Ahluwalia Misl was one of the 11 Misls formed on March 29, 1748, this Misl was headed by Bhai Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (Some writers, in order to insult him, also call him Kalal, literally: the distiller. He himself was not associated with this profession. According to another source he did not belong to distillers’ family but he or his father had been married to a girl from a distiller family.). Bhai Jassa Singh had been brought up by the wife of Guru Gobind Singh Sahib, at Delhi. Bhai Jassa Singh belonged to village Ahlu, hence the suffix Ahluwalia. This Misl, along with Faizalapuria Misl, occupied Lahore in 1758. Bhai Jassa Singh was declared the Emperor. Bhai Jassa Singh, along with Baba Baghel Singh, occupied the Red Fort at Delhi in March 1783. Later, this Misl ruled the erstwhile territory of Kapurthala State. After the death of Bhai Jassa Singh in 1783, Bhai Fateh Singh headed the Misl. Bhai Fateh Singh was friendly to (Maharaja) Ranjit Singh but Ranjit Singh’s advances and intentions compelled him to enter into a treaty with the British in 1806. During the First Anglo-Sikh War (1845), the ruler of Kapurthala State, stood by the army of Lahore Darbar. This led to annexation of the territory Kapurthala State on the south of the river Sutlej, by the British. Soon after, the Kapurthala rulers became subordinate to the British. Nihal Singh became ruler in 1849, followed by his son Randhir Singh in 1852, Kharak Singh in 1870, Jagatjit Singh in 1877.
(Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer)