PREDECESSORS AND SHORT HISTORY: In
17th/18th century, the Durrani Afghans ruled this area of
Hazara and also nearby Kashmir, and upper Hazara was
administered via the Governor of Kashmir. The lower
(maidan) Hazara was administered by the Tarin
Hakim/Governor. The area that comprises Tanawal is divided
into 2 valleys i.e Lower Tanawal and Upper Tanawal,
bordering the Indus River. Lower Tanawal eventually became
part of British India (in Abbottabad district) whle Upper
Tanawal was divided into Amb and Phulra states. Till the
British times, in fact until 1849, Upper Tanawal was a
chaos-- there were three main tribes living there , the
Tanawali/Tanoli, the Gujjar and Baygal, all at
loggerheads. The Tanolis were even fighting among
themselves, two main factions of the Hindwal and Pallal.
Until 1830s, when one Tanoli chieftain, Painda Khan , was
able to establish overall dominion and establish his
power. The Tanoli dynasty of Amb starts with his son,
Jahandad Khan who was made a Nawab and given the princely
state by the British in reward for his loyalty in
1857-58.The Tanoli are a tribe of the Tanawal valley
region in the Hazara. Most members of the Tanoli tribe
reside in the former princely state of Amb in the Hazara
Division of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, in
the cities of Abbottabad, Khalabat Township, Haripur and
its district, Mansehra, Battagram and Kohistan districts.
A branch of the Tanoli tribe also resides in Kashmir,
mainly in Muzaffarabad and Srinagar. Tanolis also inhabit
the cities of Quetta and Karachi. They dominate the
Tanawal-Sherwan belt. It merged with Pakistan in 1947, and
the rulers rights and privileges came to an end in 1973.
Rulers were....
- Mir HAIBAT KHAN,
Chief of the Hindwal sept of the Tanoli tribe
1800/1803, married and had issue.
- Mir Hashim Ali Khan (qv)
- Mir Nuab Khan (qv)
- Mir HASHIM ALI KHAN,
Chief of the Hindwal sept of the Tanoli tribe
1803/1805, he gained supremacy over the Palal Tappa,
and subsequently, he and Ahamd Ali Khan Palal, Chief
of Palal tappa, married each other's sisters, Ahmad
Ali, however grew jealous of Hashim Ali's influence,
and invited him and his sister, Hashim Ali's wife,
over to his village, massacred him and his followers
numbering about 100 men, and sent his sister, the wife
of Hashim Ali to Nawab Khan, brother of Hashim Ali,
who married her. He was killed in 1805 (#2).
- Mir NUAB KHAN,
Chief of the Hindwal sept of the Tanawali tribe
1805/1818, like other chiefs of the Upper Tanawal
area, he was a vassal of the Durrani Afghans and payed
them tribute whenever they passed on their way to
Kashmir, which wasn't very often and their control was
lax; in 1817 or 1818, however, Nuab Khan, who was a
sort of freebooter and bandit, stopped an Afghan
caravan en route to Kashmir and tried to rob the old
lady who was being escorted to Kashmir, as part of
this caravan, the caravan escaped and reached Kashmir,
and the old lady, who was the mother of Sardar Azim
Khan Durrani , Governor of Kashmir, reported the
matter to her son, who at once sent a troop to capture
Nuab Khan in Hazara, this was done with no difficulty
at all, and as a punishment, Nuab Khan was sown up in
a buffalo's hide and thrown into the Indus, where he
drowned, married (amongst others), the sister of Ahmad
Ali Khan Palal, Chief of Palal tappa (widow of his
brother, Hashim Ali Khan, see above), and had issue.
He was killed in 1818.
- Mir Painda Khan (qv)
- Mir Madad Khan, Khan of Phulera, received from his
brother, Phulera of 88 km�, a small principality to
rule, which was later duly recognized as a Princely
State in gazette notifications in 1919 and 1921,
married and had issue. He died 1878.
- Khan Abdullah Khan, Khan of Phulera, married and
had issue. He died 1888.
- Khan Abdulrahman Khan, Khan of Phulera,
married and had issue. He died 1897.
- Khan Muhammed Khan, Khan of Phulera, born
1879, died 1935.
- Khan Ata Muhammed Khan, Khan of Phulera. His
descendants live in Mansehra quite destitute,
due to extensive litigation, and there appears
to be no recognized head of this branch of the
family.
- Mir PAINDA KHAN,
Chief of the Hindwal sept of the Tanawali tribe
1818/1843, when his father was captured by the
vengeful Afghans, he escaped across the Indus into
tribal territory and did not dare return until
1820-21, when the Sikhs had taken over Hazara from the
Afghans; afterwards he was able to establish overall
dominion and power in the 1830's; he vigorously
opposed the Sikhs, but lost all his territory to them,
except for the tract around Amb, married and had
issue. He died 1843.
- Nawab JAHANDAD KHAN,
1st Nawab of Amb 1843/1858 or 1840/1868, recovered
part of the lost territiories with the help of the
British Government and the Maharaja of Kashmir, he was
granted the territory of Amb in reward for his loyalty
in 1857-58; married and had issue. He died 1858.
- Nawab Bahadur Sir Muhammed Akram Khan (qv)
- Nawab Bahadur Sir
MUHAMMED AKRAM KHAN, Nawab of Amb 1858/1907,
born 1849, Nawab [cr.1868], Nawab Bahadur [cr.1868]
(personal), at the same time he received a cash
allowance of 500Rs per month, C.S.I. [cr.1871],
K.C.S.I. [cr.1889], (#1) , he also enjoys
a jagir of the annual value of 9,000Rs in the Haripur
tahsil of Hazara District, married and had
issue. He died 1907.
- Nawabzada Muhammed Afzal Khan
- HH Nawab Bahadur Sir Khan-i-Zaman Khan (qv)
- HH Nawab Bahadur
Sir KHAN-i-ZAMAN KHAN, Nawab of Amb
1907/1936, born 1877, K.C.I.E. [cr.1921], he was
granted the style of His Highness in 1919, and the
title of Nawab Bahadur in 1921, married and had issue.
He died 26th February 1936.
- HH Nawab Muhammed Farid Khan (qv)
- HH Nawab Bahadur
Sir MUHAMMED FARID KHAN K.B.E., Nawab of Amb
1936/1971, born 1893, married and had issue. He died
1977.
- HH Nawab Bahadur
SAEED KHAN, Nawab of Amb 1971/1972 and Head
of the Tanoli Family 1972/1973, born 1934, married and
had issue. He died 1973.
- HH Nawab Bahadur Salahuddin Khan (qv)
- HH Khonza Begum Ismat, married HH Mehtar Muhammed Saif ul-Mulk
Nasir of Chitral,
and has issue.
- Nawabzada Jahangir Saeed Tanoli
- HH Nawab Bahadur
SALAHUDDIN KHAN, Nawab of Amb (see above)
The help of John Duncan McMeekin, is gratefully
acknowledged, January 2011.
The help of Zameer Ahmad is gratefully
acknowledged, April 2016. |