History of Bareilly
According to the epic Mahābhārata, Bareilly region (Panchala) is said to be the birthplace of Draupadi, who was also referred to as 'Panchali' (one from the kingdom of Panchāla) by Kṛṣṇā (Lord Krishna).
Muslim Turkic dynasties the region became a part of the Delhi Sultanate before getting absorbed in the emerging Mughal Empire.
The extensive remains of Ahichhatra, the Capital town of Northern Panchala have been discovered near Ramnagar village of Aonla Tehsil in the district.
It was during the first excavations at Ahichhatra (1940–44) that the painted grey ware, associated with the advent of the Aryans in the Ganges–Yamuna Valley, was recognised for the first time in the earliest levels of the site.
On the basis of the existing material, the archaeology of the region helps us to get an idea of the cultural sequence from the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC up to the 11th century AD.
of Ancient History and culture, Rohilkhand University, at Tihar-Khera (Fatehganj West), Pachaumi, Rahtuia, Kadarganj and Sainthal.
During the period between the fall of the Mauryas and the rise of the Guptas, the Panchalas had two phases of power - first the pre Kushana phase i.e. from C-150 BC to AD 125 and secondly a short period of fifty years after the fall of the Kushanas, which ended in CAD 350 when Panchala was assimilated in the Gupta empire by Samudragupta.
[5] Later, the city's continued status as a Mint town since the beginning of the Christian era was helped by the fact that Bareilly was never a disturbed area.
(except at the time of the Independence Struggle) The amalgamation of several religious and popular beliefs may be observed throughout the history of Panchala in ancient India.
responsible for giving a distinctive touch to the later vedic thought, the region was also a prominent centre of popular beliefs such as the cult of Nagas, Yaksas and Vetalas.
The seat of the royal power was shifted from Ahichhatra to Vodamayuta or modern Badaun as the irrefutable evidence of Rashtrakuta Chief Lakhanpalas inscription shows.
In 1623 two Afghan brothers of the Barech tribe, Shah Alam and Husain Khan, settled in the region, bringing with them many other Pashtun settlers.
He was ultimately made the lawful governor of Kateher by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir (ruled 1658–1707), and the region was henceforth called "the land of the Ruhelas."
[7] Their principal clans were the Yusafzais, Ghoris, Lodis, Ghilzai, Barech, Marwat, Durrani, Tanoli, Tarin, Kakar, Khattak, Afridi and Baqarzai.
In Uttar Pradesh, it was used for all Pashtuns, except for the Shia Bangashes who settled in the Rohilkhand region, or men serving under Rohilla chiefs.
Bishop Heber described them as follows: - "The country is burdened with a crowd of lazy, profligate, self-called sawars (cavaliers), who, though many of them are not worth a rupee, conceive it derogatory to their gentility and Pathan blood to apply themselves to any honest industry, and obtain for the most part a precarious livelihood by sponging on the industrious tradesmen and farmers, on whom they levy a sort of blackmail, or as hangers-on to the wealthy and noble families yet remaining in the province.
"[9] Ali Muhammad was succeeded by Hafiz Rahmat Khan Barech (1749–1774), whom he appointed h¹fiz or regent of Rohilkhand on his deathbed.
Later, Rahmat Khan took advantage of being on the winning side at the Third Battle of Panipat of 1761 and successfully blocked the expansion of the Maratha Empire into north India.
After plundering Rohillakhand the Marathas proceed towards Oudh sensing the same fate as Rohilla, the Nawab made frantic calls to British troops in Bengal.
[11] After the war Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula demanded payment for their help from the Rohilla chief, Hafiz Rahmat Khan Barech.
When the demand was refused, the Nawab joined with the British under Governor Warren Hastings and his Commander-in-Chief, Alexander Champion, to invade Rohilkhand.
The Rohillas, after fifty years' precarious independence, were conquered in 1774 by the confederacy of British troops with the nawab of Oudh's army, which formed so serious a charge against Warren Hastings.
After many negotiations he effected a treaty with Shuja-ud-daula in 1774, by which he accepted nine parganas worth 1.5 million a year, giving up all the remainder of Rohilkhand to the Wazir of Rampur State.
In 1794 a revolution in Rampur State led to the dispatch of a British force, who fought the insurgents at Bhitaura or Fatehganj (West)-both in Bareilly District, where an obelisk still commemorates the casualties.
During the time of Shah Alam II, Bareilly was the headquarters of Rohilla Sardar Hafiz Rehmat Khan and many more coins were issued.
The Rebellion which began as a mutiny of native soldiers (sepoys) employed by the three Presidency armies, against perceived race- based injustices and inequities, on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, soon erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions which were mainly centred on north central India along the several major river valleys draining the south face of the Himalayas [See red annotated locations on Map at right] but with local episodes extending both northwest to Peshawar on the north-west frontier with Afghanistan and southeast beyond Delhi.
During the period troops were raised at Bareilly from 1 June 1857, and tumults at once broke out amongst the population in the city, while the surrounding villages remained prey to the rapacity and extortion of the rival Zamindars.
[18] The rebellion posed a considerable threat to British East India Company's power in that region,[19] and it was contained only with the fall of Gwalior on 20 June 1858.
[22][23] The Indian National Congress came into prominence in Bareilly during the khilafat movement when Gandhiji visited this town twice and many Hindus and Muslims were arrested.
Rafi Ahmad Kidwai, Mahavir Tyagi, Sukh Lal Rastogi, Manzar Ali Sokhata and Maulana Hifazul Rahman.
