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Muhammad Hayat Khan's 19th-century text Hayat-i-Afghani  examines the historical and ethnological aspects of Afghanistan's tribes, including the Rohilla Pathan tribes. They settled in the 13th century in what was then known as the Kather region of northern India. This area was later renamed Rohilkhand after the Rohillas rose to prominence as a political force in this area. During the reign of the 17th Mughal emperor Shah Alam II (r. 1759-1806), the mighty Mughal Empire was already in its twilight years. The territorial extent of the empire and the political power of the reigning emperor were reduced enormously. The following Persian expression encapsulates the situation very aptly: سلطاناته شاه علم از دهلی تا پالم   It means 'The empire of Shah Alam is from Delhi to Palam'. Palam was located on the outskirts of Shahjahanabad, the Mughal capital city.                                  ...

     Ruba’i —   “Friends, in this Gambling house [World] there are very few rinds, [however] they do not associate with the imposters. [Although] the rinds are few, their specific number is not known, [but] they laugh at this attraction towards the materialistic things of this world.”     The Muraqqa‘-e-Dehli  or an Album of Delhi was written by Dargah Quli Khan during the 18th  century CE. The writer  visited Delhi with Nizam-ul-Mulk, the autonomous Mughal governor of the Deccan during this  time who laid the foundation of the Asaf Jahi dynasty of Hyderabad in 1724. The Nizam was invited by the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah (1720-1748 CE) to his court at Shahjahanabad in Delhi. Therefore, Dargah Quli Khan too formed a part of Nizam’s entourage. He stayed at the Mughal imperial capital for nearly about three years i.e., from 1739-41. During his stay, he wrote a diary in ornate Persian, describing about the general condition of the city du...