shahnawaz was intriguing with Abdali. While the accusations and counteraccusations flew back and forth, Abdali surprised all parties with a rapid incursion into the region. A nighttime attack routed Lahore’s forces, resulting in Shahnawaz and his commanders fleeing from the field. There was however one exception;
“No Indian commander came forward to rally the fleeing soldiers, except Adina Beg Khan who… took shelter under the walled city and continued the fight, keeping the Afghans from proceeding farther than the tomb of Hazrat Ishan” ³
Adina’s stand eventually came to an end after a Pathan force sent to reinforce him instead switched sides to join Abdali. Adina managed to escape to Delhi, where he joined the Emperor’s forces in a retaliatory campaign to expel Abdali from the Punjab. After a brutal struggle the Delhi forces emerged victorious, and the Afghans fled from the region. Mir Mannu was appointed governor of Punjab, with Adina Beg being reinstated as governor of the Jalandhar doab.
Once again taking advantage of the chaos in Punjab, the Sikhs rose to resume their insurgency. After negotiations broke down Adina and Mannu resolved to crush the rebels, which culminated in a siege at the Ram Rauni fort near Amritsar. After four months and hundreds of dead Sikhs, the besieged made a desperate plea to Adina’s Sikh officer Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, threatening him with excommunication if the latter did not join his coreligionists. Jassa deserted, followed by Mannu’s Hindu advisor Kauramal petitioning to grant the Sikhs a pardon in exchange for pledges of loyalty. An exasperated Adina protested, but Mannu agreed with Kauramal, and the siege was lifted.
Wary of the growing influence Kauramal seemed to exert on both Lahore and the Sikhs, Adina resolved to eliminate him. Opportunity presented itself when Abdali again crossed the Indus in an attempt to conquer the Punjab. With Lahore besieged, Adina managed to convince Mannu that it was best to ride out and meet the Afghans in the field. As Lahore’s forces moved to engage the enemy, Adina withdrew his troops, instead sending an assassin to ensure Kauramal would not return from the doomed battle. While Kauramal was successfully eliminated, Mannu was spared by Abdali, and retained as governor of Punjab under Afghan suzerainty. Unfortunately for Adina, his position remained unchanged as governor of Jalandhar.
The Sikhs could not accept such an arrangement, and soon erupted into another revolt. Adina was tasked with crushing the insurgents, however once again took the stick and carrot approach. As Colonel Malcolm states;
“That able but artful chief considered this turbulent tribe in no other light than as the means of his personal advancement. He was careful not to reduce them altogether, but, after defeating them in an action which was fought near Makhowal, he entered into a secret understanding with them, by which, though their excursions were limited, they enjoyed a security to which they had been unaccustomed, and from which they gathered strength and resources for future efforts” ⁴
While Adina stabilized the situation in the Jalandhar doab, the rest of Punjab was sinking further into anarchy. Mannu had abruptly passed away, and his widow Mughlani Begum became engaged in a three-way struggle with Delhi and the Afghans for control of Lahore. As Ram Gupta notes, the situation served to strengthen Adina in unprecedented ways.
“In the face of such confusion and chaos, Adina Beg Khan became independent of both the Delhi Emperor and the Lahore Viceroy. He increased his resources and strengthened his position, with the result that he was the only man who succeeded in maintaining peace and order in the country under his charge” ⁵
Adina vs the Afghans
Adina would soon be put to the test however, with the expansion of the Rohilla Pathans. Based in Uttar Pradesh, the Rohillas under Qutb Khan sought to take advantage of Delhi’s military impotence, and so crossed the Yamuna to conquer Haryana. After a successful campaign they continued westward, crossing the Ghaggar into Punjab, and laying siege to Sirhind. The local Pathan chiefs led by Jamal Khan quickly deserted to the Rohilla forces, and in short order the region was subdued. Appreciating the gravity of the oncoming threat, Adina leapt into action;
“Adina Beg, who had been the ruler of the place for years and whom all the zamindars of that country obeyed on account of his strictness and ability, gathered together all the zamindars and an army of the Sikhs… On hearing this Qutb Khan with great spirit and bravery left Sirhind and crossed the river to oppose Adina Beg Khan. Jamal Khan of Malerkotla with his brothers and sons joined Qutb Khan at the head of a large army. An engagement between the parties took place on 11th April, 1755. Qutb Khan, Jamal Khan and other chiefs of the army lost their lives and Adina Beg Khan was victorious” ⁶
The Rohillas fled back to Haryana, and Adina annexed the entire Sirhind division to his fledgling Punjabi state. Next he turned his attention to Lahore, which at the time was controlled by Mughlani Begum on behalf of the Afghan king Abdali. After a short siege Adina successfully conquered the region, adding further to both his territory and reputation. The Pahari chiefs submitted to him, and Delhi was forced to acknowledge his primacy in Punjab, conferring on him the coveted title of Zafar Jang Bahadur.
