Mirza Askari (Persian: میرزا عسکری, c. 1635 — 12 May 1710), better known by his title Wazir Khan, was the Mughal Faujdar of the Sirhind region in the present-day Indian state of Punjab, and administered the territory that lay between the Sutlej and Yamuna rivers. He is best known for his conflicts with the Sikhs.[2][3][4][5]
Biography
He was the descendant of Wazir Khan Akbar Shahi of Persian descent who was the Courtrian to the third Mughal Emperor Akbar I.[5] According to Sikh sources, Mirza Askari (Wazir Khan) was born around 1635 and was a native of then Kunjpura and Karnal district of modern-day Haryana.[6] Some Sikh accounts suggest that Wazir Khan was a distant relative of the Nawabs of Malerkotla, which, if true, would suggest an Afghan origin for him.[7]
Wazir Khan is noted for his conflicts with the Sikhs and became infamous for ordering the execution of Guru Gobind Singh's young sons (Sahibzada Fateh Singh and Sahibzada Zorawar Singh) in 1704.[8] He was the governor of Sirhind when he arrested the two younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh. Wazir Khan tried to force the young sons of the Guru to embrace Islam. When they refused to accept Islam he ordered them to be bricked alive and later beheaded them after knowing that they were still alive inside even though that was not in the order.[9]
Wazir Khan was defeated and beheaded by a Sikh warrior Fateh Singh, a warrior in the Sikh Khalsa, during the Battle of Chappar Chiri on 12 May 1710.[10] His body was desecrated, dragged by an ox, and then hung onto a tree.[11]
References
- ^ Gandhi, Surjit (1999). Sikhs in the Eighteenth Century: Their Struggle for Survival and Supremacy. Singh Bros. p. 716. ISBN 81-7205-217-0. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
- ^ Dr Harjinder Singh, 'Sikh History in 10 Volumes', Sikh University Press, Belgium, vol. 2, p. 31.
- ^ Dr Harjinder Singh, 'Sikh History in 10 Volumes', Sikh University Press, Belgium, vol 1, pp 64, 259-60.
- ^ Tony Jaques (2007). Dictionary of battles and sieges. Vol. 3. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 948. ISBN 9780313335396.
- ^ a b History of Islam, p. 506, at Google Books
- ^ William Irvine (1971). Later Mughal. p. 94.
- ^ Gandhi, Rajmohan (2013). "Punjab Until Aurangzeb's Death". Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten. New Delhi: Aleph Book Company. ISBN 978-93-82277-58-3. p. 83:
the Sirhind faujdar had an Afghan background.
- ^ Singh, PrithiPal (2006). The History of Sikh Gurus. Lotus Press. ISBN 9788183820752.
- ^ Dahiya, Amardeep (2014). Founder of the Khalsa: The Life and Times of Guru Gobind Singh. Hay House, Inc. p. 183. ISBN 9789381398616.
- ^ William Irvine (1904). Later Mughals. Atlantic Publishers & Distri.
- ^ Hari Ram Gupta. History Of The Sikhs Vol. II Evolution Of Sikh Confederacies (1707-69).