# Bangash Nawabs of Farrukhabad
The Bangash Nawabs of Farrukhabad (نوابان فرخآباد) were an Afghan dynasty of the Bangash tribe that ruled a state at Farrukhabad in northern India from the early eighteenth century until the early nineteenth.[1](https://essentiels.bnf.fr/fr/image/c9775736-526c-4e27-9c6f-c321358431fa-muhammad-khan-bangash-1) • [2](http://www.chiefacoins.com/Database/Countries/Farrukhabad.htm) It was founded by [Muhammad Khan Bangash](https://www.edgepedia.org/muhammad-khan-bangash), who established the city of Farrukhabad in 1714 and named it for his imperial patron, the Mughal emperor [Farrukhsiyar](https://www.edgepedia.org/farrukhsiyar).[1](https://essentiels.bnf.fr/fr/image/c9775736-526c-4e27-9c6f-c321358431fa-muhammad-khan-bangash-1) The state passed under British control through the cessions of 1801 and 1802.[2](http://www.chiefacoins.com/Database/Countries/Farrukhabad.htm)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Founder | Muhammad Khan Bangash (1665-1743)[1](https://essentiels.bnf.fr/fr/image/c9775736-526c-4e27-9c6f-c321358431fa-muhammad-khan-bangash-1) |
| Founded | City of Farrukhabad founded 1714[1](https://essentiels.bnf.fr/fr/image/c9775736-526c-4e27-9c6f-c321358431fa-muhammad-khan-bangash-1) • [2](http://www.chiefacoins.com/Database/Countries/Farrukhabad.htm) |
| Chronistic span | Persian and Urdu chronicles record the dynasty's history from 1713 to 1857[3](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/097152159700400101) • [4](https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BB12318336) |
| End | Tribute ceded to the British, 10 November 1801; sovereignty ceded 1802[2](http://www.chiefacoins.com/Database/Countries/Farrukhabad.htm) |
## Founding
Muhammad Khan Bangash was born in 1665 and entered imperial service at the age of forty-five.[1](https://essentiels.bnf.fr/fr/image/c9775736-526c-4e27-9c6f-c321358431fa-muhammad-khan-bangash-1) A Bangash Afghan, he served the Mughal empire as governor of Allahabad and later of Malwa.[2](http://www.chiefacoins.com/Database/Countries/Farrukhabad.htm) He continued in service under the emperor [Muhammad Shah](https://www.edgepedia.org/muhammad-shah) (reign 1719-1748).[1](https://essentiels.bnf.fr/fr/image/c9775736-526c-4e27-9c6f-c321358431fa-muhammad-khan-bangash-1)
The founding of the state is dated 1714 by most references: [Muhammad Khan](https://www.edgepedia.org/muhammad-khan) founded the city of Farrukhabad in 1714 in the province of [Awadh](https://www.edgepedia.org/awadh), and the Farrukhabad state is dated as founded in 1714.[1](https://essentiels.bnf.fr/fr/image/c9775736-526c-4e27-9c6f-c321358431fa-muhammad-khan-bangash-1) • [2](http://www.chiefacoins.com/Database/Countries/Farrukhabad.htm) A local tradition reported in a Hindi news feature gives a more precise sequence: the foundation of the city was laid on 27 December 1713, and the city was named after Farrukhsiyar in 1714.[5](https://www.etvbharat.com/hindi/uttar-pradesh/state/farrukhabad/farrukhabad-founder-mohammad-khan-bangash-tomb/up20200618121229572)
## Structure, functions, and principal holders
Muhammad Khan Bangash was the first nawab and ruled until his death in 1743.[1](https://essentiels.bnf.fr/fr/image/c9775736-526c-4e27-9c6f-c321358431fa-muhammad-khan-bangash-1) Historians study the dynasty's internal working through the institutions of slavery and military service (naukari), the subject of a scholarly chapter by Jos Gommans, a historian of [South Asia](https://www.edgepedia.org/south-asia), in the volume *Circumambulations in South Asian History*.[6](https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789047402367/B9789047402367_s012.pdf)
## Political influence
Muzaffar Alam, a historian of the Mughal period, argues in *The Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India* ([Oxford University Press](https://www.edgepedia.org/oxford-university-press)) that the years 1707-48 saw the emergence of a new, regionally based political order, maintained and controlled by former Mughal rulers, with local and regional idioms.[7](https://india.oup.com/product/the-crisis-of-empire-in-mughal-north-india-9780198077411/) Scholarly work on the contemporary [Nawabs of Awadh](https://www.edgepedia.org/nawabs-of-awadh) notes that Awadh's first two nawabs laid the foundation of an autonomous regional state independent of the Mughal court.[8](https://files.core.ac.uk/download/pdf/144524615.pdf)
