Since I came back from India, my friends kept on asking me what fascinated me most about India. I usually tell them a lot about the “Incredible India”. I also tell them a story they had never heard before. That is about the saga of an Ethiopian who was once a prime minister of Ahmadnagar Sultanate of India during the medieval period.
That great man was known as Malik Ambar, according to some books written by Indian Historians. Although his story should be researched from the Ethiopian perspective, for the time being, let me walk you through what I read about him. According to Indian records, Malik Ambar was born in Harar, in eastern Ethiopia, at the time of “Adal” sultanate.
He was believed to have been sold off as a child by his poor parents to Arabian merchants, later to become a prominent figure in preEuropean Indian history. He was taken across the Red Sea to the port of Mocha in present day Yemen. He ended up in Baghdad where he received education.
Malik was, later, sold to serve Chengiz Khan, an Ethiopian like himself, who was then prime minister of Ahmadnagar’s Nizam Empire, India. He assumed increasing responsibility in the Chengiz court where he learned military strategy, diplomacy, politics and other skills crucial for his later life. After Chengiz Khan’s death, Malik became a free man. By organizing a rebel army originally to ward off expansion threats by the then Mughal Empire, soon launched one of the most formidable careers in the political history of the Deccan region. By 1600, he became the supreme figure against Mughal expansion, and emerged as the leading force in the resistance against the spread of the Mughal Empire into the Deccan region.
Defeating the armies of two great Mughal emperors in battles, Malik’s army became an inspiration for others that were resisting Mughal occupation attempts in southern India. His innovative techniques used in guerrilla fighting prevented the Mughals from occupying the southern half of India, frustrating the Mughal’s rulers’ ambitions to come to end. By instating two young princes to the Nizam’s throne in succession, he became the regent minister of the Nizam shahi dynasty of Ahmednagar from 1607 to 1626, an empire that spanned much of modern-day Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
During that period, he strengthened power and raised a large army of 50 thousand men, of which 40 thousand Marathas (Hindu warriors) and 10 thousand Habshi (a word corrupted from Amharic word Habesha) referring to Ethiopians. He was known across the Deccan as one of the greatest leaders in the region. After his death in 1626 at the age of 80, his son Fatah Khan succeeded him as the regent of Nizam Shah Dynasty of Ahmadnagar sultanate. Malik Ambar, who was a great master of the art of guerrilla warfare, stands as the head of the builders of the Maratha nationality, famed in history as yeoman, warrior and champion of Hinduism.
Omar H. Ali in his book titled Power and Slavery across the Indian Ocean says that Malik is best known for having defended the Deccan from being occupied by the Mughals during the first quarter of the seventeenth century. His ingenuity as a military leader, his diplomatic skills, and his land-reform policies contributed to his success in keeping the Deccan free of Mughal imperial rule. Being a military genius, largely adopting guerrilla tactics, made him be respected by the people and feared by neighboring Sultans. Malik Ambar had accomplished many things during his lifetime.
He pioneered the guerrilla warfare; the Marathas (Hindu) warriors came later to be known for, and made contacts with other kingdoms in the Indian sub-continent ruled by Africans like Janjira Island. He proved himself to be a matchless administrator and a great expert in guerrilla warfare. He was one of the first to effect revenue settlement which was followed by subsequent rulers for decades. He founded the city of Khirki which was subsequently renamed Aurangabad by his son and its canal called Nahri Ambari, (River of Ambar), the first aqueduct in Aurangabad, was designed in 1612 by Malik Ambar to address water shortage caused by lack of reservoirs and natural water reserves in the area.
The irrigation system is still functional. He was the first to rally Muslims, Hindus and Christians (the Habeshes) behind the same flag. Thanks to his diplomatic skills and his tolerance, he managed to support different communities in his capital Khadki (Aurangabad today). He taught guerrilla methods to the Marathas who applied it in the following century against the Mughals and others. Malik built the first column structure building in India, the Baharkul Gate, which was built as a triumphal arch. Moreover he was a patron of Hindu and Muslim craftsmen, artists, and able to integrate Africans into elite South Asian noble society through marriages
Herald December 27/2018
BY BELAY ADUGNA
