Armenian Warriors and Scindia Maharajas

· August 19, 2024

BY ARUNANSH B. GOSWAMI

The presence of Armenians in former Presidency towns of Calcutta and Madras in India — where in 1773, Shahamir Shahamirian, a leading Armenian nationalist published his vision of a future Armenian nation, which Armenians consider to be an attempt to draft the first-ever Constitution of an independent Armenia.

However, it may come as a surprise to most Armenians that there were flourishing Armenian settlements not just near the coasts of India, but in the very heart of India, in the state of Madhya Pradesh—which literally means ‘Central State’—in the city of Gwalior and Narwar, which was ruled by the Scindia, one of the most powerful royal families in India at the time.

One of the most powerful military generals in service of any Indian royal in 19th century, Armenian Colonel and later Brigadier Jacob Petrus (Petrosyan), lived in Gwalior. I went to visit the Armenian cemetery at Sagartal Gwalior from the grand palace of Scindias in Gwalior, where the Indian-style cenotaphs of Armenian officers have stood the test of time and still narrate the saga of the Armenian Petrosyan family that lived in this city.

Reaching the Armenian cemetery, I found it locked. I had to wait for an entire day to get the gates of the cemetery unlocked by the local councilor, but when inside, I saw the cenotaphs of Armenians clearly in an Indian style, showing the closeness of Indian and Armenian cultures. In India, Indian and Armenian army officers worked very closely in the 19th century.

The grave of an Armenian at Sagartal, Gwalior. Image Credit: Arunansh B. Goswami

Several Armenians are buried in Gwalior; one of them is Jacob Petrus, a brigadier in the army of Maharaja Daulatrao Scindia. In regard to Petrus, Indo-Armenian author Mesrovb Jacob Seth wrote, “Peace to his soul, rest to his ashes, and may the revered memory of the distinguished Brigadier be cherished and kept green for ages to be, in the progressive State of Gwalior, the pride of the Mahratta (Maratha) nation, which has given a Sivaji (Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaja), a Mahadji, and a Dawlat (Daulat) Rao to India.”

Apart from Petrus, the Armenians whose graves can be found in Gwalior are: Carapiet, son of Gaspar Bazraganbashi of Diyarbekir; Mahtesy Alexan, the son of Khoodaverdi of Salmast; Anooshka, the daughter of Stephen and wife of George Agabeg; Mariam Khanoom, the daughter of Mackertich, who was known as Shah Mirza and the wife of Simon Gregory of Hamadan; Gregory Pogose; late Rev. Martyrose David of New Julfa; Major David Jacob; Phiarikhanoom, the beloved daughter of Joseph Owen; Anna, the widow of Aviet Johanness of Bayazid; late Colonel Agah Jacob Petrus; late Moses Manook, who was a Colonel in Hyderabad, Sind; and Waness [Johanness] Gabriel.

Cenotaph of an Armenian at Sagartal, Gwalior. Image Credit: Arunansh B. Goswami

Regarding the respect and appreciation Armenians got from the Scindia Maharajas of Gwalior, Mesrovb Jacob Seth wrote, “Both the granddaughters of Colonel Jacob (Armenian) were in receipt of pensions from the Gwalior Darbar (Scindia’s government) in recognition of the valuable and meritorious services of their grandfather, and we are pleased to hear that our esteemed friend, Mr. John M. Raghelini, has been granted, in 1928, a muafi or pension of Rs. 75 per month for life, in recognition of the long and meritorious services of his great-great grandfather, Colonel Jacob (Armenian), to the Gwalior State. Verily merit has its reward in this progressive state, for whereas in British India and other countries, pensions die immediately with the pensioners, it is continued for generations in the enlightened Gwalior Raj.”

What did Petrus contribute to earn such respect from the Scindias? The answer is the efficient leadership of Scindia’s troops.

Tomb of Colonel Jacob Petrosyan

Colonel Jacob was born of respectable Armenian parents in Delhi in 1755. His father, Petrus (Peter), was a merchant from Yerevan, and his mother, Joanna, was the daughter of Elchee (Envoy) Johanness, an Armenian from Julfa, the Armenian suburb of Isfahan and the former capital of Persia, where a large Armenian colony was settled by Shah Abbas the Great in 1605. For 70 years, Jacob Petrosyan (Petrus) served the Scindias of Gwalior as an army commander.

Petrus’ troops were the most disciplined amongst the troops maintained by Scindias; he lived in his palace at Naumehalla in Gwalior and also had buildings in what is now the Morar Cantonment of the Indian Army in Gwalior. He fought at the battle of Ujjain (this city was the first capital of the Scindia Maharajas), and, for his bravery, he was made a colonel by Maharaja Daulatrao Scindia and given the command of the 1st Brigade, composed of 12 regiments of infantry, four cavalry, and one brigade artillery with 150 guns.

The colonel’s pay was 3,000 rupees, besides the revenue of the villages of Jagsowlie and Soosara, which were designated “Nankar” at Gwalior. The revenues of the three “Illaqas”‘ (districts) known as Ambah, Kutwall, Bhind, and Attair were used to pay troops under his command. This revenue was about 18 lakhs a year, the sum of which was collected by him and distributed amongst the troops. In the “Rambles and recollections of an Indian official,” Major-General Sir W. H. Sleeman writes of the Gwalior army in 1833, saying that the force at Gwalior consisted of eleven regiments under Colonel Jacob.

Petrus held the most important position amongst the officers in the battles of Maharajpur and Punniar in 1843, fought between Scindia and the British. It was after defeat in this battle that Scindia had to reduce the size of his formidable army, and most Armenian officers in his service left India—with a lot of fortune that they had acquired serving Scindias over the years.

Armenians had their own church and priest in Gwalior during the reign of Maharaja Daulatrao Scindia, who, like several of his Armenian officers, is buried in Gwalior. Colonel Jacob’s campoo (camp in Marathi), consisted of 12 pultans of 1000 men each, the officers, about 40 in number, being Armenians. According to Mesrovb Jacob Seth, “He was held in such high esteem by Scindia that the whole city of Gwalior went into mourning at his death, and during the funeral, which was largely attended by the nobility and the military officers of the state, 95-minute guns, equal in number to the years of the veteran soldier, were fired from the ramparts of the historic Fort.”

The Armenian Philanthropic Academy in India was opened on April 2, 1831. Colonel Jacob Petrus donated 2,000 rupees for this academy. Among those who studied at the Armenian Philanthropic Academy during the Rectorship of Arratoon Kaloos and his worthy pupil, Johanness Avdall, were Mackertich Emin, Thaddeus Catchick Avetoom, Arathoon Thaddeus Owen, Catchick Abraham Thomas, Thomas Malcolm, and several others.

Mackertich Emin, who distinguished himself as a scholar of great repute in the Lazareff College at Moscow, founded by the opulent Lazars of Julfa in 1815 and Arathoon Thaddeus Owen, was the author of the History of New Julfa in three volumes, printed at the press of the All-Savior’s Cathedral at New Julfa in 1880. He was the Secretary of the Cathedral at Julfa, known familiarly as “Mirza Arathoon,” for several years.

For Mesrovb, David Thaliadian’s translation of the learnt treatise of Hugo Grotius on the Truth of the Christian Religion from Latin into classical Armenian, which was submitted to the Publication Committee of Bishop’s College Calcutta, who unanimously decided to publish the work at their own press for the benefit of the Armenian nation, the late Colonel Jacob of Gwalior gave a handsome donation of Rs. 400. He also invited Armenian Bishop Pogose to Gwalior.