Bhogaon
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Bhogaon (भोगाँव) is an old town situated in Mainpuri District of Uttar Pradesh. It lies on the junction of the Agra road with the Grand Trunk Road and is about 14 km east of Mainpuri.
Location
Bhongaon Railway Station is on the Farrukhabad-Shikohabad rail route. Agra Civil Enclaves is the nearest airport.
Variants
History
Historical evidences reveal that this town was founded by a mythical Raja, Bhim Sen after whom it was called Bhimgram or Bhimgaon. During the reign of Akbar, it was the headquarters of a pargana (a pre-permanent settlement revenue unit) and there is a fort, now in ruins, on a high mound which marks the residence of the governor (amil).
Today, there are several industrial and commercial establishments. Mahadev Temple, a mosque and also some old buildings of artistic merit, which are situated at the heart of the town, are the interesting spots here.
In 1259, Bhongaon in this district was given away as a fief to Malik Sher Khan, a nephew of Balban, by the then sultan , Nasir-ud-din Mahmud (1246-1265), he held it till 1260 .
In 1312, Malik Kafur, the veteran commander of sultan Ala-ud-din Khilji (1296-1316 ), stayed at Rapri while returning with huge quantities of rich booty from Malabar and Dwar Samudra in the Deccan. He founded here a mosque with an inscription which is an eulogy of Ala-ud-din's reign. Subsequently upon Kafur was conferred the fief of Rapri by the sultan.
In 1392, the district became the centre of intense political activity when Bir Bhan, the muqaddam of Bhongaon, supported by the Tomar raja of Gwalior and Sarvadharan of Etawah, raised the standard of revolt against sultan Muhammad Shah Tughluq ( 1390 - 1394). But the large force dispatched by the sultan under Islam Khan, the vizier, crushed the rebellion, and devastated the district and its adjoining areas.
In 1393, Bir Bhan again rose in arms and was joined by Sarvadharan and Abhai Chand , the muqaddam. The sultan sent another expedition under Mukarrab-ul-Mulk, the governor of Jalesar, in Etah district, to deal with the rebels. When the two parties came in sight of each other. Mukarrab-ul-Mulk adopted a conciliatory course, and by promises and engagements, induced the raise to submit. The duped insurgents were then taken to Kannauj, where they were treacherously put to death with the exception of Sarvadharan of Etawah who made good his escape.
Muhammad Shah died in 1394 , and was succeeded by his son, Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah, who appointed Khwaja Jahan Malik Sarwar as the governor of Jaunpur. Malik Sarwar succeeded in extending his sway as far as Rapri in this district, with the result that the administration of the district passed into the hands of Sharqi rulers of Jaunpur.
Jat History
Post Panipat Expansion And Strife Between Suraj Mal And Najib (1761-1763): Dr Girish Chandra Dwivedi [1] writes.... The Maratha rout in the battle of Panipat, coupled with the disinclination of the victor Ahmad Shah to remain here, created a void in north India, which the different powers, often at variance with one another, rushed to fill up. The big potentates and the dispossessed local chiefs alike fell upon the Maratha possessions in the Doab, Rajputana, Bundelkhand, Malwa and other places.[68] The Jats, the Afghans, the Rajputs, the Bundelas and Shuja all joined the race. The first to profit by were the exultant Rohillas, who, greatly enlarged their possessions.[69] Soon after Panipat, they occupied almost the whole of the Doab. Hafiz Rahmat Khan established his supremacy over the region consisting of Bhogaon, Etawah and Mainpuri; Dunde Khan brought under his rule Moradabad, Shikohabad and the nearby mahals; Ahmad Khan Bangash got hold of the territories from Sikandara to Akbarpur and aspired to move further to the east.[70] The foremost Rohilla chief Najib took the lion's share. He grabbed the Mian Doab country, Meerut, Sikandarabad, Dasna, Baghpat and seven Maratha mahals and several parganas in Haryana like Gohana, Dadari, Rohtak and Hansi-Hissar region and also cast his glances over the Sirhind district. [71] Najib aimed at carving
- 65. Rajwade, 1,297; SPD., XXIX, 5.
