Rohilla Sardar Zabita Khan (AD 1770 - 74 ) Ghausgarh mint , INO Shah alam ii , Rupee

[sarwar khan]

The first Rohilla Cheif of repute in the post Muhammad shah years was Najib Ud daula or Najib khan rohilla. He founded  the town of Najibabad which became his seat .He was instrumental in the politics of Delhi and North India that brought about the Maratha defeated in the third battle of Panipat January 1761 AD against Ahmad Shah Durrani ,the Afghan king . However it turned out to be Pyrrhic victory for Ahmed Shah and , in the subsequent decade althrough the dominant Maratha presence was wiped out , the afghans could not really occupy the position of the supreme political authority in North India .This was partly due to capricious nature of the Najib Khan himself , who could not be trusted in his Pan - Islamic ideology by other Muslims statesman such as shuja ud daulah the Nawab vazir of Awadh.The mughal Emperor emperor Shah Alam II himself, Vacillated between the British and the Marathas for support and ultimately after the death of Najib Khan and the sake of his capital Najibabad by the marathas in 1772, chose to return to Delhi from his Refuge at Allahabad under Maratha protection.

Rohilla power was seriously upset after the defeat at the hands of the combination of Shuja ud daulah and the British in 1774 . Zabita khan the son and successor of Najib Khan had to concede much of the Rohilla territory to the Nawab of Awadh.

The seat of Najib Khan's family was then moved Ghausgarh (near about 20 miles to the north of Muzaffarnagar), a fortress built by Najib khan in 1765 across the yamuna to the west of Najibabad .In year after his defeat , the area under zabita khan's control gradually shrank due to incessant strife with the Maratha's , the Nawab of awadh , the Mughal emperor Shah alam & the sikhs .His authority was limited to the to the present day district Saharanpur and few a tracts of land that he succeeded in getting legitimised from shah alam ii .It was ghausgarh that ghulam qadir succeeded zabita khan in 1785 .

In 1774 when Najibabad was transferred to Awadh after the defeat of zabita Khan both the dagger and the sprig are seen replaced with symbols of Awadh affinity .They are the fish and The Crescent. But some coins bearing the Mint name Najibabad and retaining the Rohilla mark of dagger and sprig on known with dates and Regnal years of Shah Alam II , indicating they were struck after 1774 . The range of Regnal year noted from RY 22 to RY 28 where date is truncated .Once it was transferred in 1774 to Awadh Najibabad never reverted to the rohillas .Given this historical fact. It is strange that coins with ''Najibabad'' as the  mint name should exist with marks of Rohilla affinity dated well after he transfer. The only possible explanation for this existence of such coins is that the rohilla struck them at a different place like ghausgarh with the pesudo mint name Najibabad.

Details about the coin :-
Nawab - Zabita khan (AH 1183 -88 / AD 1770 - 74 )
Denomination - Rupee
Obv - Julus manus maimanat sanah 25 Zarb Najibabad pesudo mint name with Dagger symbol

(Struck at Pesudo mint Najibabad in the 25th year of his prosperous reign)

Rev - Sikka Zad Bar Haft Kishwar Saye Fazl muhammad Shah Alam Badshah Elah Hami Din  , AH 1198 /1783 AD

(Defender of the Muhammadan faith, Reflection of Divine Excellence, the Emperor Shah Alam has stuck this coin to be current throughout the seven climes)

Rarity - Scarce
Date - AH 1198 / 1783 AD
Condition - Very fine
Minted at Ghausgarh but Pesudo mint name Najibabad mention in the coin .

Reference - A pawn in poltics : The first regin of  muhammad Akbar by Shailendra bhandare sir

Regards
Muhammad Sarwar
Jabalpur

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[Figleaf]

Fun write-up of a very nice coin. I wasn't aware of the politics behind the role of Najib, let alone how Zabita over the years lost more territory than his father had won. It is stuff for a classical tragedy. You have provided data that support your conclusion that Najibabad was not where your coin was struck. However, I am somewhat confused about the dating.

Zabita Khan succeeded in 1183/1770
Your coin is dated 1198/1785, ry 25
You say Zabita Khan's reign ended in 1188/1774
Zabita Khan died 1198/1785 (source: Wikipedia)

If Zabita's reign ended in 1188, your coin was struck during the reign of a successor and the regnal year is wrong. If it ended in 1198, it may still be a coin of Zabita and the regnal year is still wrong. In 1198, the year 25 refers to 1173/4. The only explanation I can think of is that it is not a regnal year, but a reference to the third battle of Panipat.

Peter

[sarwar khan]

Fun write-up of a very nice coin. I wasn't aware of the politics behind the role of Najib, let alone how Zabita over the years lost more territory than his father had won. It is stuff for a classical tragedy. You have provided data that support your conclusion that Najibabad was not where your coin was struck. However, I am somewhat confused about the dating.

Zabita Khan succeeded in 1183/1770
Your coin is dated 1198/1785, ry 25
You say Zabita Khan's reign ended in 1188/1774
Zabita Khan died 1198/1785 (source: Wikipedia)

If Zabita's reign ended in 1188, your coin was struck during the reign of a successor and the regnal year is wrong. If it ended in 1198, it may still be a coin of Zabita and the regnal year is still wrong. In 1198, the year 25 refers to 1173/4. The only explanation I can think of is that it is not a regnal year, but a reference to the third battle of Panipat.

Peter

Figleaf sir all the time Wikipedia didn't reliable , According to the shailen bhandare sir The Ry 27 was tha last regin year of Zabita khan , In my opinion " the Coin correct the history .The zabita khan was a unsuccessful   ruler in rohilla history

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[Figleaf]

Reaction from SBOx:
I need to check the concordances (it's been a long time since I wrote about this) - however, some of the dates on the coins are odd. As you correctly point out, there is a good chance that the RY here is calculated from the reinstatement of Shah Alam II after the battle of Panipat. He himself 'corrected' it to the killing of his father in November 1759, but it is likely that the Rohillas didn't go by the 'official' RY but calculated a reckoning of their own when he was reinstated as a Rohilla protégé in 1761.
He did die in 1785, so that is correct.
Hope this helps.