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“As Kartikeya was protected by the gods in his battle with Taraka, so did Shahaji and other rajas gather around Malik Ambar.” The general was not only “as brave as the sun” and “wondrous in power”, but also a “man of most-terrible deeds”, before whom enemies quaked in fear. Even in death, he was “like a brilliant setting sun…”
Shivaji in his epic poem ‘Sivabharata’
Indian history is known for its variety and the detailed accounts it holds. From Islamic dynasties like the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals, and the 150-year-long rule of the British and the English East India Company, to the Hindu and Buddhist rule of the Mauryan Empire, India has been a witness to them all. Known for its cultural and historical diversity, the Indian subcontinent holds countless lesser-known stories. One such figure who remains hidden in the books and palaces of the Sultanate of Ahmadnagar is – Malik Ambar.
Malik Ambar of Ahmadnagar
For those of you who are aware about Malik Ambar, the one detail about him that most neglect is that he was of an African descent. But the presence of Africans in India during the 14th and 15th century wasn’t so unusual. In the 14th century, the traveler Ibn Batuta recorded how they were ‘guarantors of safety’ for ships that were dispatched in the Arabian Sea. Their reputations were so fierce that “let there be but one of them on a ship and it will be avoided by pirates”, writes Ibn Batuta. In fact, African existence in India can be traced all the way back to the 13th century during the reign of the only female ruler of the Delhi Sultanate – Razia Sultana. In the 1230’s the Queen of the Delhi Sultanate was accused of being closer than acceptable to Yakut, an African confidant. This was then used as yet another excuse for justifying her assassination in 1240 AD. Moving towards the east, in Bengal there was a rebellion led by a group of warriors akin to Malik Ambar in 1487, which led to the establishment of a short-lived ruling African dynasty. In the south too, the harems (domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family) in the Deccan region had numerous habshi women (called so because of their origins in Abyssinia). There are records of at least two sultans from this region having African women as their consorts.
The only Female ruler of the Delhi Sultanate – Razia Sultana
So, the presence of Africans in India, and that too at important posts in a kingdom, wasn’t as unusual for the time. But Malik Ambar’s story stands out from the rest. Born in 1548, with the name Chapu, Ambar was a part of the Oromo tribe of Ethiopia. This ethnic group now represents over 35% of the country’s population. Ambar was born in the Harar province of Eastern Ethiopia. A variety of stories that explain Ambar’s early life and how he was sold off as a slave, exist. One version states that Malik Ambar was the last son of a big family, which forced his parents to sell him off as a slave to the slave traders. He then ended up in Yemen, where he was again sold for 20 ducats. From here he landed up in a slave market in Baghdad, where he was sold for the third time to the Qadi (the magistrate of a Sharia court). It was here that he was sold for the fourth time to Mir Qasim al-Baghdadi, who served as his ticket to India, and took him to the Deccan Plateau. Malik Ambar was then purchased for the last time by Chengiz Khan, also a former Habshi slave, who served as the peshwa or chief minister of the Sultanate of Ahmadnagar.
Murtaza Nizam Shah II with a dark-skinned vizier which could possibly be Malik Ambar
However, a second version to this, tells a different story altogether. Ambar was born in a war-torn area. The two major dynasties who ruled over the Ethiopian region in the 16th century were the Solomonic dynasty and the Adal Sultanate, and both of them were in a state of war for the past 2 decades. The conditions around the Ethiopian region were terrible around this time. According to this version, Chapu (Malik Ambar) was captured by enemy soldiers during an intrusion raid on the Oromo territory. Despite having differences, the two versions agree on fact – Ambar soon arrived in Mecca when he was still a young boy. During this time, Ambar was under the service of his third master – Qadi Hussein. His master, a devout Muslim, converted Ambar to Islam and gave him the name ‘Ambar’, which refers to the jewel Amber. Impressed by Ambar’s intelligence, Hussein decided to educate the young boy and imparted strong administrative and financial skills to him, a practice very unusual for its time. In 1570, when Ambar was 22-years-old, he landed up in India in the service of Chengiz Khan, himself a former slave, who had risen to hold the office of Peshwa, or chief minister of the Nizam Shahi Sultanate of Ahmadnagar.
When Malik Ambar landed in India in 1570, he was one among a thousand other habshi slaves, purchased by his master Chengiz Khan. Historian Richard Eaton notes that the Deccan Sultanates, in the 16th century, were systematically recruiting the Habshis as slaves. This is because the habshis were highly valued for their physical strength and loyalty, and were frequently put to military service. Although Ambar was supposed to be just another slave soldier brought in from Africa, his quick-wittedness and educational background put him above others and soon Malik Ambar developed a very close relationship with his master and became a part of his personal slaves. It was during this time that he learnt all the basics about managing a state, the army, the finances, the rules of the court and state-level politics. 4 years into the service of Chengiz Khan, yet another jolt came Ambar’s way – Khan was assassinated by some court officials.
