Dictionary of Indian Biography/Amir Khan (2)
AMIR KHAN ( ? –1834)
Born in Rohilkund, of Afghan parents : at 20 went with followers to Malwa : took service under Bhopal : next under the Mahrattas : from 1799 to 1806 commanded the army of Jaswant Rao Holkar : next under the Raja of Jaipur : always committing plunder and depredations : attacked the Mahrattas, in Nagpur, but returned to his own capital, Sironj, to defend it against the British : he was essentially a Pindari : when the British entered Malwa in 1817, negotiations passed between them and Amir Khan, which resulted in his abandoning the predatory system, dismissing his army, and being allowed to keep the lands he held under grants from Holkar : he received territory and a gift of money from the British : and, by the Treaty of Nov. 15, 1817, was confirmed in his possessions. The Principality of Tonk was thus established, and Amir Khan's descendants are still Nawabs there : he died 1834.