Source here.
The forgotten Delhi Shoe-Sellers’ Riot of 1729 throws a stark and informative light on the real extent of the decay of the Mughal Empire under Muhammad Shah. It also reveals substantial details of the nature of the Muslim society of that period.
Preface
THE REIGN OF MUHAMMAD SHAH, THE 13TH “EMPEROR” of the Mughal dynasty was chiefly notable for two major events. The first was the manner in which the remnants of the Aurangzeb-ravaged Mughal empire were devoured by the ascendant Marathas. Muhammad Shah lost the whole of Malwa and Deccan. The second was the brutal invasion of Nadir Shah which finished off the stubs of pretensions to suzerainty that remained in Muhammad Shah. The “great” Mughal had to literally beg for mercy at Nadir Shah’s feet.
If that is the politico-military side to Muhammad Shah’s pathetic rule, his administrative or civilian side was worse. In true Islamic tradition, he had taken the help of the infamous Sayyid brothers to ascend the throne and then backstabbed them without remorse. But the throne he had acquired and the “empire” he ruled over had fallen apart in the final years of Aurangzeb himself. At the close of the first decade of his reign, Muhammad Shah had lost effective control and outsourced the administration of the fragmentary empire to a cabal of court favourites and flatterers who wasted little time in out-manipulating the Sultan, and began running the imperial show from backstage. A good example is the disgust of his former grand vizier, Asaf Jah I who quit his post, went to the Deccan and carved out an independent Nizamship of Hyderabad for himself.+++(4)+++ The optionless Muhammad Shah watched this with impotent self-conciliation.
In the eleventh year, he had totally lost control over the capital Delhi itself, and he learned this lesson painfully. It was taught by a bunch of bigoted Muslim shoe-sellers living in the Jahuri Bazar (now, Johri Bazar) area.
THE SHOE-SELLERS’ RIOT OF 1729 easily ranks as one of the bloodiest riots in the last five hundred years of the Muslim history of India. Interestingly, while its chief target was just one man, the accursed infidel named Shubkaran, in its essential details, Muslims spilled the blood of fellow-Muslims in an orgy of extraordinary barbarism. But in reality, the climax of this intra-Islamic mayhem advertised Muhammad Shah’s timorousness and his own admission of it. The havoc was so brutal, far-reaching and memorable that for decades, it became fodder for poets and litterateurs.
But it must be mentioned that in their perfected art form of subterfuge masquerading as history, the JNU school of distorians have passed off this riot as an incident of sectarianism, and not communalism. Therefore, in the true tradition of presenting the true history at The Dharma Dispatch, we have unearthed details of this gory episode from primary sources and eyewitness accounts. The following are some excerpts from these sources that describe the Shoe-Sellers’ Riot of 1729.
The Backdrop
THE SHOE-SELLERS’ RIOT IN THE ELEVENTH YEAR of Muhammad Shah’s reign occupies a considerable space in all the histories of that period. Apart from its value as a picture of the turbulence of the capital, it is important as conducing to the downfall of the group of palace-favourites whose influence was all powerful on the Emperor’s mind throughout.
By the common usage of the lower classes of Muhammadans, the first half of the month Shaban is devoted to festivities. Among these, the chief are the illumination of lamps and the discharge of fireworks in the streets.
In the evening of 8th March 1729, Shubhkaran, a jeweler belonging to the imperial establishments, was on his way home from the house of the eunuch, Hafiz Khidmatgar Khan, curator of the Jewel House.+++(4)+++ This man had been protected by the all-powerful Roshan-ud-daulah Panipati, by whose aid he had obtained an imperial rank, mansab.
Because he lived behind the Jauhari-bazar, Shubhkaran’s route took him past the shoe-sellers’ shops in the Chowk of Sadullah Khan, situated to the south of the palace. These shoe-sellers were all Punjabi Muslims and their shops, which were large and numerous, lined both sides of the road. All were bigoted Muhammadans, strict in their prayers. Their elders were well-dressed men and long-bearded knowing their Quran by heart and able to expound on it.
