Cultural Hisory of Tonk State

The Cultural Hisory of Tonk State is limited upto Urdu poetry, Char Bait (चार बैत) and the Qawwali, as the Rulers of Tonk were Muhammadans. The origination of the ruling family of Tonk was from Salarzai kabila of Chorhur (चोरहुर का सालारजाई कबीला) in Bonemer of Afghanistan.

Tonk was the only Muslim State of Rajasthan which came in existence in 1817 A.D. by East India Company Government. The founder of this state was a cruel Pindari leader of Central India. His name was Amir Khan and he was among the four notorious Pindari leaders known as Karim Khan, Wasil Muhammad, Cheetu Khan and Amir Khan.

In early decades of nineteenth century A.D. about 60 thousand Pindaries used to plunder Rajputana, under the leadership of Amir Khan.

In second decade of nineteenth century, Brithsh forces launched a huge military operation against Pindaries of Central India and they killed Pindaries in a big number. At that time, Amir Khan was a general of Jaswant Rao Holker. Amir khan surrendered before British Military and a treaty was signed between east India Company and Amir Khan.

In this treaty, Company accepted Amir Khan as an independent ruler of Tonk, which was originally a Brahmin territory of Bhola Brahmin. Amir Khan died in 1834 A.D. His descendents ruled over Tonk sate up to 1947 and they tried to become a civilized ruler of well established state.

Cultural Hisory of Tonk State starts with Amir Khan Himself. Amir Khan and his ascendants patronized the poets, the scholars and the Unani system of medicine.

The well known poets of Nawab Amir Khan’s reign, (1817-1834) of course in Persian, were Munshi Busaw an Lal Shadan, Faqir Mohammad Goya and Mohammad Painda Munshi Basaw an Lal Shad an was the author of the celebrated Amir Nama, a virtual mine of information on the history of India in the last quarter of the eighteenth century and early part of the Nakhat also wrote the Zafar Nama dealing with the adventurous exploits of Nawab Amir Khan. Goya was the grand-father of the renowned Urdu “Poet of revolution” Josh Malehabadi.

The second ruler Nawab Wazirud Daula (1834-1864) was not a poet himself but the ‘Wasai Waziri’ tells that there were literary meetings at his palace every night and were attended by the sovereign in person. Maulana Nizizuddin Manakpuri, Maulana Hyder Ali Rampuri, Hakim Anwar Ali, Hakim Dian Ali, Dew an Shamsuddin, Maulana Ahmad Ali Senab and Abid Ali Kosar were the literary figures who flourishad during this period.

Nawab Amir Khan and Nawab Mohammad Wazir Khan were active supporters of the Wahabbi movement because they were the admirer and follower of Shahid Ahmad Saeed who lost his life in 1834 at the battle of Balakot. Wazirud Daula offered asylum to the kith and kin of the martyr. Likewise he patronised the scholars who had to leave Delhi on account of the 1857 uprising.

Mirza Ghalib was rendered financial assistance when he was penniless as he was suspected by the British Government. To Nawab Mohammad Ali Khan, (1864-1867) the third ruler of Tonk, goes the credit of introducing Urdu as the official language of the state instead of Persian. The literary lights of his reign were Moulvi Nurul Haque Khasta, Ilahi Baksh Nazish and Inayat Hussain Rashaki, who was Mirza Ghalib’s pupil.

Nawab Ibrahim Ali Khan Khalil (1867-1930) was himself a poet. Asad Lucknawi, Bismil, Zaheer Dehlavi,Ahmad Saeed Ashiq, Muztar Khairabadi, Asgar Ali Abroo, Solat, Kaif, Mahmood Shirani and Bismal Saeedi were the distinguished poets who prospered during Amin-ud-Daula’s period. The following couplet clearly reminds of the dismal picture of 1920-21 disturbances in the State on account of the Khilafat movement outside and the rising prices inside.

Saeed-ud-Daula Nawab Saadat Ali Khan the fifth ruler of Tonk, was a poet and composed verses under three pen-names – Mukhtar, Saeed and Raj. His ustad was Mohammad Umar Khan Jam. Three all India Mushair as were organized at Tonk in 1936, 1937 and 1945.

Raza, Shefaq, Basar, Saib, Zakir and Akhtar Sherani were the illustrious poets of this reign. The remarkable feature of the age was the production of poetess like Salma Shamim, Haya, Ism at Saeedi and Abida in Urdu. Mohammad Umar Khan Jam was a versatile genius as he was a prose writer of distinction, and a dramatist too.

Mumtazud Daula Nawab Mohd. Farooq Ali Khan (1947-Jan. 1948) patronised Mahmud-ul-Hass an Bahar, Syed Abdul Qadar Khandan and Ashfaq during his tenure. The last ruler Aziz-ud-Daula Nawab Ismail Ali Khan was a poet and wrote under the pen name Taj. His mushir-i-sukhun was Ustad Khandan.

Mention ought to be made of the bullock carts called “Tonga” of Tonk which had a specialty of its own and adapted itself to the local rural environments. They were costly wooden carriages driven by well brought up oxen and provided with comfort able ‘Niwari’ seats to recline at leisure. The carriages as well as the oxen were well decorated and were a must for every well-to-do family.

It was a great amusement and joy to sit in the carriage and to have a drive through the bazar. The oxen were of such high bread that one could go to Jaipur in six-seven hours, roam about throughout the day there and return comfortably by the next night. These carriages are fast disappearing due to very high cost of maintenance and are becoming a part and parcel of the past glory of the State.

The “Dar-ul-Alum Khalilya” is yet another precious cultural heritage of Tonk. This institution was founded by late Maulana Hakim Barkat Ahmad who was a very capable tabib and a scholar philosopher of repute in the Islamic world. He was the royal physician of Amin-ud-Daula Nawab Ibrahim Ali Khan and was a contemporary of Massih-ul-mulk Hakim Ajmal Khan, who become the President of all India Congress. Hakim Ajmal Khan was a great admirer of Maulana Barkar Ahmad, who set up the Daulalum for oriental studies.

It had humble beginnings but soon earned reputation in the East and attracted students from Bihar, U. P., Punjab, Rajputana, N. W. E. P., Kabul, Bukhara, Samarkund and Herat. At present the institution is being run by private donations as the royal patronage has been withdrawn.

The other contributions of Cultural Hisory of Tonk State were the Char Baits and the Qawwlis. Tonk ranks the topmost in the Char Bait. Jaipur station of all India Radio broadcasts programmes on the Char Baits and the Qawwalis of Tonk.

To sum up the Urdu symposium, Unani system of medicine, Char Bait and Qawwali are the valuable contributions of Tonk leaving aside the celebration of various Ids, Mobud Sharif and the deep study of Muslim theology which are of little interest to the Man in the street.

Thus we see that the Cultural History of Tonk State is limited to a very few subjects and it couldn’t establish any mile stone.