Sardar Ajit Singh Sandhawalia | |
|---|---|
 Sardar Ajit-Singh Sandhawalia of Raja Sansi, ca.1840 | |
| Known for | Assassin of Maharaja Sher Singh |
| Parent | Basava Singh Sandhawalia (father) |
Ajit Singh Sandhawalia was a Sikh chieftain from the Sandhawalia Jat clan who assassinated Sher Singh, the ruler of the Sikh Empire, on 15 September 1843. [1]
Ajit Singh was the son of Basava Singh Sandhawalia, a sardar from Rajasansi.
After the assassination of Nau Nihal Singh, the Sandhawalia clan supported Chand Kaur to become the ruler. [1] But, when Sher Singh forced Chand Kaur to abdicate the throne, Sandhawalias felt cheated and refused to accept his rule. [2] Sandhawalias were banished from the Khalsa empire and they fled to Calcutta in British India. [3]
British civil servant George Russell Clerk convinced Sher Singh to let the Sandhawalias enter the empire again. Sher Singh welcomed Ajit Singh back with open arms. [2]
Ajit Singh killed Sher Singh after asking him to inspect a new shotgun. Ajit Singh then pulled the trigger [4] and then killed the wounded Sher Singh with his sword by cutting off his head. [1]
After assassinating Sher Singh, Ajit Singh and his uncle, Lahina Singh, escaped and went on to assassinate Dhian Singh, the wazir of Sikh empire. [1] [4]
Guru Gobind Singh was the tenth and last human Sikh Guru. He was a warrior, poet, and philosopher. In 1675, at the age of nine he was formally installed as the leader of the Sikhs after his father Guru Tegh Bahadur was executed by Emperor Aurangzeb. His four biological sons died during his lifetime – two in battle and two executed by the Mughal governor Wazir Khan.
Ranjit Singh, popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He survived smallpox in infancy but lost sight in his left eye. He fought his first battle alongside his father at age 10. After his father died, he fought several wars to expel the Afghans in his teenage years and was proclaimed as the "Maharaja of Punjab" at age 21. His empire grew in the Punjab region under his leadership through 1839.
The Sukerchakia Misl was one of twelve. Sikh misls in Punjab during the 18th century, concentrated in Gujranwala and Hafizabad districts in western Punjab and ruled from (1752–1801). The misl was founded by Charat Singh of Sandhawalia, grandfather of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The last Sukerchakia Misldar was Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, Maharaja Ranjit Singh united all the misls and established an independent Sikh Empire.
The First Anglo-Sikh War was fought between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company in 1845 and 1846 around the Ferozepur district of Punjab. It resulted in defeat and partial subjugation of the Sikh empire and cession of Jammu & Kashmir as a separate princely state under British suzerainty.
Kunwar Nau Nihal Singh was the third Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. He was the only son of Maharaja Kharak Singh and his consort, Maharani Chand Kaur. He was known as Yuvraj Kunwar Nau Nihal Singh. He was also known as Bhanwar Singh or Bhanwar Sa or Kunwar Sa means Respected Young Prince. Bhawar means Son of Kunwar or Son of Thakur. His reign began with the dethronement of his father Maharaja Kharak Singh and ended with his death at the age of 19 on the day of his father's funeral.
Sher Singh was the fourth Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. Elder of the twins of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire and Maharani Mehtab Kaur. His reign began on 18 January 1840 following his assault on Lahore which ended the brief regency of Maharani Chand Kaur. He was assassinated on 15 September 1843 by Ajit Singh Sandhawalia.
Chand Kaur was fourth ruler of the Sikh Empire, proclaimed as Malika Muqaddisa on 2 December 1840. She was born to Sardar Jaimal Singh of the Kanhaiya Misl. In 1812, she was married to Crown Prince Kharak Singh, son and heir apparent of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Maharani Datar Kaur. In 1821 she gave birth to their only son Nau Nihal Singh, who became second in line of succession to the throne of Punjab.
The Sikh Empire was a regional power based in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. It existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849, when it was defeated and conquered by the British East India Company in the Second Anglo-Sikh War. It was forged on the foundations of the Khalsa from a collection of autonomous misls. At its peak in the 19th century, the empire extended from Gilgit and Tibet in the north to the deserts of Sindh in the south and from the Khyber Pass in the west to the Sutlej in the east as far as Oudh. It was divided into four provinces: Lahore, which became the Sikh capital; Multan; Peshawar; and Kashmir from 1799 to 1849. Religiously diverse, with an estimated population of 4.5 million in 1831, it was the last major region of the Indian subcontinent to be annexed by the British Empire.
Sandhawalia is a Jat clan of present-day India and Pakistan.
The Battle of Anandpur was fought at Anandpur, between the armies of the Sikh Guru Gobind Singh and the Mughal forces aided by the Nawab of Bahawalpur state, Rajas of the Sivalik Hills.
Kharak Singh was the second Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. He was the eldest son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire and his consort, Maharani Datar Kaur. He succeeded his father on 27 June 1839 and reigned until his dethronement and imprisonment on 8 October 1839. He was succeeded by his only son Nau Nihal Singh.
Kunwar Pashaura Singh (1821 – 11 September 1845), also spelt Peshawara Singh, sometimes styled as Shahzada, was the younger son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Rani Daya Kaur.
Banda Singh Bahadur, was a Sikh warrior and a commander of the Khalsa army. At age 15, he left home to become an ascetic, and was given the name Madho Das Bairagi. He established a monastery at Nānded, on the bank of the river Godāvarī. In 1707, Guru Gobind Singh accepted an invitation to meet Bahadur Shah I in southern India, he visited Banda Singh Bahadur in 1708. Banda became disciple of Guru Gobind Singh and was given a new name, Gurbaksh Singh(as written in Mahan Kosh), after the baptism ceremony. He is popularly known as Banda Singh Bahadur. He was given five arrows by the Guru as a blessing for the battles ahead. He came to Khanda, Sonipat and assembled a fighting force and led the struggle against the Mughal Empire.
The first siege of Anandpur was a thirty-five-day-long siege at Anandpur led by the Rajas of the Sivalik Hills and the Gujar and Ranghar tribesmen against the armies of the Sikh under Guru Gobind Singh.
Raja Dhian Singh was the longest serving wazir of the Sikh Empire, during the reign of Maharajah Ranjit Singh, and four of his successors. He held the office for twenty five years, from 1818 up till his death. Dhian Singh was a brother of Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu, who later founded the Dogra dynasty when he became Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir under the British Raj. Another brother Suchet Singh also served the empire. The three brothers were collectively known as the "Dogra brothers" in the Sikh empire, based on their ethnicity.
Nanaki Kaur Atariwala (1823-1856) was the queen consort of Maharaja Nau Nihal Singh, the third Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. She was the daughter of the legendary general Sham Singh Atariwala.
The Hill States–Sikh Wars, also known as the Sikh–Pahari Raja Wars, was a set of battles and conflicts fought by the Sikhs and the Rajas of the Hill States located in the Sivalik Hills.
Alam Singh Nachna, also called Alim Singh, was a warrior in the army of Guru Gobind Singh, and was a Rajput turned Sikh. Sarup Das Bhalla of Mahima Prakash describes him as one of Guru Gobind Singh's constant and closest companions. He is also known for killing a lion single handedly.
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