Is Gangadhar Nehru Ghiyasuddin Ghazi, the Kotwal of Delhi during the 1857 Rebellion? I believe not. For a minute, let's assume he is. If he is, what can we infer regarding him from the contemporary literature? Is he Ghiyasuddin Ghazi or an equivalent of his?
Let me tell you the story of a family – a family which suffered much during 1857 Rebellion and which regained it’s position by sheer grit and hard work. In the words of the grandson of the protagonist, we read about Gangadhar Nehru –
We were Kashmiris. Over two hundred years ago, early in the eighteenth century, our ancestor came down from that mountain valley to seek fame and fortune in the rich plains below. Those were the days of the decline of the Moghal Empire after the death of Aurungzeb, and Farrukhsiar was the Emperor. Raj Kaul was the name of that ancestor of ours and he had gained eminence as a Sanskrit and Persian scholar in Kashmir. He attracted the notice of Farrukhsiar during the latter’s visit to Kashmir, and, probably at the Emperor’s instance, the family migrated to Delhi, the imperial capital, about the year 1716. A jagir with a house situated on the banks of a canal had been granted to Raj Kaul, and, from the fact of this residence, 4 Nehru ’ (from nahar , a canal) came to be attached to his name. Kaul had been the family name ; this changed to Kaul-Nehru ; and, in later years, Kaul dropped out and we became simply Nehrus.
The family experienced many vicissitudes of fortune during the unsettled times that followed and the jagir dwindled and vanished away. My great grandfather, Lakshmi Narayan Nehru, became the first Vakil of the ‘ Sarkar Company ’ at the shadow court of the Emperor of Delhi. My grandfather, Ganga Dhar Nehru, was Kotwal of Delhi for some time before the great Revolt of 1857. He died at the early age of 34 in 1861.
The Revolt of 1857 put an end to our family’s connection with Delhi, and all our old family papers and documents were destroyed in the course of it. The family, having lost nearly all it possessed, joined the numerous fugitives who were leaving the old imperial city and went to Agra. My father was not born that but my two uncles were already young men and possessed some knowledge of English. This knowledge saved the younger of the two uncles, as well as some other members of the family, from a sudden and ignominious end. He was journeying from Delhi with some family members, among whom was his young sister, a little girl who was very fair, as some Kashmiri children are. Some English soldiers met them on the way and they suspected this little aunt of mine to be an English girl and accused my uncle of kidnapping her. From an accusation, to summary justice and punishment, was usually a matter of minutes in those days, and my uncle and others of the family might well have found themselves hanging on the nearest tree. Fortunately for them, my uncle’s knowledge of English delayed matters a little and then some one who knew him passed that way and rescued him and the others.
For some years the family lived in Agra, and it was in Agra on the sixth of May 1861 that my father was born. But he was a posthumous child as my grandfather had died three months earlier. In a little painting that we have of my grandfather, he wears the Moghal court dress with a curved sword in his hand, and might well be taken for a Moghal nobleman, although his features are distinctly Kashmiri.
The burden of the family then fell on my two uncles who were very much older than my father. The elder uncle, Bansi Dhar Nehru, soon after entered the judicial department of the British Government and, being appointed successively to various places, was partly cut off from the rest of the family. The younger uncle, Nand Lal Nehru, entered the service of an Indian State and was Diwan of Khetri State in Rajputana for ten years. Later he studied law and settled down as a practising lawyer in Agra.
My father lived with him and grew up under his sheltering care. The two were greatly attached to each other and their relation with each other was a strange mixture of the brotherly and the paternal and filial. My father, being the last comer, was of course my grandmother’s favourite son, and she was an old lady with a tremendous will of her own who was not accustomed to be ignored. It is now nearly half a century since her death but she is still remembered amongst old Kashmiri ladies as a most dominating old woman and quite a terror if her will was flouted.
My uncle attached himself to the newly established High Court and when this court moved to Allahabad from Agra, the family moved with it. Since then Allahabad has been our home and it was there, many years later, that I was born.
