(Maharaja) Ranjit Singh and His Kingdom (1799-1893)
{By: Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer}
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Ranjit Singh’s occupation of Lahore
Attack on Kasur
Occupation of Amritsar
Ranjit Singh captured Multan
Ranjit Singh crushes the other Sikh Misls too
Appointment of European Generals
Ranjit Singh in the clutches of Dogras and Brahmins
The Dogras & the Brahmins
Truth of the Stories Associated with Ranjit Singh
Ranjit Singh and the English
Ranjit Singh and the Sikh way of life
Death of Ranjit Singh
Kharak Singh crowned and deposed
Murder of Naunihal Singh
Chand Kaur becomes Queen
Sher Singh becomes Maharaja
Murder of Sher Singh & Dhian Sinh Dogra
Daleep Singh becomes Maharaja
Suchet Sinh Dogra killed
Killing of Baba Bir Singh and others
Mass enrolling of Dogras in army
Insulting Rani Jindan
Murder of Hira Sinh and Pandit Jallah
Murder of Jawahar Singh
The English plans to occupy the Punjab
Battle of Mudki
Battle of Pherushahr
Ranjodh Singh‟s attack on Ludhiana
Battle of Sabraon
The English crossed Satluj River
Awards and rewards to the Traitors
Treaty of 11.3.1846
Background of the traitors
Treaty of Bharowal
Rani Jindan imprisoned
Rewarding the traitor Teja Sinh
Rani Jindan expelled from Lahore
Revolt at Multan
Chatar Singh Attariwala
Injustice to Sher Singh Attariwala
Battle of Ramnagar
Battle of Chelianwala
Battle of Gujrat
The Attariwalas surrender & the annexation of the Punjab
Bhai Maharaj Singh
Arrest of Bhai Maharaj Singh
Struggle by Rani Jindan
Rani Jindan escapes from prison
Rani Jindan gives up courage
Rani reaches England
Last days of Daleep Singh
(Maharaja) Ranjit Singh
On the 23rd of October 1772 Ahmed Shah Durrani died; he was succeeded by his son Taimur; though he (Taimur) lived till the 18th of May 1793, he could never establish himself in the Sikh Homeland; his only victory was recapturing of Multan from the Bhangi Misl in 1780. In 1793, Taimur‟s son Shah Zaman became the chief of Kabul; he tried to follow the footsteps of his grandfather, Ahmed Shah Durrani; he attacked the Punjab four time (15.12.1793, 3.11.1795, 12.10.1796 and September 1798); and during these attacks he fought two major battles against the Sikhs in which he suffered heavy losses; he left Amritsar on the 4th of January 1799, never to return again as an aggressor; this was the end of Afghan invaders to the land of the Sikhs.
Ranjit Singh’s occupation of Lahore
Bhangi Mils occupied Lahore in 1765, and from 1765 to 1799, they ruled Lahore; though during this period they vacated the city, for short intervals, in order to avoid battle against Ahmed Shah Durrani and his successors; in 1799, Chet Singh Bhangi was the rule of Lahore; he was born in a „ruling‟ family; though he had been born in a Sikh family but he had no wish to live the life of a religious person; he always considered himself as a ruler and his subjects like slaves; he was haughty, aggressive, vain and unjust; he would never tolerate anyone disobeying his orders nor would he allow finding faults with him; this went on for some time, but, in June 1799, he took such a step that turned almost all the umraa and the elite of the city into his opponents; due to a minor incident, he became angry with Bada-ud-Din (who was an honest, nice and generous person) and ordered his arrest; some prominent residents of the city went to Chet Singh and requested him to release him but he did not bother; this compelled the elite of Lahore to ponder over possible replacement of Chet Singh with a suitable administrator; Hakim Hakam Rai, Mian Ashiq Mohammed, Mian Mohkam Din, Mohammed Baqir, Mufti Mohammed, Bhai Gurbakhsh Singh and some others held a meeting and short-listed some names who could be possible rulers of Lahore; finally, the name of Ranjit Singh of Sukarchakkia Misl was agreed upon by all of them as a consensus man. Ranjit Singh was a young man of nineteen years of age and was popular as a capable administrator of his State Gujranwala; the Lahore elite sent a signed request to Ranjit Singh to take over the city of Lahore; the letter assured him that all the ministers, umraa and religious personalities would extend him complete help. Ranjit Singh discussed this letter with his mother-in-law Sada Kaur, the chief of Nakkai Misl; she asked Ranjit Singh to give consent to the offer and assured him of her complete support (and when he marched to Lahore, she herself led her army to fight alongside him).
By this time, the institution of ‘sarbat khalsa‘ was almost dead; after the death of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (1783), the leaders of the Dal Khalsa could not choose their leader; even before 1783, some Misls had begun ignoring the Jathedar of the Dal Khalsa and they were intent upon capturing power even if they had to kill hundreds of Sikhs (of the other Misls); it was the beginning of the disintegration of the nation; it was the starting point of the destruction of the unity, brotherhood and religious cohesion in the Sikh Panth; it could have been stopped had steps been taken before 1783 but, soon, within a few years, almost all the leaders of the first line, who were impeccable, blemish less, true Sikhs began leaving this mortal world; their successors were young boys who were neither well versed in the Sikh philosophy nor had they suffered at the hands of the cruel regime of the Mughals; hence they did not have milk of human kindness, feeling of fraternity and national cohesion; and many of them had the feeling of being ‘royal’ and blue-blooded and some were still high-headed and haughty; they had a monster in their minds; hence, none could stop this reverse-gear. Invitation to Ranjit Singh to wrest Lahore from the Bhangis was the final blow to the feeling of fraternity, and it was the beginning of civil war, capturing power (and later amassing wealth) and other anti-Sikh environment. Like the days of ashvamedh yagya (taking horse through some area, with a declaration that the territory, through which that horse had passed, would be the kingdom of the owner of the horse), Ranjit Singh was now expected to begin his ‘ashvamedh yagya’ through the territory of the Sikh Misls.
On the 5th of July 1799, Ranjit Singh and his mother-in-law, along with five thousand soldiers, reached the outskirts of Lahore; Ranjit Singh sent a message to those prominent persons who had invited him and had assured of complete help; when they received Ranjit Singh‟s message, several Sikh, Muslim and Hindu personalities formed a deputation and visited the camp of Ranjit Singh; they asked Ranjit Singh to march towards the city in the wee hours of the following day and promised that they would assure that the gates of the city are opened to let his army enter; by that time, the leaders of the Bhangi Misl did not have any apprehension of any such action.
As per planning, Ranjit Singh entered the city without any difficulty; he occupied all the key places of the city and besieged the fort; at that time, Chet Singh Bhangi did not have many soldiers inside the fort; in spite of this the tried to resist Ranjit Singh‟s army from capturing the fort but this battle could not last long as he (Chet Singh) had realized that he won‟t be able to fight for a long time; so, he agreed to surrender the fort too; Ranjit Singh offered him a jagir and gave him farewell. (This pattern of granting Jagirs was not in consonance with the Sikh principles; Banda Singh Bahadur had brought an end to the feudal class but Ranjit Singh revived it again and he promoted this institution to such an extent that it gave a major blow to the Sikh polity).
Though Chet Singh left Lahore but he did not accept it from the core of his heart; he had not accepted this of his own choice, rather he had no other option except loose his life or accept the terms. Now, he contacted other Bhangi leaders (including Gulab Singh Bhangi and Sahib Singh of Gujrat) as well as the leaders of the Ramgarhia Misl and discussed the situation; he even contacted the Muslim chief of the Kasur. All of them agreed to help him; so, in the second half of February 1801, the armies of Bhangis, Ramgarhias and the Chief of Kasur began a march towards Lahore; they put up their camps at village Bhasin, a few kilometres from Lahore; on the other hand, Ranjit Singh too sent his forces to fight against them; for some days, small skirmishes took place but it did not lead to a full-fledged battle; and without a major battle, it was not possible for them to capture Lahore; Chet Singh and his companions remained in bewilderment of the consequences, hence could not decide the course of launching a major action; as a result, they became despondent, and, in this frame of mind Chet Singh and Gujjar Singh Bhangi began drinking alcohol so much that the latter became unconscious and died on the 28th of February 1801, at village Katani; after his death, the invading army became disheartened and began leaving the battle field; thus, this crisis came to an end without the deaths of the hundreds and even thousands of Sikhs on both the sides.
But, this „victory further boosted the spirits of Ranjit Singh; now he began thinking of capturing the territory of the other Misls as well. Besides, the 21 years old young Ranjit Singh was so much intoxicated with power that he wished to be crowned as „Maharaja‟; and to fulfil his ambition, he invited Sahib Singh Bedi (a direct descendant of Guru Nanak Sahib) to Lahore and held a special session in his court, on the first of Visakh month (corresponding to the11th of April 1801 C.E. i.e. current era); during this function, Ranjit Singh performed all the Hindu rituals of the crowning of an emperor; Sahib Singh Bedi performed the priestly role and anointed Ranjit Singh like a Hindu king.
This was a major blow to the Sikh polity and philosophy; all that had been rejected by Gurus was adopted by Ranjit Singh; Guru Nanak had rejected even minor ceremony of janeo (the so-called sacred thread) but Ranjit Singh chose to establish hegemony of the Hindu rituals and the priesthood (a concept alien to Sikhism); Ranjit Singh was not the first Sikh ruler; the Sikhs had been ruling their homeland right since 1709 when Banda Singh captured Samana and Sarhind in the following year. Leave alone performing of anointing ceremony of crowning as „Patshah/Maharaja, Banda Singh Bahadur did not even allow anyone even to address him as Sahib; on the other hand, whenever he captured a territory, he would grant its reigns to that general whosoever had played maximum role in capturing that territory.
Attack on Kasur
After capturing Lahore in July 1799, Ranjit Singh did not march to any State immediately; he wanted to observe the reaction of the other Sikhs Misls; hence, for the next 19-20 months (from July 1799 to February 1801), he administrated Lahore in a nice manner and convinced the people that he was a selfless servant of the people. In February 1801, when the Bhangis led forces to reoccupy Lahore, the Ramgarhia Misl and the Muslim chief of Kasur joined them; even after this abortive mission, Ranjit Singh did not react against the Bhangis and the Ramgarhias; rather, he decided to punish the Muslim chief of Kasur as he knew that no Sikh Misl will join hands with the Muslim army. At this, the chief of Kasur approached the Bhangis but they did not show any interest, as a result the Kasur chief had to make a compromise with Ranjit Singh; he paid tribute to Ranjit Singh and saved his State from plunder and destruction; he, however, paid the tribute only for one year and Ranjit Singh had to march against him the next year too; now, Ranjit Singh charged tribute and penalty both; in 1806, the chief of Kasur again refused to comply and this time Ranjit Singh did not forgive him; at this, Ranjit Singh occupied Kasur and in stead granted the fort of Mamdot and some estate to the chief of Kasur.
Even after attack on Kasur, Ranjit Singh did not turn to an Sikh territory; and, between 1802 and 1808, Ranjit Singh captured territory of some other minor Muslims chiefs; e.g. in November 1802, he captured Shahjahanpur (now Phagwara), followed by Hoshiarpur, Bajwara, Hujra Shah Mukim (from Sayyads), Kamalia (from Kharals), Pindi Bhattian (from Bhattis), Pindi Ghaib (from Nawab Khan Jodhran), Fateh Jang area (from Mohammed Khan Ghaiba).
Occupation of Amritsar
Having subjugated Kasur and some minor Muslim chieftains, Ranjit Singh turned his attention to Amritsar; this, was his first action against a Sikh state: though Amritsar was no major city at that time but Ranjit Singh wanted to occupy the Darbar Sahib and Akal Takht, the centres of the Sikh psyche; to translate his mind into action, he borrowed a gun from Jai Singh of Kanhaiya Misl and marched to Amritsar in 1804; having reached Amritsar, he did not exhibit his intention to occupy the city; he went to the fort of the Bhangis and sent a message to the son of Gulab Singh Bhangi asking him to lend his cannon (known as Bhangian Wali Top), which the latter refused; on this excuse (of refusal to lend the cannon) Ranjit Singh attacked the fort and occupied it; Gulab Singh‟s son was killed in the battle; after this, Ranjit Singh expelled his mother (wife of Gulab Singh Bhangi) from the fort and compelled her to run for shelter; thus, on the 25th of February 1804, Ranjit Singh occupied Amritsar too. Akali Phula Singh, who was present in his camp (in Akalian Di Chhavni) in the city, did not interfere; he did not try to stop Ranjit Singh nor did he play any role to usher a compromise between the Bhangis and Ranjit Singh; none other Sikh Sirdar or general protest Ranjit Singh‟s action. The occupation of Amritsar assured Ranjit Singh that he could crush all other Misls as none would come forward to help anyone.
Ranjit Singh captured Multan
After Lahore, Multan was most important state of the Mughal empire; in 1803, Ranjit Singh had made an attempt to capture it but the Pathan occupants gave him a tough fighting to preserve their control; finally, long siege of the city and the fort and scarcity of food compelled Ranjit Singh to lift the siege and postpone his expedition. After this, he made five more attempts (in 1805, 1807, 1810, 1816 and 1817); finally, on 30th of May 1817, with the help of Akali Phula Singh, Ranjit Singh succeeded in capturing Multan; in 1818, Ranjit Singh occupied Sialkot too.
Ranjit Singh crushes the other Sikh Misls too
In 1805, Ranjit Singh had begun capturing territory of the other Sikh states; the first to be grabbed was the territory of Jassa Singh Dullu and Dal Singh in the Rachna Doab area; after this he wrested the control of the territory of Jodh Singh Bajwa in Chajj-Doab area; in 1807, when Tara Singh Ghaiba died, Ranjit Singh went to Rahon to express his condolence and occupied his territory and expelled his widow from the fort of Rahon after snatching all her wealth; later, he occupied his (Tara Singh’s) territory of Nakodar zone too; after some time, he expelled the Kangs from Phillaur and occupied this town and fort too; his next assault was on the territory of Baghel Singh; he expelled the widow of Baghel Singh and occupied Haryana (present Hoshiarpur district); she could not brave this insult and died soon after; then, Ranjit Singh occupied her rest of the territory too.
After this, Ranjit Singh seized Pathankot from Tara Singh Sandhu, Sujanpur from Budh Singh Bagga, Dinanagar from Ghulab Singh Khehra, Chamiari from the Randhawas, and Maruf area from Budh Singh.
Ranjit Singh‟s next target was his own mother-in-law, Sada Kaur; he treacherously invited her to Lahore and interned her; after this he occupied her territory; she spent eleven years in Ranjit Singh prison and died there broken-hearted. It was very cruel on the part of Ranjit Singh to insult and torture her because Sada Kaur did not have any son and after her death, her estate would have been inherited by her maternal grandson Sher Singh (son of Ranjit Singh).
In 1809, before signing a treaty with the British, Ranjit Singh had occupied Sheikhupura and Kangra (on the 20th of August 1808); the treaty with the English stopped his advances towards the eastern side of river Satluj and he began capturing territories towards the west of Satluj: in January 1810, he captured Gujrat and Khushab; in February 1810 he occupied Sahiwal; in June Hallowal, Doda and Wazirabad; and in November Daska too. In 1811, he grabbed the Rachna-Doab territory of the Singhpuria and Nakkai Misls; in 1813, he wrested control of Attock; in September 1815, he grabbed the territory of the Ramgarhia Misl, and in 1818 he captured Jhang.
Among the Muslim territories, he captured Kashmir in July 1819, Mankera in 1821 and Naushehra in 1824; by this time, he was the emperor of the whole territory between Sindh and Satluj rivers, except Kapurthala state (Ahluwalia Misl territory); similarly, the hill states of Jammu, Kangra, Akhnur, Bhimber, Lakhanpur, Nurpur (Dahmala), Guler, Siba, Kotla, Jaswan, Datarpur etc too were a part of his territory; meaning thereby, Ranjit Singh had subjugated most of the Sikh Misls, Mughals, Balochs, Afghan, Dogras and Shivalik hill Rajput states. After 1824, Ranjit Singh captured even Dera Ismail Khan (in 1831), Peshawar (in 1834) and Bannu, Kohat and Dera Ghazi Khan (in 1836).
Appointment of European Generals
Ranjit Singh had conquered all his territory with the help of the Sikh army, and, the Sikh soldiers had sacrificed their lives with the aim of freeing the Sikh homeland from the foreign rulers. He had been exploiting the Sikhs emotions in the name of religion and „Khalsa darbar‟ and „Khalsa sarkar‟. His army, which had strength of 5000 in 1799, had swelled to about eighty thousand2 in 1820 (and about one lakh at the time of his death in 1839); he had 300 cannons, twenty thousand guns and about fifty thousand horses. By this time, he had captured most of his territory and all this was due to sacrifices by the Sikh soldiers; no non-Sikh general or courtier had played „major role‟ in establishing this empire.
In 1822, when two French generals (Allard and Ventura) visited him and expressed their wish to join his army; he appointed them and offered big salaries; after this, he appointed several more European generals in his army. It is strange that Ranjit Singh was not even aware of the nationality of some of his generals and he had no criteria for their selection; he offered them good salaries simply because they were European/white (firangis/goraas) men;3 Ranjit Singh had appointed 20 English, 4 American, 5 Italian, 24 French, 4 Russian, 4 Greek, 3 Scottish, 2 German, 1 Irish, 1 Austrian, 1 Hungarian, 1 Portuguese and 1 Prussian general; some of them had regular contact with the English and the East India Company; and some of them „sold‟ secrets to the English army.
Ranjit Singh appointed the Europeans to high offices and also paid them very big salaries, which were even 500 times more than of a Sikh in the same rank/position; Ranjit Singh even changed the uniform of the Sikh soldiers as per the advice of the Europe generals.
Ranjit Singh in the clutches of Dogras and Brahmins
When Ranjit Singh became settled on his throne and had sufficient command of military and economic sources, he began behaving in the fashion of his predecessor (Mughal) rulers: soon, he began enjoying a luxurious life; he began drinking and enjoying carnal pleasure; in 1802, i.e. within three years of capturing Lahore, he married a Muslim dancer; he was so infatuated towards this dancer Moran that he married her in spite of the fact that she refused to convert to Sikhism; he also built a special mosque in the Lahore fort for her prayers. By this time Brahmins like Khushal Chand (later Khushal Singh) and the Dogras too had succeeded in joining his army and administration:4 as soon as they entered jobs, they began observing the weaknesses of Ranjit Singh; they found that he had a weakness for girls and intoxicants; hence they began arranging for strong whiskey and young pretty girls to please Ranjit Singh; besides Ranjit Singh was fond of flattery too and the Brahmins and the Dogras were expert in this art; as a result, the Dogras and the Brahmins became favourites of Ranjit Singh and he granted them high positions in his court and even in his household; the posts of chamberlain, treasurer, finance officer, scribe etc. all were with the Brahmins of Hindustan or with the Dogras of Jammu.
The Dogras
Among all these, most dangerous were Dogra Kishora Sinh and his three sons (Gulab Sinh, Dhian Sinh and Suchet Sinh); Kishora Sinh was the cousin5 of Raja Jit Sinh (son of Ranjit Dev, who had been one of the major enemies of the Sikhs during the time of Banda Singh Bahadur) from whom Ranjit Singh had wrested the country of Jammu and Kashmir in 1815. The first to enter the service of Ranjit Singh was Kishora Sinh, followed by his sons; Kishora Singh was expert in flattery and Ranjit Singh soon fell into his trap; and, in 1821, he (Ranjit Singh) crowned Kishora Sinh even as Raja of Jammu; it was first major foolish action by Ranjit Singh and as the Dogras immediately began establishing their personal control in the whole of the state.
In 1822, Kishora Sinh died and Gulab Sinh replaced him; by this time Ranjit Singh had already crowned some others as Raja too but they were not allowed to have their own private army; Gulab Sinh was the first to form his private army;7 after this, within a couple of years Gulab Sinh‟s brother Suchet Sinh too became a Raja (of Ramnagar); and by his time Dhian Sinh had been elevated as Raja-Kalan (senior Raja); in 1827, Dhian Sinh‟s son Hira Sinh, who was in his teens, too became Raja.
The Dogras had influenced Ranjit Singh so much that he would go to any extent to help them even when they were utterly wrong and even unjust. In 1828, Raja Anirudh Chand (of Kangra) visited Kapurthala to attend the marriage of Nihal Singh (son of Fateh Singh Ahluwalia); his mother and two sisters also accompanied him; when the marriage ceremony was over, Dhian Sinh Dogra approached Ranjit Singh and asked him to mediate for the marriage of his son Hira Sinh with one of the princesses from Kangra (sisters of Anirudh Chand and daughters of late Raja Sansar Chand); when Ranjit Singh talked to Anirudh Chand, he dared not refuse, so he avoided the situation by promising to discuss the same with his mother. The Katoch rulers knew that Dhian Sinh Dogra was a descendant of an illegitimate child of a Raja hence almost untouchable for a royal family; so, fearing wrath of Ranjit Singh, Anirudh Chand, his mother and sisters left Kapurthala secretly and escaped to the British territory; when Ranjit Singh received information of the action of Anirudh Chand, he installed one of the illegitimate children of Sansar Chand as the new ruler of Kangra. On the other hand, Anirudh Chand’s mother, who had taken this insult to her heart, could not survive this shock and died within a few days; soon, Anirudh, too followed her. Now, the two sisters had no resort, hence they had to return to Kangra; after this, Ranjit Singh forced both the girls to marry him (Ranjit Singh).