The Trigger
As Shubhkaran’s palki approached, both Hindus and Muhammadans were busy letting off squibs in the street. One of these squibs fell into the palki and burnt a hole in Shubhkaran’s darbar clothes. The servants running at his side remonstrated and after heated words, the two parties came to blows. The retinue were armed while the shoe-makers had only their rasps. But the latter were more numerous and seized one of the sepoys and took from him his sword and shield. Shubhkaran in an angry mood made his way home and at once ordered the man who had been disarmed to return and punish his assailants.
After nightfall the man, accompanied by a crowd of his friends, went back to the shoe-sellers’ quarters and caught a stripling who was beaten till he almost died. Hearing the cries, one of the elders known as Haji Hafiz, rose from his cot and ran barefooted to the boy’s assistance. In rescuing the boy, the Haji himself received a sword cut and fell down dead.
Leaving the body where it fell, the assailants returned home. At dawn, the shoe-sellers, and after them the whole city, gathered round the body and swore that until the murderer and his employer were killed, the body should lie there unburied.
All the lower-class Muhammadans joined forces with the shoe-sellers. The body was placed on a cot. Then, with great angry fervor, they began shouting Deen! Deen!, and carried the body and laid it before the door of Shubhkaran.
During the previous night, Shubhkaran had sought refuge in the mansion of Sher Afkan Khan Panipati, the Lord Chamberlain (Khan-saman) and therefore his official superior. He already had the blessings and protection of Zafar Khan Roshan-ud-daulah, who also hailed from Panipat. Roshan-ud-daulah was connected by marriage with Sher Afkan Khan and the two were the closest of friends. Sher Afkan Khan was the younger brother of another very influential noble, Lutf-ullah Khan Sadiq.
Thus, for these two reasons, that Shubhkaran was the official subordinate of Roshan-ud-daulah, who in turn was the closest friend of Sher Afkan Khan, they shielded Shubhkaran from the mob. In fact, they brazenly denied that he had taken refuge in their house.
The frenzied mob refused to believe him. It left the dead body at the door and charged towards the palace to make an official complaint.
Merceneries
The shoe-seller’s riot of 1729 reveals several disturbing aspects of Muhammad Shah’s reign. Imported Muslim mercenaries of the Arab, Abyssinian and Turkish stock had acquired frightful levels of brute power on the street.
WHEN THE BLOODTHIRSTY MOB OF SHOE-SELLERS and their supporters reached the palace, Muhammad Shah was returning with his mother Qadsiya Begum from a visit to the Jafar Khan garden. The moment the mob saw him, they roared, Deen! Deen! Deen! Insaaf! Insaaf! A dumbstruck Muhammad Shah managed to pacify them and listened to their complaint. After this, Qamar-ud-din Khan the Wazir, was ordered to send a palace attendant to arrest the accused wherever he might be found.
When the palace attendant reached Sher Afkhan Khan’s bungalow, he was told to basically get lost. Broadly speaking, this was the first clear indication of Muhammad Shah’s utter powerlessness.
But the inflamed shoe-sellers would not relent. They went around Delhi, door-to-door, provoking every Muslim home to join their campaign to defend the Deen and express their loyalty to the Qaum. The magic pill that has historically elicited countless victories for Islam: Islam khatre me hai! Islam is in danger! Do your duty.
It worked like magic.
At the afternoon Namaaz, Jama Masjid, the assembly point, was overflowing with the Faithful. Its spacious precincts and its vast courtyard and its inner hall thronged with vengeance-seekers and would-be Islam-protectors. The charged-up horde jammed the praying space and the pulpit and the prayer itself was blockaded even as the clamour and confusion escalated each second.
