Gurgin Khan (Bengal)

Khoja Gregory[a] (died August 1763), better known as Gurgin Khan, was an Armenian merchant and military leader who served Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal from 1760 to 1764, as minister of war and commander-in-chief.

Khoja Gregory was born in the Erivan quarter of New Julfa, an Armenian suburb of Isfahan and the center of an extensive merchant network.

[4] One of Mir Qasim's main goals was to reform his military in order to increase his independence and check the growing power of the British East India Company.

[6] According to contemporary sources, Gurgin Khan was an intelligent, prudent, and loyal advisor to Mir Qasim who tempered the nawab's eagerness to start a war with the British, urging him to wait until the time was ripe.

According to the hostile account of Ghulam Hussain Khan Tabatabai, Gurgin was greatly shocked and ashamed after this defeat and had to be persuaded by another officer of Mir Qasim to return to the camp of the nawab.

[9] Bhaswati Bhattacharya suggests that Gurgin Khan may have wanted to avoid facing defeat against the British, having seen in Nepal that the nawab's army was not ready for such a confrontation.

Jean Baptiste Joseph Gentil, a French officer in the nawab's service and a friend of Gurgin, writes that the Armenian general had been killed because of "jealousy and slander.

According to a report by Louis Taillefert, the director of the Dutch East India Company, the Seth brothers Mahatab Rai and Swarupchand, hoping to ingratiate themselves with the British, had paid some Mughal soldiers to kill Gurgin Khan.}

According to Ghulam Hussain, a servant of the Seth brothers named Shahab al-Daula had earlier accused Gurgin of conspiring against Mir Qasim.