The Brahmins
Besides the Dogras, the other to grab power in Ranjit Singh‟s darbar, were the Brahmins from Hindustan (now known as Uttra Pradesh); among them, Misr Beli Ram was the in charge of the treasure of Ranjit Singh; he was also responsible for issuing religious grants; and he made Ranjit Singh issue lavish grants to the descendants of the Bedis and Sodhis; the Udasis, Nirmalas10 as well as the Hindu temples at Thanesar, Jawala, Kangra, Jammu, Benaras too received large amounts of money; the temples at Tilla Gorakh Nath, Dhianpur, Pandori, Dhamtal also received heavy grants; so much so that Ranjit Singh sent 36 maunds (about 1000 kg) of gold for gold-plating a Hindu temple at Kashi/Benaras (now Varanasi).11 Besides, the Brahmin minister of Ranjit Singh got the land of Darbar Sahib Amritsar granted to the Udasis and the other non-Sikh and anti-Sikh cults; today, there are several such sites which are, in fact, the property of Darbar Sahib (as the land of the whole of the town had been purchased by Guru Ram Das in 1564 from the owners of the village Tung; and there was no non-Sikh shrine in Amritsar up to 1804.
Under the patronage of the Brahmin minister of Ranjit Singh, the „priests‟, „sarbrahs‟ (managers) of Darbar Sahib and other shrines received good salaries, lavish grants, precious gifts; and, besides these people also embezzled offerings of the devotees; however, this made them loyal to the Brahmin minister and the Dogras (and, later, to the British rulers). A look at the daily diaries of Ranjit Singh (in Umdatut Twareekh) shows that more than 75% of the grant of Ranjit Singh went to the Hindu shrines; 10% to the Gurdwaras and 15% to other non-Sikh centres. So much so that Ranjit Singh had appointed a Brahmin, Rulia Ram Misr as the tax collector of Amritsar.12 These centres produced several books to distort Sikhism and Gurbani and preached anti-Sikh worship, rituals and philosophy; it was due to anti-Sikh activities of these Brahmins and Dogras that Akali Phula Singh left Amritsar and moved to Anandpur Sahib.
Ranjit Singh was so inept that he could not understand that the Dogras and the Brahmins had taken de facto control of his court, especially his treasury, army, administration, and finally, his crown too; they achieved great success in keeping Ranjit Singh away from think-tank; no intelligent person was allowed to have access to Ranjit Singh; similarly, all the Sikhs were practically debarred from becoming an advisor to him; hence one could easily presume the future of such a kingdom which was at the mercy of cunning insider enemies.
To fight battles and capture territories Akali Phula Singh, Hukma Singh Chimni, Nidhan Singh Panjhatha, Nihal Singh and Sham Singh Attariwalas, Hari Singh Nalwa, Dhanna Singh Malwai, Majithias, Chhachhi Sirdars and Ahluwalias made great sacrifices; but, none of these were a part of Ranjit Singh‟s cabinet; he patronised only Dogras (Gulab Sinh, Dhian Sinh, Suchet Sinh, Hira Sinh etc), Brahmins (Bhiwani Das, Khushal Chand/Sinh, Ram Sinh Bhaiya, Sukh Raj, Misr Beli Ram, Misr Ganga Ram, Rup Lal, Kishan Lal, Ayudhiya Parshad, Dina Nath, Diwan Chand etc); and both of these groups were non-Sikhs as well as non-Punjabis. Ranjit Singh did have some Punjabis too but all of them were either Hindus (Mohkam Chand, Dhanpat Rai, Moti Ram, Sawan Mall, Kirpa Ram, Sukh Dyal, Sarab Dyal, Athar Mall Chopra etc) or Muslims (Aziz-ud-Din and his two brothers); Gobind Ram and Ram Singh sons of Wasti Ram) too received grants and respect from Ranjit Singh.
If Hari Singh Nalwa, Attariwalas or any other Sikh general got appointed as Governor of some territory for some period, it was only in those lands where there was higher possibility of rebellions and a strong army officer was needed to establish rule of law; but, once there was peace, the Sikh general would be replaced by a non-Sikh governor or administrator.
Having seen the state of affairs in the Lahore Darbar, Akali Phula Singh protested but Ranjit Singh did not mend his ways. In 1837, Hari Singh Nalwa suggested him (Ranjit Singh) that as the empire has been achieved due to sacrifices of thousands of Sikhs, so he should form a council of five senior Sikhs and sign a will that after his departure these five Sikhs shall look after the empire.13 When Dogras came to know about such movement they convinced Ranjit Singh that the empire was his own kingdom and he should appoint his eldest son as his successor; at the same time, the Dogras chalked out a conspiracy to eliminate Hari Singh Nalwa; and within a few weeks they succeeded in removing Nalwa from the scene. This was how Ranjit Singh‟s own kitchen cabinet (Brahmins and Dogras) first controlled him, and then eliminated the well wishers of the Sikh land and finally conspired to kill all his successors (and they succeeded in this plan).
Truth of the Stories Associated with Ranjit Singh
Several stories, to establish Ranjit Singh as a very generous king, have been concocted in the past fifty years, apparently to elevate his personality; some of such stories are:
Such stories like that of Akbar and other generous rulers had also been concocted by their admirers, bards, poets etc but most of these are exaggeration. In case of Ranjit Singh, it is a well known fact that due to security reasons he never wandered through streets; hence such intimate contacts were impossible; secondly, his daily diary Umdatut Twareekh has recorded even minute details of his reign but there is no mention of, or even minor or indirect reference to, any of such stories; similarly, Zafarnama Ranjit Singh (by Amar Nath) is almost like a diary of his court and that too does not mention any of such events. It, however, does not mean that Ranjit Singh did not have any positive points: he never condemned any criminal to death, not even his enemies; he did not do injustice to common folk; he charged less revenue as compared to the Mughals and Afghans.14
Ranjit Singh and the English
By 1808, Ranjit Singh had become the most powerful ruler of the Punjab; he was perhaps the most powerful Punjabi ruler of past, present and even, perhaps, future. So far, history has recorded only two remarkable rulers of this zone: Porus and Ranjit Singh (but Porus was a ruler of territory between two rivers- Jehlum and Raavi- only; hence his kingdom was just a tiny part of Ranjit Singh‟s territory); Porus, though ruler of a small state had challenged and fought against a mighty power like that of Alexander „the Great‟ (Sikander); but, on the other hand, Ranjit Singh, in spite of such a big state and might, did not take much time to sign a treaty with the English perhaps because he dreaded them. Ranjit Singh entered two treaties with the British, on the 1st of January 180615 and on the 25th of April 1809.
Before these treaties, once, in 1802, when Appa Sahib (Appa Rao), the ruler of Nagpur was defeated by the English, he came to Lahore and sought his help; Appa Sahib had, with him, a lot of wealth too; but, Ranjit Singh refused to help him too as a result he moved to Kangra and began living there.
Again, in 1805, when Marhatta leader Jaswant Rao Holkar was being chased by the English forces, he reached the Punjab and sought help from Ranjit Singh; at this, Ranjit Singh called a meeting of the Sarbat Khalsa (the chiefs of the Sikh Misls) and sought their advice regarding helping Holkar; and after deliberation with them, finally, he refused to help Holkar (but through Fateh Singh Ahluwalia he ushered a compromise between the English and the Marhatta leader). This was an unwise step of Ranjit Singh; at that time the Misls were still powerful and the Sikh soldiers could have fought against the English with national spirit; and the Sikhs and the Marhattas as a united force, would have pushed the English away from the north and west side of the India sub continent. It was after this incident that Ranjit Singh signed two treaties with the English and stopped his ventures beyond Satluj river; and after this, he began capturing territory of the Sikh Misls.
Had Ranjit Singh challenged the English in 1802 or 1805, the map of the Punjab and the Sikh Homeland would have been altogether different: in 1845-46 and 1848-49, the Sikhs and the English fought several battles; by this time, the national spirit among the Sikh soldiers had disappeared, and moreover they did not have good weapons, they were almost leader-less, they braved a very high treason; in spite of this they gave at least three crushing defeats16 to the English and they lost only because of treachery. But, in 1802 and 1805, the Sikh soldiers were very powerful; they could have easily pushed the English far beyond Yamuna river and probably up to Ganges.
Ranjit Singh and the Sikh way of life
When, in 1799, Ranjit Singh helped the Lahore folk in getting freedom from unjust rule of the Bhangi rulers, in spite of breaking the tradition of Sarbat Khalsa, he was still following Sikh philosophy; but, when he got established as a ruler of Lahore and captured a vast territory, he began behaving as former rulers. Though he was not unjust to common folk, but he began living his life in contradiction to the Sikh ideology: in 1801, he got himself declared as a Maharaja; it was followed by egocentricity, haughtiness, narcissism, vanity, love for flattery, luxurious and sensuous life, use of alcohol, opium and other intoxicant etc; and this life style was totally un-Sikh like.
In just a few years he had begun living the sensuous life of an average vain Mughal ruler: he had several wives and concubines and a Muslim dancer girl Moran was one of them; and still strange it was that the dancer-wife Moran was his favourite; and he expressed his weakness for this woman openly even before the English officers too. Moran used to accompany him where he would go and when he went for pilgrimage of a Hindu city, only she accompanied him; and so much so that he issued a coin in her name; he was so mad after this dancer girl that once, while sitting in the company of his wives, he declared that Moran was his most pretty wife; this led to suicide by his prettiest young wife Guddan (daughter of Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra, whom he had forcibly married).
Again, at the age of 53 (in 1833), he went mad for another dancer girl Gul Beghum of Amritsar; he went to her parents and requested them to let him marry her; but before allowing this marriage, they passed vulgar comments on Ranjit Singh in the presence of his ministers (this scene has been finely presented in the book Umdatut Twareekh). Ranjit Singh was mad for this dancer girl too; so much so that he erected a bridge on a rivulet (still known as Kanjri Pul / Twaaif Pul, literally „bridge for a prostitute‟) so that the family of this girl should have no problem to cross the rivulet on their visit to Lahore.
Almost all of the territory of the kingdom of Ranjit Singh had been won by his Sikh generals; most of the difficult battles like that of Kasur, Multan, Kashmir, Peshawar, Bahawalpur, Sind and Attock had been captured by generals like Akali Phula Singh, the Nihangs and such dare-devil Sikh warriors; in spite of this Ranjit Singh did not bother for the Sikh Generals; he always favoured his Dogra, Brahmin and European generals, ministers and officers.
Here, a review of the role of Akali Phula Singh won‟t be irrelevant: he was the chief of Shaheedi Misl and was known as Nihang and Akali; he had been taking care of the Gurdwaras at Amritsar, including Darbar Sahib and Akal Takht; and all the Sikh leaders had special regards for him because he was a selfless „sewadar‟ (one who serves) of the Gurdwaras. Being in this position, he could have called a „sarbat Khalsa‟ gathering of the Sikhs to discuss the affairs of the Panth, the Sikh rulers and other national interests. Ranjit Singh had called such a gathering in 1804, to discuss the situation, when Holkar had sought help from the Sikhs against the English; this was the last gathering of the leaders of different Sikh groups/sections; it is worth noting that Ranjit Singh was no chief of the Dal Khalsa (the Dal Khalsa did not elect/select any leader after the death of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia in 1783); hence he (Ranjit Singh) called the „Sarbat Khalsa‟ gathering as a king. There is no concept of the so-called Jathedar Akal Takht, neither in history nor in Sikh philosophy; in fact, even this word did not exist before 1920; however, being custodian and care taker of Akal Takht he (Phula Singh) could have taken initiative to bring the Sikh leaders under one roof or on one platform. History has no answer to Akali Phula Singh‟s silence; and all this happened in spite of the fact that the Akali had his own army and his soldiers were daredevils and selfless Khalsa.
When Ranjit Singh became addicted to intoxicants, cupid (women) and also came under strong influence of the Dogras of Jammu and Brahmins of Hindustan, Akali Phula Singh warned Ranjit Singh of several blunders e.g.:
When Ranjit Singh did not bother, Akali Phula Singh became despondent. On the other hand, lost in the realm of women, drugs, flattery etc, Ranjit Singh began ignoring the Sikh generals and well wishers; most of them were, now, not allowed even to enter the court of Ranjit Singh (because a Brahmin Khushal Chand was the chamberlain of Ranjit Singh), and, gradually, they (Sikh Generals) too stopped visiting Ranjit Singh; in this state, in 1814, Akali Phula Singh left Amritsar and moved to Anandpur Sahib.
During this period, Partap Singh, the Sikh ruler of Jind had a dispute with the English, and the latter wanted to punish him. When Partap Singh came to know about the presence of Akali Phula Singh at Anandpur Sahib, he went to him and sought asylum. When the English sent a message to Akali Phula Singh to hand over Raja Partap Singh to them, he refused; at this, the English summoned army from the rulers of Malerkotla and Patiala and ordered them to march to Anandpur; when the Sikh soldiers came to know that they were being sent on a mission to arrest Raja Partap Singh and Akali Phula Singh, they refused to proceed. At this juncture, Bikram Singh Bedi (son of Sahib Singh Bedi) mediated and affected a compromise between Raja Partap Singh and the English.
After this, Ranjit Singh too sent his emissary to Akali Phula Singh and asked him to return, and promised that he would follow his advice; the Akali returned to Amritsar but Ranjit Singh did not keep his word; but, in spite of this nothing changed and Ranjit Singh continued as usual; rather the Dogras and the Brahmins became more and more stronger and Ranjit Singh became more and more slave of sex, intoxicants and flattery, and, for all this, he was dependent upon them (Dogras and Brahmins). When Ranjit Singh died there were at least 20 formally wedded wives and dozens of concubines in his „harem‟ (women-house); Ranjit Singh had married about a dozen daughters of Sikh feudal, two of the widows of his uncle (Sahib Singh of Gujrat), a couple of hill girls (including two daughters of Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra) and two dancing girls (in fact prostitutes, dancing girls) Moran (married in 1802) and Gul Beghum (married in 1833, when he was 53 years old); and, so much so that he had given higher status to the former dancing-girls (Moran and Gul Begum); and it is more interesting to note that his two former prostitute wives did not renounce Islam, and, he (Ranjit Singh) had built a mosque in the fort for their namaz (Muslim‟s prayer). Ranjit Singh had issued even a coin and medal in the name of Moran.
The Brahmins and the Dogras were the highest officers of the court of Ranjit Singh: the first among them was Khushal Chand (later Khushal Sinh, played the drama of „embracing‟ Sikhism); in 1811 he became deodiwala (chamberlain, and without his permission not even sons could meet their father Ranjit Singh); the same year Brahmin Tej Ram (later Teja Singh) became General and Bhaiya Ram Lal became kumedan (commandant) of the Sikh army. In 1822 Dhian Chand (later Dhian Sinh) Dogra became minister (later prime minister) and his adolescent son Hira Sinh became „Raja‟; thus, within less than 15 years the whole of the Darbar, the army, the administration and the palace were in the firm grip and command of the Jammu Dogras and the Hindustani Brahmins.
This was the scenario of the empire of Ranjit Singh in which a couple of Muslims (Aziz-ud-Din and his brothers Nur-ud-Din and Waheed-ud-Din) had been given ministerial posts but no Sikh had been assigned any job in the court or administration; the Sikhs had only one duty, to fight, die (embrace martyrdom) and hand over the conquered land to the Maharaja for getting it administered through non-Sikhs.
Ranjit Singh had captured all the land with the sacrifices of the Sikh army and they (Sikhs) had done the same in the name of Guru; but, when he had his firm grip over the territory and administration, he turned it into his family estate, his personal kingdom and not the Khalsa Raj (the Sikhs‟ Rule). Soon, it switched reverse gear to the Sikh revolution; and from Sikh rule to totally anti-Sikh pattern. Under Ranjit Singh, the rulers had been replaced; instead of a Mughal it was a Sikh with turban but the power was with Brahmins and Dogras; with the exception of some generosity (like that of Akbar style) everything was Mughal-like; Sirdar Kapur Singh has analysed this phenomenon in his book Prashar Prashana:
Some people believe that he established a vast and strong kingdom by capturing power from hooligan Misls; such people are either ignorant of the Sikh principles or are unable to analyse its pros and cons. Ranjit Singh‟s reign was, in fact, exactly opposite of Sikh fundamentals and a blow to the Sikhs‟ rule. To quote Kapur Singh:
“The antagonism inherent between his policy and his aim, and the true principles and traditions of Sikh polity, obliged him to debar virtually the employment of the Sikhs to civil posts in his government which were, as a rule, reserved for the Muslims and the Hindus… in fact he (Ranjit Singh) sabotaged the natural development of the whole of the Sikh polity behind which lay the tradition of the people, of many millennial past, and which was purified and sanctified by the Sikh Gurus themselves.”
To sum up, what the Misls had achieved was destroyed by Ranjit Singh; if one goes through his donations to Gurdwaras and gold-plating of Darbar Sahib, one would notice that more than half of the gold of Darbar Sahib had been donated by the Bhangi Misl and the others.29 Ranjit Singh did not stop here; he got this engraved on a golden plate and fixed it on the gate of Darbar Sahib (it can still be seen there; it does not mention that more than half was donated by others.)
Moreover, his grant of gold to Darbar Sahib was just a friction of his donations to the Hindu temples at Jawala temple, Jammu, Katra, Jagan Nath temple Puri, Haridwar, Benaras (Varanasi) etc. The Benaras temple alone was given 36 maunds (more than 1250 kg) of gold which was many times more than that was „donated‟ to Darbar Sahib.
It was, in fact, misappropriation of the Sikh wealth; all the gold donated by him to the Hindu temples belonged to the Sikh Panth and had been acquired after making about half a million sacrifices. Secondly, gold-plating of Darbar Sahib turned the court of WahGuru (Darbar Sahib) into a golden structure temple) i.e. from religious to tourist attraction; it became a „temple‟ of „gold‟ and lost its spiritual status (in fact, it is neither a temple, i.e. place of worship of idols, not it is known due to its gold-plating). Golden Temple name was given by the English due to this gold-plating and was not at all a Sikh name; and the ignorant Sikhs accepted this un-Sikh name. Thirdly, Ranjit Singh began calling himself as „Singh Sahib‟ which means „master of the Singhs (Sikhs)‟; this status was/is given to Guru Gobind Singh only (see: Mahan Kosh by Kahan Singh Nabha, entry of „Singh Sahib‟); throughout the whole of the Sikh history, this term/name has never been used for anyone else except for Guru Gobind Singh; even the great Sikh general, Banda Singh Bahadur, who brought greatest ever revolution in the post-Guru Sikh history, himself or his companions or the writers of history of his period did not dare use this term (Singh Sahib) for him (now every Tom, Dick and Harry Sikh priest/Granthi calls himself and/or loves to be addressed as Singh Sahib‟).
Ranjit Singh never allowed the Sikhs to have military power; most of the non-Sikh (Dogra, Brahmins of Hindustan, Punjabi Hindus, Muslims Europeans, all) had mansabs of thousands but none of the Sikhs had a mansab of more than a few hundreds, e.g. Hari Singh Nalwa (700), Desa Singh Majithia (400), Hukma Singh Chimni (200 and charge of small cannons), Bhag Singh Muralawala (500), Milkha Singh Thehpuria (700), Attar Singh son of Fateh Singh (500), Mit Singh Bhadania (500), Maan Singh (400), Karam Singh Rangharh Nangalia (100), Nihal Singh Attariwala (500), Jodh Singh Saurianwala (300), Garbha Singh (1000). Even a Muslim Gausay Khan, who was in charge of big cannons, had a mansab of 2000 horsemen. Besides having his own force, Ranjit Singh used the armies of the other Misls, the hill rulers and the chiefs of Jalandhar-Doab; and, these chiefs did not have mansabs and had to pay their soldiers from their own estates. A considerable force of the Shaheedan Misl (headed by Akali Phula Singh Nihang) was also at the disposal of Ranjit Singh. In other words, Ranjit Singh used the Sikh Sirdars, chiefs and generals for capturing lands but granted power and benefits to the non-Sikhs only; he did not trust the Sikhs and discriminated against them. (When his empire was lost, there was no Sikh general who could stop it as the army was headed by the Hindus i.e. the Brahmins and the Dogras).
Death of Ranjit Singh
Ranjit Singh had worse drinking habits and he used to drink very strong alcohol; it had severely damaged his body; so much so that by the age of fifty, he had become a frail body totally dependent upon alcohol and opium. In 1838, when the English general McNaughton visited Lahore and had a feast with Ranjit Singh, both had a good drinking session. McNaughton had brought with him some bottles of strong whiskey; he offered it to Ranjit Singh; and it is believed that this alcohol was poisonous; and it is widely believed that after drinking this whiskey Ranjit Singh had paralytic attack and could not get up from his bed. He spent last few months in this state; finally, on the 27th of June 1839, he breathed his last; he was cremated the next day and four of his Hindu wives and seven concubines performed sati (immolated themselves in his pyre).