A few points over this narrative are worth noting. Besides, this narrative is a shoddy work for a scholar of the stature of Jawaharlal Nehru.
Raj Kaul was the name of that ancestor of ours and he had gained eminence as a Sanskrit and Persian scholar in Kashmir. He attracted the notice of Farrukhsiar during the latter’s visit to Kashmir, and, probably at the Emperor’s instance, the family migrated to Delhi, the imperial capital, about the year 1716. A jagir with a house situated on the banks of a canal had been granted to Raj Kaul, and, from the fact of this residence, 4 Nehru ’ (from nahar , a canal) came to be attached to his name. Kaul had been the family name ; this changed to Kaul-Nehru ; and, in later years, Kaul dropped out and we became simply Nehrus.
The prominent nobles of the court stayed on Chandni Chowk. The road from Chandni Chowk to the fort had a canal in the centre – may be, it’s the nahar being talked about.
Since many were staying on by the canal, it doesn’t make sense for a particular family to change it’s surname. Also, since the city of Delhi had many canals, it makes it even more impossible for one to change his surname after a nahar.
My grandfather, Ganga Dhar Nehru, was Kotwal of Delhi for some time before the great Revolt of 1857…He died at the early age of 34 in 1861…my two uncles were already young men(in 1857)
In 1857, Gangadhar Nehru was 30 years in age. His eldest son couldn’t have been older than 12 or 13 years by that time. It also means Gangadhar Nehru couldn’t have become the Kotwal of Delhi before 1850, though it is important to note that, that powerful a position will not be given to such young a person, that too an outsider of the court.
My great grandfather, Lakshmi Narayan Nehru, became the first Vakil of the ‘ Sarkar Company ’ at the shadow court of the Emperor of Delhi…Some English soldiers met them on the way and they suspected this little aunt of mine to be an English girl and accused my uncle of kidnapping her. From an accusation, to summary justice and punishment, was usually a matter of minutes in those days, and my uncle and others of the family might well have found themselves hanging on the nearest tree. Fortunately for them, my uncle’s knowledge of English delayed matters a little and then some one who knew him passed that way and rescued him and the others.
It is interesting to note that while Lakshmi Narayan Nehru is a Vakil and knew English, his son Gangadhar Nehru didn’t know English. Were the British convinced by the arguments of boys 12 or 13 years old and their acquaintances bailed them out? Or, does this mean Gangadhar Nehru was not with his family?
The Revolt of 1857 put an end to our family’s connection with Delhi, and all our old family papers and documents were destroyed in the course of it.
The escape clause. They don’t have any proof with them to establish their credentials.
fugitives who were leaving the old imperial city and went to Agra.
This is an interesting point. A Kashmiri Pandit, at the peak of the rebellion, why would he escape to Agra and not to Kashmir? In fact, Agra had a large Muslim population and had considerable Mughal influence – and it’s fully not under British control. Fully knowing that Agra will be the next target for the British, why would Gangadhar Nehru go there?
In a little painting that we have of my grandfather, he wears the Moghal court dress with a curved sword in his hand, and might well be taken for a Moghal nobleman, although his features are distinctly Kashmiri.
This is something which should be considered carefully. Painting in the uniform of a Kotwal, but that of a Muslim noble is incomprehensible.
The elder uncle, Bansi Dhar Nehru, soon after entered the judicial department of the British Government…The younger uncle, Nand Lal Nehru, entered the service of an Indian State and was Diwan of Khetri State in Rajputana for ten years. Later he studied law and settled down as a practising lawyer in Agra.
Gangadhar Nehru is a Kotwal of Delhi and is well connected. His family is well settled too soon after the rebellion and if Gangadhar Nehru is a fugitive who escaped the British dragnet, how is it possible that the family climbed such heights within ten years of the rebellion? Didn’t anyone notice them or try to find out who they were? Or did they already knew?
A Hindu being Kotwal of Delhi is not something easily acceptable going by the fact that on 27 July 1857, of the 42 employed at the Kotwali, only ten are Hindus . Besides, the situation was still not conducive for a Hindu ascendancy – orders were passed in the end of June to ban slaughter of cows for Bakrid. He can be a kotwal of a small village in the vicinity but Kotwal of Delhi?
