Back রাই আহমাদ খান খারাল Bengali/Bangla Ahmad Khan Kharal Hausa ਅਹਿਮਦ ਖ਼ਾਨ ਖਰਲ Punjabi احمد خان کھرل PNB Ahmad Khan Kharal SIMPLE رائے احمد خان کھرل SKR رائے احمد خاں کھرل Urdu
Rai Ahmad Khan Kharal | |
|---|---|
رائے احمد خاں کَھرَّل | |
 Modern digital painting depicting Rai Ahmad Khan Kharal by Arsalan Khan | |
| Born | c. 1776 |
| Died | 21 September 1857 (aged 80–81) |
| Cause of death | Killed by British forces during Zuhr prayer |
| Monuments | Tomb of Rai Ahmad Khan Kharal, Jhamra |
| Occupations | |
| Known for | Leading the 1857 rebellion against British rule in Punjab |
| Parents |
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Rai Ahmad Khan Kharal[a] (Punjabi pronunciation: [ɾaːeː ɛɦməd̪ xãː kʰəˈɾəl]; c. 1776 – 21 September 1857),[2][3] the Nawab of Jhamra,[4] was a Punjabi Muslim chieftain of the Kharal tribe who led the rebellion in Punjab against the British East India Company during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. He was killed by British forces while he was offering his Zuhr prayer (afternoon prayer) in September 1857, at the age of 81,[5][6] which turned him into a martyr and folk hero in Punjabi literature.[7]
Born in Jhamra, Sukerchakia Misl, he became the chief of the Kharal tribe after his youth years had passed. In his later life, the British East India Company defeated the Sikh Empire during the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849 and extended its rule over the Punjab region and administratively established it as a part of the Bengal Presidency.
In 1857, a rebellion against the Company rule ensued all across the Indian subcontinent. After the British forces arrested a large number of Johiya tribesmen, women and children after they refused to pay the heavy colonial taxes, Rai Ahmad Khan Kharal gathered his tribal forces, which were joined by various other Punjabi tribes of the Sandal Bar which opposed colonial rule, and raided the Gogera jail.
Kharal was arrested by the Company forces but was later released under pressure from local tribes. Kharal continued resisting the British forces after being released. After more arrests were made by the British, Kharal started a guerilla campaign, with the help of allied tribes, against the British. Secret information of a major assault on Gogera was leaked by Sarfraz Kharal of Kamalia to the British.
Kharal and his forces fled to the forests of Gashkori to continue their struggle, where the British reached and killed Kharal and other major tribal leaders while they were offering the Zuhr prayer on 21 September 1857. Ahmad Khan Kharal’s head was decapitated and put on display at Gogera Jail.[8] A few days later, one of his supporters stole the head and buried it in his ancestral graveyard in Jhamra.[8]
Murad Fatayana, a trusted associate of Ahmed Khan Kharal, took revenge of Kharal's killing and killed Lord Berkeley alongside 50 British and Company-aligned Indian troops in a successful attack. The rebellion continued until it ended in 1858 as local tribes lost to the British reinforcements.
- ^ Bhutta, Saeed (January 1, 2010). Nabar Kahani.
- ^ "Ahmed Khan Kharal and the Raj". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
- ^ "Past in Perspective". The Nation. 2019-06-25. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
- ^ "Kharal and Berkley II". DAWN.COM. 22 April 2013. Retrieved 2020-05-07.
- ^ "Ahmed Khan Kharal and the Raj". thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 2020-05-07.
- ^ "Past in Perspective". nation.com.pk. 25 June 2019. Retrieved 2020-05-07.
- ^ "Punjab University: Rai Ahmad Khan Kharral (Myth or Reality)". Retrieved 2022-11-22.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b Mirzā, Shafqat Tanvīr (1992). Resistance themes in Punjabi literature. Internet Archive. Lahore, Pakistan : Sang-e-Meel Publications. pp. 111–112. ISBN 978-969-35-0101-8.
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