EPILOGUE
Kharak Singh crowned and deposed
After the death of Ranjit Singh, his eldest son Kharak Singh succeeded his father and was crowned as Maharaja. Under Ranjit Singh, whole of his administration was in the hands of the Brahmins (Lal Sinh, Teja Sinh) and the Dogra brothers (Gulab Sinh, Dhian Sinh and Suchet Sinh, and, Dhian Sinh‟s son Hira Sinh); Dhian Sinh was the prime minister. When Kharak Singh took over, the ministers and other officers remained in the same positions as before, but, Kharak Singh began seeking advice from Chet Singh Bajwa who was loyal to him and whom he treated as friend. The Dogras did not want anyone else to share power so they decided to eliminate Chet Singh from the scene; they chalked out a plan to establish Chet Singh as a traitor. They prepared fake letters written in the name of Chet Singh to the English rulers of the cis-Satluj land; after this, they played another drama by presenting these letters before a „Council‟ which had been formed by these conspirators themselves; this 11 member council included three Dogras (Dhian Sinh, Hira Sinh and Kesri Sinh), one Brahmin (Lal Sinh Misr), four Sandhanwlias30 (Atar Singh, Kehar Singh, Lehna Singh, Sher Singh), Alexander Gardener, Rani Chand Kaur and Kanwar Naunihal Singh; any Sikh general or Faqir Aziz-ud-Din or even the Raja were not the members of this „Council‟; this „Council‟ discussed the (fake) letter and resolved that Chet Singh should be executed for this crime and Kharak Singh should be replaced with his son Naunihal Singh.
To translate their plan into action, on the night of the 9th of October 1839, Dhian Sinh Dogra, some other members of the „Council‟, accompanied by Kanwar Naunihal Singh, entered the chamber of Kharak Singh; when Chet Singh came to know about their entry he hid himself but was captured; he was killed by Dhian Sinh right before the eyes of Kharak Singh; Kharak Singh cried and tried to stop but could not stop them;31 this proves how weak and powerless was Kharak Singh.
After this, they (Council) interned Kharak Singh in his apartment and spread news about illnesses of Kharak Singh and crowned Naunihal Singh as new „maharaja‟; on the other hand, in internment, Kharak Singh became so despondent that he did not take his meals for several days; now, the Dogras began feeding him with slow poison.
Soon Naunihal Singh too began smelling conspiracies of the Dogras; now, he began involving Faqir Aziz-ud-Din, Khushal Chand (Sinh), Bhaiya Ram Sinh, Lehna Singh and Ajit Singh Sandhawalias in the affairs of Darbar; hence almost an end to the monopoly of the Dogras. Dhian Sinh could not tolerate it; so, he decided to finish Naunihal Singh too. In the meanwhile Kharak Singh died of slow poisoning on the night between the 4th and 5th of November 1840; he was cremated the following day, near the samadh of Ranjit Singh (in between the Shahi Masjid and Gurdwara Dehra Sahib); two Hindu wives of the Raja committed sati (in fact, they were forcibly burnt) in the pyre of Kharak Singh.
Murder of Naunihal Singh
When the royal family and the courtiers were returning from funeral, Naunihal Singh was holding the hand of Mian Udham Sinh (son of Gulab Sinh Dogra); when they passed near the Raushani Gate, a small wall of the fort fell upon them; Mian Udham Sinh died immediately and Naunihal Singh suffered minor injuries; but in spite of minor injuries he was immediately put into a palanquin (which had already been arranged there as a part of conspiracy) and rushed into the fort; all this was done under a planning by Dhian Sinh Dogra; Dhian Sinh personally led the palanquin to the fort. Lehna Singh also followed him but Dhian Sinh stopped him from joining; even Chand Kaur, the mother of Naunihal Singh was not allowed to enter the fort and the door was immediately shut; she thumped the door with force for several times but she was not allowed to enter. In the meanwhile Dhian Sinh smashed the head of Naunihal Singh with stones and bricks and killed him. Henry Gardiner writes that as per plan, just a few minutes earlier, he was sent away from the scene with orders to bring his unit. Two of those who had carried him in palanquin were eliminated the same night and the other two crossed to the English territory.
Naunihal Singh was killed within a few minutes of taking him into the fort but the news of his death was not reported even to the family for another two days; in the meanwhile, Dhian Sinh had sent message to prince Sher Singh (who was present at Mukerian) to reach Lahore so that he may be crowned.
Naunihal Singh was cremated on the 8th of November and along with him were burnt (in the name of sati i.e. self immolation) his two Hindu wives and four concubines; thus within just 16 months two of the successors of Ranjit Singh had been eliminated by the Dogras.
Chand Kaur becomes Queen
Although Sher Singh had reached Lahore but Dhian Sinh could not succeed in crowning him as Raja; the Sandhanwalias and some other courtiers opposed his coronation; hence the Dogras had no option but to accept Chand Kaur (mother of Naunihal Singh and widow of Maharaja Kharak Singh) as queen.
Though the Dogras accepted her as queen for the time being but they began planning to remove her from their way; at this time Gulab Sinh Dogra joined the side of the Rani; in fact he had been planted by Dhian Sinh with an intention of spying upon her; though Dhian Sinh Dogra did not oppose the Rani publically but he remained in touch with prince Sher Singh and continued planning for her exit.
For the next two months, Chand Kaur ruled as Rani of the Lahore Empire. During this period, the Dogras got prepared some fake letters in the name of the Rani which were addressed to the English, seeking their help; it was exactly the same as they had done in the case of Chet Singh Bajwa in October 1839. This was a soft target and these letters did affect the Sikh generals and other elite and a large number of them began opposing the Rani; they began joining the camp of prince Sher Singh; even General Ventura joined the side of Sher Singh; now, only Sandhawalias and a few personal loyal soldiers remained on the side of the Rani.
By the end of December 1840, Sher Singh‟s army had put siege to the city of Lahore; at that time, the fort was in the occupation of the Rani. In early days of January 1841, Sher Singh sent her a message to surrender the fort and retire with a big pension; when she refused, Sher Singh‟s cannons began shelling the fort; this shelling continued for three days; now, the Rani realised that she won‟t be able to win the battle or resist the occupation of the fort for a long time; so, she decided to negotiate transfer of power to Sher Singh; it was agreed that she will get nine hundred thousand rupees per year. After this, she sent all her money, jewellery, mohars, gold, silver, ornaments, diamonds, precious clothes and other valuables to Jammu under the escort of Gulab Sinh Dogra; Rani‟s belongings were carried on 16 carts and the value of this treasure was between eight and ten million rupees (later, after the murder of the Rani, all this wealth was usurped by Gulab Sinh).
Sher Singh becomes Maharaja
On the 18th of January 1841, Sher Singh became the Maharaja; and on the 20th and held his court. During the struggle for power Dhian Sinh Dogra had given Sher Singh maximum support, so he was again appointed as the prime minister; soon, he began controlling all the affairs of the State; but, as Rani Chand Kaur was still staying in the fort, he feared that, in near future there would always remain possibility of rebellion; at one time, it was deliberated that Chand Kaur should marry Sher Singh but Rani‟s brother Ghanaiya Singh opposed it.
Now, Dhian Sinh planned to eliminate Rani Chand Kaur; he was an expert of such conspiracies; earlier he had effected abortion of the queen of Naunihal Singh so that she may not give birth to another heir of Ranjit Singh. In June 1842, when Sher Singh was away from Lahore, Dhian Sinh bribed maid-servants of the Rani to kill the latter; hence, on the night of 11th of June 1842, the maid-servants tied the Rani with ropes and smashed her head with stones. After this, Dhian Sinh played another drama; he accused Rani‟s maid servants of conspiracy, and, in order to silence them he announced severe punishment for them by cutting their tongues; he was so cruel that instead of rewarding these servants he cut their tongues as punishment; in fact, he wanted to silence them so that they may never be able to reveal the truth of the plot to murder the Rani. Dhian Sinh‟s next action was to arrest Lehna Singh and Kehar Singh Sandhanwalias, the supporters of the Rani under one or another pretext; somehow Atar Singh and Ajit Singh Sandhawalias got the news and they escaped and secretly crossed river Satluj and took asylum with the English.
During this struggle for power and in the atmosphere of conspiracies, the English were playing double role; they were in league with the Dogras on one hand and were advising the Sandhawalia on the other hand; side by side the English were showing themselves as friendly mediators; hence as a result of the mediation by the English Agent Clark the Sandhanwalias were allowed to return to Lahore and even their estates were returned to them; Lehna Singh and Kehar Singh too were released from prison. In fact, now, the Sandhanwlias were to work under instructions from the English; it was widely believed that Bikram Singh Bedi (son of late Sahib Singh Bedi) too had played role to mediate between Sher Singh and the Sandhawalias.
For some months, the Sandhawalias behaved very nicely, established their credentials and won faith of Sher Singh. Later, in collaboration with the English, the Sandhawalias began planning to capture power by killing Sher Singh. On the other hand, Dhian Sinh Dogra too had problems with Sher Singh because the latter did not follow instructions or advice of the former‟ Dhian Sinh had had his way during the regime of Ranjit Singh; but, when Kharak Singh and, later, Naunihal Singh refused to be instructed by him, he got both of them eliminated; now, he wanted to repeat it with Sher Singh too.
But, this time, the Sandhanwlias too were acting cleverly; they used Dhian Sinh‟s style of conspiracy right on him (Dhian Sinh); they got prepared
some fake letters in the name of Dhian Sinh Dogra and began propaganda that Sher Singh had got information about these letters; the Sandhawalias spread another rumour that Sher Singh had decided to execute Dhian Sinh. All this frightened Dhian Sinh and he extended hand of friendship to the Sandhawalias; and now both the parties decided to kill Sher Singh and divide kingdom between them.
On the other hand, some army generals too had begun behaving aggressively; they got some officers eliminated from the scene; one English officer Faulke and Subedar Mian Singh were killed by some unknown soldiers; General Henry Court and Avitable escaped being killed; the army even plundered some affluent persons of Lahore; it was widely believed that the Brahmin generals (Lal Sinh and Teja Sinh) were behind these conspiracies. When this news reached Amritsar, the bankers and other rich persons began preparations for moving to the English territory. At this juncture, the English Agent General Clark tried to convince Sher Singh that there was a major planning against him; in fact, the English had expected that Sher Singh would seek their help and they would be able to establish their military centre in the Sikh territory; but, Sher Singh did not succumb to their provocations and allurements.36
Murder of Sher Singh & Dhian Sinh Dogra
On the other hand, when the Sandhanwlias realised that Dhian Sinh had fallen in their trap, both the parties planned to kill Sher Singh; they were, now, waiting for a suitable opportunity; so, finding it feasible, on the 15th of September 1843, when there were only a few soldiers in the fort, Ajit Singh Sandhawalia shot point blank at Sher Singh, killed him and chopped off his head; his companion Lehna Singh got hold of Partab Singh (12 years old son of Sher Singh) and killed him. Now, the Sandhawalias established their own soldiers on all the gates of the fort; after this both the Sandhawalias went to Dhian Sinh Dogra and escorted him to the fort on the pretext of discussing sharing of administration of the kingdom; Dhian Sinh could not smell their intentions; when they reached the fort they were fully secure as if in their security zone and they killed Dhian Sinh Dogra too.
The Sandhawalias wished to kill Hira Sinh Dogra and Suchet Sinh Dogra too but before they could trace them; the news of the murder of Dhian Sinh reached them and they secured themselves under the guard of their loyal Dogra soldiers. The first thing Hira Sinh Dogra did was an attempt to win the Sikh army; under advice from his friend and priest Pandit Jallah, he announced hike in the pay of the soldiers and generals; after this, he put up his camp near Budhu Da Aawa (then in the outskirts of Lahore, now a part of the city); increase in salaries won him a very large number of soldiers; besides, Hira Sinh spread
rumours that the Sandhawalias were doing all their actions under instructions from the English; this too affected the sentiments of the army. Having secured enough help from army, Hira Sinh marched to the fort; fighting between the troops of the Sandhawalias and Hira Sinh Dogra continued for one and a half day; about one thousand soldiers died in this battle; among the casualties was also Lehna Singh who was hit by a bullet on the second day. Having realized his weak position, Ajit Singh Sandhawalia tried to flee the fort with the help of a rope but some soldier recognised him; attacked him and severed his head. With this came final end to this battle; now Hira Sinh ordered hanging of the heads of both the Sandhanwlias in front of the main gate of the fort; he also ordered arrest of Gurmukh Singh Giani (son of Sant Singh Granthi, also the co-author of Gurbilas Patsahi Chhevin) and Beli Ram (chief of Toshakhana i.e. treasury), the two companions of the Sandhanwalias and killed them mercilessly; the dead bodies of these persons were thrown into garbage and buried at some unknown place.
Daleep Singh becomes Maharaja
After this bloodshed, 5 years old Daleep Singh, the youngest son of Ranjit Singh, was crowned as Maharaja on the 18th of September 1843; Hira Sinh Dogra himself became the prime minister and he took all the power in his hands; there was none to stop him from having his will; he had already silenced army by increasing their salaries; two of the four most senior Sandhanwalias were already dead and the rest two had escaped to the English territory across river Satluj.
Suchet Sinh Dogra killed
But, now Lahore was to witness more bloodshed; Suchet Sinh Dogra, uncle of Hira Sinh, sent a message to the latter to give him an equal share in the regime but Hira Sinh did not bother for him; at this. In March 1844, Suchet Sinh, accompanied by some 50 loyal soldiers, reached Lahore; here he received a message from Hira Sinh rejecting his demand for share of power and advising him to go back and save his life; but, as Suchet Sinh was a stubborn person, he decided to fight; on the 16th of March 1844, a battle was fought between Suchet Sinh and Hira Sinh‟s soldiers; Suchet, his companion Kesri Sinh and their loyal soldiers fought like valiant heroes and after killing more than one hundred soldiers of Hira Sinh, they too embraced death.
This victory made Hira Sinh more proud and haughty; by this time he came to know that Suchet Sinh had been sent from Jammu by his uncle Gulab Sinh Dogra, who had, later, withdrawn his support; hence, now, Hira Sinh wanted to belittle Gulab Sinh too; with this intention, he (Hira Sinh) sent a royal order (in the name of the Maharaja Daleep Singh) to Gulab Sinh, asking him to deposit his unpaid revenues with the Lahore Darbar; Gulab Sinh had realised the gravity of situation, so he gave some money and also sent his son Sohan Sinh to remain at Lahore as a guarantee for payments of arrears.
During all this series of blood-shed and conspiracies, the role of the army was most strange; the army supported Hira Sinh because he had increased their salaries. Increase in salary does not mean that the murders by the Dogras should have been ignored, condoned and forgotten; the Dogras were the murderers of Kharak Singh, Naunihal Singh and Chand Kaur and they were also a party to killings of Sher Singh.
Killing of Attar Singh Sandhawalia, Baba Bir Singh, Kanwar Kashmira Singh and Jawahar Singh Nalwa
Although Daleep Singh was the „Maharaja‟ and Rani Jindan was his „Guardian‟ but the real power was with Hira Sinh Dogra and his minister-cum-advisor Pandit Jallah; at the same time, Gulab Sinh Dogra was the „Raja‟ of Jammu, the most powerful state. Though tow of the sons and a grandson of Maharaja Ranjit Singh had been killed, two more sons were still alive; one of them was in Jammu and the second once was in Sialkot; Gulab Sinh Dogra wanted to eliminate these two too. In such a scenario, Mehtab Singh, one of the attendants of the prince Kashmira Singh, was an informer of Gulab Sinh; when the prince came to know about his treason, he got him killed; when Gulab Sinh Dogra received news of the murder of his informer, he was enraged; now, he decided to give priority to the murder of the prince. Prince Kashmira Singh got intelligence about the designs of Gulab Sinh Dogra; hence, with the help of General Gulab Singh (not Dogra) he secretly left Sialkot and reached Baba Bir Singh‟s dera at Naurangabad (between Tarn Taran and Goindwal); by this time Atar Singh Sandhawalia too had returned from Kurukashetra and had sought asylum with Baba Bir Singh. Jawahar Singh (son of Hari Singh Nalwa) too had reached there.
When Hira Sinh Dogra got information about the presence of Kanwar Kashmira Singh and Atar Singh Sandhawalia at the dera of Baba Bir Singh, he ordered the Dogra regiments of the army to march towards Naurangabad and attack the dera; Hira Sinh had issued instructions to kill all those who would oppose them; the army had strict instructions that no one should be arrested but everyone must be killed; on the 6th of May 1845, the Dogra army reached Naurangabad; on reaching there, Dogra General Labh Sinh sent a message to Baba Bir Singh, asking him to hand over Atar Singh Sandhawalia to him; Baba Bir Singh told him that those who seek asylum in a religious shrine, cannot be handed over to his enemies; when the Dogra General heard it, he ordered his army to attack the dera; the soldiers of Labh Sinh Dogra began shelling the dera; most of the building was destroyed in shelling; even Baba Bir Singh was badly wounded. When General Gulab Sinh (another Dogra general) came to know about wounding of Baba Bir Singh, he went inside the dera to know about his condition; after formal conversation about his wounds, Gulab Sinh asked Baba to hand over Atar Singh but the Baba refused; in the meanwhile Atar Singh too reached there; when he saw that Gulab Sinh riding the horse belonging to his nephew Ajit Singh Sandhawalia (who had been killed by Dogra army on the 19th of September 1843, while trying to escape from the fort) he was enraged; and, in a fit of anger he shot Gulab Sinh Dogra and killed him; at this the soldiers of Gulab Sinh too shot him, severed his head and went away.
After this, the Dogra army began killing all the Sikh present there; several hundred (probably thousands) Sikhs were killed by the Dogra army; those killed included Baba Bir Singh, prince Kashmira Singh, Jawahar Singh Nalwa, Diwan Visakha Singh (minister of Maharaja Sher Singh); before leaving, the Dogra army plundered the dera; after this the Dogra army carried the severed head of Atar Singh and left for Lahore.
During this attack some Sikhs fled Naurangabad and crossed river Beas and entered the territory of the Ahluwalias; some of them were killed by the army of the Kapurthala State.
Mass enrolling of Dogras in army
When the news of murder of Baba Bir Singh, Prince Kashmira Singh and others reached Lahore, the Sikh generals became very angry; when Hira Sinh learnt about the attitude of the Sikh generals, he removed the Sikhs from key positions; besides he dismissed services of several Sikh soldiers. Now, Pandit Jallah advised him to enrol more soldiers from Dogra community, the hill people and the Muslims; he (Hira Sinh) feared that the Sikh soldiers could attack them any time. Though several thousand non-Sikhs had been enrolled by him he still felt himself insecure; he was under constant fear of Sikhs reaction.
Insulting Rani Jindan
On the 12th of December 1844, it was the first day of the Poh month (Sangrand in Bikrami calendar); the Brahmins impressed upon Rani Jindan to make donations so that peace of mind may prevail upon her; at this the Rani arranged langar for the Brahmins, Nihangs, Faqirs and the poor people and also presented (donated) some money to those who joined langar; this function cost five thousand rupees; when the Rani sent message to Pandit Jallah (who was the in charge of the religious donations) to make payments, he refused and told her that donations could be given only to the Brahmins and not the Nihangs or Faqirs; he even used abusive language for her and he sent just two hundred rupees to her; when the messenger gave this amount to the Rani, she refused to accept it and called a meeting of the Sikh generals and the other elite.
Several senior Sikh elite and generals responded to her call; addressing them, she said: “Khalsa Ji, this Empire has been bestowed upon us by you; Daleep Singh is a child; these Pahari (hill men i.e. Dogra) Rajas and Pandit Jallah want to kill us; they don‟t obey our orders. Khalsa Ji37 is our patron; they (Dogras) don‟t allow us even to serve them; besides, they make forced entry into our residential quarters and perpetrate excesses upon us. Now, you should either kill us or release us from their confinement.”
Hearing this, the Sikhs became angry, and, they promised her full support; several Sikhs visited her for the next many days; some of them began guarding her.
Murder of Hira Sinh and Pandit Jallah
When Hira Sinh Dogra came to know about the meetings of the Rani and the Sikh generals, he got frightened; now, he began realising that if he stayed at Lahore his murder at the hands of one or another Sikh was imminent; so, he decided to flee to Jammu. On the 21st of December 1844, he collected all his money, gold, diamonds and other precious things; besides, he also picked up everything from the treasury; he placed all this on seven elephants and escorted by four thousand Dogra soldiers, left Lahore in the wee hours; soon, the Sikh generals got news of his plunder of treasury and Hira Sinh‟s march towards Jammu; a big Sikh force of six thousand soldiers, led by Sirdar Sham Singh Attari, began chasing the Dogras. The Dogra army had not gone very far, so the Sikhs were able to catch up them in a few hours; when the Sikhs reached near them the Dogras attacked them; while the Dogra army continued fighting the Sikhs, in the meanwhile, Hira Sinh and his treasury continued moving towards Jammu; fighting continued for 35-40 kilometres; before evening, most of the Dogra soldiers were killed.
Finding the Sikh soldiers nearing them, Hira Sinh, Jallah and other senior Dogras hid themselves in thickets in the outskirts of a village; the Sikhs had been chasing them but did not have a clue whether they had escaped or were hiding somewhere. As it would happen, one of the Dogras felt very thirsty and he came out in search of water; when they reached near a well, some Sikh saw them; at this the Sikhs began firing in that direction; a bullet hit Sohan Sinh Dogra (son of Gulab Sinh), who was sitting on one elephant and he died instantly; Labh Sinh Dogra too was hit by a bullet but he kicked his horse and ran towards Jammu. Some Sikhs chased him and captured him after a race of about seven kilometres; but, the Sikhs did not arrest but killed him; on the other hand, one unit of the Sikhs found Hira Sinh Dogra too; he tried to fight but soon a Sikh soldier threw his spear towards him and he was killed instantly; besides Pandit Jallah could not brave even a single stroke of sword. When all of them were killed, the Sikh soldiers brought back the elephants laden with treasury.