Besides, nothing is known of the family before 1861. Because of this blank history before 1861 and going by the fact that Kotwali of Delhi is not held by a Hindu, many have theorized that Gangadhar Nehru is actually a certain Ghiyasuddin Ghazi.
Below are some of the earliest references for Gangadhar Nehru.
Jawaharlal Nehru by Al Kafir, 1919. Mentioned as Kotwal but no date is given.
Our story begins nearly seventy years ago when Pandit Motilal was born. He was the posthumous child of Pandit Gangadhar Nehru, the Kotwal of Delhi, The Responsivists will take note of the designation and trace not a little of the masterfulness of the great Swarajist leader to his father. The Swarajist leader in turn may also trace the sturdy independence of his son to the same inherited tendency.
Obituary of Motilal Nehru in Student’s Magazine Supplement to “The Allahabad Farmer” April 1931 edition. No mention of designation.
Seventy years ago, on May 6, 1861, Pandit Motilal Nehru was born at Delhi, the capital city of India. He was the posthumas son of his father. His father, Gangadhar Nehru breathed his last before he was born and he was brought up under the lovely care and ajffeotion of his brother Pandit Nandlall Nehru, who had been at that time practising as a Vakil at Delhi.
Introduction to Selected Works of Motilal Nehru Vol 1(1982). Mentioned as Kotwal during the uprising.
The male members of the family, therefore, turned to professional employment to sustain themselves and their dependents. Motilal Nehru’s grand-father, Lakshmi Narayan Nehru, accepted the office of a vakil with the East India Company at Delhi, and his son, Gangadhar Nehru, held the position of kotwal of Delhi, when the Uprising of 1857 erupted with a tragic intensity that was to play havoc with the lives of thousands of men and women in the erstwhile imperial capital.
The news of rebellion and the rebellion in Meerut both reached Delhi, approximately by the same day on 11th May 1857. The situation started to spiral out of control only by the next day. There was rioting on one side and demands for the old king Bahadur Shah Zafar to take charge. Noticing a meltdown of British organization, the Emperor held a council with the available nobles Mirza Ziauddin Ahmad Khan, Aminuddin Ahmad Khan, Hasan Ali Khan (Nawab of Dujana), Mian Nizamuddin, Mir Hamid Ali Khan, the Urdu poet Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, Nawab Muddhan Saheb, Khan Jahan Khan, Iradat Khan, Mufti Sadruddin Khan Azurda and Karam Ali Khan, Mirza Moinuddin, Hakim Ahsanullah Khan, possibly on 11th to form a committee to maintain law and order in the city. Mirza Moinuddin accompanied Hakim Ahsanullah Khan. But Hasan Ali Khan, whose sentiments were with the rebels refused to take charge and Mirza Moinuddin is appointed to bring the situation under control and was provided with a military contingent. He was given further charge as the Kotwal of Delhi on 13th May. But, Moinuddin Khan is not up to the mark – there were allegations that Charles Metcalfe escaped Delhi through his help. Qazi Faizullah replaced him as the Kotwal on 15th May 1857 but was replaced by Syed Mubarak in a month.
During the Rebellion of 1857, there were a total of three Kotwals in Delhi. Rather than trying to establish if Gangadhar Nehru is Ghiyasuddin Ghazi or not, it make much sense for us to identify a potential candidate who can be Gangadhar Nehru from among the three Kotwals of Delhi who were in power during the rebellion – Moinuddin Hasan Khan, Qazi Faizullah and Syed Mubarak Shah.
The introduction to Motilal Nehru’s collected works state that “Gangadhar Nehru, held the position of kotwal of Delhi, when the Uprising of 1857 erupted”. But, going by the fact that Mirza Moinuddin said he appointed himself the Kotwal of Delhi and got it confirmed by the king, it is clear that there was no Kotwal in Delhi or the Kotwal is indisposed. Clearly, had he decamped or fled or even killed, it would have been prominently mentioned. Besides, if he fled before the rebellion, he would have fled to the British. Why would he be running after the fall of Delhi if he fled before?