- 66. By the end of 176 I Shah Alam "felt himself free" to elevate Shuja to the Wazirship. The latter's investiture took place in February, 1762. see Srivastava, Shuja, I, 125f.
- 67. Imad stayed on in the Jat principality. In 1763 he marched with the Jat contingent, sent to help the Bangash chief. After the death of Suraj Mal he accompanied Raja Jawahar Singh in his attack on Delhi. See Nur, 58a and 76b.
- 68. A contemporary remarks (Memoires des Jats, 56, footnote):There was not a single zamindar in this country (northern India) who did not take the advantage of the opportunity to fall on and chase the Marathas everywhere. For details see SP.D, XXI, 75, 91, 92, XXIX, 5, 6, 12-15,20-22,24,25,27 also 36, 40, XXVII, 264, 267-269, 271,276, II, 7; Rajwade, I, 285, 288, 295-297 also 299
- 69. Memoires des Jats, 56.
- 70. Srivastava, Shuuja, I, 117-118.
- 71. Nur, 55b-56a; Rajwade, 1,297; SPD., XXI 89, XXIX, 24.
[Page 240] out extensive domains roughly stretching from Rohtak to Hissar and Sirhind districts and from the middle of Doab to the borders of his original faujdars of Saharanpur.[72]
The powerful Jat Raja was very ambitious and he could hardly remain a mere spectator amidst this mad scramble for the territories all round. As Wendel puts it, the Jats were "neither less nor more eager" than the Rohillas to turn the situation to their advantage.[73] If not throughout, certainly for sometime after Panipat, Suraj Mal had been keen to control Delhi government through Imad and to supplant Najib, his inveterate foe. Suraj Mal had reasons to be restless about Najib and vice-versa. [74] By an irony of circumstances, they had met each other for the first time as opponents, fighting on opposite sides in the second Bangash expeditions and then again in the Civil war of Delhi. Thereafter, their relations went on deteriorating. Suraj Mal had obviously not forgotten the most atrocious role of the Rohilla leader in 1757 (in course of the Durrani invasion).[75] Then, in 1759, Suraj Mal had sent a contingent against him to help Dattaji (against Najib)[76] and during Panipat displayed his sympathies towards the Marathas. After Panipat, Najib had tried to turn the Durranis arms once more against the Jat. But his plan miscarried because of the abrupt return of the Durrani. In view of all this, little wonder if Suraj Mal regarded as dangerous the consolidation of the Rohilla ascendancy at Delhi. [77]
It has been observed that Suraj Mal wanted to annex the entire Doab. [78] But in the light of his policy examined above[79] and his subsequent conduct too, this assertion appears to be over-drawn. Attempts to wrest the whole Doab would have precipitated a dangerous clash at one and the same time with Najib. Hafiz Rahmat, Dunde Khan, Ahmad Bangash, Shuja, the Marathas, the Bundela and other petty chiefs. Being an intensely practical statesman, it is unlikely that with all his superior power, Suraj Mal, would have liked to array such a host of enemies against him, especially when his relations with Madho Singh, on his back, had definitely become strained[80] and the latter had also entered into a collusion with Najib.[81]
- 72. For details see Sarkar, Fall, II, 384-386.
- 73. Memoires des Jats, 56.
- 74. Siyar, IV, 28.
- 75. Memoires des Jats, 61.
- 76. Supra, Ch. XI, rn. 32.
- 77. Qanungo, Jats, 147.
- 78. Pande, Bharatpur, 77 also Introduction.
- 79. Supra, Ch. X III , f.n. 26.
- 80. Memoires des Jats, 63.
- 81. Rajwade, I, 295.
[Page 241] Suraj Mal, however, wanted to recover his possessions across the Yamuna and expand them further in the ethnically Jat areas along both sides of that river, stretching upto the Ravi.[82] There is ground to suppose that his brethren in those areas resented the Rohilla domination and those of the Doab and Haryana at least aspired for a union with Bharatpur. Herein, then, lay an added incentive to the Jat Raja for expansionist activities. At any rate, it is a fact that Najib had established his sway over some areas around Meerut and Sikandarabad which Suraj Mal had formerly brought under his control.[83]
Besides the racial ties, Suraj Mal was interested in the tract to the south and west of Delhi for yet another reason. He wished to assign a separate domain comprising Mewat and part of Haryana to his restless son, Jawahar Singh, while his younger son, Nahar Singh, was to succeed him at Bharatpur. Jawahar Singh had been busy also subduing Mewat for the last ten years.[84] This apart, political geography also dictated inexorably a northward expansion. Not interested in further south, and barred on the west by the Rajputs and on the east by Shuja and the Bangash and the Rohilla sardars it was only towards north that he could expand with comparative ease."[85]
Close to the north of his principality lay "a number of rebels' dens"[86] of the Billoch landlords, approximating to parts of Rohtak, Mahendargarh and Gurgaon districts which form the heart of Haryana and where even to this day the Jats form the largest community. Committing usurpations, the Billochis set up their ownership at several places in the region. [87] The Jat being expansionist, the relations between the two could be anything but friendly. Moreover, the Billoch chiefs entertained the enemies of the Jat State and also fostered the forces of disorder and lawlessness in it. The instances of Fateh Singh Bargujar, whom Kamghar Khan, the former chief of Farrukhanagar, had extended shelter in 1755,[88] and of Sanulba the despicable Meo freebooter, whom Musavi Khan and Asadulla Khan Billoch patronized,[89] are sufficient to illustrate the point. After 1760, Najib extended his blessings and protection to those Billochis against the Jats.[90] Their alliance seems to
- 82. Qanungo, Jats, 146, 147.
- 83. TAL, 106; SPD., XXVII, 226, Tawarikh-i-Hunud, 21b; cf Sarkar Fall, II, 385.
- 84. Memoires des Jats, 46, 60, 62; Nur., 60b.
- 85. Memoires des Jats, 60; Siyar 29-30.
- 86. Sarkar, Fall, II, 39.
- 87. Sarkar, Fall, II, 38-39, Siyar, IV, 29-30.
- 88. TAL., 114.
- 89. Nur., 6Ia-6Ib.
- 90 SPD., II, 144; Rajwade, I, 297; Memoires des Jats, 60 and 61; Nur, 56b and 62b
[Page 242] have been as much of the Billochis' own seeking as that of Najib himself. With his deliverer, Ahmad Shah having gone back and his own resources having been depleted, Najib found himself unable to cope with his adversary Suraj Mal "who was too superior (to him) in everything."[91] In the circumstances, the shrewd Rohilla chief entered into a secret understanding with Madho Singh and Billoch chiefs and thus tried to throw a net of diplomacy around Suraj Mal. In emboldening the Billochis, he seems to have calculated to kill two birds with one stone; to create a diversion for the Raja and also to hinder his efforts for union with the Jats further on by interposing a block. This policy as well as his (Najib's) occupation of the disputable parts in Main Doab contained the seeds of portentous developments. They precipitated a deadly conflict with Suraj Mal.[92]
भोगाँव परिचय
भोगाँव शहर मैनपुरी के पूर्व से 14 किलोमीटर की दूरी पर स्थित है। माना जाता है कि इस शहर की स्थापना राजा भीम ने की थी। उन्ही के नाम पर इस जगह का नाम भीमगांव अथवा भीमग्राम रखा गया। पहले समय में यह जगह अकबर के अधीन थी और भीमगांव परगना का मुख्यालय था। इस जगह के समीप पर ही महादेव का प्रसिद्ध मंदिर स्थित है। यहां श्रद्धालुओं के लिए सराय और रहने की सुविधा भी प्रदान की गई है। इसके अलावा शहर के पठान क्वॉटर के केन्द्र में एक मस्जिद भी है। इस मस्जिद की विशेषता यह है कि इस मस्जिद के चारों ओर बनी ऊंची दीवारें और गहराई में बना तीर के आकार का रास्ता है।