Talpur dynasty

The Talpur dynasty () were rulers based in Sindh, a region of present-day Pakistan. Four branches of the dynasty were established following the defeat of the Kalhora dynasty at the Battle of Halani in 1783: one ruled lower Sindh from the city of Hyderabad, another ruled over upper Sindh from the city of Khairpur, a third ruled around the eastern city of Mirpur Khas, and a fourth was based in Tando Muhammad Khan. The Talpurs were ethnically Baloch. For most of their rule, they were subordinate to the Durrani Empire and were forced to pay tribute to them. They ruled from 1783, until 1843, when they were in turn defeated by the British at the Battle of Miani and Battle of Dubbo. The northern Khairpur branch of the Talpur dynasty, however, continued to maintain a degree of sovereignty during British rule as the princely state of Khairpur, whose ruler elected to join the new Dominion of Pakistan in October 1947 as an autonomous region, before being fully amalgamated into West Pakistan in 1955. The Talpurs were ethnically Sindhi-speaking Baloch, and were descendants of Mir Sulaiman Kako Talpur, who had arrived in Sindh from Choti Bala in southern Punjab. The former rulers, the Kalhoros, had a large number of disciples from the Balochs of Dera Ghazi Khan and the Jatts of Southern Punjab, who had gained jagirs in Sindh. The Talpurs had served the Kalhora dynasty until 1775, when the Kalhora ruler had ordered the assassination of the chief of the Talpur clan, Mir Bahram Khan, leading to a revolt among the Talpurs against the Kalhora crown. Mir Shahdad Khan Talpur, the great grandfather of the founder of the Talpur dynasty, was a Mughal bureaucrat, and established the city of Shahdadpur in 1713. The Talpur dynasty was established in 1783 by Mir Fateh Ali Khan Talpur, who declared himself the first Rais, or ruler of Sindh, after defeating the Kalhoras at the Battle of Halani. Early Talpur rule was termed the First Chauyari, or "rule of four friends" - Mir Fateh along with his brothers Mir Ghulam, Mir Karam, and Mir Murad.