Zain-ud-Din Khan known as Zain Khan Sirhindi (died 1764) was the Mughal

Faujdar Faujdar is a term of pre-Mughal origins. Under the Mughals it was an office that combined the functions of a military commander along with judicial and land revenue functions. In pre-Mughal times, the term referred to a military officer but d ...

Sirhind Sirhind-Fategarh is a town and a municipal council in the Fatehgarh Sahib district in the Indian state of Punjab. Demographics In the 2011 census Sirhind-Fatehgarh had a population of 60852. Males constituted 54% of the population and female ...

, he was a serviceman of

Shah Alam II Shah Alam II (; 25 June 1728 – 19 November 1806), also known by his birth name Ali Gohar (or Ali Gauhar), was the seventeenth Mughal Emperor and the son of Alamgir II. Shah Alam II became the emperor of a crumbling Mughal empire. His powe ...

, an ally of

Najib-ud-Daula Najib ad-Dawlah ( ps, نجيب الدوله), also known as Najib Khan Yousafzai ( ps, نجيب خان), was a Rohilla Yousafzai Afghan who earlier served as a Mughal serviceman but later deserted the cause of the Mughals and joined Ahmed S ...

and

Ahmad Shah Durrani Ahmad Shāh Durrānī ( ps, احمد شاه دراني; prs, احمد شاه درانی), also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī (), was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is regarded as the founder of the modern Afghanistan. In July 1747, Ahm ...

. Zain Khan Sirhindi fought during the Third Battle of Panipat and strengthened Mughal rule in the region. Zain Khan was

sipahsalar ''Ispahsālār'' ( fa, اسپهسالار) or ''sipahsālār'' (; "army commander"), in Arabic rendered as ''isfahsalār'' () or ''iṣbahsalār'' (), was a title used in much of the Islamic world during the 10th–15th centuries, to denote the se ...

and a great noble at the court of

Ahmed Shah Durrani Ahmad Shāh Durrānī ( ps, احمد شاه دراني; prs, احمد شاه درانی), also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī (), was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is regarded as the founder of the modern Afghanistan. In July 1747, Ahma ...

. After the conquest of Delhi by that monarch , he held the subahdarship of Sirhind. In Ahmad Shah Durrani's reign, Zain Khan, one of the leading men in the

Mohmand The Mohmand ( ps, مومند) or Mohmand is a prominent tribe of Pashtun people. They are based primarily in the Mohmand territory, which is located in Nangarhar, Afghanistan and Mohmand Agency, Pakistan. Most people of the Mohmand tribe spe ...

tribe and the ancestor of the Morcha Khel section, was recognized as Khan of

Lalpura Lal Pur is a district in eastern Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, bordering Pakistan. Its population is primarily Pashtun and estimated to be 34,516 in 2002 (including 13,800 children under 12). The district center is the village of Lal Pur ...

, and had 12 villages made over to him .Zain Khan however soon grew notorious for plundering villages within his own territory aswell as refusing to pay his own soldiers.Tahmas Khan was disgusted by Zain Khan's actions and he soon left his services and perdicted that Zain Khan along with the city of Sirhind would fall. In January 1764,

led his sixth expedition to assist Sadat Yar Khan of

Doab ''Doab'' () is a term used in South Asia Quote: "Originally and chiefly in South Asia: (the name of) a strip or narrow tract of land between two rivers; spec. (with) the area between the rivers Ganges and Jumna in northern India." for the tract ...

and Zain Khan Sirhindi and his

Mughal Army The Army of the Mughal Empire was the force by which the Mughal emperors established their empire in the 15th century and expanded it to its greatest extent at the beginning of the 18th century. Although its origins, like the Mughals themselves, ...

which was later overrun outside

, by 36,000

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

rebels led by

Jassa Singh Ahluwalia Sultan-ul-Qaum Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (3 May 1718 – 23 October 1783) was a Sikh leader during the period of the Sikh Confederacy, being the Supreme Leader of the Dal Khalsa. He was also Misldar of the Ahluwalia Misl. This period w ...

, who plundered

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

and the upper

Death

Zain Khan Sirhindi was defeated and killed by the

Sikhs Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism (Sikhi), a monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ...

in the

Battle of Sirhind (1764) The battle of Sirhind was fought between Durrani Empire and Sikh Misls on 14 January 1764. Battle Ahmad Shah Durrani returned to Afghanistan after appointing Zain Khan Sirhindi as the Governor of Sirhind. Zain Khan Sirhindi, the Afghan Governor ...

Descendants

Zain Khan was originally from the Khan Khel (family) of Lalpura Mohmands. His direct descendants are traced in the book "The Mohmands" by W. R. H. Merk. Most influential of them are the ones descended from the four sons of Nauroz Khan, who migrated to Peshawar.

References

5. The Sikh Encyclopedia 6. A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West ..., Volume 3 Page 126 7. W R H Merk - "The Mohmands" 8. Captain E.G.G. Hastings - Page 112 of Report of the regular settlement of the Peshawar district of the Punjab 1878 9. State and Tribe in Nineteenth-Century Afghanistan 10. Hari Ram Gupta - Page 168 of History of the Sikhs: Evolution of Sikh confederacies, 1708-1769 (3rd rev. ed. 1978) Mughal soldiers Indian warriors 18th-century Indian Muslims Indian military personnel People from Fatehgarh Sahib district {{India-hist-stub

Death

Descendants

See also

References