Introduction

History of Bareilly is traced back from Mahabharata era. It is said that Bareilly is considered as the birthplace of Draupadi, one of the important characters in Mahabharata. It is also known as "Panchali". Later it came in the prominence of Indian history during rule of Gupta Empire. But with the advent of Muslim and British imperialism, Bareilly became the epicenter of armed revolts especially from 1770s to 1857. The folklore from the early era says that Gautama Buddha had once visited the ancient fortress of Ahichchhatra in Bareilly. Parshavnath one of the Jain Tirthankara is said to have achieved Kaivalya at Ahichchhatra.

Early History of Bareilly

Early History of Bareilly began from Indian epic, Mahabharata. Later during the Sixteen Mahajanapadas rule in India, Panchala came as the seat of architectural skill and knowledge.

Bareilly in Mahabharata
Bareilly was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Panchala. The ancient fortress city of Ahicchattra in Bareilly served as a seat of the influential Empire. Panchala Kingdom occupied the region to the east of the Kuru Kingdom, i.e. between the Upper Himalayas and the Ganga River. Bareilly was divided into Northern Panchala and Dakshina-Panchala. The Northern Panchala had its capital at Ahicchattra, while Southern Panchala had its capital at Kampilya or Kampil in Farrukhabad district. King Drupada, whose daughter Draupadi was married to the Pandavas belonged to the Somaka clan. However, the Mahabharata and the Puranas consider the ruling clan of the northern Panchala as an offshoot of the Bharata clan and Divodasa, Sudas, Srinjaya, Somaka and Drupada (also called Yajnasena) were the most notable rulers of this clan. The Kshatriya Nairs is believed to be belonged to the Yajnasena clan and migrated from Ahi-Kshetra to Kerala, via Shimoga and Tulunadu.

Bareilly in 5th Century BC
The government in Panchala was engulfed in the growing Magadhan Empire after the battle with Sixteen Mahajanapadas. The first came under the Nandas and then under the Mauryas. The fall of the Mauryan Empire saw the emergence of numerous small and independent states in the whole Ganga River valley. It saw a remarkable revival in the fortunes of Panchala which once again came to occupy a very significant position in the history of north India. Panchala or Bareilly emerges at this time as one of the strongest powers in India. About 25 kings who have ruled during this period have left behind thousands of coins. 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 350 BC when Panchala was assimilated in the Gupta empire by Samudragupta. Under the Guptas Ahichhatra was one of the provinces into which the Gupta Empire was divided. The Panchal coins were minted at Bareilly and the surrounding areas during 176 - 166 BC. Kushan Kings and Gupta kings established mints in the region and this status was retained till the Christian era.

Bareilly after Guptas
After the fall of the Gupta Empire in the latter half of the 6th century the district of Bareilly came under the domination of the Maukharis. Under the Emperor Harshavardhana, Panchala was the part of the Ahichhatra Bhukti. In the 6th century BC, the Panchala was among one of the Sixteen Mahajanapadas of India. The city was also influenced by Gautama Buddha and his followers. The remains of Buddhist monasteries at Ahichhatra are quite extensive. The folklore says that Gautama Buddha had once visited the ancient fortress city of Ahicchattra in Bareilly.

Bareilly under Jain Culture
The Jain Tirthankara Parshvanath is said to have attained Kaivalya at Ahichhatra. During Harshavardhana"s reign the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang also visited Bareilly about 635 AD. At that time, Bareilly included in the kingdom of Yashavarman (725 - 52AD) of Kannauj and after him the Ayodhya kings. Kannauj became the masters of the district for several decades. With the rise of the power of the Gurjara Pratiharas in the 9th century, Bareilly came under their sway. It continued under their subordination till the end of the 10th century. The decline of early history of Bareilly came with the attacks of Mahmud of Ghazni in 10th Century.

Medieval History of Bareilly

Medieval History of Bareilly began with the construction of the city Bareilly by a Rajput and the insurgence of Rohillas in Rohillakhand, which was later diminished brutally by the Nawab of Awadh and the British East India Company in India.

Bareilly and Delhi Sultanate
It was 13th century when the Delhi Sultanate based kingdoms or sultanates was firmly established, Katehr was divided into the provinces of Sambhal and Budaun. But the thickly forested country infested with wild animals provided just the right kind of shelter for rebels. And indeed, Katehr was famous for rebellions against imperial authority of Delhi. During the Sultanate rule, there were frequent rebellions in Katehr. All were ruthlessly crushed. Sultan Ghiayasuddin Balban ordered vast tracts of jungle to be cleared so as to make the area unsafe for the rebels.

Bareilly under Mughal Rule
The Mughals, after the decline of Delhi Sultanate in India, initiated the policy of allotting lands for Afghan settlements in Katiher. Afghan settlements continued to be encouraged throughout the reign of Aurangzeb and even after his death. These Afghans, known as the Rohilla Afghans, caused the area to be known as Rohilkhand. This move by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb was aimed to suppress Rajput uprisings, which had afflicted this region. Originally, some 20,000 soldiers from various Pashtun Tribes (Yusafzais, Ghoris, Lodis, Ghilzai, Barech, Marwat, Durrani, Tanoli, Tarin, Kakar, Khattak, Afridi and Baqarzai ) were hired by Mughals to provide soldiers to the Mughal armies and this was appreciated by Aurangzeb, an additional force of 25,000 men were given respected positions in Mughal Army. However most of them settled in the Katehar region during Nadir Shah`s invasion of northern India in 1739 increasing their population up to 10,00,000. Due to the large settlement of Rohilla Afghans, the Katehar region gained fame as Rohilkhand.

