Jawahar Singh (1814 – 21.9.1845), son of Manna Singh, was the brother of Rani Jindan and the maternal uncle of (Maharaja) Dalip Singh, the last ruler of (Maharaja) Ranjit Singh’s kingdom. He was a dog-keeper of Ranjit Singh. When Dalip Singh was installed as Maharaja, Jawahar Singh was appointed caretaker of the child-Maharaja. Later, in December 1844, after the murder of Hira Sinh Dogra, he became prime minister on May 14, 1845. Gulab Sinh Dogra and Pandit Lal Sinh Misr both wanted to be prime minister and they hated Jawahar Singh. They started making conspiracies against Jawahar Singh. Meanwhile prince Kashmira Singh, who had surrendered at Attock and was being brought to Lahore, was murdered. Jawahar Singh was involved in this murder. This infuriated the Sikh army. The army asked him to appear before the Khalsa Punchayat on September 21, 1845. He tried to win the army by distributing gold to them. When he appeared before the army, the army killed him. Ranji Jinda pleaded them to forgive him and he held Dalip Singh in his lap, with the hope that in that situation he won’t be killed but even this act could not save him. Also see: Jindan.
(Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer)