Bakht Khan

▪ Indian leader

born c. 1797

died 1859

      commander in chief of rebel forces in the early stages of the anti-British Indian Mutiny (1857–58).

      Related on his mother's side to the ruling house of Oudh (Ayodhya), which was deposed by the British in 1856, Bakht Khan served for a number of years as a field battery commander in the army of the British East India Company. When the rebellion broke out in May 1857, he led his troops to Delhi, where he emerged as the dominant figure in the independent Indian government proclaimed by the rebels. To control the figurehead Mughal emperor, he established a court of administration, the members of which were elected by the army and the government departments. Forced out of Delhi by the British in September, he is said to have been killed in battle during the last days of the mutiny.

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