Formation of Bareilly
The city of Bareilly was founded in 1537 by Basdeo, a Rajput. The city is mentioned in the history of India for the first time by Budayuni who writes that one Husain Quli Khan was appointed the governor of `Bareilly and Sambhal` in 1568. The divisions and revenue of the district being fixed by Todar Mal were recorded by Abul Fazl in 1596. The foundation of the `modern` City of Bareilly was laid by Mukrand Rai in 1657. In 1658, Bareilly was made the headquarters of the province of Budaun.

Bareilly and Rohillakhand
Bareilly becomes the place for Rohillas to suppress Rajputs during the time of Aurangzeb. 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. It was with the immigration of Daud Khan, an Afghan slave in the region that the Afghan Rohillas had come into prominence. His adopted son Ali Muhammad Khan succeeded in carving out an estate for himself in the district with his headquarters in the region. He was ultimately made the lawful governor of Kateher by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, and the region was henceforth called "the land of the Ruhelas". Eventually after the end of the Mughal Empire many Pathans migrated from `Rohilkhand`.

Modern History of Bareilly

Modern History of Bareilly defines the chapters from the First Rohilla War of 1773-1774, the insurgence of Rohillas, and the end of Maratha and Awadhi conflict. With the rise of British Government in India, the railways were established. But the end of rule of British East India Company came with the First Revolution for Indian Independence that was upraised in 1857.

The First Rohilla War and Rohilkhand
The First Rohilla War was a corrective campaign by Shuja-ud-Daula, Nawab of Awadh, against the Rohillas, Afghan highlanders settled in Rohilkhand, northern India. The Rohillas came from Afghanistan under the rule of Aurangazeb to give the extra pressure to Rajputs. The Nawab was supported by troops of the British East India Company, in a successful campaign brought about by the Rohillas reneging on a debt to the Nawab. The combined forces of Shuja-ud Daulah, the Nawab of Awadh and the forces of British East India Company led by Colonel Champion defeated Hafiz Rahmat Ali Khan in 1774. Hafiz Rahmat Khan Barech was killed in the ensuing battle at Miranpur Katra in 1774. His death finally closed the chapter of Rohilla rule from Bareilly. Rohilkhand fell to Awadh, was plundered and occupied. The majority of the Rohillas left. They fled across the Ganga River in numbers, to start a guerilla war; or emigrated. A Rohilla state under British protection was set up in Rampur. The Rohillas, after fifty years` precarious independence, were subjugated in 1774 by the confederacy of British troops with the Nawab of Oudh`s army, which formed so serious a charge against Warren Hastings. There was a second Rohilla War, in 1794. Rohilkhand was handed over to the Nawab of Awadh. From 1774 to 1800, the province was ruled by the Nawabs of Awadh. Faiz-ullah, the son of Ali Muhammad who escaped to the north-west and became the leader of Rohillas. After many negotiations he affected 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. Saadat Ali was appointed governor of Bareilly under the Oudh government.

Bareilly under British Rule
By 1801, the subsidies due under the various treaties for support of a British force had fallen into hopeless arrears. In order to defray the debt, Nawab Saadat Ali Khan surrendered Rohilkhand to the British East India Company by the treaty of 10th November 1801. After the Rohilla War, the change of the power structure did little to soothe the troubled strife torn area; rather the change had the effect to aggravate a precarious state of affairs. There was a general spirit of discontent throughout the district. In 1812, an inordinate enhancement in the revenue demand and then in 1814 the imposition of a new house tax caused a lot of resentment against the British. Mr. Henry Wellesley, brother of the Governor General, was appointed president of the Board of Commissioners sitting in Bareilly. In 1805, Amir Khan, made an inroad into Rohilkhand, but was driven off. Disturbance occurred in 1816, in 1837 and in 1842 but the peace of the district was not seriously endangered until the Mutiny of 1857.

Annexation of Rohilkhand
Rohilkhand was annexed by British in 1801. Rohilkhand was divided into two districts, Bareilly and a comparatively new city of Moradabad. Shahjahanpur district was formed in 1813-14; Budaun in 1824; the south of Nainital district was taken away in 1858 and sixty-four villages were given, as a reward for loyalty, to the Nawab of Rampur. Pilibhit was made a separate district in 1879.

Bareilly- The Seat of Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress came into prominence in Bareilly during the Khilafat Movement when Mahatma Gandhi visited this town twice and many Hindus and Muslims were arrested. In response to the call given by Mahatma Gandhi, the Civil Disobedience Movement in the district was launched on Jan 26, 1930. In 1936, a conference of the Congress was held in Bareilly under the presidency of Acharya Narendra Deo. It was addressed by Jawaharlal Nehru, M.N. Roy, Purushottam Das Tandon and Rafi Ahmad Kidwai. In 1942 when the Quit India Movement was launched, many processions and meetings were organised and nearly 200 persons were arrested. More prominent among them were Damodar Swaroop Seth, Brijmohan Lal Shastri, P.C. Azad, Rammurti, Naurang Lal, Chiranjivi Lal, Udho Narain D.D. Vaidya and Darbari Lal Sharma. In the Bareilly Central Jail at that time were confined such prominent leaders as Jawaharlal Nehru, Rafi Ahmad Kidwai, Mahavir Tyagi, Manzar Ali Sokhata and Maulana Hifazul Rahman.