Atma Ram (politician)

Born

Peshawar, Durrani Empire^[1]
(Present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan)

OccupationMinister (government)

KnownforDominating trade between India and Turan, tax farming

OfficeDiwanbegi in Kunduz under Murad Beg

Atma Ram
आत्माराम
Lithograph of Atma Ram in Peshawar, circa 1847
Born	Peshawar, Durrani Empire[1] (Present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan)
Occupation	Minister (government)
Known for	Dominating trade between India and Turan, tax farming
Office	Diwanbegi in Kunduz under Murad Beg

Atma Ram was a Hindu minister in Khanate of Kunduz, in modern day Afghanistan, during the 1820s and 1830s. A Peshawari Hindu,^[2] he held the office of Diwanbegi in Kunduz under Murad Beg. He was said to have dominated trade between India and Turan in this period. A tax farmer, he purchased the right to collect taxes on the Kabul–Bukhara caravans. Unusually for a Hindu in an Islamic state, he was even permitted to own Muslim slaves.^[3]

There is a coloured lithograph of Atma Ram based on the work of James Rattray at the time of the First Anglo-Afghan War (1838–1842).^[1]