Malik Ambar, Ethiopian Commander of Ahmadnagar

                                  Malik Ambar / Wikimedia Commons

Malik Ambar was the regent of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, known more famously as the Nizam Shahi Dynasty, from 1607 to 1626. He was a thrice manumitted Ethiopian slave who is known in the medieval period as a great statesman and able administrator.

Malik Ambar installed Murtaza II as ruler of Nizam Shahi dynasty with his capital at Parenda. He is known for instituting the innovative techniques in guerrilla warfare known as bargigiri which was later perfected by the Marathas.  He employed this warfare tactic with great effect against the Mughals.

However, his gallant resistance to the Mughal forces ended when he was defeated by Mughal prince Khurram first in 1617 and again in 1621.

This victory earned Prince Khurram the title of Shah Jahan (King of the World) from his father Jahangir, the fourth Mughal Emperor.

He founded the city of Khirki, which was later named Aurangabad by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. He is credited with the construction of its canal called Nahr-i-Ambari.

Malik Ambar died in 1626. His death was the last nail in the Ahmadnagar’s coffin. Murtada III, the last Nizam Shahi ruler, was captured by Aurangzeb during the reign of Shah Jahan in 1636. The Nizam Shahi territories were divided between the Mughals and the Adil Shahi kingdom of Bijapur.

The tomb of Malik Ambar is located in Khuldabad near Aurangabad in Maharashtra. 

“In warfare, in command, in sound judgment, and in administration he had no rival or equal," wrote Mughal court chronicler Mu’tamad Khan. "History records no other instance of an Abyssinian slave arriving at such eminence.” 

Amoghavarsha, Greatest Rashtrakuta Ruler

Amoghavarsha I or Sarva (814-878) was the Jain scholar-king of Rashtrakuta dynasty. He succeeded to the throne after his father Govinda III’s death. He was born in a camp while his father was campaigning in the Vindhyas.

Amoghavarsha’s long reign of 64 years was marked by conflicts with the Eastern Chalukyas, also known as the Chalukyas of Vengi, and the Gangas. His army remained in occupation of Vengi for twelve years.

Amoghvarsha did not match the martial spirit of his father and other predecessors. This was due to his fascination for literature and leanings towards religion.

Amoghavarsha was converted into Jainism by the Jaina monk Jinasena, the author of Adipurana. He was a patron of Saktayana, the author of Amoghavritti, and Mahaviracharya, the author of Ganitasara-Samgraha. He himself authored Kavirajamarga, the earliest Kannada work on poetics.

The Arab traveller Suleiman in his account called Amoghavarsha as among the four great sovereigns of the world, the other three being the Caliph of Bagdad and the emperors China and Turkey (Byzantium).

Amoghvarsha built the capital city of Manyakhet to match the city of Lord Indra.

Sikandar Lodi, the second Lodi ruler

Sikandar Lodi was the second ruler of the Lodi dynasty, last of the dynasties that comprised Delhi Sultanate that lasted from AD 1206 to1526. Born as Nizam Khan, he succeeded his father Bahlul Lodi after his death in 1489. Bahlul Lodi had nominated him his heir apparent. Sikandar was the son of the daughter of a Hindu goldsmith. 

In 1494 he dealt a crushing defeat to Hussain Shah Sharqi and demolished the Sharqi monuments in Jaunpur. He crushed the Raja of Tirhut and captured Chanderi in 1514. He was able to seize Bihar and signed a treaty with the Sultan of Bengal.

From 1506 to 1517 he devoted his energies to capturing Gwalior which remained unconquered under its Tomar ruler Raja Man Singh (1486-1517).

He is credited with the tightening of the espionage system. He introduced the system of auditing of accounts and Gaaz-i-Sikandar of 32 digits for measuring cultivated land. He gave patronage of philosophy. His rule saw the rising popularity of Avicenna’s philosophy in Delhi. The famous Sufi saint, known by his nom de plume Jamali, was a poet at his court. Sikandar Lodi had written verses in Persian under the penname of Gulrakhi. 

Sikandar Lodi was a bigot and destroyed Hindu temples including the Jwalamukhi temple at Nagarkot.

He died in 1517.

It was believed by the credulous section of his subjects that he could perform miracles such as raising the dead to life. 

Aurangzeb’s usurpation of Shantidas‘s Temple

Shantidas Jhaveri was a leading Jain jeweller and banker in the Ahmedabad city during the 17th century. He had a beautiful Jain temple built in Ahmedabad. The temple was desecrated and converted into a mosque in 1645 by the then governor of Gujarat, Aurangzeb (later Mughal emperor) who built a mihrab (niche) for prayer in it.

This was complained to Shah Jahan who, on the assertion of scholar and philosopher Mulla Abdul Hakim that Aurangzeb had flagrantly violated the sharia in usurping Shantidas’s property, ordered the temple be restored to the latter.

Hamida Banu Begam

Maryam-i Makani Hamida Banu Begam, popularly known as Hamida Banu Begam, was the mother of the greatest Mughal emperor Akbar and wife of second Mughal emperor Humayun who fell in love with her while he was at his brother Hindal’s camp during his wanderings as a fugitive. 

 

Hamida Banu Begam was daughter of Shaikh Ali Ambar Jaini, who had been a tutor to Hindal. She married Humayun in early 1942 and became mother of Akbar in November 1542 AD. 

Hamida Banu Begam was given the title of Maryam Makani, literary of 'rank equal to Mary'. 

Humayun-Nama of Gulbadan Begam

Ahval-i-Humayun Badshah or Humayun-Nama was written by Babur's daughter and Humayun’s half- sister, Gulbadan Begam, who stayed with the greatest Mughal Emperor Akbar, son and successor of Humayun, from 1556 to 1603 at Agra.  

 

Written at the instance of Akbar, Humayun-Nama, which contains Gulbadan’s personal reminiscences of her father and brother, was composed between 1580 and 1590 A. D.

Humayun-Nama was translated into English by Mrs. Beveridge.

Bhadrabahu, The Jaina Teacher

Chandragupta Maurya and Bhadrabahu / Image Credit

Bhadrabahu was the Jaina monk under whose leadership, due to a serious famine at the end of Mauryan emperor Chandragupta’s reign, a large number of Jaina monks migrated from Magadha to Sarvanabelgola in Karnataka at the close of the fourth century BC. These monks set up important centres of Jainism in Deccan.

Out of this exodus arose the famous split of Jainism into two sects, namely the Digamabaras (“Space-clad”, i.e. naked) and Shvetambaras (“white clad”).

While Bhadrabahu insisted that his followers should not wear clothes thereby retaining the rule of Nudity established by the Jaina founder Mahavira, Sthulabhadra, who remained in the North (Magadha), allowed the monks to wear white clothes.