Murder of Jawahar Singh
With the killing of Hira Sinh Dogra, now Lahore was free from the major conspirator Dogras (only Gulab Sinh was alive as he was in Jammu); now Rani Jindan appointed her brother Jawahar Singh as minister and Brahmin Lal Sinh Misr as his advisor. She also formed a Panchayat (a Council) comprising of Jawahar Singh (her brother), Ram Singh (son of Wasti Ram), Diwan Dina Nath, Bakhshi Bhagat Ram and Faqir Nur-ud-Din; although this Panchayat did not have any Dogra in it, but it included just one Sikh i.e. brother of the Rani and three of these were Hindus and one was Muslim; Diwan Dina Nath, one of these five, was having contacts with the English.
During this period, the royal treasury too was passing through a crisis; earlier, in January 1841, Gulab Sinh Dogra had carried away a large amount of money and valuables, belonging to Rani Chand Kaur to Jammu, on the pretext of safely; and, after her murder he usurped all this treasure. Secondly, in the past five years, about 35 thousand new soldiers had been recruited and the number of the soldiers had crossed one hundred and twenty thousand; their salaries were a major burden on the treasury. Thirdly, a lot of money was being spent on the salaries and activities of the Maharaja and the other ministers as well as donations etc. On the other hand, the Zamindars, Jagirdars, Faujdars, Aamils, Karoris and Subedars (Governors) had not deposited their revenues for the past few years; the defaulters included Gulab Sinh Dogra (Jammu) and Diwan Mool Raj (Multan) also; Gulab Sinh Dogra owed 35 lakh rupees to Lahore Darbar (he had already usurped millions of rupees of Rani Chand Kaur and nobody asked him to return that); the Lahore Darbar had sent several letters to Gulab Sinh to clear his accounts but he did not bother; hence, now, after having issuing final warning in March 1845, the Lahore army marched to Jammu to arrest him and occupy the state: when the army reached Jammu, Gulab Sinh surrendered; he gave twenty-seven lakh rupees and accompanied the army to appear before the Maharaja and submit his apology; when he appeared in the Darbar he promised to send the rest of the money earliest possible and he was allowed to return to his state. After reaching Jammu, Gulab Sinh made contacts with the English authorities; besides he offered incentives to the Kabaeelies (heads of Afghan tribes) and Baloch people and got their assurances for help in case he rebelled against Lahore Darbar.
Though, by that time, Lahore was free from Dogra Dhian Sinh and Hira Sinh and their companions but some agent of Gulab Sinh were still there: one of them was Pirthi Sinh Dogra. By that time Gulab Sinh had got intelligence that Jawahar Singh (brother of the Rani) was his major enemy; so, he chalked out a plan to eliminate him; he bribed the army generals and provoked them against Jawahar Singh.
At that time Prince Pishaura Singh was stationed at Sialkot; Gulab Sinh Dogra incited him too to rebel and capture power; when the news of rebellion reached Lahore, Jawahar Singh despatched army to quell the rebellion and arrest him (Pishaura Singh); as Pishaura Singh was not in position to fight the army, he surrendered; when he was being taken to Lahore, he was killed by some unknown person. This murdered had been carried out by some informer of Gulab Sinh Dogra; he wanted to incite hatred for Jawahar Singh and the army generals escorting Pishaura Singh, and create civil war among the ruling family; so after this murder he spread rumour that it was Jawahar Singh who had plotted the murder; at Lahore, Pirthi Sinh Dogra provoked the Sikh generals against Jawahar Singh. In such an atmosphere of conspiracies, Jawahar Singh was murdered by a Sikh general on the 21st of September; at that time he was carrying his nephew (Maharaja Daleep Singh) in his arms; the generals snatched the Maharaja from his arms and killed him.
Final action to finish Ranjit Singh’s Empire
On the 8th of November 1845, about six weeks after the murder of Jawahar Singh, Lal Sinh Brahmin was appointed as the Prime Minister and Teja Sinh Brahmin as the chief of the army; although the Dogras had been eliminated from the Lahore Darbar but, now, Rani Jindan and the Khalsa Panchayat handed over all the power to the Brahmins of Hindustan, another group of traitors. Soon, these Brahmins (prime minister and commander-in-chief) began developing contacts with the English; within a few days, both these Brahmins had made liaison with the senior English officials; some European generals of the Sikh army too were in contact with the English.
The English plans to occupy the Punjab
About one and a half years before the death of Ranjit Singh, the English had begun discussing the time and strategy for occupying Ranjit Singh‟s country, but Ranjit Singh was totally unaware of the designs of the English; secondly, he had delegated al his power to the Dogras and the Brahmins; thirdly, he had been living the life of a drug and alcohol addict; he was a very heavy drunkard; by 1836 (at the age of 56), he had realised that he had grown „old‟; he had already suffered a stroke of paralysis; he had another attack of paralysis in 1837 which badly affected right side of his body; in such a state he did not know what he was doing.
In 1838, when Governor General Lord Auckland visited Lahore, both of them (Lord Auckland and Ranjit Singh) had alcohol sessions twice.38 According to the English, the whiskey offered by Ranjit Singh was very strong; Lord Auckland too offered English whiskey to Ranjit Singh. After these two drinking sessions Ranjit Singh‟s speech was affected and he could not utter any word; it was widely believed that the whiskey presented by the English was poisonous and it affected Ranjit Singh‟s tongue. Now, Ranjit Singh began expressing himself through signs; he spent the next six months just lying in his bed; he had a painful and torturous end of his life; he died in June 1839.
Though the English wanted to attack and occupy Punjab even in 1809, but they postponed it and went on planning; in 1838, they finally decided to capture it;39 in 1838, Henry Fane presented a plan to the British government, under which the Punjab was to be occupied within two years (by 1840). The English had been collecting sensitive information about the Punjab, its administration, its army, its cantonments, its weapons and arms arsenals, its roads, bridges and boats, its economy etc. Right from 1809, all the official visitors to Lahore, from Metcalfe to Lord Auckland, had been collecting information and the intelligence department would analyse it and ponder over feasibility and strategy to capture the Punjab.
In 1838, when Henry Fane passed through Punjab, on his Sikh-English-Afghan-Mission to help Shah Zaman to capture Kabul, he was thinking more of „Punjab Mission‟. During this mission, the English had befriended Gulab Sinh Dogra too; and after this, the English had approached Teja Sinh and Lal Sinh, the Brahmin generals and the courtiers of Ranjit Singh.
The planning to capture Punjab was not deliberated only in secret meetings of the senior English generals but it was openly discussed in the homes of the English officials; the wives and children of the English officers had full knowledge of this mission and this subject was openly talked about in their living rooms. On the 26th of May 1841, the wife of Henry Lawrence, in a letter to one of her friends in England, made clear reference to the English plan to capture the Punjab; the letter said:
“Wars and rumours of wars are on every side and there seems no doubt that next cold weather will decide the long suspended question of occupying the Punjab; Henry, both in his Civil and Military capacity, will probably be called to take part in whatever goes on…”.
Edwardes and Merrivalo, the biographers of Henry Lawrence, write that Gulab Sinh Dogra and Colonel Avitable were in contact with the English; Hugh Cook too claims that Gulab Sinh was fully in touch with the English and he had promised full help to the English in case of a war. In 1842, Henry Lawrence said that “a consideration should be offered to the Dogra Rajas Dhyan Singh and Gulab Singh; for their assistance, they alone in the Punjab being now able to give aid. We need such men as the Rajahs and General Avitable and should bind them to us by the only tie they recognise self-interest. The Rajahs secured in their territory, even with additions, General Avitable guaranteed out aid in retiring with his property, and any other sirdars aiding us cordially, be specially and separately treated for.” He proposed “that on the terms of efficient support we assist Raja Gulab Singh to get possession of the valley of Jalalabad and endeavour to make some arrangement to secure it and Peshawar to his family.”
It seems that the planning to murder Sher Singh too had blessing of the English. On the 11th of May 1843, Lord Allenborough wrote: “General Ventura is with the Maharaja Sher Singh and it is clear to me that, relying on his support the Maharaja will take the first occasion of cutting of his Minister Dhian Sinh. This Dhian Singh knows, and is prepared for. The breakup of the Punjab will probably begin with murder”.
The English had expected that after the murder of Dhian Sinh, his son Hira Sinh won‟t be able to establish his power and he will flee from Lahore; he expressed this view in a letter to Duke of Willington on the 20th of October 1843: “Heera Singh (the son and successor of Dhian Singh) has no real authority. His best adviser has been Ventura, but he is threatened now. Gulab Singh remains in the Hills, either in sickness, in grief, or in policy. He is securing himself there. Heera Singh will probably soon fly to Jummoo. Then a pure Sikh Government will be formed in the plains and a Rajpoot Government in the Hills and Multan may perhaps break loose all connection with the Sikhs. Ventura anticipates a long anarchy, from which the only ultimate refuge will be in our protection. I agree with him.”
Hence; though the English had planned to capture Punjab right in 1838 but it took six years to translate it into action because the English wanted to strengthen their army. On the 11th of February 1844, Lord Allenbrough observed: “I must frankly confess that when I look at the whole condition of our army I had rather, if the contest cannot be further postpones, it were at least postponed to November 1845. It means that the English had even fixed a date for the occupation of the Punjab.
In the beginning of 1845, Lord Hardinge and General Gough ordered manufacture of new boats, apparently with intention of making boat-bridges; boats were important to cross river Satluj. The next step was to appoint Major Broadfoot as British Agent in Ludhiana; Broadfoot wrote to the English government that after the death of Duleep Singh, the Punjab will be our territory; this intention is very much clear from the letters of Broadfoot dated 7.12.1844, 30.1.1845 and 28.2.1845.
By this time, the English had won over the Brahmins Lal Sinh (prime minister) and Teja Sinh (Commander-in-chief) the Gulab Sinh Dogra42, Diwan Mool Raj, General Avitable and several others; and; with this; they began finding/creating excuses for beginning war: this step was initiated by Broadfoot; in March 1845, when a party of Lahore Darbar, headed by Lal Singh Adalati, crossed Satluj river for a meeting with the English, it was fired at under orders from Broadfoot; one member of this party was killed; it was a wise decision of Lal Singh not to retaliate otherwise the this could have become the beginning of the battle between the English and the Lahore Darbar.43 The English even tried to incite Diwan Mool Raj for a rebellion and promised him full support.
On the other hand, Teja Sinh (commander-in-chief), under instructions from the English, too began inciting the army against the English: he began propagating that the English were ready to attack the Punjab to occupy it; he suggested that they (Lahore army) should attack before the enemy (the English) could do so. To discuss this issue, a meeting of the Sikh generals was held at the Samadh of Ranjit Singh; the issue of war was discussed in this meeting; Rani Jindan and Sham Singh Attariwala were against launching an attack; but, the Dogras and the Brahmins were in favour of an attack. Bypassing the advice of the Rani and Sham Singh Attariwala, Teja Sinh and Lal Sinh got for them all the rights regarding war and aligned issues; and, after this, they stopped even holding of meeting of the Panchayat).
Lal Sinh and Teja Sinh had begun propaganda against the English in order to incite the Sikh Generals; the propaganda included: 1. The English army is establishing its camps on the other side of river Satluj. 2. The English have refused to return sixteen lakh rupees of Suchet Sinh, deposited in a bank in Firozpur. 3. The English have confiscated the property of Suchet Sinh. 4. The English have occupied the cis-Satluj territory (land) of the Lahore Darbar; when this propaganda reached most of the Sikh generals, Lal Sinh and Teja Sinh went further on their plan.
On the 3rd of December 1845, a representative of the Lahore Darbar was sent to the English Governor General to seek explanation for the actions of Major Broadfoot; as per planning, the Governor General refused to talk to the representative of the Lahore Darbar; in fact, it was planned that as a reaction, it will be propagated that the English have ended their relations with the Lahore Darbar, and now, the matter was to be resolved by way of war. Now, the Lal Sinh – Teja Sinh duo began talking of war; in fact they had already chalked out planning for war right on 17th of November 1845.
On the English side, all the planning was the actions and reactions by Major Broadfoot; even, the English writers and officers believe this; according to Cunningham “It was generally held by the English in India that Major Broadfoot‟s appointment as Agent in Oct., 1844 greatly increased the probabilities of a war with the Sikhs, and the impression was equally strong, that had Mr. Clark, for instance, remained as agent, there would have been no war.”.
On the other hand, after getting nod from Lal Sinh – Teja Sinh, on the 17th of November, the English too had begun preparations for war; on the 20th of November 1845, the English army at Ambala and Merrut had got orders to be ready to proceed to the Punjab; they actually left for Firozpur on the 10th of December; at Ludhiana too, Brigadier Wheeler, along with a big army, began marching towards Firozpur; most of the English army had reached Firozpur by the 17th of December 1845; this army comprised of seventeen thousand soldiers and 69 cannons. According to Calcutta Review, the number of the English soldiers was 17727 and, later, on the 31st of December 1845, 16700 soldiers of Lord Harding too joined them, increasing their number to about 32500; the number of the Sikh soldiers was between 35 and 40 thousand.
Lal Sinh and Teja Sinh were in constant touch with Nicolson and both parties had finalised full details for launching a battle; Nicolson had got even written assurances from Lal Sinh. But, due to untimely death of Nicolson all these details could not be recorded in the official English files.
Lal Sinh and Teja Singh had very dangerous plans: they did not want only to defeat the Sikh army but destroy it; and after its annihilation become ministers under the English; they thought that the English will always remain grateful to them for being instrumental in capturing the Punjab.49 With this nefarious design, these traitors were planning for defeat and destruction of the Sikh army.
When everything was pre-planned, on the 24th of November 1845, Lal Sinh and Teja Sinh ordered the Sikh army to march towards river Satluj; on the 12th of December, the Sikh soldiers crossed the river and took positions in the territory of the Lahore Darbar (this land belonged to Ranjit Singh ); the traitor Lal Sinh and Teja Sinh had spread this propaganda among the soldiers that they would defeat the English and then occupy Delhi; and after capturing Delhi, they would proceed towards Calcutta and then to London where the Khalsa shall rule.
On the 13th of December 1845, Lord Hardinge formally declared war against Lahore Darbar; it is remarkable that the Sikhs had not fired even a single shot so far. Major Carmichael Smyth, in History of the Reigning Family of Lahore (1847), accepted that the Sikhs had not made an unprovoked attack. He wrote, “I am neither of the opinion that the Seiks made an unprovoked attack, nor that we have acted towards them with great forbearance”; Smythe further writes: “Had we not departed from the rules of friendship first? The year before the war broke out, we kept the island between Firozpur and the Punjab, though it belonged to the Seiks, owing to the deep waters between us and the island…For the past several years, in fact since the death of Ranjit Singh, we had been playing the game of „Wolf and Shepherd‟. The newspapers and politicians had been crying „the Sikhs are coming‟.
Battle of Mudki
In December 1845, the English were ready for a battle against the Sikhs; they had an army of 30000 men with 40 guns; on the other hand Lal Sinh (chief of Sikh army) had sanctioned 35000 the Sikh forces with 22 guns. As per his planning with the English generals, Lal Sinh (instead of easily occupying Firozpur) ordered an attack on Mudki; Lal Sinh after crossing river Satluj wrote to Captain Nicholson (who was at Firozpur), “I have crossed the river with the Sikh army; tell me what to do;” Nicholson told him, “Don‟t attack Firozpur; halt as many days as you can…” Lal Sinh involved his soldiers in engagement, and then left them to fight as their undirected valour might prompt.
In spite of treason, on the 18th of December 1845, the Sikhs badly defeated the English army; in this battle, 215 English soldiers were killed, including Sir Robert Sale (known as „the defender of Jalalabad‟) and Sir Joseph Macgaskill, and 657 English soldiers were wounded.
The purpose of this action by the Brahmin Generals of the Lahore Darbar was to get all the Sikh soldiers killed; Cunningham, who was the commander of the English forces against the Sikhs writes: “The object, indeed, of Lal Singh and Tej Singh was not to compromise themselves with the English by destroying an isolated division, (at Firozepur) but to get their own troops dispersed by the converging forces of their opponents…”
Battle of Pherushahr
The second battle between the Sikhs and the English was fought on the 21st of December 1845 in the fields of Pherushahr village;:as per planning, Lal Sinh and Teja Sinh did not provide the Sikh soldiers even sufficient arms and ammunition; Teja Sinh also prevented them from attacking that side of the English army which was weak; besides, when Teja Sinh would realise that the Sikh soldiers had upper hand on a particular side, he would order them to withdraw from that front in order to help the English army; after this Lal Sinh, Kanhaiya Lal, Ayudhya Prasad and Amar Nath fled the scene leaving six to seven thousand Sikh soldiers leader-less; but, in spite of this treason, the Sikh soldiers did neither surrender nor ran away from the field.
In the battle of Pherushahr, 694 English soldiers were killed and 1721 were wounded; among the killed, 103 were officers and these included Major Broadfoot who had shot the first bullet of the battle; the Sikhs lost 2000 soldiers and 73 pieces of artillery. Although in this battle the traitors Lal Sinh and Teja Sinh fully collaborated with the English and helped them in every way but in spite of this the losses of the English were heavy and they were badly frightened.
In this battle, Patiala, Nabha and the other cis-Satluj Sikh states too fought for the English and against the Sikh army of Lahore Darbar.
Ranjodh Singh’s attack on Ludhiana
Besides the Firozpur zone, the Sikhs opened another front at Ludhiana too; on 17th of January 1846, Ranjodh Singh, the Raja of Ladwa, attacked the English cantonment at Baddowal (near Ludhiana) and occupied it; but, Ranjodh Singh, instead of proceeding towards Firozpur or thinking of planning to stop and fight against the English army coming from Delhi, simply stayed at Baddowal. According to Smythe, “Ranjodh Singh ought certainly to have marched direct upon Delhi instead of entrenching himself first at Buddowal and afterwards on the banks of the river; his cavalry might have laid waste the country and his army would have increased like a snowball and easily have got possession of a portion of the siege-train which was on the road without proper ammunition and protection.”
Ranjodh Singh‟s occupation lasted only ten days; on the 28th of January 1846, Henry Smith‟s army attacked Ludhiana; a battle was fought at village Aliwal in which Ranjodh Singh lost and was arrested. Cunningham believes that Ranjodh Singh did not have any strategy; he occupied Baddowal but did not move further; he could have proceeded towards Firozpur to join the Lahore army or should have marched towards Delhi to stop the English army from proceeding towards Lahore/Firozpur; further, even when Henry Smith attacked, he (Ranjodh Singh) did not personally lead his army.
Although the English army had re-occupied Ludhiana but they had achieved this success not because of their own strength or strategy; they won because of lack of experience/wisdom of Ranjodh Singh; and even after occupying Ludhiana, the English officers were still scared, confused and worried; hence, instead of capturing the Punjab, they had begun thinking of returning to West (England). Commenting on the state of mind of the English and the traitors (Lal Sinh Misr, Teja Sinh Misr and Gulab Sinh Dogra) Cunningham observes: “They shrank within themselves with fears, and Gulab Sinh, who had been spontaneously hailed as minister and leader, began to think that the Khalsa army was really formidable…”
Gulab Sinh Dogra reaches Lahore
In spite of this situation, as per the English planning, Gulab Sinh Dogra reached Lahore on the 27th of January 1846, and took over de facto reigns of the Lahore Darbar; but, still, he was scared of the Sikh soldiers, as he feared that they might treat him a traitor and deal with him in the manner they did with his nephew Hira Sinh Dogra. But, then, news reached Lahore that the English had won Ludhiana again; this suited Gulab Sinh Dogra; now, he began presenting himself as the greatest well-wisher of Lahore Darbar; he scolded the Sikh generals for losing battles. Having observed that his words had been successful to present him as a loyal leader, he proceeded further by telling them that they should not have given went to their anger and rage which made them turn against such a big and mighty neighbour; to further show his concern for the Lahore Darbar, he immediately began „negotiations‟ with the English.
On the other hand, the English Governor General did not like this; he wanted to occupy the whole of the Punjab; the Governor General sent a message to Gulab Sinh that he would not mind Sikh rule (in fact Gulab Sinh‟s rule) in Lahore subject to the disbanding of the Sikh army; but, Gulab Sinh expressed his helplessness in doing so on the plea that he was afraid of the Sikh army. Cunningham thinks that Gulab Sinh himself was not interested in this (as this would have made him just a tout of the English; on the other hand he would have a higher position in the Lahore Darbar).
Battle of Sabraon
In such a situation, the English too did not want to prolong the issue; hence they had a deal with the „trio‟: Gulab Sinh Dogra, Lal Sinh (Prime Minister) and Teja Sinh (Commander-in-chief), the three traitors of the Lahore Darbar; as per the deal: the trio will instigate the Sikh army to attack the English; but they will be put in a position to be beaten by the English army; after this, the Sikh army will be abandoned; hence their defeat and destruction; and with this the English army would easily capture Lahore.
Commenting upon this, Cunningham says: The speedy dictation of a treaty under the walls of Lahore was essential to the British reputation and the views of either party were in some sort met by an understanding that the Sikh army should be attacked by the English and that when beaten, it should be openly abandoned by its own government; and further, that the passage of the Sutlej should be unopposed and the road to the capital laid open to the victors. Under such circumstances of discreet policy and shameless treason was the battle of Sobroan fought. Murray believes that there is no example of such a battle of (treason) in ancient or modern history.
The battle of Sabraon was fought on the 10th of February 1846; Tej Sinh and Lal Sinh re-organised planning to assure perfect victory for the English; hence their army should have clear passage to reach Lahore.
According to Calcutta Review, traitor Lal Sinh Brahmin had sent, in writing, the complete planning for the strategy of battle at Sabraon; this planning reached Captain Nicholson on the 7th of February 1846.
