Dulla Bhatti
| Dulla Bhatti | |
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Buried at Miani Sahib Qabristan (Graveyard)
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| Born | mid-16th century Pindi Bhattian, Punjab, (modern day Pakistan) |
| Died | 1599 Lahore, Punjab, (modern day Pakistan) |
| Other names | Abdullah Bhatti |
Dulla Bhatti (popularly referred to as the "Son of Punjab" or "Robin Hood of Punjab", sometimes spelled Dulha Bhatti and also known as Abdullah Bhatti) (died 1599) came from the Punjab region of medieval India who led a revolt against Mughal rule during the rule of the emperor Akbar.
The deeds of Bhatti are recounted in folklore and took the form of social banditry. According to Ishwar Dayal Gaur, although he was "the trendsetter in peasant insurgency in medieval Punjab", he remains "on the periphery of Punjab's historiography".
Dulla Bhatti lived at Pindi Bhattian in Punjab, and came from a Muslim Rajput family of hereditary local rural chiefs of the zamindar class. Both his father, Farid, and his grandfather, variously called Bijli or Sandal, were executed for opposing the new and centralised land revenue collection scheme imposed by Akbar. Dulla was born to Ladhi four months after the death of his father.
Coincidentally, Akbar's son, Shaikhu (later known as Jahangir), was born on the same day. Advised by his courtiers that Shaikhu's future bravery and success would be ensured if the child was fed by a Rajput woman, Akbar gave that responsibility to Ladhi despite her connection to a man who had rebelled against the Mughal throne. This decision appears to have its basis in realpolitik: Akbar perceived that Ladhi was resentful, that Bhatti might become the third generation of rebel and that royal favour might offset this.
A part of the royal patronage was that Bhatti attended school. Although at that time unaware of the fate of his ancestors, he refused to accept the strictures that were intended to mould him into a good citizen and objected to being a part of an establishment that was designed to produce elites. He left to engage instead in childish mischief-making.
A chance remark led to Ladhi having to explain the fate of Farid and Bijli to her son. Gaur says that this caused his general anti-authoritarian, rebellious nature to "crystallise" with the Akbar regime as its target, although not as a means of revenge specifically for the deaths of his relatives but in the wider sense of the sacrifices made by rural people generally. Bhatti saw this, says Gaur, as a "peasant class war".
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Wikipedia