Leading the rowdy and blood-baying gang was a motley assortment of imported Muslims: Arabs, Abyssinians, and Constantinople Turks. They had been freelance mercenaries brought into Hindustan by two Mughal military officers—Rumi Khan and Sayyad Arab Ali Khan—and had served in the artillery for some time. This mercenary import is a salient feature of all Muslim sultans who ruled Delhi and by itself, forms a separate folio in the blood-soaked history of Islamic rule in Bharatavarsha. But now, in the Jama Masjid, they were unarmed but had not lost their semi-barbaric character, and heightened their bullying by forming a menacing circle around the pulpit. It delivered instant results. Muslim worshippers who had knelt down as part of the prayer ritual had no space to even get up without bumping into the “justice-seeking” rowdies, who now upped the ante. Their target was the Qazi himself. He was abused in filthy language and cursed as a foul supporter of the dirty Kaffirs. And then they rained blows on the Qazi and his son, yanked them down from the pulpit and pounded and kicked the duo till they were almost dead. Next, it was the turn of the reciter and the expounder. They too, were dragged down from the pulpit and thoroughly thulped into unconsciousness.
The shoe-sellers’ riot had officially begun.
Mosque clash
It didn’t take long for the news to reach the palace. Muhammad Shah’s first reaction was panic because decisiveness was alien to him. Therefore, this outsourcing master ordered his Wazir and Roshan-ud-daulah to take care of the affair. Accordingly, both of them took their troops to quell the disturbance, restore order and cause the prayer to be completed.
The Wazir was the first to reach the spot and he entered the mosque with his troops by the northern gateway. He lavished promises of help to the Muhammadan cause and by his smooth talk abated for the time being the brutality of the assault on the Qazi and his subordinates. However, the smooth-talk backfired in the next moment. The mob interpreted the Wazir’s appearance as an act of appeasement and therefore weakness. Their clamour for vengeance increased. However, the Wazir was saved in time by the entry of Roshan-ud-daulah who appeared with his troops comprising Afghan barbarians at the eastern gate. A few more minutes later, Sher Afkan Khan and his force appeared from the southern gate. But before this, Sher Afkan Khan had quietly gone to the home of the murdered old man and negotiated with his family. This was his deal: we will give you diyāt or blood money as compensation for your father’s murder.
However, the riot had acquired a life of its own by this time.
Roshan-ud-daulah ordered his Afghan barbarians to close the gates. When the mob saw both Roshan and Sher Khan, its fury peaked. Roaring Deen! Deen! Death to the Kaffirs! Strike the Kaffirs on the face!, they brandished the iron-heeled shoes that they had hidden under their arm-pits and the stones and brickbats they had concealed in the long skirts of their coats. With murderous yells, they began hurling these weapons at the two nobles. Sher Khan was the first victim of this all-out assault. Bricks, shoes, and stones hit his turban and sullied his royal dress. Roshan’s gold-brocade garment was torn and wasted.
And then the counterattack began. The Afghans who were guarding their masters saw their bruised and bleeding faces, drew their swords and shields and charged at the mob. However, they were in for a rude surprise. The battle-hardened fanatical toughies—the selfsame gang of Arabs, Abyssinians, and Turks met the Afghans head-on. They were armed with European pistols and fusils. They were quickly joined by another violent and bigoted group comprising low-class Mughals from Mughalpura. In fact, the Mughalpura locality was carved out in Delhi by Jalal-ud-din Khalji to accommodate Mongols who had come to wage war against him but stayed back and converted to Islam. The rioters’ ranks began to swell. A member of a group of Habshi Muslims opened fire at the Wazir and Sher Khan himself. At this, the Afghan soldiers, already wild with fury, surged forward and fell upon the mob and began to hack away randomly. The ranks of the rioters and Muhammad Shah’s army now became indistinguishable.
THE AFGHAN BARBARIANS EMPLOYED by the Wazir not only outnumbered the shoe-sellers but were professionally armed. Seeing how the shoe-sellers would be wiped out easily, the low-class Mughals from Mughalpura came to their rescue. Old sectarian hatred against these Afghans who they considered impure, unclean, and pretentious, resurfaced. They brandished their weapons and charged against the Afghans.