Mughlani Begum petitioned Abdali to intervene, so he sent a force from Afghanistan to recapture Lahore. Partnering with Delhi, Adina managed to wrest the capital back from the Afghans, and for good measure added Multan to his growing domain. Further pleas from Mughlani however moved Abdali to action, and in November of 1756 he brought the full might of the Durrani Empire to bear on Punjab. Adina was forced to flee to the Pahari hills, while the entirety of his domain along with Haryana and Delhi were captured by Abdali.
Adina did not have the manpower to combat Abdali’s forces, so turned to the Sikhs, agreeing to sanction their plundering activities if they joined him in expelling the Afghans. This alliance proved formidable, evicting the Afghans entirely from the Jalandhar doab, and largely restricting their activities to the walled cities of Punjab. Unfortunately however, it also subjected the Muslim populace to atrocities on a scale not seen since Banda Bahadur’s time. Jalandhar itself suffered large scale civilian massacres, rapes, and forced conversions of Muslims at the hands of Sikh extremists, and Mosques were desecrated with pig’s blood. Adina looked on without flinching; the enemy of his enemy was his friend, but he would not forget such displays of barbarity.
To check the growing Sikh threat and flush the Afghans out of Lahore, Adina turned to the Maratha Confederacy, a neighboring power that had recently evicted the Afghans from Delhi and much of Haryana. In exchange for promises of tribute the Marathas agreed to join Adina’s campaign against the Afghans. The Mughal court at Delhi, anxious to ward of the Afghan-allied Rohillas, also joined the coalition. As Rajmohan Gandhi puts it;
“For the moment at least, all the Indians — Sikhs, Marathas, Mughals like Imad and Muslim Punjabis led by Adina — had united against the Afghans, who sensed their sudden isolation” ⁷
In February of 1758 the campaign began in earnest, and after Sirhind was quickly pacified, the Afghans realized they were outmatched. Timur Shah, son of Abdali and acting Durrani governor of Punjab, fled Lahore with most of his men. The young prince and his senior officials successfully escaped the region, but many of his Afghan, Khorasani, and Uzbek soldiers were massacred before they could cross the Chenab. By April the victorious Indian coalition was celebrating at Lahore, however cracks between the various factions had already begun to appear.
The Marathas had joined Adina’s coalition out of desire for loot, but became increasingly frustrated as the campaign was failing to pay for itself. Much of the Punjab had already been ransacked by the Afghans, and what plunder was available quickly found its way into Sikh hands. Once the Afghans were gone however, the Sikhs had dispensed with formalities and began to pillage the Maratha camp itself. The Marathas were further outraged when Adina reneged on the payment he promised them, causing them to loot his camp in retaliation. By the end of the month Maratha chief Raghunath Rao had reached his limit; in exchange for promises of tribute he recognized Adina’s supremacy in Punjab, and taking his forces, returned home to Maharashtra.
Adina vs the Sikhs
With all external foes either vanquished or pacified, Adina finally turned the full weight of his attention towards the Sikhs. While some had submitted to his rule, others had carried on plundering the countryside, making it impossible for the already devastated Punjab to recover. Adina’s forces contained 10,000 men, however he knew he needed more to crush the insurgents.
“In order to suppress the Sikhs he enlisted a large number of additional troops and called upon the leading zamindars and chiefs in every part of the province to join him in eradicating the Sikh menace and restoring peace and order in the country. The Gakhar, the Jhanjhua and the Gheba zamindars of the Sind Sagar Doab; Chaudhari Rahmat Khan Waraich in the Chaj Doab; Raja Ranjit Dev of Jammu, Chaudhari Pir Muhammad Chatha, Izzat Bakhsh, Murad Bakhsh Bhatti and other zamindars in the Rechna Doab; Raja Ghamand Chand, Nidhan Singh Randhawa, Mirza Muhammad Anwar of Qadian, the Afghans of Kasur and Daulpur in the Bari Doab; the Afghans of Jullundur and Alawalpur, Rai Ibrahim of Kapurthala, the Rais of Bankala, Dasuha, Khardunbala and Phagwara and the Rajputs of Rahon in the Jullundur Doab, were all persuaded to join him in his campaign” ⁸
“This fighting force quickly assembled by Adina was unprecedented in at
least two ways. It was, for one thing, a native or Punjabi force, very different
from the outsider armies — Afghan, Mughal, Maratha or whatever — whose
weight Punjab had borne for decades. Second, it was a force drawn from a
variety of castes, tribes, regions and religions. No one before Adina had put
together such a composite army” ⁹
The first major confrontation occurred near Gurdaspur, where a large body of Sikhs had unexpectedly gathered. Adina sent a local force under two Hindu officials, Diwan Hira Mai and Guru Aqil Das, to intercept the Sikhs. A fierce battle ensued with the Sikhs emerging victorious, and after helping themselves to the loot, they fled away to their familiar jungle hideouts. This setback only served to strengthen Adina’s resolve.
