Mughals to provide mercenary soldier for the Mughal armies. This was appreciated by Aurangzeb and since this force of 25,000 men was given respected positions in the Mughal Army. Establishment of the Rohilla state The rise of the Rohilla state owed mainly to Ali Muhammad Khan, who succeeded Daud Khan's jagirs in 1721. Ali Muhammad Khan distinguished himself by helping in suppressing the rebellion of the Barah Sayyids under the chief Saifudddin Barha who had put the Mughal governor Marhamat Khan and all of his followers to death. As a reward Ali Muhammad Khan was given the title of Nawab by Muhammad Shah in 1737. He became so powerful that he refused to send tax revenues to the central government. Safdar Jang, the Nawab of Oudh, warned the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah of the growing power of the Rohillas. This caused Mohammed Shah to send an expedition against him as a result of which he surrendered to imperial forces. He was taken to Delhi as a prisoner, but was later pardoned and appointed governor of Sirhind. Most of his soldiers has already settled in the Katehar region during Nadir Shah's invasion of northern India in 1739 increasing the Rohilla population in the area to 100,000. Due to the large settlement of Rohilla Pashtuns, this part Katehar region came to be known as Rohilkhand. The conversion of Hindus to Islam further resulted in its rapid growth. Bareilly was made the capital of this newly formed Rohilkhand state. When Ali Muhammad Khan died, leaving six sons. However, two of his elder sons were in Afghanistan at the time of his death while the other four were too young to assume the leadership of Rohilkhand. As a result, power transferred to other Rohilla Sardars, the most important being Hafiz Rahmat Khan Barech, Najib-ud-Daula and Dundi Khan. Following the Battle of Panipat in 1761 In the third battle of Panipat (1761) one of the Rohilla Sardars, Najib-ul-Daula, allied himself with Ahmad Shah Abdali against the Marathas. He not only provided 40,000 Rohilla troops but also 70 guns to the allied. He also convinced Shuja-ul-Daula, the Nawab of Oudh, to join Ahmad Shah Abdali's forces against the Marathas. In this battle, the Marathas were defeated and as a consequence the Rohilla increased in power. The Marathas invaded Rohilkhand to retaliate against the Rohillas' participation in the Panipat war. The Marathas under the leadership of the