Fortuitously for the Afghans, the royal contingent comprising regular Mughal soldiers was waiting outside the masjid to escort the Wazir on his return. And now, they saw what was happening and their blood boiled. They rode up the flight of steps leading to the gates, dispersed the Afghans guarding them and smashed the gates and ran full speed into the mosque. The Wazir’s elephant and camels followed them right in.
What followed was an extraordinarily brutal slaughter of the Afghans at the hands of the Mughals. After resisting for as long as they could, and upon seeing many of their leaders and comrades fall, the Afghans began to yield ground.
Sher Afkan Khan received a huge slash on his right wrist and his sword fell from his grip. Some of his followers were killed and others wounded. The rest sought safety in flight and scampered towards the southern doorway. All this time, other Afghans had stood round Roshan-ud-daulah like a shield. When Sher Afkan Khan retreated, they forced Roshan-ud-daulah to follow. His bulk and corpulence rendered him incapable of nimble movement and so they had to carry him on their shoulders, fighting and slashing as they went. Exhausted and breathless, they reached the gate.
After this, they fled to the mansion of Dil-dilar Khan, the elder brother of Sher Afkan Khan. When the Afghans inside learnt that the two nobles had reached a place of safety they, too, left the mosque and sought the same refuge.
The rioters, disregarding the Wazir’s orders, decided to pursue these fugitives and continue the battle. Their idea was to surround Dil-dilar Khan’s house, burn and destroy it, seize their prey and wreak vengeance. However, they were finally persuaded to desist. In a notable revelation, the intensity and the naked bloodlust of the rioters spooked a number of officials and nobles reporting to Roshan-ud-daulah to such an extent that they hid themselves in the corners and arches and turrets of the mosque. However, even that proved an ineffective refuge against the bullets and missives that were incessantly about. The nobles clambered over the arches adjoining the bazar and let themselves down into the street below.
There was a rather bizarre adventure involving a noble named Azam Khan. Below the place where he climbed over was a thatched shop full of earthenware pots. In spite of the strength of the thatch, his legs slipped through and he was caught in the beams and bamboo supports. The shopkeeper, incensed at the damage done to his store and the danger to his wares, seized a bamboo stick and pounded Azam Khan’s feet so thoroughly that they became swollen and broken, and for many days he was unable to stand.
Wazir as the savior
However, the most bizarre event was the ultimate outcome of the Shoe-sellers’ riot, which had lasted a full day. Qamar-ud-din Khan, the Wazir had emerged as the unlikely and outlandish hero of the riot. He was now anointed as the champion defender of the pure faith of Islam against the infidel – this when he had not moved even a muscle in favour of the shoe-sellers.
Muhammad Shah, the “sultan,” was also delighted for a wholly different reason. The trouble of decision-making had been taken off his shoulders and he could now appropriate the laurels of the resolution of this accursed riot. In his practiced gesture of vacuous grandeur, the royal hypocrite removed the turban from his head, gave it to a eunuch to deliver it to the Wazir as a present with orders for his immediate attendance.
Meanwhile, at the Jama Masjid, the Wazir finished the last rites of this hideous farce. He ordered his men to clear the mosque of the rioters and posted strong guards at its gates and doors, and then performed the Asar Namaz and returned with the eunuch to the audience-hall and bowed before the sultan. After exchanging pleasantries and giving gifts back and forth, Muhammad Shah retired to his chambers and the Wazir went home.
Infidel pays
The epilogue to the Delhi Shoe-sellers’ Riot of 1729 is perhaps the most noteworthy consequence.
Shubhkaran, the infidel, no matter how close he was to the aristocratic coterie of Muhammad Shah, was shown his place. The Muslim shoe-sellers were allowed to demolish his mansion. The old man, the murdered shoe-seller was buried that night on its wrecked site. After a few weeks, a mosque was built on that location.
The infidel had lost.