Ahluwalia (misl)

Last updated
Ahluwalia Misl
1774–1846
NORTHERN INDIA 1780 by hellbat.jpg
Ahluwalia Misl in 1780
StatusPart of the Sikh Confederacy (1774–1801)
Under the Sikh Empire (1801–1846)
Capital Kapurthala
Common languages Punjabi
Religion
Islam (Majority)
Sikhism (State Religion)
Hinduism
Government Misl
Sardar  
• 1777-1783
Jassa Singh Ahluwalia
• 1837-1852
Nihal Singh
History 
• Capture of Kapurthala from Rai Ibrahim Bhatti [1] [2]
1774
1846
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Blank.png Rai Ibrahim Bhatti's Jagir
Kapurthala state Kapurthala flag.svg
Today part of
Ahluwalia Fort Ahluwalia Quila.jpg
Ahluwalia Fort

Ahluwalia (also transliterated as Ahluvalia) was a misl, that is, a sovereign state in the Sikh Confederacy of Punjab region in present-day India and Pakistan. The misl's name is derived from Ahlu, the ancestral village of the misl leaders. The Ahluwalia misl was one of the 12 major Sikh misls, and held land to the north of Sutlej river. [4]

Contents

History

Origins

Different scholars variously name the misl's founder as Sadho Singh, [5] [6] his descendant Bagh Singh, [7] [8] or Bagh Singh's nephew Jassa Singh Ahluwalia. [9] [10] The misl was founded by Kalals, who claimed descent from Jats. [11]

The misl rose to prominence under Jassa Singh, [4] [12] who was the first person to use the name "Ahluwalia". Originally known as Jassa Singh Kalal, he styled himself as Ahluwalia after his ancestral village of Ahlu. [13] In 1774, Kapurthala was captured from Rai Ibrahim Bhatti. [14] [15]

Conflict with Sikh Empire

In 1825, Raja Fateh Singh initiated the construction of a summer house near Kapurthala, designed to provide respite from the scorching heat with its thick walls and an underground cell approximately eight meters deep. However, Ranjit Singh misinterpreted this construction project as an attempt to build a fort, prompting him to summon Fateh Singh to Lahore. Fateh Singh, apprehensive of Ranjit Singh's intentions, having witnessed the fate of numerous chiefs who had previously been called to Lahore, delayed his response. This hesitation led Ranjit Singh to dispatch two battalions under Anand Ram Pindari to Kapurthala in December 1825, forcing Fatah Singh to flee to his possession of Jagraon in British territory. [16]

Following his flight, Fateh Singh sought British protection for his territories, and the Governor-General affirmed his control over villages in the Cis-Satluj region while declining to intervene in his trans-Satluj territory. The Agent Governor-General at Ludhiana intervened, advising Ranjit Singh against confiscating the Kapurthala state in the Jalandhar Doab. Consequently, Ranjit Singh recalled his troops and extended an invitation to Fateh Singh to return. Fateh Singh accepted the offer and returned to Kapurthala in 1826, retaining control over his territory in the Jalandhar Doab while relinquishing other lands west of the Beas River to Ranjit Singh. [16]

Princely state

After the East India Company took over the Sikh territories following the First Anglo-Sikh war of 1846, the Ahkuwalia Misl transformed into the Kapurthala State. [3]

Territory

The misl originated from Ahlu village near Lahore. [11] The Ahluwalias held territory in the Bist-Jalandhar and accepted tribute from chiefs of Malwa, the Punjab Hills, the Gangetic Plains, Rajasthan, and the Upper Bari Doab. [11] The Ahluwalia Misl controlled areas on the left-bank of the Sutlej river. [17]

Dynasty

Ahluwalia Misl

Sardars

Rajas

Kapurthala State

Rajas

  • Nihal Singh (1846 – 13 September 1852) (b. 1817 – d. 1852)
  • Randhir Singh (13 September 1852 – 12 March 1861) (b. 1831 – d. 1870) [19]

Raja-i Rajgan

  • Randhir Singh (12 March 1861 – 2 April 1870) (b. 1831 – d. 1870)
  • Kharak Singh (2 April 1870 – 3 September 1877) (b. 1850 – d. 1877)
  • Jagatjit Singh (3 September 1877 – 12 December 1911) (b. 1872 – d. 1949) [19]

