Miserable slave turned Masterful Kingmaker

Malik Ambar (1548-1626)

His life story reads like an epic film plot {imagine a zillion times exhilarating version of the Quentin Tarantino classic ‘Django Unchained’}

Sample this:

A bright and cheerful African lad named Chapu is deprived, in one stroke, of all that he presumed his own including family, home, and motherland. One among the countless victims of a reprehensible tradition of rampant slavery fuelled by abject poverty, he is transported across the Red Sea via caravans and dhows (small sailing boats) to the Mocha port of Yemen, far away from his native province of Harar in Ethiopia. Resold to different buyers along the way, he finds himself in Baghdad where he is rechristened ‘Ambar’, an Arabic word meaning brown jewel. His owner, a dynamic merchant called Mir Qasim al-Baghdadi, is quick to spot the boy’s inborn wit and pluck and keeps him away from the usual menial tasks earmarked for Habshis (slaves) and even imparts functional education.

En route his trading expedition to India, Mir Qasim sells Ambar to Chingiz Khan, the revered prime minister of the Nizam regime in Ahmednagar, who happens to be a fellow Ethiopian, a slave turned administrator and Ambar’s godsent role model and mentor. Khan dotes on Ambar and teaches him the art and science of warfare and statesmanship, making him an integral member of the Nizam’s court.?

Following Khan’s assassination by a bunch of resentful court officials, Ambar is freed from slavery by Khan’s widow. Left with two options, {one, become a low-ranked member of the Nizam Army, and two, lead a guerrilla organization}, he choses the latter, befitting his intellect and character. As a mercenary for the Bijapur state, he earns the title ‘Malik’ (master) and leads a motely group of hired guns under the esteemed identity of Malik Ambar.

After two decades of valiant service, he quits his job following dissatisfaction over lack of commensurate state support and re-joins the Ahmednagar Sultanate. As the most competent regent of the dynasty, he rises in eminence as the de facto ruler and leader of a humungous army: an ethnic mix of Marathas and Habshis that nips the mounting threat of the Mughals?in the bud, defeating Akbar and Jahangir in large-scale combat operations marking a judicious blend of guerrilla warfare and use of modern artillery.

As a statesman, his feats are no less visionary. As the founder of his capital city of Khadki (later renamed Aurangabad post Aurangzeb’s conquest), he builds sprawling palaces, enacts key land revenue reforms, patronizes art and culture in discernibly secular ways, and achieves a seamless cultural integration between Africans and locals principally through wed locks between the two ethnicities. Above all, he develops an indigenous Nahar (irrigation system), an intricate network of culverts, canals, and reservoirs in water-deprived Ahmednagar, which remains one of the finest examples of urban planning across the globe.

Such is his terror in the minds of the Mughals, they can’t invade Deccan even after imprisoning the Ahmednagar Sultan and conquering the city fort. Locking horns with Mughal belligerence and internal rebellion in parallel, Ambar manages to reclaim the capital. The Mughals back off but don’t give up either.

When they resume hostilities, they forge a quick ‘quid pro quo’ alliance with the Bijapur Sultan to corner Ambar. Now faced with the ultimate litmus test of his life, Ambar rises to the occasion even at the ripe age of 76. Capitalizing on the rough terrain which is foreign to Mughals, he meets the combined Mughal-Bijapur forces at his chosen strategic location of Bhatvadi. First, he demolishes the dam in closest proximity to cause an unprecedented flood which completely diffuses the enemy’s spirit. While a sudden attack at odd hours causes the deflated Mughal soldiers to flee in panic, a decisive cavalry charge marks the ultimate triumph. The hapless Mughals withdraw yet again, and Ahmednagar stays protected throughout Malik Ambar’s lifetime.?

Post Script:

Sadly, Malik Ambar survived only two years post the Bhatvadi conquest, and the moment his son took over the reins following his demise, Shah Jahan invaded Ahmednagar.

Malik Ambar is long gone, but his legacy has been immortalised by?the ‘Sivabharata’, a laudatory Sanskrit epic composed by the scholarly court poet Kavindra Paramananda in praise of Chhatrapati Shivaji and his predecessors. A verse of Sivabaharata calls the gallant Malik Ambar ‘Sun God personified’; a most apt metaphor to describe a hero of his stature, once a miserable Abyssinian slave who went on to became a masterful kingmaker of the Ahmednagar sultanate.

Here's the link to an insightful resource on Ambar and other African settlers and descendants collectively known as the ‘Siddi’, a word believed to have been derived from the Arabic ‘Sahibi’ meaning master:

https://aqilghani.com/2020/07/30/indo-africans-and-the-story-of-malik-ambar/