“All the Panjab zamindars submitted to him and started devising plans for rooting out the Sikhs. Of all the zamindars of the Panjab the Randhawas showed the greatest readiness, in destroying the Sikhs. Adina Beg ordered that in no district or pargana should Sikhs be allowed to live, they should either be captured or killed. Mirza Aziz Bakhsh was one of his most trusted nobles. Adina Beg appointed him to this duty at the head of several thousand horse. He also entrusted him with one thousand carpenters with steel hatchets and axes for the purpose of cutting down and clearing away the jungles and forests where Sikhs used to seek shelter, so that no hiding place might exist for the people of this sect. The Sikhs were very much perturbed and relaxed their activities” ¹⁰
While many Sikhs submitted to Adina, a large group of insurgents remained defiant, opting instead to marshal in the Ram Rauni fort near Amritsar. Adina’s forces laid siege to the fort, and after a fierce struggle emerged victorious, killing or capturing most of the Sikhs. With the jungles no longer safe, and the hill chiefs firmly allied with Adina, the Sikh rebels had only one refuge left; the Malwa region of Punjab. Adina however was also cognizant of this, and once the Sikhs had crossed the Sutlej, they found themselves facing down an arsenal of swivel guns. Another bitter struggle ensued, however the result was the same. Many of the Sikhs were either killed or captured, and those who escaped were forced to abandon their property and hide away in the wilderness. Adina had won the Punjab.
“After years spent in ‘toil, danger and anxiety’, the Arain who knew when to be
bold and when to submit had realized his dream. ‘The Sikhs he had amused, the Delhi Court he despised, the Afghans he bewildered, and the Marathas he effectually influenced in his favour to break the power of both the Sikhs and the Afghans and to obtain his own independence.’ All of Punjab, from the Indus to the Jamuna, was now his to govern without serious hindrance, for Delhi was hopelessly weak, the Afghans had gone, and his Maratha suzerains lived too far away to give trouble. As for the Punjabis, whether Muslim, Hindu or Sikh, they had known of Adina for about twenty years. His ‘vigour, discipline and good government’ had made him popular with a peasantry milked by invasions, clashes and depredations” ¹¹
Adina seemed poised to give the Punjab what it had lacked for centuries; an indigenous led, independent government. Unfortunately however his rule was cut short, after an “act of God” left him struck with a severe case of Colic, to which he succumbed in late 1758. Adina’s administration collapsed shortly after his death, and the Punjab was once again thrust into chaos. The Afghans, Marathas, and Sikhs would all struggle for control of the region, with the latter ultimately emerging victorious, and going on to found an empire that would encompass most of Punjab.
Legacy
“Adina Beg Khan was bold, determined, cool, clever, prudent and quick in observation, an opportunist who in those chaotic times showed himself equal to any emergency. The greater part of his life was spent in toil, danger and anxiety, yet the ambitious spirit of this wary adventurer could not be crushed” ¹²
The rise of Adina Beg is a unique phenomenon in the history of Punjab. Born neither into Ashraf aristocracy nor a prominent Rajput tribe, he had only himself to rely on. He deftly manipulated the interests of larger powers to advance his station, and was quick to crush former allies once he no longer needed their patronage. His interest in administration was a breath of fresh air in a region where for so long rulers had cared about plunder and little else. Also noteworthy was his reliance on Punjabis of all religious and ethnic backgrounds, only demonstrating prejudice against those too incompetent to fulfill their station.
He was however not without fault. One can argue his single-minded determination to crush his enemies often saw him make heartless sacrifices to achieve his ends. Examples include sanctioning the plunder of Jalandhar by the Sikhs to secure their help against the Afghans, or later, restricting the import of wheat into famine-stricken Majha to starve out the Sikhs. His self-reliance also proved to be a double-edged sword, as his regime was not constructed in a way to operate without him, and so quickly dissolved following his death.
Regardless, Adina Beg was one of the key figures of 18th century India, and his intriguing story deserves appreciation by all.
18th Century Punjab Reference Map
Notes:
(1): Hari Ram Gupta, Studies In Later Mughal History Of The Punjab: 1707 To 1793, Page 56.
(2): Hari Ram Gupta, “…”, Page 61
(3): Hari Ram Gupta, “…”, Page 71
(4): Hari Ram Gupta, “…”, Page 78
(5): Hari Ram Gupta, “…”, Page 81
(6): Hari Ram Gupta, “…”, Pages 82–83
(7): Rajmohan Gandhi, Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten, Page 88
(8): Hari Ram Gupta, “…”, Pages 99–100
(9): Rajmohan Gandhi, “…”, Page 91
(10): Hari Ram Gupta, “…”, Page 100
(11): Rajmohan Gandhi, “…”, Page 90
(12): Hari Ram Gupta, “…”, Page 100
Details about Adina Beg this article was based on can be found in the works cited above, as well as the History of the Punjab by Syed Muhammad Latif.
