Rohilla

Rohillas are a community of Pashtun ancestry, historically found in Rohilkhand, a region in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It forms the largest Pashtun diaspora community in India, and has given its name to the Rohilkhand region. The Rohilla military chiefs settled in this region of northern India in the 1720s, the first of who was Daud Khan.

3 quotes found

"[the Rohillas were, with few exceptions] the only sect of Mahometans in India who exercised the profession of husbandry; and their improvements of the various branches of agriculture, were amply recompensed by the abundance and superiour quality of the production of Rohilcund."

"The Rohillas displayed their iconoclastic fervour during the campaing, melting all the silver and gold idols they could seize. In the interests of the Himalayan trade and the pilgrimage traffic, the Kumaun rajas maintained cordial relations with them."

"What has not been appreciated is that the Rohillas, after establishing themselves in the province in the early eighteenth century, accomplished an almost perfect obliteration of any rights which may previously have been in force. Almost every landowner, no matter how petty, who was considered to be a potential source of difficulty and who could possibly be a focal point of anti-Rohilla activity was uprooted and either killed or forced to cross the Ganges. The old Hindu village institutions were generally subverted and the Rohilla chiefs leased the villages for a period of ten years to the highest bidder at a public auction. ... Henceforth, until the destruction of Rohilla power, the only proprietors in Rohilkhand were to be the Rohilla chiefs. Rohilla rule was terminated in 1774 when the country was overrun by British"