When the battle for Sabraon began, the Sikh army had an upper hand; they had crushed three attacks by the English army; now, instead of beginning an offensive, Teja Sinh fled the battlefield and after crossing Satluj river, he even damaged the bridge so that the Sikh army may not be able to cross it in case of necessity; when the English received information about Teja Sinh‟s action (of fleeing, destroying the bridge; and, leaving the Sikh army leader-less, and, not being able to cross the bridge), they began a new offensive: now, most of the leader-less Sikh soldiers had no choice but to either win the battle or embrace martyrdom; hence they fought with religious fervour under the command of Sham Singh Attariwala.
During this period, some soldiers of the Lahore Darbar who considered themselves as mercenaries and had no religious or national commitment, tried to flee; but as the bridge had been damaged by Teja Sinh, they could not cross the river hence many of them drowned; but (as per the author of The Life of Henry Lawrence) those who could swim were greeted by the ten cannons which Gulab Sinh Dogra and Teja Sinh had put up to blow up the returning Sikhs by branding them „traitors fleeing battle field‟.
On the other hand, in the battlefield, Sham Singh Attariwala and his companions continued fighting till their last breath; Cunningham has given a fine account of the martyrdom of Sham Singh Attariwala: “The dangers which threatened the Sikh people pressed upon their mind and they saw no escape from foreign subjection. The grey headed chief Sham Singh of Attari, made known his resolution to die in the first conflict with the enemies of his race and so to offer himself as a sacrifice of propitiation to the spirit of Gobind Singh ji and to the genius of his mystic Commonwealth....the ancient Sham Singh remembered his vow, he clothed himself in simple white attire, as one devoted to death, and callings on all around him to fight for the Guru, who had promised everlasting bliss to the brave, he repeatedly rallied his shattered ranks, and at last fell a martyr on a heap of his slain countrymen.”…“No Sikh offered to submit and no disciple of Gobind asked for quarter. They everywhere
showed a front to the victor and stalked slowly and sullenly away while many rushed singly forth to meet assured death by contending with a Multitude.”
Griffin has recorded that Sham Singh Attariwala was hit by seven bullets; he had his fifty companions, who were fighting just with swords, embraced martyrdom like chivalrous soldiers. In this battle, 320 English soldiers died and 2083 were wounded; Lord Gough assesses the Sikh causalities between 12 and 15 thousands.
The English crossed Satluj River
After winning the battle of Sabraon, there was none to stop the movement of the English army; the ten cannons on the other side of the river were not supposed to attack the English soldiers; the prime minister of Lahore was a traitor; the commander-in-chief was a traitor; and the third leader of the Lahore Darbar, Gulab Sinh Dogra, was a traitor; i.e. the whole administration of Lahore was bent upon shameful treason to hand over the kingdom of Ranjit Singh to the enemy.
On the 12th of February 1846, the English army reached Kasur and occupied the fort without resistance; the Pathan leaders of Kasur held a meeting and went to the chief of the English army to „welcome‟ them.
As per the command of the English army, on the 14th of February, the traitor Gulab Sinh Dogra reached Kasur to present himself before the English General and presented them with precious gifts; the General refused to have a meeting with him, and „ordered‟ that Daleep Singh, the child Maharaja, and all the courtiers accompanied by prominent Sikh feudal, should themselves appear before him (General).
On the 18th of February 1846, Daleep Singh and his courtiers appeared before the English; they were not even asked to have seats, the terms of „treaty‟ (in fact deed of surrender) were read out to them; they were asked to sign it, and were unceremoniously dismissed.
In fact, the English General wanted not only to insult the Sikhs but also wanted to create terror in their minds; and, now he wanted that, instead of Satluj, Beas should be accepted as their border and they (Sikhs) should have nothing to do with the hill states.
Awards and Rewards to the Traitors
After getting „treaty‟ signed, the English had deliberations about giving awards and rewards to those traitors who had helped the English in defeating the Sikh army; but, they had problem that they could not grant equal power to both traitors Gulab Sinh and Lal Sinh; so they decided to hand over Kashmir and hill territory to Gulab Sinh (the hills on the western side of Beas river); and Lal Sinh Brahmin (prime minister) was given control of the Lahore Darbar. Because officially it was not the British but Daleep Singh (in fact Rani Jindan) who was to appoint the prime minister; but they (English) knew that, in spite of all treason, Lal Sinh was the most trusted person for Rani Jinda and she would surely appoint him as her prime minister; this was the state of mind of the Rani on one hand and the successful strategy of the traitor Lal Sinh and his companions.
The whole Lahore machinery (including the army chief, prime minister) were their men and the English could have captured the whole of the Punjab; but, at that time there were 20 thousand Sikh soldiers at Amritsar and 15 thousand at Lahore, and this could have led to a large number of casualties on both sides; hence they decided not to go to this extent; but, still they decided to create awe in the mind of the Sikhs. In order to establish this, they decided to exhibit their supremacy in Lahore itself; a large English army, escorted by Maharaja Daleep Singh, marched to Lahore and put up camps in Mian Mir cantonment.
General Huge Cook reports that when the English army was passing through Lahore, the Sikhs were angry but it did not affect the Hindus and the Muslims.
At Lahore, the first order issued by the English army was to expel all the Sikh soldiers not only from the cantonment but also from the walled city of Lahore; they were ordered to cross the river Raavi and put up their camps in Shahdara area; none of them was allowed to enter Lahore without a permit in writing; hence, now, Lahore city and the cantonment were in the possession of the English.
Treaty of Lahore
On the 9th of March 1846, a 16 point „Treaty‟ was signed by the Lahore Darbar and the English; on the 11th of March addition were made to this „Treaty‟; later, on the 16th of March 1846, another „agreement‟ was signed for grant of Kashmir to Gulab Sinh Dogra:
Treaty between the British Government and the State of Lahore – 1846
Article 1. There shall be perpetual peace and friendship between the British Government on the one part, and Maharajah Dhuleep Sing, his heirs and successors on the other.
Article 2. The Maharajah of Lahore renounces for himself, his heirs and successors, all claim to, or connection with the territories lying to the south of the River Sutlej, and engages never to have any concern with those territories or the inhabitants thereof. Article 3. The Maharajah cedes to the Hon’ble Company, in perpetual sovereignty, all his forts, territories and rights in the Doab or country, hill and plain, situated between the Rivers Beas and Sutlej.
Article 4. The British Government having demanded from the Lahore State, as indemnification for the expenses of the war, in addition to the cession of territory described in Article 3, payment of one and half crore of Rupees, and the Lahore Government being unable to pay the whole of this sum at this time, or to give security satisfactory to the British Government for its eventual payment, the Maharajah cedes to the Honourable Company, in perpetual sovereignty, as equivalent for one crore of Rupees, all his forts, territories, rights and interests in the hill countries, which are situated between the Rivers Beas and Indus, including the Provinces of Cashmere and Hazarah.
Article 5. The Maharajah will pay to the British Government the sum of 60 lakhs of Rupees on or before the ratification of this Treaty.
Article 6. The Maharajah engages to disband the mutinous troops of the Lahore Army, taking from them their arms-and His Highness agrees to reorganize the Regular or Aeen Regiments of Infantry, upon the system, and according to the Regulations as to pay and allowances, observed in the time of the late Maharajah Runjeet Sing. The Maharajah further engages to pay up all arrears to the soldiers that are discharged, under the provisions of this Article.
Article 7. The Regular Army of the Lahore State shall henceforth be limited to 25 Battalions of Infantry, consisting of 800 bayonets each with twelve thousand Cavalry – this number at no time to be exceeded without the concurrence of the British Government. Should it be necessary at any time – for any special cause – that this force should be increased, the cause shall be fully explained to the British Government, and when the special necessity shall have passed, the regular troops shall be again reduced to the standard specified in the former Clause of this Article.
Article 8. The Maharajah will surrender to the British Government all the guns-thirty-six in number-which have been pointed against the British troops-and which, having been placed on the right Bank of the River Sutlej, were not captured at the battle of Subraon.
Article 9. The control of the Rivers Beas and Sutlej, with the continuations of the latter river, commonly called the Gharrah and the Punjnud, to the confluence of the Indus at Mithunkote-and the control of the Indus from Mithunkote to the borders of Beloochistan, shall, in respect to tolls and ferries, rest with the British Government. The provisions of this Article shall not interfere with the passage of boats belonging to the Lahore Government on the said rivers, for the purpose of traffic or the conveyance of passengers up and down their course. Regarding the ferries between the two countries respectively, at the several ghats of the said rivers, it is agreed that the British Government, after defraying all the expenses of management and establishments, shall account to the Lahore Government for one-half the net profits of the ferry collections. The provisions of this Article have no reference to the ferries on that part of the River Sutlej which forms the boundary of Bhawulpore and Lahore respectively.
Article 10. If the British Government should, at any time, desire to pass troops through the territories of His Highness the Maharajah, for the protection of the British territories, or those of their Allies, the British troops shall, on such special occasion, due notice being given, be allowed to pass through the Lahore territories. In such case the officers of the Lahore State will afford facilities in providing supplies and boats for the passage of rivers, and the British Government wi77ll pay the full price of all such provisions and boats, and will make fair compensation for all private property that may be damaged. The British Government will, moreover, observe all due consideration to the religious feelings of the inhabitants of those tracts through which the army may pass.
Article 11. The Maharajah engages never to take or to retain in his service any British subject-nor the subject of any European or American State-without the consent of the British Government.
Article 12. In consideration of the services rendered by Rajah Golab Sing of Jummoo, to the Lahore State, towards procuring the restoration of the relations of amity between the Lahore and British Governments, the Maharajah hereby agrees to recognize the lndependent sovereignty of Rajah Golab Sing in such territories and districts in the hills as may be made over to the said Rajah Golab Sing, by separate Agreement between himself and the British Government, with the dependencies thereof, which may have been in the Rajah’s possession since the time of the late Maharajah Khurruck Sing, and the British Government, in consideration of the good conduct of Rajah Golab Sing, also agrees to recognize his independence in such territories, and to admit him to the privileges of a separate Treaty with the British Government.
Article 13. In the event of any dispute or difference arising between the Lahore State and Rajah Golab Sing, the same shall be referred to the arbitration of the British Government, and by its decision the Maharajah engages to abide.
Article 14. The limits of the Lahore territories shall not be, at any time, changed without the concurrence of the British Government.
Article 15. The British Government will not exercise any interference in the internal administration of the Lahore State-but in all cases or questions which may be referred to the British Government, the Governor-General will give the aid of his advice and good offices for the furtherance of the interests of the Lahore Government
.Article 16. The subjects of either State shall, on visiting the territories of the other, be on the footing of the subjects of the most favoured nation.
This Treaty consisting of sixteen articles, has been this day settled by Frederick Currie, Esquire, and Brevet-Major Henry Montgomery Lawrence acting under the directions of the Right Hon’ble Sir Henry Hardinge, G.C.B., Governor-General, on the part of the British Government, and by Bhaee Ram Sing, Rajah Lal Sing, Sirdar Tej Sing, Sirdar Chuttur Sing Attareewalla, Sirdar Runjore Sing Majeethia, Dewan Deena Nath, and Faqueer Noorooddeen, on the part of the Maharajah Dhuleep Sing, and the said Treaty has been this day ratified by the seal of the Right Hon’ble Sir Henry Hardinge, G.C.B., Governor-General, and by that of His Highness Maharajah Dhuleep Sing.
Done at Lahore, this ninth day of March, in year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-six; corresponding with the,tenth day of Rubbee-ool-awul, 1262 Hijree, and ratified on the same date.
(Sd.) H. Hardinge (L.S.)
(Sd.) Maharajah Dhuleep Sing (L.S.)
Bhaee Ram Sing (L.S.)
Rajah Lal Sing (L.S.)
Sirdar Tej Sing (L.S.)
Sirdar Chuttur Sing Attareewalla (L.S.)
Sirdar Runjore Sing Majeethia (L.S.)
Dewan Deena Nath (L.S.)
Faqueer Noorooddeen (L.S.)
Treaty of 11.3.1846
Article 1. The British Government shall leave at Lahore, till the close of the current year, AD 1846, such force as shall seem to the Governor-General adequate for the purpose of protecting the person of the Maharajah and the inhabitants of the City of Lahore, during the reorganization of the Sikh Army, in accordance with the provisions of Article 6 of the Treaty of Lahore. That force to be withdrawn at any convenient time before the expiration of the year, if the object to be fulfilled shall, in the opinion of the Durbar, have been attained-but the force shall not be detained at Lahore beyond the expiration of the current year.
Article 2. The Lahore Government agrees that the force left at Lahore for the purpose specified in the foregoing Article shall be placed in full possession of the Fort and the City of Lahore, and that the Lahore troops shall be removed from within the City. The Lahore Government engages to furnish convenient quarters for the officers and men of the said force, and to pay to the British Government all the extra expenses, in regard to the said force, which may be incurred by the British Government, in consequence of the troops being employed away from their own Cantonments and in a Foreign Territory.
Article 3. The Lahore Government engages to apply itself immediately and earnestly to the reorganization of its army according to the prescribed conditions, and to communicate fully with the British authorities left at Lahore, as to the progress of such reorganization, and as to the location of the troops.
Article 4. If the Lahore Government fails in the performance of the conditions of the foregoing Article, the British Government shall be at liberty to withdraw the force from Lahore at any time before the expiration of the period specified in Article 1.
Article 5. The British Government agrees to respect the bona fide rights of those jaghiredars, within the territories ceded by Articles 3 and 4 of the Treaty of Lahore, dated 9th instant, who were attached to the families of the late Maharajahs Runjeet Sing, Kurruk Sing and Shere Sing; and the British Government will maintain those jaghiredars in their bona Fide possessions during their lives.
Article 6. The Lahore Government shall receive the assistance of the British Local Authorities in recovering the arrears of revenue justly due to the Lahore Government from the kardars and managers in the territories ceded by the provisions of Articles 3 and 4 of the Treaty of Lahore, to the close of the khureef harvest of the current year, viz. 1902 of the Sumbut Bikramajeet.
Article 7. The Lahore Government shall be at liberty to remove from the forts, in the territories specified in the foregoing Article, all treasure and State property, with the exception of guns. Should, however, the British Government desire to retain any part of the said property, they shall be at liberty to do so, paying for the same at a fair valuation, and the British officers shall give their assistance to the Lahore Government in disposing on the spot of such part of the aforesaid property as the Lahore Government may not wish to remove, and the British Officers may not desire to retain.
Article 8. Commissioners shall be immediately appointed by the two Governments to settle and lay down the boundary between the two States, as defined by Article 4 of the Treaty of Lahore, dated March 9th, 1846.
(Sd.) H. HARDINGE (L.S.)
(Sd.) Maharajah Dhuleep Sing (L.S.)
Bhaee Ram Sing (L.S.)
Rajah Lal Sing (L.S.)
Sirdar Tej Sing (L.S.)
Sirdar Chuttur Sing Attareewalla (L.S.)
Sirdar Runjore Sing Majeethia (L.S.)
Dewan Deena Nath (L.S.)
Faqueer Noorooddeen (L.S.)
After this, the English Governor General and the Commander-in-Chief of the English army and twenty thousand English soliders remained in Lahore for some time; during this period they monitored the disbanding of the Sikh army. Cunningham observed that the dismissed Sikh soldiers showed neither the despondency of mutinous rebels nor the effrontery and indifference of mercenaries, and their manly deportment added lustre to that valour which the victors had dearly felt and generously extolled. The men talked of their defeat as chance of war.
After this „Treaty‟, though technically it was the reign of Daleep Singh; and, the fort was with him, and, he had his army too, but in reality it was the English who were the real commanders because Lal Sinh Brahmin (the prime minister) and Tej Sinh Brahmin (the chief of army) were their touts.
The English could not have defeated the army of Lahore Darbar; it was the three traitors (Gulab Sinh, Teja Sinh, and Lal Sinh) who had bestowed „victory‟ to the English (which had in fact lost battle and had got hundreds of soldiers killed). As a reward for treason, Gulab Sinh had been crowned as Raja of Jammu; but Lal Sinh and Teja Sinh had still got nothing; Lal Sinh was jealous of Gulab Sinh, and, he had even tried to stall „crowning’ of Gulab Sinh. The English did not like his action; as a result he had to leave Punjab; he spent the rest of his time in Dehradun (thus, this traitor got punishment instantly; now he was a powerless person, though he had a lot of money with him). The third traitor Teja Sinh was, however, allowed to continue as the chief of Lahore army (because the English wanted to use him still further); now, Daleep Singh was the formal Maharaja and Rani Jindan was his formal „Regent‟; but still the real power was with the English only.
Background of the traitors
It is noteworthy that, as mentioned earlier too, Ranjit Singh had handed over almost all of his power to the Dogras of Jammu and the Brahmins of Hindustan; though, there were some offices with Muslims and Punjabi Khatri-Hindus too; but, those who played treason, in December 1845, were only Dogras and Brahmins; no Sikh ever joined hands with the English in handing over the kingdom to them; no Muslim collaborated with the English; not even the Punjabi Hindus joined the English front. The history has recorded several instances of the Brahmins playing treason with their rulers; probably it began with Chanakya (Magadh) and after that there were several Chankyas and Lal Sinhs and Teja Sinhs in the history of South Asia.
‘Treaty’ of Bharowal
After exiling Teja Sinh to Dehradun, the English did not allow appointment of a new prime minister and established a „Council of Regency‟ to administer the kingdom; it comprised of Teja Sinh Brahmin, Diwan Dina Nath, Faqir Nur-ud-Din and Sher Singh Attariwala (three of the four were non-Sikhs); later four more were added to it: Atar Singh Kalianwala, Shamsher Singh Sandhawalia, Ranjodh Singh Majithia and Bhai Nidhan Singh. Though, technically, this „Council‟ was ruling the kingdom but, in fact, they were acting as per the wishes of the English Resident Henry Lawrence (later, in March 1848, he was replaced by Frederick Curry).
On the 16th of December 1846, the English got signed a new „Treaty‟ from this „Council‟; according to this agreement Rani Jindan was removed as „Regent‟ of Maharaja Daleep Singh and given an annual pension of rupees one hundred and fifty thousand rupees. Now, Henry Lawrence became the Regent; he was to remain in this office till Daleep Singh reached age of 16; hence he was to rule the kingdom directly for the next eight years (i.e. up to the 4th of September 1854); all this was a drama, in fact, the English were planning to annex the Punjab in stages.
The text of the ‘Treaty’ (names as in original text):
Whereas the Lahore Durbar and the principal Chiefs and Sirdars of the State have in express terms communicated to the British Government their anxious desire that the Governor-General should give his aid and assistance to maintain the administration of the Lahore State during the minority of Maharajah Dulleep Sing, and have declared this measure to be indispensable for the maintenance of the Government; and whereas the Governor-General has, under certain conditions, consented to give the aid and assistance solicited, the following Articles of Agreement, in modification of the Articles of Agreement executed at Lahore on the 11th March last, have been concluded on the part of the British Government by Frederick Currie, Esquire, Secretary to Government of India, and Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Montgomery Lawrence, C.B., Agent to the Governor-General, North-West Frontier, by virtue of full powers to that effect vested in them by the Right Honorable Viscount Hardinge, G.C.B., Governor-General, and on the part of His Highness Maharajah Dulleep Sing, by Sirdar Tej Sing, Sirdar Shere Sing, Dewan Deena Nath, Fukeer Nooroodeen, Rai Kishen Chund, Sirdar Runjore Sing Majethea, Sirdar Utter Sing Kaleewalla, Bhaee Nidhan Sing, Sirdar Khan Singh Majethea, Sirdar Shumshere Sing, Sirdar Lall Sing Morarea, Sirdar Kehr Sing Sindhanwalla, Sirdar Urjun Sing Rungurnungalea, acting with the unanimous consent and concurrence of the Chiefs and Sirdars of the State assembled at Lahore.
Article 1. All and every part of the Treaty of peace between the British Government and the State of Lahore, bearing date the 9th day of March, 1846, except in so far as it may be temporarily modified in respect to Clause 15 of the said Treaty by this engagement, shall remain binding upon the two Governments.
Article 2. A British officer, with an efficient establishment of assistants, shall be appointed by the Governor-General to remain at Lahore, which officer shall have full authority to direct and control all matters in every Department of the State.
Article 3. Every attention shall be paid in conducting the administration to the feelings of the people, to preserving the national institutions and customs, and to maintaining the just rights of all classes.
Article 4. Changes in the mode and details of administration shall not be made, except when found necessary for effecting the objects set forth in the foregoing Clause, and for securing the just dues of the Lahore Government. These details shall be conducted by Native officers as at present, who shall be appointed and superintended by a Council of Regency composed of leading Chiefs and Sirdars acting under the control and guidance of the British Resident.
Article 5. The following persons shall in the first instance constitute the Council of Regency, viz., Sirdar Tej Sing, Sirdar Shere Sing Attareewalla, Dewan Deena Nath, Fukeer Nooroodeen, Sirdar Runjore Sing Majeethea, Bhaee Nidhan Sing, Sirdar Utter Sing Kaleewalla, Sirdar Shumshere Sing Sindhanwalla, and no change shall be made in the persons thus nominated, without the consent of the British Resident, acting under the orders of the Governor-General.
Article 6. The administration of the country shall be conducted by this Council of Regency in such manner as may be determined on by themselves in consultation with the British Resident, who shall have full authority to direct and control the duties of every department.
