Muhammed Yusuf Khan
| Mohammed Yousaf Khan | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1725 |
| Died | 15 October 1764 |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | Mughal Empire |
| Service/branch | Nawab of Arcot |
| Rank | Sepoy, Ispahsalar |
| Battles/wars | Carnatic Wars |
Muhammed Yusuf Khan (1725 – 15 October 1764) alias Maruthanayagam Pillai was born in Panaiyur, Ramanathapuram District, Tamil Nadu, India in 1725. From humble beginnings, he became a warrior in the Arcot troops, later Commandant for the British East India Company troops. The British and the Arcot Nawab used him to suppress the Polygars (Palayakkarar) in the south of Tamil Nadu. Later he was entrusted to administrating the Madurai country when the Madurai Nayaks rule ended.
Later a dispute arose with the British and Arcot Nawab, and three of his associates were bribed to capture Yusuf Khan; he was hanged on 15 October 1764 in Madurai.
Maruthanayagam Pillai (correctly Mathuranayagam Pillai) alias Muhammed Yusuf Khan was born circa 1725 in the village of Panaiyur, in Rammnad 'country' in a Hindu farming family of vellala caste. [1] (Yusuf Khan: The Rebel Commandant by S.C.Hill-1914, page 1). (See also [2] History of Tinnevelly by Caldwell). Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (who was in the service of Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah, the Nawab of Arcot, for three years), mentions n his 'Genuine Memoirs of Asiaticus' [3] (2nd Ed 1785, page 160), that Yusuf Khan was of royal extraction and high descent. The Scots Magazine (for the year 1765, page 264) tells of a letter written by a gentleman in the East Indies to a friend in Scotland, from the military camp before Palamcottah, dated 22 October 1764 (a week after his hanging), wherein Yusuf Khan is said to be 'descended from the ancient seed of that nation'[4]. According to an ancient Tamil manuscript 'Pandiyamandalam, Cholamandalam Poorvika Raja Charithira Olungu', the Pandiyan dynasty in Madurai was founded by one Mathuranayaga Pandiyan [5]. Yusuf Khan was believed to be his descendant. To make a living, he served as a domestic hand at the residence of the French Governor Monsr Jacques Law in Pondicherry. It was here he befriended another French, Marchand (a subordinate of Jacques Law), who later became captain of the French force under Yusuf Khan in Madurai. Whether Yusuf Khan was dismissed from this job or left on his own is unclear now. He left Pondicherry, for Tanjore and joined the Tanjorean army as a sepoy (foot soldier).
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