Raja Ali Khan was the Sultan of

Khandesh Khandesh is a geographic region in Central India, which includes parts of the northwestern portion of Maharashtra as well as Burhanpur District of Madhya Pradesh. The use of Khandeshi Language (a.k.a. the Ahirani Language) is prevalent in ...

who ruled from 1576 to 1597. In 1591 he, to some extent, recognized the overlordship of the

Mughal Emperor The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled t ...

Akbar Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...

by sending one of his daughters to be a wife of Akbar's son

Jahangir Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti. Ear ...

. However, in 1595 when Akbar invaded the

Sultanate of Ahmadnagar The Ahmadnagar Sultanate was a late medieval Indian Muslim kingdom located in the northwestern Deccan, between the sultanates of Gujarat and Bijapur. Malik Ahmed, the Bahmani governor of Junnar after defeating the Bahmani army led by general J ...

Raja Ali Khan refused to aid the invasion. Khandesh later became embroiled in war with the Mughal Empire which would lead to its annexation to the empire 4 years after Raja Ali Khan died.

Reign

In 1577, Akbar sent an expeditionary force of 55,000 to Khandesh to secure its sub-ordination. Raja Ali Khan was compelled to accept it. In 1586 CE, Akbar’s governor of Malwa Khan Azam invaded Berar. Raja Ali Khan joined hands with Ahmadnager and defeated him. In 1591 CE, Akbar sent

Faizi Abu al-Faiz ibn Mubarak, popularly known by his pen-name, Faizi (20 September 1547 – 15 October 1595) was a poet and scholar of late medieval India whose ancestors ''Malik-ush-Shu'ara'' (poet laureate) of Akbar's Court. Blochmann, H. (tr.) (19 ...

to Khandesh and Ahmadnagar courts to invite them to accept Mughal suzerainty. Raja Ali Khan agreed to accept. Later, Raja Ali Khan was assigned a rank (mansab) of 5000.

Marriage with Akbar's daughter

Akbar gave his daughter to Raja Ali Khan for a political marriage, but Raja Ali Khan did not accept incorporation into the Mughal hierarchy until he was militarily forced to submit.

Daughter's marriage with Jahangir

In 1593 Raja Ali Khan sent his daughter with wooing gifts to Prince Salim Mirza (future Emperor

). The marriage took place on 10 September 1594, and her family obtained a strong protection. She died on 20 October 1596.

Death

On February 5, 1597 he died in the battle of Sonpet between the Mughals and Ahmadnagar, while fighting on the Mughal side. His body was brought to Burhanpur for burial.

References

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John F. Richards John F. Richards (November 3, 1938 – August 23, 2007) was a historian of South Asia and in particular of the Mughal Empire. He was Professor of History at Duke University, North Carolina, and a recipient in 2007 of the Distinguished Contributio ...

. ''New Cambridge History of India: The Mughal Empire''. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. p. 51. Sultans