Zain ud-Din Ahmad Khan, also known as Mirza Muhammad Hashim, was an aristocrat from the Nawab of Bengal family and the father of

Siraj ud-Daulah Mirza Muhammad Siraj-ud-Daulah ( fa, ; 1733 – 2 July 1757), commonly known as Siraj-ud-Daulah or Siraj ud-Daula, was the last independent Nawab of Bengal. The end of his reign marked the start of the rule of the East India Company over Beng ...

, the last independent Nawab of Bengal.

Early life and background

Mirza Muhammad Hashim was the youngest son of Haji Ahmad, the elder brother of

Alivardi Khan Alivardi Khan (1671 – 9 April 1756) was the Nawab of Bengal from 1740 to 1756. He toppled the Nasiri dynasty of Nawabs by defeating Sarfaraz Khan in 1740 and assumed power himself. During much of his reign Alivardi encountered frequent Mar ...

. Hashim's paternal grandfather Mirza Muhammad Madani, who was of either

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

or Turkic descent, was the son of a foster-brother of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. He had two brothers,

Nawazish Muhammad Khan Nawazish Muhammad Khan ( fa, ; died 1755), also known as Mirza Muhammad Raza, was a Mughal aristocrat and the deputy governor of Dhaka in the 18th century. Biography Mirza Muhammad Raza was the son of Haji Ahmad, the elder brother of Alivardi ...

and Sayed Ahmed Khan.

Personal life

Khan married

Amina Begum Amina Begum ( bn, আমিনা বেগম, fa, ) was a Bengali aristocrat from the Nawab family of Bengal and mother of Siraj ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal. Early life and background Amina Begum was the youngest daughter ...

, the daughter of his paternal uncle

, who would later become the Nawab of Bengal. They had two sons, Ikram ud-Daulah as well as

, another future Nawab of Bengal. He also had another son and a daughter by the name of Shahzadi Afseen Begum who was married to Diwan Mohanlal of Purnia.

Career

Due to their royal background, Hashim and his family all worked for the administration of his cousin, the Nawab of Bengal

Shuja-ud-Din Muhammad Khan Shuja-ud-Din Muhammad Khan ( bn, সুজাউদ্দীন মুহম্মদ খাঁন, fa, ) was the Nawab of Bengal. He married Zainab un-nisa Begum and Azmat un-nisa Begum, the daughters of Murshid Quli Khan by Nasiri Banu Beg ...

. The Nawab granted Hashim the title of Khan. After the ascension of

as the Nawab of Bengal in November 1740, he was made the Governor of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

and given the title of ''Haibat Jang''. He was granted the title of ''Ihtiram ud-Daulah'' in 1742. Khan defended Bihar from Maratha attacks. After Nawab Alivardi Khan and his army general Mustafa Khan killed Bhaskar Pandit, the leader of the Maratha raids, Mustafa expected the governorship of Bihar as his reward. When Mustafa was refused this position, he and his Afghan kinsmen revolted. They attacked

Munger Munger, formerly spelt as Monghyr, is a twin city and a Municipal Corporation situated in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the administrative headquarters of Munger district and Munger Division. Munger was one of the major cities in Eastern ...

and laid siege to

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

. Zain ud-Din Ahmed Khan defended Patna and the rebels were crushed by an army led by Alivardi Khan.

Death and legacy

In 1748, Mustafa Khan launched another invasion in Bihar, this time with the support of Maratha general

Raghoji I Bhonsle Raghoji Bhonsle or Raghoji I Bhonsale or Raghuji the Great (1695 – February 1755) of the Bhonsale dynasty, was a Maratha general who took control of the Nagpur Kingdom in east-central India during the reign of Shahu I. His successors ruled ...

and Alivardi Khan's defected commander Mir Habib who planned to invade Bengal. Zain ud-Din Ahmed Khan and his army initially repulsed the attack and shot Mustafa Khan dead. However, the rebels later got the upper hand in

and assassinated Zain ud-Din Ahmed Khan on 13 January 1748. His two sons and wife

were subsequently imprisoned, and his father died of wounds 17 days later. After pillaging various areas of the Bengal Subah, Mir Habib advanced to

Murshidabad Murshidabad fa, مرشد آباد (, or ) is a historical city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located on the eastern bank of the Bhagirathi River, a distributary of the Ganges. It forms part of the Murshidabad district. Durin ...

, the capital of Bengal and seat of the Nawab. The rebels were finally driven out by Alivardi Khan, who rescued Zain ud-Din Ahmed Khan's wife and two sons. His younger son,

, succeeded him as the Naib Nazim of Bihar.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Zain ud-Din Ahmed 1748 deaths Nawabs of Bengal 18th-century Indian Muslims Indian Shia Muslims