Daud Khan Panni, Nawab Daud Khan (d.1715) was a Mughal commander and later Nawab of the Carnatic.
In the year 1661 the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb ordered Daud Khan Panni the trusted Subedar of Bihar with and army of 6,400 to defeat the rebel Pratap Rao before storming his fortress at Palamau. In 1703, Daud Khan was appointed as the Nawab of the Carnatic. Before he was made Nawab, the Emperor Aurangazeb appointed him as a leading commander of the Mughal Army in 1701, while Zulfikhar Ali Khan was the Nawab.
Daud Khan made his bases at Arcot and often received assistance from Asaf Jah I the Faujdar of the Carnatic and Talikota. During his tenure, he made frequent visits to Santhome and tried to develop it. But due to the efforts of Thomas Pitt, the then Governor of the British East India Company, Daud Khan had to defer his plans.
Like Zulfikhar Ali Khan, Daud Khan also enjoyed the confidence of the Emperor Aurangazeb and had control over all the territories south of the River Krishna. In one of his visits to Fort St. George, the streets were lined with soldiers. The line of soldiers was from the St. Thome Gate up to the Fort and the certain of the inner Fort was manned by train bands. The Governor, Thomas Pitt, conducted him into the Fort, carried him up to his lodgings. Such was the respect he commanded with the East India Company.
In the year 1710 Daud Khan Panni was recalled from the Deccan and served alongside the Mughal commander Abdus Samad Khan. Later, Daud Khan Panni was appointed as the Subedar of Gujerat by Farrukhsiyar. In a secret letter Farrukhsiyar coerced Daud Khan Panni to kill Hassan Ali Khan, and become "Viceroy of the Deccan". The growing tensions between Hassan Ali Khan and Daud Khan Panni caused a bloody skirmish near Burhanpur where Daud Khan Panni and his small group of Sawars were overwhelmed and killed by Hassan Ali Khan in the year 1715.[1]
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In the year 1702, due to continued acts of piracy at sea allegedly carried out by the English, the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb ordered Daud Khan Panni the Mughal Empire's local Subedar (lieutenant), to halt the British. Daud Khan Panni announced that his troops would survey the British and their inventory, Daud Khan Panni then sent his men into Madras with the intention of occupying large portions of the city. When the British resisted Daud Khan Panni began to besiege and blockade Fort St. George for more than three months[3], the governor of the fort Thomas Pitt was instructed by the British East India Company to vie for peace.
Thomas Pitt began garrisoning British East India Company forts by raising regiments of local Sepoy's by hiring from Hindu warrior castes, he armed them with the latest weapons and positioned them under the command of British officers in order to save Madras, his base of operations from further Mughal harassment.[4]
On 5 October 1708, Daud Khan issued a Firman granting the English East India Company and the five villages of Tiruvottiyur, Nungambakkam, Vysarpady, Kathiwakam and Sattangadu west of Tiruvottiyur.
In 1710, Daud Khan was recalled to Delhi to discharge more responsible work as Commander-in-Chief of the Mughal Army.
| Preceded by Zulfikhar Ali Khan |
Nawab of Carnatic 1703 –1710 |
Succeeded by Muhammed Saadatullah Khan I |