## Military struggles
The dynasty's history was shaped by war with its neighbors. Kaim Khan was embroiled by Safdar Jang, the nawab wazir of Oudh, with the [Rohillas](https://www.edgepedia.org/rohillas), and lost his life in battle with them in 1749.[9](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Farukhabad) In 1750 his brother [Ahmad Khan](https://www.edgepedia.org/ahmad-khan) recovered the Farukhabad territories, and Safdar Jang called in the Marathas against him.[9](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Farukhabad)
## End and later history
The end came through cession to the British: in 1802 the nawab ceded the sovereignty of the province to the British Government by Oudh Treaty No. XXXVIII.[2](http://www.chiefacoins.com/Database/Countries/Farrukhabad.htm)
## Assessment and legacy
The dynasty is preserved in chronicle tradition spanning 1713 to 1857: William Irvine's "The Bangash Nawabs of Farrukhabad, A Chronicle (1713-1857)" appeared in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1878, and a [Persian chronicle](https://www.edgepedia.org/persian-chronicle) carries the same span in its title.[3](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/097152159700400101) • [4](https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BB12318336) An Urdu translation of Irvine's history, *Tareekh-e-Farrukhabad Nawaban-e-Bangish*, was published by Matba' Hasani at Fathgarh in 1887, running to 341 pages.[10](https://www.rekhta.org/ebooks/detail/tareekh-e-farrukhabad-nawaban-e-bangish-william-arvin-ebooks?lang=ur) In 1963 Valiullah Farrukhabadi's *Ahad Bangash* treated the Bangash period as a political, scholarly, and cultural history.[11](https://www.chughtailibrary.com/digital_library/repository_detail.php?id=50119) Modern scholarship engages the dynasty chiefly through regional state formation after 1707 and through its institutions of slavery and military service.[6](https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789047402367/B9789047402367_s012.pdf) • [7](https://india.oup.com/product/the-crisis-of-empire-in-mughal-north-india-9780198077411/)
## References
1. Muhammad Khan Bangash | BnF Essentiels, https://essentiels.bnf.fr/fr/image/c9775736-526c-4e27-9c6f-c321358431fa-muhammad-khan-bangash-1
2. Farrukhabad Rulers and Coins, http://www.chiefacoins.com/Database/Countries/Farrukhabad.htm
3. "Issues of Masculinity in North Indian History: The Bangash Nawabs of Farrukhabad", SAGE Journals, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/097152159700400101
4. تاریخ فرخآباد: نوابان بنگش من ابتدای سنہ 1713 لغایت سنہ 1857, CiNii catalog record, https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BB12318336
5. गुमनामी के अंधेरे में फर्रुखाबाद को बसाने वाले नवाब का मकबरा, ETV Bharat, https://www.etvbharat.com/hindi/uttar-pradesh/state/farrukhabad/farrukhabad-founder-mohammad-khan-bangash-tomb/up20200618121229572
6. Jos Gommans, "Slavery and Naukarī among the Bangash Nawabs of Farrukhabad", in *Circumambulations in South Asian History*, Brill, https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789047402367/B9789047402367_s012.pdf
7. Muzaffar Alam, *The Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India*, Oxford University Press, https://india.oup.com/product/the-crisis-of-empire-in-mughal-north-india-9780198077411/
8. Academic study on the Nawabs of Awadh and regional state formation, CORE repository, https://files.core.ac.uk/download/pdf/144524615.pdf
9. 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica: Farukhabad, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Farukhabad
10. Tareekh-e-Farrukhabad Nawaban-e-Bangish, Urdu translation of William Irvine, Rekhta, https://www.rekhta.org/ebooks/detail/tareekh-e-farrukhabad-nawaban-e-bangish-william-arvin-ebooks?lang=ur
11. Valiullah Farrukhabadi, *Ahad Bangash: siyasi, ilmi aur saqafati tarikh* (1963), Chughtai Digital Library, https://www.chughtailibrary.com/digital_library/repository_detail.php?id=50119
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Asian history › India and South Asia › Later Mughals (1707 to 1857) › Successor states and rulers*
*Initially written Sep 23, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license