Article 7. A British Force of such strength and numbers and in such positions as the Governor-General may think fit, shall remain at Lahore for the protection of the Maharajah and the preservation of the peace of the country
Article 8. The Governor-General shall be at liberty to occupy with British soldiers any fort or military post in the Lahore territories, the occupation of which may be deemed necessary by the British Government, for the security of the capital or for maintaining the peace of the country.
Article 9. The Lahore State shall pay to the British Government twenty two lakhs of new Nanuck Shahee Rupees of full tale and weight per annum for the maintenance of this force, and to meet the expenses incurred by the British Government. Such sum to be paid by two instalments, or 13,20,000 in May or June, and 8,80,000 in November or December of each year.
Article 10. Inasmuch as it is fitting that Her Highness the Maharanee, the mother of Maharaja Dulleep Sing, should have a proper provision made for the maintenance of herself and dependants, the sum of one lakh and fifty thousand rupees shall be set apart annually for that purpose, and shall be at Her Highness’ disposal.
Article 11. The provisions of this Engagement shall have effect during the minority of His Highness Maharajah Dulleep Sing, and shall cease and terminate on His Highness attaining the full age of sixteen years or, on the 4th September of the year 1854, but it shall be competent to the Governor-General to cause the arrangement to cease at any period prior to the coming of age of His Highness, at which the Governor-General and the Lahore Durbar may be satisfied that the interposition of the British Government is no longer necessary for maintaining the Government of His Highness the Maharajah.This agreement, consisting of eleven articles, was settled and executed at Lahore by the Officers and Chiefs and Sirdars above named, on the 16th day of December, 1846.
(Sd.) F. CURRIE H.M. LAWRENCE (Sd.)
” Sirdar Tej Sing (L.S.)
” Sirdar Shere Sing (L.S.)
” Dewan Deena Nath (L.S.)
” Fukeer Nooroodeen (L.S.)
” Rai Kishen Chund (L.S.)
” Sirdar Runjore Sing Majethea (L.S.)
” Sirdar Utter Sing Kalewalla (L.S.)
” Bhaee Nidhan Sing (L.S.)
” Sirdar Khan Sing Majethea (L.S.)
” Sirdar Shumshere Sing (L.S.)
” Sirdar Lal Sing Morarea (L.S.)
” Sirdar Kher Sing Sindhanwalla (L.S.)
” Sirdar Urjan Sing Rungurnungalea (L.S.)
” (Sd.) Hardinge (L.S.) & (Sd.) Dulleep Sing (L.S.)Ratified by the Right Honorable the Governor-General, at Bhyrowal Ghat on the left bank of the Beas, twenty-sixth day of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty-Six.
(Sd.) F. CURRIE,
Secretary to the Government of India
Rani Jindan imprisoned
After having made firm grip on the Lahore regime, the English started making plans to annex the whole of the Punjab: there was no possible opposition to their designs except Rani Jindan; she was the only person whom the Sikhs respected and were ready to obey her orders; hence Frederick Curry wanted Rani to leave the Punjab but the Governor General was not in favour of separating mother and son (Daleep Singh) as it could have caused anger among the Sikhs.79
In February 1847, an incident changed the whole scenario; during this period Bhai Prema Singh, a loyal official of Lahore Darbar, made a planning to murder Teja Sinh (commander-in-chief), kidnap Maharaja Daleep Singh and launch a movement to expel the English from the Punjab; but, before it could be translated into action, it got leaked and the English arrested Bhai Prema Singh and his companions. Frederick Curry wanted to make this as basis of a case of treason against Rani Jindan too; Curry tried to establish that Bhai Prema Singh had the support of Bhai Maharaj Singh (of Naurangabad) and Rani Jindan; but, he did not have any evidence against the Rani except this that her Munshi Buta Singh (who, later, became a leader of the Singh Sabha movement) had met Prema Singh for two times. The Governor General rejected the recommendation of Curry to launch proceedings against the Rani, on the plea that people won‟t digest such vague allegations.80
Rewarding the traitor Teja Sinh
Gulab Sinh traitor had got his award (but Lal Sinh got punishment and exile due to his ambitions); however traitor Teja Sinh Brahmin had remained
fully loyal to the British; hence the latter wanted to reward him: and, for this, the Resident arranged for a function; in this function Teja Sinh was to be anointed as „Raja‟. When the child Maharaja Daleep Singh was asked to dip his finger in saffron and put a mark on the forehead of Teja Sinh (to complete the ceremony of grant of title of „Raja‟), he (Daleep Singh) held his hands on his back and refused to anoint the traitor; as a result the Resident asked some priest to perform this ceremony. Lord Harding accused Rani Jindan for instructing Daleep Singh for this activity: he alleged that because she was against rewarding the traitors, so she had tutored Daleep Singh; when the ceremony began Rani did not know of the ceremony of anointing Teja Sinh; and when Daleep Singh soaked his finger with saffron paste, at the same time Rani instructed him, by blinking her eyes, not to do so, and he put his hands on his back and sat in an carefree posture.
Now, the Resident made this act as basis of a trial; and as a follow up, five most loyal servants of the Rani (Mangala, Jeewan Singh, Hira Singh, Amir Bakhsh and Hardyal) were dismissed from job, and they were exiled from the town of Lahore; even the Rani was confined to the walls of the fort; now, she was not allowed to meet anyone at her own will.
Rani Jindan expelled from Lahore
Though, the Rani was, now, almost like a prisoner in a big jail (Lahore fort), still the Resident did not stop here; on the 19th of August 1847, she was expelled from Lahore and sent to Sheikhupura; besides her pension amount too was reduced from rupees one hundred fifty thousand to a mere forty-eight thousand rupees (i.e. reduced to less than one third). When this news became public, even Dost Mohammed Khan, the chief of Kabul, condemned this action.
The English were so much afraid of Rani Jindan that they wanted to give her mental torture by isolating her from people; by harassing her economically and by insulting her in one or another manner; in furtherance of this plan, in May 1848, she was, now, exiled even from Punjab. The orders to exile her were not signed by any Sikh member of the Cabinet of Regency; among the signatories included Teja Singh (traitor) and Gulab Sinh Dogra (he was not even a member of the Cabinet); this „order‟ was personally executed by Frederick Currie and Fakir Nur-ud-Din. Rani Jindan was sent to Hindustan; on the 15th of May 1848, she was taken to Benaras under heavy escort (Fakir Nur-ud-Dinwas one of the leaders of the team which escorted the Rani to Benaras). Evan Bell, commenting on this treatment, says: “Thus was the mother of the Sovereign, and widow of our Alley, hurried away into exile, under imminent terror of execution…” Evan Bell further says: “She would probably think she was doomed to the same fate as her confidential vakeel Moonshee Gunga Ram, who had been hanged a few days before.”
Not only that she was exiled but her pension too was further reduced to mere twelve thousand rupees per year (on 16.12.1846 it was 125 thousands; on 19.8.1847 reduced to 48 thousands and now just 12 thousands), i.e. less than one tenth of the original.
The English did not stop here; at Benaras too she was treated as most dangerous criminal; on the 14th of July 1848, all her clothes were removed to search her body; besides, her ornaments (which were worth five million rupees) and two hundred thousand rupees cash were also taken away from her forcibly.
Revolt at Multan
In September 1844, Diwan Mool (also spelled as Mul) Raj became the Governor of Multan after the death of his father; Lal Sinh (the prime minister) did not like him but he could not stop his appointment; when the English captured power at Lahore, Lal Sinh, being a favourite of the English, became aggressive and on the 29th of October 1846, he (Lal Sinh) increased the revenue to be charged from him by 25%, but, he (Mool Raj) did not protest and agreed to pay that too; to further harass him, Lal Sinh withdrew his (Mool Raj‟s) judicial rights and several of his other powers; as a result, now he had no authority even to punish those who would not pay revenue to Multan regime; hence a major loss was expected to the treasury of the State; now, Diwan Mool Raj realised that Lal Sinh wanted him to resign; so, in order to save himself from further hardships and harassment, and even possible punishment, he, in December 1847, signed his resignation letter and sent it to Lahore Darbar; the Resident accepted his resignation but asked him to continue until March 1848 when his incumbent would take charge from him.
By that time Frederick Curry had joined as the new Resident; he appointed Kahan Singh as the Governor of Multan with Venus Agnew as his Political Advisor and Lieutenant Anderson as his Assistant; Kahan Singh reached Multan on the 19th of April 1848 and Diwan Mool Raj handed over the charge of Governorship to him.
When Kahan Singh and both the English officials were coming out of the fort after taking charge from Diwan Mool Raj, Godaria Singh, a Mazhabi Sikh, attacked the English officials in anger and killed them. These murders were not a spontaneous reaction or result of simply a local issue; in fact the occupation of Lahore by the English, insult to Rani Jindan and her arrest and exile, disarming the Sikh army, honouring and rewarding the traitors etc had created widespread anger among the Sikhs; of course removing Diwan Mool Raj and appointing Kahan Singh Maan in his place, especially the monitoring Multan affairs by two English officers had aggravated the situation. Godaria Singh was neither a senior officer of army nor did he belong to the ruling Jatt community; he was rather a (so-called) low caste who did not enjoy even the privileges of ruling class; hence it was just an emotional reaction by a religiously zealous person.
When the news of the murder of two English officers reached the English Resident Frederick Curry at Lahore, he ordered English army to march towards Multan but soon he changed his mind and began thinking of putting the blame on the Sikh army and officials in general; and, later, to use it for as an excuse for the annexation of Punjab: with this in mind, he wrote a letter to Herbert Edwardes, who was at Bannu at that time, asking him to tell Kahan Singh Maan to let Mool Raj remain in governance of Multan. In the second half of May 1848, Curry ordered Edwardes to march to Multan; by this time, Bhai Maharaj Singh Naurangabadi too had reached Multan and had begun organising the Sikh soldiers.
Diwan Mool Raj was, in fact, a victim of Currys and Edwardes excesses; according to Evan Bells. When Diwan Mool Raj got news of departure of Edwardes for Multan, he offered his services to him for a peaceful solution but the latter rejected it and attacked Multan; at first there were minor skirmishes but on the 18th of June 1848, the English army made a massive attack resulting into the latter‟s victory. The last battle was fought on the first of July in which the elephant of Mool Raj was killed and with this spread the news of his death too; this discouraged the Sikh soldiers. Now, Diwan Mool Raj was confined to the fort; the English army surrounded the fort from all sides; Mool Raj had been expecting help from Dost Mohammed Khan of Kabul but neither he nor the Attariwalas could/did send their forces.
Finally on the 17th of December 1848, the English army made a forceful attack on the gate of the Multan Fort and broke it open; now Diwan Mool Raj surrendered; he was arrested and tried for rebellion, war and treason; he was given death sentence which, later, the Governor General changed to life imprisonment. In January 1850, he was sent to Fort William (Calcutta, now Kolkata); after a few months, he was transferred to Benaras Fort jail due to ill health; in fact he was given slow poisoning in food which led to deterioration of health; and this killed him just at the age of 36 years; he breathed his last on the 11th of August 1851.
Chatar Singh Attariwala
The English and the traitors of the Lahore Darbar (Lal Sinh, Gulab Sinh Dogra etc) had been harassing all those who were still loyal to Maharaja Ranjit Singh; the English had planned to trouble, demoralise, and if possible, to eliminate all of them one by one; those on their hit list included Chatar Singh Attariwala, who was a senior official of the Lahore Darbar, and his daughter had been engaged to Daleep Singh, the child Maharaja; the English had dangerous plans about Daleep Singh so they did not want him to get married to the daughter of Chatar Singh; hence they began troubling Chatar Singh.
In July 1847, Chatar Singh was the Governor of Hazara, and Captain James Abbot had been appointed as his Advisor as well as Assistant Resident. As per planning, Abbot began troubling Chatar Singh: he instigated the Muslim residents to revolt against Chatar Singh; Chatar Singh too had received intelligence about the activities of Abbot; in August 1848, he wrote a long letter to the English Resident giving account of the activities of Abbot; but, instead of inquiring into the allegations of Chatar Singh, he (Resident) asked him (Chatar Singh) to talk to Abbot himself. In the meanwhile, Abbot left Hazara and moved to Sherwan, about 55 kilometres away; when Chatar Singh asked him to return, he refused and said that he did not trust him (Chatar Singh); on the other hand Abbot continued instigating the Muslims. Now, Chatar Singh fully realised that the intentions of the English were not good; hence he asked the Sikh soldiers to remain on extra vigil.
In this state of affairs, one day, a big crowd of the Muslims surrounded the residence of Chatar Singh; in order to scare the crowd, Chatar Singh issued orders to fire a ball from cannon, but the person in charge of the cannon, Canora, an English soldier, refused to obey his orders; when Chatar Singh asked Canora to give up the charge of the cannon, he refused to obey this too; when some Sikhs argued with Canora, he asked his assistant, who happened to be a Sikh, to fire at those Sikhs who were having argument with him (Canora); when the assistant refused to fire at the Sikhs, he (Canora) shot him (assistant); now Canora tried to fire a cannon ball towards the Sikhs but, per chance, he could not charge it; now when Canora made another trial to charge the cannon, two Sikhs went towards him to stop him from firing; at this Canora killed these two Sikhs too; the killing of three Sikhs created awe in the minds of all those present there and they realised that Canora might become able to charge the cannon and kill Chatar Singh and many other Sikhs; with this fear in mind, a Sikh went forward and shot Canora. After this a ball was fired from cannon which compelled the Muslims run helter skelter; if cannon had not got charged the Muslims would have killed Chatar Singh and all other Sikhs.
His own safety, disobeying of orders by Canora and murder of three innocent Sikhs were all in favour of Chatar Singh; but, as Abbot wanted to harass and punish Chatar Singh, he tried to declare it as „merciless killing‟ but he could not prove it. Now Abbot got prepared some fake letters against Chatar Singh; but, still, he could not establish him a rebel; in spite of this, Nicolson dismissed Chatar Singh from Governorship; the English were in fact waiting for an excuse to do it.
This was not only Chatar Singh‟s insult but gross injustice too; but it was not first attack on him; his daughter had been betrothed to Maharaja Daleep Singh; he had been requesting for performance of marriage ceremony but the English were not allowing this; besides his sister-in-law (mother of would be son-in-law) had already been arrested, exiled from the Punjab and interned in Benaras Fort jail; thus this was third major shock for him, and, this was enough to make him a rebel.
Injustice to Sher Singh Attariwala
Chatar Singh Attariwala approached the Resident but the latter did not bother because all actions had been done with his consent or connivance. During all these events Chatar Singh‟s son Sher Singh had not reacted; in fact, Sher Singh had always expressed complete loyalty for the State; when Mool Raj of Multan rebelled, he (Sher Singh) helped the English like a loyal official; but, in spite of this the English had been doing injustice to him; they even tried to get him killed. This is apparent that the English wanted to insult, harass and trouble, and finally remove from the scene, all those who could be potential danger to their designs or those who were loyal to Ranjit Singh family; and, here, the Attariwalas were in a way the Ranjit Singh family itself, as their daughter had been engaged to Daleep Singh. It seems that the English had already secretly planned to convert Daleep Singh to Christianity, and, separating his mother from him, blocking his marriage in a staunch Sikh family etc were steps towards this direction.
As mentioned earlier, insult and gross injustice to Chatar Singh turned him a rebel and he began considering a final battle against the English; when his son Sher Singh came to know about the wish of his father, he too decided to join him; Chatar Singh wrote a letter to his second son Gulab Singh too; it read: “The Farangis (English) have done injustice to the queen of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. They have arrested the mother of the people and have exiled her to Hindostan. They have violated the treaty.”
When Sher Singh finally decided for war, several Sikh leaders, former generals and soldiers expressed their willingness to join him; by that time a very large number of soldiers had been dismissed from service, and they were sitting idle in their villages; and there was not a single village where there was no dismissed Sikh soldier. Besides, treatment with Rani Jindan, injustice to Attariwalas, rewarding the traitors, loss of glory and realisation of mood of slavery had already created the feeling of rebellion among the folk.
But, although a common Sikh was infuriated and in a rebellious mood, the feudal created by Ranjit Singh and the other nobility, who had been living easy lives of luxury, were not ready for joining struggle; but, it was people‟s agony which had created an atmosphere of war, and many Sikhs became ready to join it.
At that time, the situation in Hazara was precarious as Abbot, the English Deputy, has been provoking the local Muslims against Chatar Singh; hence he (Chatar Singh) had to behave very carefully: had he rebelled immediately, the local Muslims would have sided with the British and he would have to fight on two fronts; so, he contacted Dost Mohammed Khan of Kabul through Sultan Mohammed Khan and formed a joint front against the English; as per agreement the son of Dost Mohammed Khan was to lead a force of the Afghan soldiers to join the side of Chatar Singh.
On the other hand, at the same time, the English Governor General had been planning complete occupation of the Punjab; in one of his notes he wrote: “So long there are Sikhs in the army, and there are Sikh officers, the chances of rebellion would always remain there”.
Battle of Ramnagar
Uneasiness between the Attariwalas and the English continued for two more months; but finally they came face to face against each other; the first battle was fought at Ramnangar (also known as Rasulnagar) on the 22nd of November 1848; in this battle General Gough was the commander of the English army; this one day battle ended in no one‟s victory but loss of lives on both sides was very high; among the hundreds of the English casualties included Brigadier General Curton and Lt. Col. Havlock also; the English had not expected such heavy losses; they were now sacred of the Sikhs; they could not decide their next course for several weeks and just waited for the orders of the seniors.
Battle of Chelianwala
After a silence of seven weeks, the English army again became ready for another battle; the next battle was fought at village Chelianwala (the English writers have wrongly spelled it is Chillianwala) in the present district of Gujrat, in Pakistan. In this battle, for the first time, on the English side, it was an all English army battle, the Hindustani or Muslim soldiers were not a part of it.
In this battle, the Sikh soldiers fought with religious fervour because they were angry over the English occupation of the Punjab; on the other hand, the English had misconceived that they would repeat the results of the battles of Mudki, Pherushahr and Sabraon; but they forgot that they had won those battles not due to their might, bravery or strategy but merely due to treason by the Brahmins Teja Sinh, Lal Sinh, Ayudhiya Prasad, and Kanhaiya Lal and Amar Nath; and they forgot that it was an army of lions fighting for their honour and freedom. This battle badly shattered the English army; they lost 2446 soldiers and 132 officers; they also lost four guns to the Sikhs. General Sir Robert Thackwell (in The Sikh Wars, pp. 61 to 98) has given dtailed account of this battle; according to him: “Few battles of ancient or modern times have presented such a roll of casualties – such an enormous sacrifice of life within short space of time as this.” Lord Dalhousie in a letter to Couper, on the 20th Janury 1849, wrote: “We have gained a victory:, he observed ruefully, “like that of the ancients; it is such as one „another would ruin us!‟”
It is noteworthy that the reign of Ranjit Singh was, in no way, a Sikh rule; it was the rule of a man who happened to be a Sikh; and due to this an average Sikh had no such feeling which could inspire him to join struggle against the English; Ranjit Singh had given all the power to the Dogras, the Brahmins of Hindustan, the Europeans etc; and, an average Sikh was an ordinary citizen of his kingdom; hence they were not ready to fight for the Lahore Darbar headed by Teja Sinh, Lal Sinh and Gulab Sinh Dogra. But, in 1848, after the exit of most of the Dogras, insult to Rani Jindan, mistreatment with Attariwalas had created sympathy among the Sikhs. They fought for the Attariwalas in the battle of Chelianwala with this fervour.
Commenting on this battle, Calcutta Review wrote: In this sub-continent, Chillianwala battle was the most dangerous for Britain. Griffin calls it like massacre of the British soldiers in Afghanistan. Edwin Arnold wrote: If the Sikhs would have won another such battle, the rule of the British would have ended not only in the Punjab but also in the whole of India. General Thackwell wrote: I think not a single soldier survived in this battle…each Sikh soldier was able to kill three soldiers of ours… The English soldiers were so sacred of the Sikh army that they were fleeing the battle field like sheep run to save their lives.
This battle created such awe among all the English people that even the British Parliament observed condolence for their losses: speaking in the Parliament, Duke of Wellingdon, who had one time defeated the great French General Napoleon Bonaparte, too offered his services to go to the Punjab and fight against the Sikhs. The English woes of Chelianwala battle made the famous poet George Meredith write a sad poem on this battle:
Chillanwallah, Chillanwallah! Where our brothers fought and bled, O thy name is natural music And a dirge above the dead! Though we have not been defeated, Though we can’t be overcome, Still, whene’er thou art repeated, I would fain that grief were dumb. Chillianwallah, Chillianwallah! ‘Tis a name so sad and strange, Like a breeze through midnight harpstrings Ringing many a mournful change; But the wildness and the sorrow Have a meaning of their own – Oh, whereof no glad to-morrow Can relieve the dismal tone! Chillianwallah, Chillianwallah! ‘Tis a village dark and low, By the bloody Jhelum river Bridged by the foreboding foe; And across the wintry water He is ready to retreat, When the carnage and the slaughter Shall have paid for his defeat. Chillianwallah, Chillianwallah! ‘Tis a wild and dreary plain, Strewn with plots of thickest jungle, Matted with the gory stain. There the murder-mouthed artillery, In the deadly ambuscade, Wrought the thunder of its treachery On the skeleton brigade. Chillianwallah, Chillianwallah! When the night set in with rain, Came the savage plundering devils To their work among the slain; And the wounded and the dying In cold blood did share the doom Of their comrades round them lying, Stiff in the dead skyless gloom. Chillianwallah, Chillianwallah! Thou wilt be a doleful chord, And a mystic note of mourning That will need no chiming word; And that heart will leap with anguish Who may understand thee best;
But the hopes of all will languish Till thy memory is at rest.