Maharajas

Crown Prince

  • Tikka Raja Shatrujit Singh (b. 1961) [23]

References

  1. ↑ Dogra, R. C.; Mansukhani, Gobind Singh (1995). Encyclopaedia of Sikh Religion and Culture. Vikas Publishing House. p. 249. ISBN   9780706983685.
  2. ↑ Singh, Khushwant (1963). A History of the Sikhs: 1469-1839. Vol. 1. Princeton University Press. p. 123.
  3. 1 2 W. H. McLeod (2009). The A to Z of Sikhism. Scarecrow Press. p. 6. ISBN   978-0-8108-6344-6.
  4. 1 2 Kaushik Roy (2015). Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia. Routledge. p. 88. ISBN   9781317321279.
  5. ↑ G. S. Chhabra (1972). Advanced History of the Punjab: Ranjit Singh & post Ranjit Singh period. New Academic. p. 21. Its founder was one Sadhu Singh, a jat of the Kalal or distiller caste. But the true founder of the confederacy was Jussa Singh...
  6. ↑ Surjit Singh Gandhi (1999). Sikhs in the Eighteenth Century: Their Struggle for Survival and Supremacy. Singh Bros. p. 393. ISBN   978-81-7205-217-1. The Misl was founded by Sadda Singh who was Jat by race and Kalal (wine distiller) by profession and lived seven miles east of Lahore in a village named Ahlu which gave its name to the Misl
  7. ↑ Gurbachan Singh Nayyar (1979). Sikh Polity and Political Institutions. Oriental. p. 120. The founder of Ahluwalia misl was Bagh Singh.
  8. ↑ Khazan Singh (1970). History of the Sikh religion. Department of Languages, Punjab. p. 289. The real founder of the misl was Sardar Bagh Singh, Kalal, of Hallo-Sadho. He was initiated with pahaul by Bhai Mani Singh in Sambat in 1771 (1714 A D ) and soon after that became leader of a considerable body of troops.
  9. ↑ Jagjiwan Mohan Walia (1982). Parties and politics at the Sikh court, 1799-1849. Master. p. 6. The Ahluwalia Misl was founded by Jassa Singh, who belonged to village Ahlu.
  10. ↑ Harish Jain (2003). The Making of Punjab. Unistar. p. 201. Ahluwalia Misl - This was founded by Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and was named after his village Ahlu.
  11. 1 2 3 Dhavan, Purnima (2011). When Sparrows Became Hawks: The Making of the Sikh Warrior Tradition, 1699-1799. Oxford University Press. pp. 60–61. ISBN   978-0-19-975655-1.
  12. ↑ Singhia, H.S. (2009). The encyclopedia of Sikhism. New Delhi: Hemkunt Press. p. 111. ISBN   978-81-7010-301-1.
  13. ↑ Donald Anthony Low (1968). Soundings in Modern South Asian History. University of California Press. p. 70-71. OCLC   612533097.
  14. ↑ Dogra, R. C.; Mansukhani, Gobind Singh (1995). Encyclopaedia of Sikh Religion and Culture. Vikas Publishing House. p. 249. ISBN   9780706983685.
  15. ↑ Singh, Khushwant (1963). A History of the Sikhs: 1469-1839. Vol. 1. Princeton University Press. p. 123.
  16. 1 2 Hari Ram Gupta (October 2001). The Sikhs Commonwealth or Rise and Fall of the Sikh Misls. Munshilal Manoharlal Pvt.Ltd. p. 47. ISBN   81-215-0165-2.
  17. ↑ Herrli, Hans (2004). "The Sikh Misls". The Coins of the Sikhs (2nd ed.). Munshiram Manoharlal. pp. 11–13. ISBN   9788121511322.
  18. ↑ "Kapurthala". Archived from the original on 2018-08-08. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  19. 1 2 3 4 "KAPURTHALA". Royal Family of India. 2013-04-12. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
  20. ↑ "History | Kapurthala Web Portal | India". Government of India. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  21. ↑ A history of the Sikhs, from the origin of the nation to the battles of the Sutlej. Cunningham, Joseph Davey, 1812-1851., Garrett, H. L. O. ed. (Herbert Leonard Offley), 1881-1941
  22. ↑ Griffin, Lepel Henry (1892). Ranjit Singh. Oxford : Clarendon press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  23. ↑ "An undivided India?". NDTV. 29 August 2009. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
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