Third Mughal Emperor Akbar who was pushed back by Malik Ambar and his forces every time he tried to invade the Deccan
Immediately after Chengiz Khan’s death, his wife freed Ambar in 1574. Malik Ambar now had two choices – either join the army of the sultanate, albeit at a lower rank, or become a mercenary (a soldier who fights for any group or country that will pay him/her). He chose the latter. Malik Ambar became a mercenary for the Sultan of the neighbouring Bijapur kingdom. It is here that he was bestowed with the title ‘Malik’ and given charge of a small troop. During the 20 years that he served the Bijapur Sultanate, Ambar got married and became a famed mercenary with a rising number of troops. But Ambar quit the service of the Bijapur Sultanate in 1595 citing insufficient support and went back into the service of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, which during the time was under the rule of the Nizamshahi Dynasty. As the regent of this dynasty from 1607-1627, Malik Ambar increased the power of the sultanate and raised a large army. By 1610, his army grew to 10,000 Habshis and 40,000 Deccanis. It was under his watch that the Ahmadnagar Sultanate’s cavalry grew from 150 to 7000 and was able to repel multiple attacks from the Mughals in the north by appointing several puppet Sultans in succession.
For harmony between the communities, Ambar built buildings for each of them in order to be able to meet and organize religious festivals.
The Town Hall was the monument reserved for Christians and the only one that still exists.
Malik Ambar reached the pinnacle of his career when he decided to lock horns with the mighty Mughal Army, who had been commanding majority of the northern region for approximately 80 years now. It was during the later parts of Emperor Akbar’s rule that the Mughals started eyeing the Deccan region as well. However, Ambar’s presence in the south ensured that Akbar’s dream of conquering the Deccan never came true. The Emperor led his last ever expedition towards the Deccan in hopes of finally attaining it, only to be thwarted by Ambar’s forces stationed there. Soon, Emperor Akbar passed away in 1605 and the Mughal throne was passed on to his son – Prince Salim, better known as Jahangir. But Ambar’s feud with the Mughal’s didn’t end here. In fact, it only intensified.
In 1616, Malik Ambar’s army won a major battle against the Mughal Empire. To celebrate it, he built what is now called the Bhadkal gate (Bhadkal gate or Bhadkal Darwaza).
This triumphal arch has a large balcony where musicians and singers were playing during celebrations.
Jahangir’s hatred for Malik Ambar is very well known and documented. A very famous painting, painted by the Mughal courtier Abu’l-Hasan,of Jahangir aiming an arrow at the impaled head of Malik Ambar, shows the extent to which he hated the Ethiopian general. Jahangir found this ‘black-faced’, ‘disastrous’ man a nuisance, while Akbar labelled him an ‘arrogant’ and ‘evil-disposed’ man. To further protect his kingdom and his position in it, Ambar got one of his daughter’s married to the 20-year-old scion of Ahmednagar’s royal family.
The famous painting of Jahangir aiming an arrow at the impaled head of Malik Ambar; painted by Abu’l-Hasan
“Cleverly, using muscle when it was needed and trickery when that suited his ends, Ambar emerged as the principal force in what used to be the Ahmednagar state. At the height of his power, it was said that the Nizam Shahi of the western Deccan was simply referred to as ‘Ambar’s land’”
Historian Manu Pillai in his book ‘Rebel Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji’
Malik Ambar was widely known and celebrated for the fierceness with which he fought against the Mughals. At a time when no kingdom was willing to challenge their rule, Ambar unleashed guerrilla warfare on the Mughal army. ‘General after general’ were dispatched from Delhi towards the south to beat the Ethiopian, but all failed.
“The more times he defeated superior Mughal armies, the more men rallied to his side; in 1610, he even managed to expel the Mughals from Ahmednagar fort.”
Historian Richard Eaton in his book ‘A Social History of the Deccan’
But another aspect about Ambar’s life that most forget, is that his strengths also lay in being a very able administrator apart from being an extremely accomplished commander. In 1610 after briefly expelling the Mughals from Ahmednagar, Ambar established a new capital, a city named ‘Khirki’, which Aurungzeb later renamed as ‘Aurangabad’. This city eventually became home to over 2,00,000 people which included the Marathas. In fact, Shivaji, who was the founder of the mighty Maratha Empire, also had a distant connection to Malik Ambar through his grandfather Maloji who was Ambar’s close aid. In the coming years, Shivaji composed a grand epic poem called ‘Sivabharata’ which mentioned Malik Ambar in it and described him to be “as brave as the sun”.
Left – Malik Ambar’s Tomb 1860s; Right – His mausoleum in Khuldabad in the recent times
On 11th May 1626, just a year before the death of the 4th Mughal Emperor Jahangir, Malik Ambar passed away at the ripe old age of 77-78. Despite the deep-rooted hatred that Jahangir held for him, upon Ambar’s death, Jahangir’s surrogate diarist, Mutamid Khan made an entry noting –
“He had no equal in warfare, in command, in sound judgment, and in administration. History records no other instance of an Abyssinian slave arriving at such eminence.”
Jahangir’s surrogate diarist, Mutamid Khan
Malik Ambar’s tomb from the inside
Malik Ambar was survived by his Siddi wife Bibi Karima and two sons; Fateh Khan and Changiz Khan and two daughters. He was laid to rest in a mausoleum in Khuldabad designed by him before he passed away. Indian history is so vast and extensive that we tend to forget figures of these kind who played a very important role in shaping it. Malik Ambar’s rags to riches story is truly a unique one because it signifies that even at a time when no one bothered to think beyond their locality and empire, let alone venture out, Ambar rose to being a Kingmaker in Indian politics from a small and poor locality in far-flung Abyssinia.
Sources:
The Great Malik Ambar – Akvin Tourism
Malik Ambar – Wikipedia
Malik Ambar: The African slave who built Aurangabad and ruined the game for Mughals in the Deccan – The Indian Express
A slave who defied the Mughals – Mint
Malik Ambar: The Ethiopian slave who became a kingmaker in India – TRT World