Timeline of the Rebellion in Delhi
11 May 1857 – Fall of Delhi to Rebels
12 May 1857 – A council of prominent men in Delhi Court deliberated over the course of action
13 May 1857 – Mirza Moinuddin appointed Kotwal of Delhi with Qazi Muhammad Faizullah and Abdul Hakim as his deputies.
15 May 1857 – Mirza Moinuddin replaced by Qazi Faizullah on allegations of being a British sympathizer
Before 19 June 1857 – Syed Mubarak Shah of Rampur made the Kotwal.
21 September 1857 – Delhi surrenders
What happened to these three persons after the rebellion?
Moinuddin needs a detailed reading. His account throws some important information regarding this. The most important takeaways from his account are these.
He comes from an exalted family, members of which served as Kotwals of Delhi. In an attempt to save the British, he declared himself the Kotwal of Delhi and was retrospectively appointed by Bahadur Shah Zafar and defected to the rebel party to avoid detection.
If I had remained a passive spectator of this rebellion my life would certainly have been taken, while if I had left the city, and joined the English, the honour of my family would have been destroyed, and the rebels would have wreaked their vengeance upon them, for I was not an obscure man. I knew the position of the English, and how it would be, before the English Government could again reassert its authority and sovereignty ; so in my inmost heart I thought I was doing the best I could during this interval. To procure influence over the men of the regiment I advanced 5,000 rupees out of my own purse and personally distributed the money.
…
On this day I again communicated with Sir Theophilus, informing him that matters were not mending, and that I saw no hopes of speedy succour ; but, “Whatever must be, would be.” After despatching my messenger, I was filled with the greatest anxiety for the safety of Sir Theophilus, the King having issued a proclamation offering a reward of 10,000 rupees for his capture. While debating with myself how to act, I received a verbal message from Sir Theophilus, asking for assistance to travel to Jujjur. The same evening I sent him a good horse, and some money, to Bura Khan’s house, with advice how to travel. I felt I was in great difficulty, for if I myself went, and if my purpose became known, all my labour would be lost. It was arranged that Sir Theophilus should be dressed as a native soldier, and should be called Shere Khan , by which name henceforward he passed in all our communications. Next day I received a formal receipt for the money from Jujjur. My anxiety was much lessened by learning that Sir Theophilus had safely reached Jujjur, in company with Bura Khan and two of his brothers.
Just like that of Syed Mubarak Shah, his property was also plundered by the British after Delhi fell. His brother fled to Bombay with his family and he followed him in disguise. He wrote letters to Theophilius Metcalfe whom he saved from certain death and helped him escape Delhi. Before the certificates of characters came, he fled to Arabia in 1860. He returned to India in 1864 and applied for amnesty through his old contacts. He was given an allowance and his family a settlement by the British in 1877 Durbar.
Now, reading the account of Gangadhar Nehru and Mirza Moinuddin Khan, we would see some glaring commonalities.
| Gangadhar Nehru | Mirza Moinuddin Khan |
| Kotwal of Delhi during the rebellion | Kotwal of Delhi during the rebellion |
| Fled Delhi – possibly without his family | Fled Delhi without his family |
| Nothing known between 1857-1861 | Nothing known before he reached Bombay in 1860 |
| Died 1861 | Left India in 1861 |
| Family supported by Raja of Khetri | Supported by Nawab of Rampur |
| Property plundered and no records exist | Property plundered and no records exist |
| Family shifted to Allahabad in early 1870s | Family got a settlement from early 1870s |
Even though Syed Mubarak Shah was also missing, he was not in the good books of the British. If Gangadhar Nehru is actually a Kotwal of Delhi, it is more possible that he is Mirza Moinuddin Khan whose family is resettled by the British/well wishers under the condition that he will never meet them. That is, if we assume Gangadhar Nehru is Ghiyasuddin Ghazi, which he probably isn’t.
References
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