After the defeat of the English army, General Gough was replaced by Charles Napier.
Battle of Gujrat
Although the Sikhs had won the battle of Chelianwala; they too had suffered heavy loss of life. On the other hand, the English were not alone, they had complete support of all the Hindustani states, Hindu and Muslim rulers; and, even the cis-Satluj Sikh states were collaborating with them; but, on the Sikh side, it was just Attariwalas and a few patriotic Sikhs like Bhai Maharaj Singh; they did not have support of even the Sikh feudal or Sikh aristocracy; thus this was an unequal battle.
But, it is strange on the part of the Sikhs too that even after inflicting crushing defeat to the English, the Attariwalas remained confined to a small zone of western Punjab; they did not march towards Lahore, nor did they organise more soldiers or ammunition; they did not make any offensive, no attack on any English station, cantonment or post; they should have proceeded towards Lahore and possibly it could have become a mass movement and, then, the scenario would have been totally different.
In February 1849, the new General, Charles Napier took command of the English forces in the Punjab, and, soon he began preparations for another battle; the next battle was fought outside the city of Gujrat; by this time, the Afghan forces too had come to join Chatar Singh Attariwala but, before the battle could take place, they returned to Kabul without participating in it; now, the Sikhs were alone in the battle field.
In this battle, the English came with all their force; they had 56636 infantry and 11569 cavalry along with 96 field and 67 seige guns; never perhaps had the British used so many guns in a sigle battle.
When the English came to know that the number of the Sikh forces was very small and they did not have much ammunition, they surrounded the Sikhs from all the sides and began continuous firing from cannons and guns; this massive firing compelled the Sikhs to run for their safety; and they began running helter-skelter on all sides; the English forces, being in great numbers began chasing the fleeing Sikhs; tens of English soldiers were running after a single Sikh; and, they went on attacking such armless Sikhs till each one of them was dead. The English were so angry with their devastating defeat at Chelianwala that they gave went to their anger even by firing at dead bodies of the Sikh soldiers, and by cutting the bodies of the wounded Sikhs; thus, the English forces took revenge of their earlier defeat in an inhuman manner; they killed between three and five thousand Sikh soldiers; this was the „bravery‟ of the English people.
The Attariwalas surrender
After the defeat of Gujrat, Chatar Singh and Sher Singh tried to flee towards Afghanistan but Abbot blocked their advance compelling them to surrender. On the 14th of March 1849, in a formal ceremony at Rawalpindi, the Sikh army, led by the Attariwalas, surrendered before General Gilbert; Thackwell, narrating the scene of surrender, says that while surrendering his weapons, an old Sikh soldier said, „Ajj Ranjit Singh Mar Giya‟ and tears began falling from his eyes.
After surrender, Chatar Singh was arrested and sent to William Fort Calcutta prison where he was given slow poisoning in his food and he died on the 27th of December 1855 (this was the English style of killing eminent prisoners; Diwan Mool Ral, Attariwala and several other were killed by slow poisoning; this was the English justice and their regards for their enemy prisoners of war; and this was English humanism).
Annexation of the Punjab
Now, after the surrender of the Attariwalas, there was no quarter of power in the Punjab which could oppose the English; hence they were safe, but in spite of this, on the 18th of March 1849 the English declared the annexation of the Punjab to their empire.
Bhai Maharaj Singh
After the defeat at Gujrat, the Attariwalas had decided to surrender but Bhai Maharaj Singh was not in favour of this; he wanted to fight another battle; but, with the exception of Col. Rachhpal Singh, no senior leader of the army supported him.
When Attariwalas formally surrendered arms at Rawalpindi, Bhai Maharaj Singh fled towards Kashmir; there, he spent some days at village Devi Batala; where some companions joined him; later he moved to village Chambi, and from here he made several trips to different places and contacted a large number of Sikhs encouraging them to join struggle against the English. Here, he came to know that the English have formally removed Daleep Singh from Maharaja-ship and annexed the Punjab; at this he planned kidnapping of Daleep Singh and launch struggle in his name; but, those who were assigned this duty got arrested and this plan remained abortive. After this, the English increased security of Daleep Singh, in fact, now, he was like a royal prisoner; and soon, the English decided to remove Daleep Singh from the Punjab to Hindustan, thus, bringing an end to his contact with the Sikhs.
On the other hand, Bhai Maharaj Singh continued his struggle; from June to October 1849, he stayed at village Sujowal (near Batala); as he did not have money, he sent his companions to contact the Sikhs for arms and money; several Sikhs promised help, even Dost Mohammed Khan, the aamir of Kabul, promised help to him (even earlier too he had promised but backed out).
Bhai Maharaj Singh asked the granthis and the preachers to inspire the Sikhs and prepare them for struggle; he himself personally visited Guleran, Kishanpur, Kurala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and several other places and met several Sikhs; having assessed the situation, he planned an attack on the English cantonments at Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur; he even talked to the Sikh soldiers in these cantonments.
By this time the English too had received some information about the activities of Bhai Maharaj Singh; they had engaged several spies to find out his place of stay and to know about his movements. The English established a network of intelligence to arrest or finish him; one day he luckily escaped being arrested near Multan; on another day, the English received news that he was drowned, and they celebrated this news; but, soon, to their dismay, this turned out to be wrong information. In the summer of 1849, the English announced an award of rupees ten thousand for affecting the arrest of Bhai Maharaj Singh; it was the highest amount in the history for the arrest of any person till then.
All the English, including Lord Dalhousie, dreaded even the mention of the name of Bhai Maharaj Singh; once Dalhousie wrote: „If he is arrested I shall hang him.‟
Vansittart, the then Deputy Commissioner of Jalandhar wrote: “Bhai is not an ordinary man; to local folk he is like Christ to orthodox Christians…”
These were the reasons due to which the English regime was scared of Bhai Maharaj Singh and the whole government machinery was in action in search for him. The English had launched propaganda among the Muslims and the Hindus that the Bhai wanted to establish a pure Sikh rule; and, by doing so the English had established the Bhai as anti-Hindu and anti-Muslim. Partly due to this and partly due to the amount of award for affecting his arrest, a very large number of Muslims and Hindus became ready to help the English in capturing the Bhai.
As per the information available in the then Government records the following were the major companions of Bhai Maharaj Singh: Kharak Singh, Gurmukh Singh, Bahadur Singh, Kahan Singh Bhikhiwindia, Narain Singh, Issar Singh, Nihal Singh, Suba Singh, Kishan Singh, Jaimal Singh, Gulab Singh (a jagirdar of Doaba), Amir Singh, Dharam Singh (Gagarpani), Mohra (of Wazirabad), Bhag/Baj Singh, Tek Singh, Bahadur Singh (of Nanku), Gurdit Singh Ahluwalia (of Fatehbad), Kanh Singh (of Fatehbad), Ishwar Singh (of Aokari Ghata), Maya Singh Saini (of Naushehra), Sobha Singh (of Buchhawari), Gulab Singh (Talwandi, Hoshiarpur), Dharam Singh (of Chitti, Jalandhar), Basawa Singh, Jawahar Singh (of Nurpur Chopra), Hari Singh, Dal Singh, Ram Singh (of Zahura, Hoshiarpur) and Kaura Singh (of Sujowal, Batala).
Arrest of Bhai Maharaj Singh
On the 28th of December 1849, just six days before he was to attack the cantonments of Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur, a Muslim saw him (Bhai Maharaj Singh) and his companions hiding in a sugarcane field near Adampur; he immediately went to Jalandhar and informed the Deputy Commissioner who arrived there with a heavy force and surrounded the area; when Bhai Maharaj Singh saw them, he realised that he won‟t be able to flee so he surrendered; the English army immediately chained him; all his 21 companions were also arrested.
After his arrest, Bhai Maharaj Singh and his companions were taken to Jalandhar; when he arrived at the gate of the jail, the Sikh security guards bowed their heads to respect him; this further frightened the Deputy Commissioner and when this information reached Lord Dalhousie he too got scared and wanted to get rid of the Bhai Bhai executing him; in his minutes dated the 13th of January 1850, he wrote: “I should myself have desired that so mischievous and so bold a traitor should be atonce brought to trial, and, if convinced, should be subjected to the heaviest penalty which public law can inflict”; however, fearing public rage, he was given life imprisonment and it was decided that he should be immediately removed from the Punjab.
During this period, the other political prisoners of the Punjab too were being removed to far off jails; these included Chatar Singh Attariwala, his sons Sher Singh and Avtar Singh as well as Lal Singh Moraria, Mehtab Singh Majithia, Dewan Hakim Rai. Krishan Kaur and Arjan Singh (all of them had been, by then, interned in their villages); Diwan Mool Raj too was to be „condoned to life imprisonment beyond seas‟. They were placed under the charge of General Bidduiph.
On the 30th of Janaury 1850, Bhai Maharaj Singh and Kharak Singh (one of his companions) were despatched from Jalandhar jail to Ambala from where they were taken to Allahabad and then to Calcutta under heavy escort.106They reached Calcutta on the 19th of April 1850; the English were so frightened that they did not keep him even at Calcutta and exiled him to Singapore.
In Singapore, he was kept in a small cell; even in the cell he remained in chains; and due to this he developed rheumatic pains; further, there was no light in the cell and this affected his eyesight also; and within a short period, he lost his eye-sight, speech and within a short time, he became almost a skeleton of bones. Even in the proven conduct of the prisoner, the recommendations by the Resident Councillor (in July 1853) to allow him fresh air for just two hours a week too were rejected by the Governor General. This was the treatment of the English with a political prisoner; they had forgotten all the norms of humanity and even the rules of war; they were behaving as ferocious enemies.
Having remained in this hell-like state for six years, Bhai Maharaj Singh died on the 5th of July 1856.
Along with Bhai Maharaj Singh, all his companions too had been arrested; now there was none to organise or lead the struggle against the English; hence the last struggle against the English proved abortive.
Struggle by Rani Jindan
Once Lord Dalhousie wrote: „Only Rani Jindan is the person with manly…‟ it was the reason that the English were dreaded her. As mentioned earlier, she was taken to Benaras on the 16th of May 1848, as a prisoner; even from Benaras Fort she made contacts with Bhai Maharaj Singh and Chatar Singh Attariwala; when the English got intelligence about this, in March 1849, they, instead of increasing security, decided to move her to the most secure prison, the Chinar Fort; when Jindan got news of her transfer to Chinar, she began weeping and refused to go; when she was threatened that they would remove her forcibly, she had no option but to leave. She was moved to Chinar under heavy army escort; when Major McGregor handed over the „prisoner‟ Rani Jindan to Captain Reese, he instructed him that he should visit her cell everyday personally and confirm her presence; and as she was to remain in veil, he was to recognise her from her voice.
Rani Jindan escapes from prison
From the 5th to the 15th of April 1849, Captain Reese visited Rani‟s cell everyday and confirmed her presence; suddenly, on the 15th he realised that her voice was different from before; when he enquired the reason, he was told that she had bad cold; Reese took it as true and went away. In fact, the Rani had left the prison on the very second day, i.e. the 6th of April 1849; the English could not know it until the 19th of April 1849.
After escaping from Chinar, Rani Jindan first went to Patna and then reached Nepal on the 29th of April 1849; here, she approached the king of Nepal and sought his help against the English; but the ruler of a small state did not have courage nor had he sources to oppose a big power like the English. After this Rani Jindan sent message to Gulab Sinh Dogra but this naive lady did not know that he (Dogra) was one of the three major culprits who had handed over her Empire to the English; on the other hand, Gulab Sinh immediately gave information about this message and about her whereabouts to the English.
By this time, the English had received almost complete information about the Rani as well as her activities; and, if they wished it they could have captured her very easily; but, they had, by then, known that no Sikh or non-Sikh has agreed to help her, and, she was alone; hence they left her on her own but, they did not give up her surveillance.
Rani Jindan gives up courage
Having lost all her hopes, the Rani finally gave up all her efforts; in 1856, she approached the English and sought permission to join her son in England; but the English did not want her to see her son, which would possibly mean bringing him back to Sikh faith. The very next year, in 1857, some former rulers and feudal began a mutiny against the English; in such a situation, as the English had not given a good response to her request to join her son, she reacted and wrote letters to some Sikhs asking them to help the rebels; but, by this time most of the Sikhs had lost hopes of return of the Sikh rule; hence they did not respond to the Rani; secondly, the mutiny of 1857 was led by a Mughal ruler, fanatic Maulavis, the Purabia Hindustani chiefs, feudal and generals (who were responsible for handing over Punjab to the English) this too discouraged the Sikhs to join mutiny. Not only, the Punjabis but also the Maharashtarians, the Rajputs, the Tamils (south Indians) and dozens of other Hindu rulers too did not support the rebels; hence the mutiny did not succeed; and with this, the Rani lost even last resort.
Rani reaches England
In 1860, the Rani made another appeal to the English to allow her to join her son; by this time she was about 40 years old; she was a defeated, helpless and weak woman; and the English knew this; on the other hand Daleep Singh had been living luxurious life of a dull Christian feudal; he had not even the slightest wish to be the ruler of a state; hence the English were sure that the Rani won‟t be able to exert any affect on such a Daleep Singh; with all this in their mind, in 1861, the English regime allowed the Rani to go to England and join her son. After a couple of months, Daleep Singh came to Bombay and met his mother after a period of separation of 13 years; by this time, he was fully clean-shaven; and, when the Rani saw him she began weeping bitterly; but, her cries and wailing did not make even slightest impact on Daleep Singh; he did not make even verbal promise to become a Sikh again.
On the 4th of May 1861, the Rani and Daleep Singh left Bombay for England and reached there in July; but, now, though she was with her son all the time but she was a lonely and despondent lady living like a prisoner of an open jail serving a sort of solitary confinement; most of the time she would weep, sob and remain lost; her tears affected her eye-sight too; and, within a few months she was just like „a bag of bones‟.
Rani Jindan did not survive long and she died on the first of August 1863, i.e. within two years of her arrival in England; the only „manly person‟ of the Punjab was now dead.
And, the English still showed their callousness to the dead Rani; they did not allow Daleep Singh to immerse her ashes in the Punjab waters (though, in Sikhism, it does not matter even if the ashes were immersed in England).
Last days of Daleep Singh
Daleep Singh, who had become the emperor of a big state on the 18th of September 1843; lost his formal crown on the 29th of March 1849; of course the credit goes to the Dogras of Jammu and the Brahmins of Hindustan. On the 29th of December 1849, he was exiled from the Punjab and sent to Fatehgarh (in Hindustan); he was accompanied by a widow of his brother Sher Singh (another Maharaja, killed in 1843) and her son Shivdev Singh as well as Ayudhya Parsad Brahmin, a courtier (and a traitor of his empire). They reached Fatehgarh on the 17th of February 1850; after their arrival there, all his Sikh and Punjabi servants were dismissed; and now, he was being attended by a Christian missionary Dr Login, his wife Lady login and a Christian-turned Hindu Bhajan Lal and some white servants; all this was a part of the plan to bring Daleep Singh into Christian faith.
In this Christian scenario and English atmosphere, the eleven and a half year old child Daleep Singh, who had least information about Sikhism, was not expected to know, say or assert anything; and, in these two years he began living as a western and Christian. In the beginning of 1853 (within three years of leaving the Punjab), when he was just fourteen and a half years old, he „expressed‟ his desire to join Christianity; and, on the 8th of March 1853 he was formally baptized as Christian.
Soon after this drama, Daleep Singh was taken (in fact driven) to England so that there may not be any commotion; and, moreover, to provide him a luxurious atmosphere where he should not even slightly think of Sikhism, Punjab or his heritage.
In 1861 (seven years after his entry into England), he was allowed to go to Bombay to bring his mother (who died in just two years of her arrival in England); and in 1863, after the death of his mother, he was again alone; by this time he was 25 years old; after the death of his mother he married a German girl Bamba Mueller, who bore him two sons and a daughter.
Daleep Singh used to get a good amount of money as his pension, and, hence led a luxurious life; and, as he had not to think of his income, he went on spending lavishly and carelessly; as a result he came under debt. Instead of thinking of monitoring his expenses, he wanted to get more money from the English government. In 1882, he was forty-four years old; and during all 28 years of his stay in England, he had never thought of the Punjab, his heritage, his father, his kingdom etc (even the Sikhs had forgotten him); and, he had not even the slightest feeling of being even a former ruler; but, when his efforts to get increase in the amount of his pension did not bear fruit, he decided to use his background as pressure tactics. On the 31st of August 1882, he published an advertisement in Daily Times newspaper of London, and presented his case for „increase of his pension‟ (but not for return of his kingdom); but, his appeal did not make any impact on the people of England, Queen Victoria or the British government.
Now, a dejected Daleep Singh tried to use Sikh card; by this time, he had already made contact with Thakar Singh Sandhawalia (the founder president of the Singh Sabha Movement); Thakar Singh visited England in 1884 and met him (Daleep Singh). Here, both planned to launch a new struggle for regaining the lost kingdom; and, for this purpose Daleep Singh also agreed to return to the Sikh faith; on the 9th of March 1886, he made a formal apology for embracing Christianity and requested the Sikhs to help him in his struggle.
After this, Daleep Singh decided to go to the Punjab; as there was no question of getting state permission to visit the Punjab, he secretly left London in April 1886 and reached Aden; when the English regime came to know about his presence in Aden, on the 15th of April 1886, he was told to go back to England; at this he sent his family back to England but himself did not return. From here, he made contact with Thakar Singh and other Sikhs; soon, some Sikhs arrived there and on the 25th of May 1886, he performed the ritual of Khanday-di-Pahul and declared himself a Sikh;115 when the British officials came to know this, he was forcibly deported to England in the beginning of June 1886.
After reaching England, Daleep Singh did not rest; he secretly reached France and sought permission of the French government to go to Pondicherry, but they did not allow him. However, here, he succeeded in getting a fake passport in the name of an Irish person; from Paris he went to Berlin (Germany) and then entered Russia, where he contacted Tsar (king) of Russia and sought his help against the British; when the Tsar realized that Daleep Singh was not interested in struggle against the British but his main purpose was to get his income increased, he refused to help him.
By this time he had appointed Thakar Singh as his prime minister and the latter had left the Punjab for Pondicherry (which was under France rule at that time) to save himself from the English regime. Daleep Singh also sent a letter to some Sikhs seeking their help but none agreed to help him; on the other hand, the Sikh feudal expressed their loyalty to the English regime; in fact Daleep Singh could not present his credentials, neither as a Sikh nor as a man who wanted to regain his kingdom; hence no one trusted and helped him, and, finally he returned to England.
In 1887 his German wife Bamba Mueller died; though he had formally „embraced‟ Sikhism at Aden but he had no faith in Sikhism; he was still living as a Christian and a western man; and soon after the death of his wife he married again, this time Douglas Wetherill, an English woman; she bore him two daughters.
In 1890, Queen Victoria took pity on him and paid all his debt and granted him royal amnesty, but he still continued making minor efforts. In October 1893 he went to Paris and stayed in Grand Hotel, where he died on the
23rd of October; at that time he was just 55 years old; his dead body was brought to England and buried near the grave of his first wife Bamba Mueller (in 1999 some Sikhs erected a statue in Thatford, where he spent most of his life in England).
Though Daleep Singh had two sons and three daughters, none of them could bear a child; hence with this came an end to lineage of Daleep Singh. Though some people still claim Ranjit Singh‟s lineage from his lesser known son Pishaura Singh, and a grandson Shivdev Singh (son of Sher Singh) but they have never asserted their heritage; only Beant Singh Sandhawalia (a descendant of Ranjit Singh‟s collateral Sandhawalias) and his son Sukhdev Singh do acknowledge their relationship with this former ruling family.
{All the above material, copyright with Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer}
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(1799-1860 Period)
ENGLISH BOOKS
Ahluwalia, M.L., Punjab’s Pioneer Freedom Fighters.
Alexander, Michael and Sushila Anand, Queen Victoria‟s Daleep Singh
Balwant Singh, Army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
Bell, Evan, The Annexation of the Punjab and Maharaja Daleep Singh
Burnes, Alexander, Travels into Bokhara, being the journey from sea to Lahore, in 3 volumes.
Calendar of Persian Correspondence
Chopra, Gulshan Rai, Punjab as a Sovereign State, Hoshiarpur, 1928, 1960.
Cook, Hugh, The Sikh Wars, Lahore, 1928.
Crust, Robert N., Oriental and Linguistic Essays.
Cunningham, J.D., History of the Sikhs, 1849, reprinted 1997.
Delhi Chronicles
Edward, Herbert, A Year on Punjab Frontiers, London, 1851.
Edvardes and Merrivalo, Biography of Henry Lawrence
Elliot, H.M. & Dowson, J., History of India as Told by its Own Historians, 8 volumes, 1877, Allahabad, 1964.
Fane, H.E., Five Years in India, London, 1842.
Ganda Singh, Private Correspondence relating to Anglo-Sikh Wars
Gardner, Alexander, Memoirs of a Soldier and Traveller
Garret, H.L.O. and Chopra, G.L., Events at the Court of Ranjit Singh, London, 1835.
Gorden, J.H., The Sikhs, London, 1883, Patiala, 1970.
Gough, Grant, History of the Marathas, vol II.
Grey, C., European Adventures of Northern India (1785-1849), Lahore, 1929.
Griffin, Lepel H., Rajas of the Punjab, 1870.
Griffin, Lepel H., Ranjit Singh, Oxford, 1905.
Griffin, Lepel H. and C.F.Massy, Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab, 1909.
