Wazir Khan (Sirhind) Explained

Wazir Khan
Birth Name:Mirza Askari
Birth Date:1635
Birth Place:Kunjpura, Delhi Subah, Mughal Empire[1]
Death Place:Chappar Chiri, First Sikh State
Occupation:Mughal Governor
Father:Zahir Haram Khan
Mother:Amina Begum
Issue:Tulghan Khan
Succession:Nawab of Sirhind
Regent:Alamgir I
Reg-Type:Padishah
Successor:Baj Singh of Khalsa Fauj
Religion:Islam (Sunni)

Mirza Askari (1635 — 12 May 1710), better known by his title Wazir Khan, was a Mughal official, notable for his conflicts with the Sikhs. He served as the Faujdar (deputy-governor) of Sirhind Sarkar of Delhi Subah in the present-day state of Punjab, and administered the territory that lay between the Sutlej and Yamuna rivers.[2] [3] [4]

Biography

According to Sikh sources, Mirza Askari (Wazir Khan) was a native of Kunjpura in Karnal district of modern day Haryana.[5]

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.[6] 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 bricked alive.[7]

Wazir Khan was defeated and beheaded by a Sikh named Fateh Singh, a warrior in the Sikh Khalsa, during the Battle of Chappar Chiri on 12 May 1710.[8] His body was desecrated, dragged by an ox, and then hung onto a tree.[9]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Gandhi . Surjit . Sikhs in the Eighteenth Century: Their Struggle for Survival and Supremacy . 1999 . Singh Bros . 81-7205-217-0 . 716 . 18 December 2022.
  2. Dr Harjinder Singh, 'Sikh History in 10 Volumes', Sikh University Press, Belgium, vol. 2, p. 31.
  3. Dr Harjinder Singh, 'Sikh History in 10 Volumes', Sikh University Press, Belgium, vol 1, pp 64, 259-60.
  4. Book: Dictionary of battles and sieges . 3 . 948 . Tony Jaques . Greenwood Publishing Group . 2007 . 9780313335396.
  5. Book: Later Mughal . 94 . William Irvine . 1971 .
  6. Book: Singh, PrithiPal . The History of Sikh Gurus . 2006. 9788183820752 .
  7. Book: Dahiya, Amardeep. Founder of the Khalsa: The Life and Times of Guru Gobind Singh. 2014. Hay House, Inc. 9789381398616. 183.
  8. Book: Later Mughals . William Irvine . Atlantic Publishers & Distri . 1904 .
  9. Book: www.DiscoverSikhism.com . History Of The Sikhs Vol. II Evolution Of Sikh Confederacies (1707-69) . English.