page_title: Dost Mohammad of Bhopal
section_title: Development of Bhopal
hierarchical_section_title: Dost Mohammad of Bhopal / Development of Bhopal
caption_attribution_description: English: Upper Lake (Bhoj Taal) and Takia Taapu seen from Winds and Waves restaurant near Upper Lake,Bhopal
context_page_description: Dost Mohammad Khan was the founder of the Bhopal State in central India. He founded the modern city of Bhopal, the capital of the Madhya Pradesh state.
  A Pashtun from Tirah, Dost Mohammad Khan joined the Mughal Army at Delhi in 1703. He rapidly rose through the ranks, and was assigned to the Malwa province in central India. After the death of the emperor Aurangzeb, Khan started providing mercenary services to several local chieftains in the politically unstable Malwa region. In 1709, he took on the lease of Berasia estate, while serving the small Rajput principality of Mangalgarh as a mercenary. He invited his Pashtun kinsmen to Malwa to create a group of loyal associates. Khan successfully protected Mangalgarh from its other Rajput neighbors, married into its royal family, and took over the state after the death of its heirless dowager Rani.
  Khan sided with the local Rajput chiefs of Malwa in a rebellion against the Mughal empire. Defeated and wounded in the ensuing battle, he ended up helping an injured Sayyid Hussain Ali Khan Barha, one of the Sayyid Brothers.
context_section_description: Dost Mohammad Khan ruled his state from his capital at Islamnagar. At the time of Kamlapati's death, Bhopal was a village of about 1000 people, to the south of Islamnagar. One day, during a shikar (hunting) trip, Dost Mohammad Khan and his wife Fatah Bibi decided to rest in the Bhopal village. Dost fell asleep, and dreamt that an old saint had asked him to build a fort. He told his wife about the dream, who asked him to construct a fort at the spot. This resulted in construction of Fatehgarh fort, named after Fatah Bibi. The foundation of the fort was laid on 30 August 1723. The first stone was laid by Qazi Mohammad Moazzam of Raisen, who later became the qazi (Islamic judge) of Bhopal. The fort was eventually expanded to encircle the village of Bhopal. It never fell to an enemy, and as late as 1880, the city was mainly confined to this fort.
  The first mosque of Bhopal, the Dhai Seedi Ki Masjid, was also built during this time, so that the fort guards could perform namaaz (prayers). A handwritten copy of the Quran with a Persian language translation was also kept at the fort – the book had pages of size 5x2.5 feet (this copy was later given to the Al-Azhar University by Khan's descendant Nawab Hamidullah). Dost Mohammad Khan and his family gradually started using Bhopal as their main bastion, though Islamnagar still remained the official capital of his state.
  During 1720–1726, Dost started surrounding the city with a protective wall. Thus, Bhopal was transformed from a village to a fortified town with six gates:
  Ginnori (the gate leading to Ginnorgarh)
  Budhwara (Wednesday gate)
  Itwara (Sunday gate)
  Jumerati (Thursday gate)
  Peer (Monday gate)
  Imami (used for Tazia possession on the day of Muharram)
  Bijay Ram (or Bijjeh Ram), the Rajput chieftain of Shujalpur, was made the dewan (chief minister) of the Dost's state. Being a Hindu, he helped Dost win over the local population.
caption: Before Dost Mohammad Khan's arrival, Bhopal was a village in the Gond kingdom
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