Gupta, Hari Ram, History of the Sikhs, Lahore 1944, Simla, 1952.
Harbans Singh, Heritage of the Sikhs, Bombay, 1964, Delhi, 1983.
Hasrat, Bikramjit Singh, Anglo-Sikh Relations, Hoshiarpur, 1968.
Hasrat, Bikramjit Singh, The Punjab Papers, Hoshiarpur, 1970.
Home (Political), (Judicial) and other confidential files, available at Commonwealth Records, British Library, Black Friars, London and National Archives, New Delhi.
Honimberg, Dr, Thirty-five Years in East.
Hugel, Travels in Kashmir and the Punjab containing a particular account of the Government and character of the Sikhs, 1845.
Jacquemoent, Letters from India: Describing a Journey in the British Dominions of India, Tibet, Lahore and Cashmere during the years 1828, 1829, 1830, 1831 under the orders of the French Government (translated from French into English, in 2 volumes, published from London in 1834).
Jagjit Singh, The Sikh Revolution, Delhi, 1981.
Kapur Singh, Prasharprashan (The Baisakhi of Guru Gobind Singh), 1959.
Karnail Singh, Anglo-Sikh Wars, Amritsar, 1968.
Kohli, Sita Ram, Sunset of the Sikh Empire
Latif, Syed Mohammed, History of Punjab, Calcutta, 1891 (original in Persian).
Lawrence, Henry, Adventures of an Officer in the Service of Ranjit Singh, 2 volumes, 1845.
Login, Lady, Sir John Login and Daleep Singh.
Malcolm, John, A Sketch of the Sikhs, London, 1812.
McGregor, W.L., History of the Sikhs, London, 1846.
Osborne, W.G., Court and Camp of Ranjit Singh, London, 1840.
Parry, R.E., The Sikhs of the Punjab, London, 1921, Patiala, 1970.
Payne, C.H., A Short History of the Sikhs, London, Patiala, 1970.
Prinsep, H.T., Origin of Sikh Power in Punjab and Political Life of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, London, 1834.
Proceedings of the Punjab History Conferences, several years, Patiala
Punjab Past and Present several issues, Patiala.
Rai, Satya M., Punjab Heroic Tradition, Patiala, 1979.
Rajwade, V. K. (ed), Marathancha Itihasichin Sadane (English translation).
Rose, H.A., A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of Punjab and N.W.F.P., Lahore, 1911-19.
Ross, David, Land of Five Rivers, London, 1893.
Rowlison, H.G., An Account of the Last Battle of Panipat.
Sahota, Sohan Singh, Destiny of the Sikhs, Chandigarh, 1980.
Sardesai, S.G. A New History of Maratha People (3 volumes, published from Bombay in 1948)
Sarkar, Jadu Nath, Shivaji and his Times (published from Calcutta in 1920s, reprinted in 1952).
Scott, G.B., Religion and Short History of the Sikhs, Lahore, 1930.
Selections from Peshwa Daftar
Sinha, N.K., Ranjit Singh, Calcutta, 1933.
Sinha, N.K., Rise of Sikh Power, Calcutta, 1946.
Smythe, M.C., History of Reigning Family of Lahore, Calcutta, 1847.
Steinbach, The Punjaub: Being a Brief Account of the Country of the Sikhs, London, 1845.
Steinbach, Sikh Empire (Culture and Thought), 1846, Ambala, 1978.
Suri, V.S., Umdatut Twarikh, (compliled 1885-89), English publication: dafter III, Delhi, 1961, daftar IV, 1972.
Thorburton, T.H., History of the Punjab, London, 1846.
1. Kapur Singh, Prasharprashna.
2. Out of this 25000 were disciplined infantry soldiers, 5000 cavalry (ghorcharhas) and 150 guns; the irregular troops which were all cavalry amounted to 50000; and it was well known to the English (see: Burnes, Travels into Bokhara, being the journey from sea to Lahore, vol. II, pp. 286-87; also see: Hugel, Travels in Kashmir and the Punjab containing a particular account of the Government and character of the Sikhs, pp. 305, 368, 404).
3. To know about his criteria and strange style of appointing white officers, see the writings of Alexander Gardnier (Memoirs of a Soldier and Traveller) and Henry Lawrence (Adventures of an Officer in the Service of Ranjit Singh, 2 volumes, 1845).
4. Maharaja Ranjit Singh knew even this that Khushal Chand used to accept bribes from people for getting their jobs done (Umdat-ut Twareekh, vol II, p. 313). In spite of this he was most powerful (but next to Dhian Sinh Dogra) in the court. Khushal Chand died in 1844. His son Ram Dyal too had a high office; and, his nephew Tej Ram (later, Teja Sinh Raja) became the Commander-in-Chief, and, he was one of the three traitors who „handed over the Empire to the English.
5. According to J. D. Cunningham, Kishora Sinh was an illegitimate child of Ranjit Dev; see: Cunningham, History of the Sikhs, p. 161.
6. The Dogras had annual revenue of more than 18 lakh 97 thousands rupees.
7. Cunningham, op. cit., p 213.
8. Alexander Burnes, (in Travels into Bokhara, being the journey from sea to Lahore, in 3 volumes, vol II, p. 314) had sensed a danger to Ranjit Singh‟s empire after the death of the latter because „they (Dogras) were busy in filling their coffers and nourishing art of corruption‟. The same was sensed by Baron Hugel in Travels in Kashmir and the Punjab containing a particular account of the Government and character of the Sikhs (1845), p. 288 and G.T. Vigne, in Travel Kashmir, Ladak, Iskardo, the countries adjoining the mountain course of Indus and the Himalayas, North of the Punjab, in 2 volumes (1842), vol. II, p. 422. Jacquemoent in his Letters from India: Describing a Journey in the British Dominions of India, Tibet, Lahore and Cashmere during the years 1828, 1829, 1830, 1831 under the orders of the French Government (translated from French into English, in 2 volumes, published from London in 1834), in vol. II, p. 166, too predicted the same when he wrote: “He (Dhian Sinh) was fortifying his native home, in the vicinity of Bhimber, which he had strengthened by guns taken from Lahore, a fact which no one had disclosed to the Maharaja. He was jealously preparing himself with an eye on future.”
9. Cunningham, op. cit., pp 167-68.
10. Most of these had either been propagating against Sikhism or had established their centres which were in contradiction to the teachings of the Gurus
11. They did not engrave the contribution made by Ranjit Singh on any wall of this temple because the considered him a Jatt (i.e. Dalit), though he succeeded in getting his name engraved on a plate at Darshani Deodi of Darbar Sahib Amritsar, through Giani Sant Singh Nirmala.
Vigne, G.T., Travel Kashmir, Ladak, Iskardo, the countries adjoining the mountain course of Indus and the Himalayas, North of the Punjab, in 2 volumes, 1842.
Waheed-ud-Din, The Real Ranjit Singh, Lahore, 1965.
Williams, G.C.R., The Sikhs in the Upper Doab, in Calcutta Review, 1875.
Persian, Punjabi and Urdu Books
Ali-ud-Din Mufti, Ibratnama, 1854.
Amar Nath, Zafarnama Ranjit Singh.
Chisti, Maulvi Nur Mohammed, Tahikak-i-Chisti, 1906.
Hoti, Prem Singh, Akali Phula Singh.
Kanhaiya Lal, Tarikh-i-Punjab, 1877.
Qurashi , Mufti Ghulam Sarvar, Tareekh-i-Makhzan-i-Punjab, 1868.
Rao, Ram Sukh, Fateh Singh Parbhakar (manuscript, P.U. Patiala)
12. This Rulia Ram had built a big mansion near Gurdwara Tahli Sahib and his descendants remained stationed in this mansion up to 1947. (Amar Nath, Zafarnama Ranjit Singh, events of 1815).
13. Cunningham too refers to such a suggestion by Nalwa, who was not in favour of any son of Ranjit Singh as his successor: History of the Sikhs, p. 173.
14. Total income of Ranjit Singh from revenues was three million sterling i.e. 60 lakh rupees (Jaquemont, Letters, vol. II, p. 118); at the same time the East India Company had an income of 26 millions sterling; but, according to Alexander Burnes (Travels into Bokhara, being the journey from sea to Lahore, in 3 volumes, vol. II, p. 288, 297, 316) it was two and half crore rupees including revenue from the lands alienated in jagirs and dharamarth.
15. This treaty was signed when the Marhatta Jaswant Rao Holkar, having been defeated by the Lord Lake, the English General, came to the Punjab (he first went to Patiala and when he found that Lord Lake was chasing him, he crossed Beas and reached Amritsar). Ranjit Singh refused to help him but Fateh Singh Ahluwalia mediated a compromise between Holkar and the English. Ranjit Singh and Fateh Singh signed a treaty with the English (East India Company) too; which was as follows (I have not changed even the spellings of the names):
Treaty of Friendship and Amity between the Honorable East India Company and the Sirdars Runjeet Singh and Futteh Sing-1806.
Sirdar Runjeet Sing and Sirdar Futteh Sing have consented to the following Articles of Agreement concluded by Lieutenant-Colonel John Malcolm, under the special authority of the Right Honorable Lord Lake, himself duly authorized by the Honorable Sir George Hilaro Barlow, Baronet, Governor General, and Sirdar Futteh Sing, as principal on the part of himself and plenipotentiary on the part of Runjeet Sing.
Article 1. Sirdar Runjeet Sing and Sirdar Futteh Sing Aloowalia hereby agree that they will cause Jeswunt Rao Holkar to remove with his army to the distance of 30 coss from Amritsar immediately, and will never hereafter hold any further connection with him, or aid or assist him with troops, or in any other manner whatever, and they further agree that they will not in any way molest such of Jeswunt Rao Holkar’s followers or troops as are desirous of returning to their homes in the Deccan, but, on the contrary, will render them every assistance in their power for carrying such intention into execution.
Article 2. The British Government hereby agrees that in case a pacification should not be effected between that Government and Jeswunt Rao Holkar, the British Army shall move from its present encampment on the banks of the River Beas as soon as Jeswunt Rao Holkar aforesaid shall have marched with his army to the distance of 30 coss from Amritsar; and that in any Treaty which may hereafter be concluded between the British Government and Jeswunt Rao Holkar, it shall be stipulated that, immediately after the conclusion of the said Treaty, Holkar shall evacuate the territories of the Sikhs and march towards his own, and that he shall in no way whatever injure or destroy such parts of the Sikh country as may lie in his route. The British Government further agrees that as long as the said Chieftains Runjeet Sing and Futteh Sing abstain from holding any friendly connection with the enemies of that Government, or from committing any act of hostility on their own parts against the said Government, the British Armies shall never enter the territories of the said Chieftains, nor will the British Government form any plans for the seizure or sequestration of their possessions or property.
Dated 1st January, 1806, corresponding with 10th Shawal, 1220 H.E. Seal of Runjeet Sing Seal of Futteh Sing.
16. The Sikhs had actually won battles at Mudki, Firozshah and Chelianwala.
17. For details about Moran and Gul Beghum, read events of 1802 and 1833, respectively in Zafarnama Ranjit Singh by Amar Nath and Umdatut Twareekh by Sohan Lal Suri.
18. Moran was so religious oriented that she had built a mosque in the city of Lahore, which is still standing and is known as Moran Di Masjid. Moran was so favourite to him that, once, he took her on a tour to the Hindu centre Hardwar and spent more than one hundred thousand rupees (in 1810s, now it could mean more than 10 million rupees) for this tour. This amount was spent out of „dharam arth‟ (religious fund) account. (Hardwar has nothing to do with Sikhism or Islam, hence it was no pilgrimage; it may be called a ‘honeymoon tour’).
19. Cunningham, History of the Sikhs (1849), p. 159, edition of 1915, reprinted 1997.
20. This was a strange „Sikh rule‟ as it is claimed by some Sikh preachers and some Sikh chauvinists. It is interesting that some Sikh militants had declared establishment of Khalistan on Ranjit Singh‟s lines; grand was their role-model. Later, however, Parkash Singh Badal did establish such a rule (during 1997-2002 and 2007-2012) in which the anti-Sikh fanatic Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) controlled the ‘Akali’ government like the Brahmins of Hindustan held their grip on Ranjit Singh’s so-called ‘Khalsa Rule’. Such is the intelligence of the Sikh „militants‟ and the preachers.
21. Prasharprahsna, p. 359.
22. Ibid, p. 359-60.
23. Ibid, pp. 360-61.
24. Sirdar Kapur Singh, Prasharprashan, pp. 352, 353, 359, 360-61, 365 (1959 edition).
25. Ibid, p. 361.
26. Sirdar Kapur Singh is not right here; Sahib Singh Bedi did not represent Sikh mainstream as he was a Nirmala; hence he could not have played positive role.
27. Ibid, p. 361.
28. Prasharprashna, p. 365 (page numbers from the edition of 1959).
29. See the details in Amritsar Di Twareekh, two books of the same name, one by Giani Gian Singh and the other by Karam Singh Historian.
30. The Sandhanwalias were the collaterals of Ranjit Singh. They were the grandsons of the brother of Ranjit Singh’s grandfather. They wanted to eliminate all the male members of Ranjit Singh’s family and then occupy the throne.
31. Cunningham, op. cit., p. 203.
32. Dr Honimberg, Thirtyfive Years in East.
33. Henry Gardiner, Memoirs.
34. Latif, History of the Punjab, Harbans Singh, Heritage of the Sikhs, p. 108.
35. According to Sita Ram Kohli (Sunset of the Sikh Empire, p. 41) “Dhian Singh was responsible for a policy whereby the more violent elements in the army, very often Sikhs, were transferred from important military stations to others where scope for making trouble was slighter, and of recruiting new men, mostly non-Sikhs, from Jammu and the other Punjab hills. Between the months of June 1841 and February 1842, some six thousand of these hill men were formed into 8 battalions of infantry and 3 units of light artillery. This, very naturally, aroused suspicion of him, both as disciplinarian and a Dogra”. General Alexander Gardner too confirms this: “This dream was that Hira Singh, the heir of their family, or at least the most promising of its rising generation, might eventually succeed to the throne of Ranjit Singh. Those to be swept away were the male members of the Maharaja’s family, and all those ministers, advisers and chiefs who would not join the Dogra party……All these murders were brought about directly or indirectly by the Dogra brothers, Dhian Singh and Gulab Singh, for the eventual aggrandisement of their family in the person of Hira Singh”. Alexander Gardner, Memoirs, pp. 212-13).
36. Cunningham, op. cit., pp. 213-14.
37. She was referring to Nihangs, Sikh faqirs and such like persons.
38. Ranjit Singh used to drink and offer very strong whiskey to the visitors; when he held a meeting with Lord William Bentinck at Rupar, on the 26th of October 1831 or when his grandson Naunihal Singh got married in 1837, Ranjit Singh served the English guests with high degree of alcohol.
39. In 1837, when Henry Fane came to attend the marriage of Naunihal Singh, he was, in fact, spying; to quote the English General J. D. Cunningham: “That able Commander (Sir Henry Fane) was ever a careful observer of military means and of soldierly qualities, he formed an estimate of the force which would be required for the complete subjugation of the Punjab… This visit to Lahore was perhaps mainly useful, in enabling Lieutenant Colonel Garden, the indefatigable Quarter-Master General of the Bengal Army to complete a detailed map of that part of the country, and which formed the ground work of all the maps used, when hostilities did at last break out with the Sikhs.” (History of the Sikhs, p. 193).
40. Edvardes and Merrivalo, Biography of Henry Lawrence, Hugh Cook, The Sikh Wars, p. 22.
41. Sita Ram Kohli, Sunset of Sikh Empire, p. 101, Harbans Singh, Heritage of the Sikhs, p. 117.
42. Gulab Sinh had established liaison with the English when the English had sent their army to Afghanistan. Even then, the English had offered him the territory of Jallalabad (Afghanistan) as an independent ruler but he dared not accept it (Cunningham, op. cit, pp. 223-24).
43. Robert N. Crust, Oriental and Linguistic Essays, p 43, Sita Ram Kohli, op. cit., p 101, Cunningham, op. cit., p. 253)
44. Cunningham, op. cit., pp 257.
45. Ibid., pp 258-59
46. Ibid., p 255.
47. Calcutta Review, No. 16, p 472.
48. Cunningham, op. cit., p 263, MacGregor, History of the Sikhs, vol.II, p. 80.
49. Ibid.
50. J.H. Gorden, The Sikhs, p. 134.
51. Smythe, Carmichael, History of the Reigning Family of Lahore, Introduction, pp 21-24; Harbans Singh, Heritage of the Sikhs, p. 119. Also see: J.H. Gordon, The Sikhs, p. 134; McGregor, History of the Sikhs, p 107.
52. Cunningham, op. cit., p 265.
53. In the words of Lord Hugh Gough, “the Sikhs fought as if they had everything at stake”.
54. Sita Ram Kohli, Sunset of the Sikh Empire, p. 107; Cunningham, op. cit., p. 265.
55. Cunningham, op. cit., p. 267.
56. Cunningham, op. cit., p. 263.
57. Cunningham, op. cit., p 268.
58. Ibid.
59. Smythe, Major Carmichael, History of the Reigning Family of Lahore, Introduction, pp 21-24.
60. Cunningham, op. cit., pp. 274-75.
61. Ibid, p. 288.
62. Ibid, p. 278-79
63. Ibid.
64. Cunningham, op. cit, p. 279
65. Quoted by Dr Ganda Singh in Private Correspondence relating to Anglo-Sikh Wars, p.98
66. Calcutta Review, June 1849, p. 549.
67. According to Griffin, Teja Sinh counselled even the valiant warrior Sham Singh Attariwala to run away with him at the first British attack in the battle of Sabhroan. (Griffin, Ranjit Singh, pp. 63-64).
68. Cunningham, op. cit., p 284
69. „Sardar Sham Singh, also knowing that 10th February was going to be the day of battle, rose early in the morning, dressed himself in white, and mounting his white mare proceeded to address the Sikh Army. He reminded the assembled Khalsa about their glorious traditions of bravery and sacrifices in the past and begged them, as true sons of the soil, to die rather than turn their backs on the enemy. Since he had himself dedicated his life to the sacred cause, his words had the desired effect‟.
70. Ibid, p. 284
71. Griffin, Ranjit Singh, pp 63-64.
72. Huge Cook, The Sikhs Wars, p. 106. In the words of Sita Ram Kohli: “All the ceremonies customary on such occasions was omitted and the Maharaja and his escort were made „to put on the mien of humiliation‟.” (Kohli, The Sunset of Sikh Empire, p. 117).
73. Cunningham, op. cit., p 286
74. Cunningham, op. cit., p. 288
75. Huge Cook, op. cit., p. 106.
76.Ibid, p 106
78. Cunningham, op.cit, p. 289
79. Lord Dalhousie‟s letter to Curry, dated 16.12.1846.
80. Letter of Henry Lawrence to Elliot, dated September 1847.
81. Evan Bell, The Annexation of the Punjab & Maharaja Daleep Singh, p. 10.
82. Ibid, pp.14-15.
83. Ibid, p. 15
84. Ibid, p. 16.
85. Ibid.
86. Evan Bell, op. cit., pp 50-54.
87. Evan Bell, op. cit., pp. 26-27, 32.
88. Ibid, pp. 23-43.
89. Edwardes, An Year on Punjab Frontiers, pp. 420-24.
90. Punjab Papers, 1849, No. 330 and 344.
91. Punjab Papers, No. 359, Edwardes, op.cit., p. 505.
92. Bikramjit Hasrat, Anglo Sikh Relations, p. 311, M.L. Ahluwalia, Punjab’s Pioneer Freedom Fighters, p. 65.
93. Punjab Papers, 1849, No. 661, Secret Consultations, 24 November 1849, No 312.
94. Thackwell, The Sikh Wars, p. 91.
95. Bikramjit Hasrat, Anglo Sikh Relations 1799-1849, p. 337 (1968 edition).
96. To quote Lord Dalhousie: “Dost Mohammed came like a thief and he has run like a coward” quoted by Bikramjit Hasrat in Anglo Sikh Relations 1799-1849, page 342.
97. Thackwell, op. cit., p 91.
98. Sita Ram Kohli, op. cit., p. 179; Dr Ganda Singh, Punjab te Angrezan da Kabza, 124.
99. M.L. Ahluwalia, Punjab’s Pioneer Freedom Fighters, p. 48.
100. Balwant Singh, Army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, p. 73.
101. Punjab Papers, 1849, No. 213.
102. In 1849, ten thousand rupees meant billion rupees of 2011; such a high award was repeated only 2001 when the USA announced an award for the arrest of Osama Bin Laden.
103. Dalhousie Papers, No 87, 15th December 1849.
104. Secret Consultations, dated 31st of January 1850.
105. Secret Consultations, dated 22nd of February 1850, nos 31-36.
106. Ibid, dated 20th of April 1850, nos 91-92.
107. Ibid, dated 26th of August 1859, no 79.
108. Dr Ganda Singh, Private Correspondence Relating to Sikh Wars, p. 167.
109. Secret Consultations, 26th of May 1849, Nos 125, 136.
110. Political Consultations, 22 March 1850.
111. Secret Consultations, 17 June 1859.
112. Michael Alexander and Sushila Anand, Queen Victoria‟s Daleep Singh, pp 97-101.
113. Michael Alexandera and S. Anand, Queen Victoria‟s Daleep Singh, pp. 97-. for more details see: Lady Login, Sir John Login and Daleep Singh.
114. Daleep Singh and Government, p 83.
115. Queen Victoria‟s Daleep Singh, p.222