Azimullah Khan

Azimullah Khan Yusufzai (1830-1858) also known as "Dewan Azimullah Khan" or "Krantidoot Azimullah Khan," was initially appointed Secretary, and later Prime Minister (hence the prefix "Dewan") to Nana Sahib Peshwa.

Azimullah Khan was involved in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, primarily ideologically, influencing important nobles such as Nana Sahib.

Origins

Azimullah was rescued as a starving Muslim boy from the famine of 1837 along with his mother when they were provided shelter at a mission in Cawnpur. There he learnt English and French, no mean achievement for an Indian in the 19th Century.

After working with several Englishmen, he was hired as translator by Brigadier John Scott. After the death of Peshwa Baji Rao II in 1851, he joined the court of the Peshwa's adopted son Nana Sahib, as Secretary.

Maratha mission

Nana Sahib was involved in a long drawn appeal with the British East India Company to restore the £80,000 annual pension that his father (who was exiled to the Kingdom of Oudh) was being provided. The Company refused on the grounds that he was the adopted son. In fact, the Company's own finances were in a bad shape in the 1850s as a result of the extensive 'patronage' they had to provide back in England, and they took advantage of this opportunity to reduce their costs.

Nana then chose Azimullah to go to England in 1853 to plead his case with the British Government, and a search started for an experienced guide to accompany him. This trip was known as the Maratha mission (1853–55).

An educated Rohailkhand Muslim noble, Muhammad Ali Khan had earlier visited England in the employ of King of Nepal during 1852.

England

In England, the intelligent Azimullah dressed in western outfits and impressed many luminaries of the time. He met Dickens, Carlyle, Macaulay, Tennyson and Thackery, and also saw Queen Victoria, whom he described as "a squat little woman in the sway of her German husband" [http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:B-PF8Eh2tk4J:www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/joe/Simmons.doc+azimullah+khan&hl=en] .

However, in stark contrast to the glorious Great Britain being portrayed as the ruler of India, he was disappointed by what he saw. The famous English countryside appeared as "harsh and forbidding," while "industrial smoke and waste and the frigid, incessant rain made the slums of London worse than anything India's cities had to offer" [http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:B-PF8Eh2tk4J:www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/joe/Simmons.doc+azimullah+khan&hl=en] . London was in the grips of the Industrial Revolution, and hence was covered in soot and smoke. This along with the company of Muhammad Ali Khan may have planted the seed of revolt in Azimullah.

His mission was unsuccessful as the British Government was unsympathetic to their cause, and a depressed Azimullah began his journey back to his homeland in 1855.

Constantinople

On his way back, Azimullah's retinue stopped in Constantinople, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire. He also visited the battlefield of Crimea and saw tired British soldiers returning, and heard reports of bad leadership from British officers (See Charge of the Light Brigade. He is also reported to have contacted Turkish and Russian spies during his visit there.

ubversion

Although his mission had failed, he came back with a more dangerous idea. He presented a more ambitious agenda for Nana, telling him ‘why worry about his measly stipend when he might annihilate the English and recover his throne?'. That may have planted in Nana's mind the seed for the Indian rebellion of 1857.

Azimullah also brought back a French printing press. He used this to print, and distribute subversive literature against the British in India.

Additional readings

* Chandel, Roop Singh. Krantidoot Azimullah Khan, Publications Division. Ministry Of Information. Government of India, Rs. 5
* Lutfullah, Syed. Azimullah Khan Yusufzai : The man behind the war of independence, 1857, Karachi : Mohamedali Educational Society , [1970] , 197 pgs.
* Ward, Andrew. Our Bones Are Scattered: The Cawnpore Massacres and The Indian Mutiny Of 1857, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1996 Hardback, 703 pgs., $30, ISBN 0805024379
* Fisher, Michael H. Indian Political Representations in Britain during the Transition to Colonialism, (UK:Cambridge University Press), 2004.
* Fisher, Michael H. Counterflows to Colonialism: Visitors and Settlers from India in Britain, c. 1600–1857, (Delhi: Permanent Black), 2004.