Jassa Singh Ahluwalia
Encyclopedia
Sultan ul Quam Nawab Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (3 May 1718–1783) was a prominent Sikh
leader during the period of the Sikh Confederacy
. He was also Misldar of the Ahluwalia Misl
. This period was an interlude, lasting roughly from the time of the death of Banda Bahadur
in 1716 to the founding of the Sikh Empire in 1801. He founded the Kapurthala State in 1772.
, established by his ancestor, Sadda Singh, a disciple of the sixth Sikh Guru, Guru Har Gobind
. Hence, the name Ahluwalia stuck to him.The followers of Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia are known as Ahluwalia or Walia, Walia is the short form of Ahluwalia.His father, Sardar Badar Singh Sikand died in 1723 A.D., when Ahluwalia was hardly five years old. His mother entreated Mata Sundari
, widow of Guru Gobind Singh
, to take him into her care. Mata Sundari agreed to do so. She brought him up affectionately, instructing him in the arts of war and peace. He studied Sikh scriptures under Bhai Mani Singh. Later, Mata Sundari asked Nawab Kapur Singh
to take charge of the promising youth. Nawab Kapur Singh was pleased with Jassa Singh's supreme devotion to the faith and a sense of duty and humility. He appointed him as a storekeeper with his forces. Ahluwalia participated in many battles as well where he proved himself to be a natural leader. In a 1748 meeting of the Sarbat Khalsa
Nawab Kapur Singh appointed him as his successor. His followers awarded him the title Sultan-ul-Qaum (King of the Nation).
, when Shah was murdered in June, 1747. He established his own dynasty, the Sadozai, which was the name of the Pashtun
khel
to which he belonged to.
Starting from December, 1747 till 1769, Abdali made a total of nine incursions into India
. His repeated invasions destroyed the Mughal
administration of the Punjab
and the rest of Northern India. At the Third Battle of Panipat
, he defeated Marathas
, who after treaty signed in 1752 became the protector of the Mughal throne at Delhi..
Thus he created a power vacuum in the Punjab, which was filled by the Sikhs.
. Marching with alacrity, he overtook the Sikhs as they were withdrawing into Malwa after crossing the Satluj.
The moving caravan comprised a substantial portion of the total Sikh population and contained, besides active fighters, a large body of old men, women and children who were being escorted to the safety of the interior. Surprised by Ahmad Shah, the Sikhs threw a cordon round those who needed protection, and prepared for the battle. In this formation and continuing their march, they fought the invaders and their India
n allies (The Nawab
s of Malerkotla
, Sirhind, etc.) desperately. Sardar Charhat Singh Sukerchakia (the grandfather of Maharaja Ranjit Singh
), Sardar Hari Singh Dhillon and Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia led their forces with skill and courage. Jassa Singh sustained sixty-four wounds on his body, but he survived. Sardar Charhat Singh rode to exhaustion, five of his horses one after another.
Ahmad Shah succeeded, in the end, in breaking through the cordon and carried out a full scale massacre. His orders were for everyone in native dress to be killed at sight. The soldiers of http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jassa_Singh_Ahluwalia&action=editMalerkotala and Sirhind were to wear green leaves of trees on their heads to distinguish themselves from the Sikhs. Near the village of Kup, in the vicinity of Malerkotla, about 20,000 Sikhs died at the end of a single day's action (February 5, 1762). This battle is known in Sikh history as the Wadda Ghalughara(The Great Holocaust).
to celebrate Diwali
. Abdali made a mild effort to win over them and sent an envoy with proposals for a treaty of peace. The Sikhs were in no mood for peace and insulted the emissary. Abdali did not waste any time and turned up at the outskirts of Amritsar.
The Battle of Amritsar (October 17, 1762) was fought in the grey light of a sun in total eclipse. It ended when the sunless day was blacked out by a moonless night with the adversaries retiring from the field: The Sikhs to the fastness of the jungles of the Lakhi(the forests of a hundred thousand trees located in Central Punjab) and Abdali behind the walled safety of Lahore.
(or the Army of the Khalsa). Baron Jassa Singh Ahluwalia was nominated as the Supreme Commander of the Sikh Confederacy in addition to being Baron
of the Ahluwalia Army (misl).
In November 1766 Abdali came to the Punjab for the eight time with the avowed object of "crushing the Sikhs". The Sikhs had recourse to their old game of Dhai-phut('hit, run and turn back to hit again') tactics (later made famous at the Battle of Chillianwala
against the British
). They vacated Lahore, but faced squarely the Afghan general Jahan Khan at Amritsar. The Sikhs inflicted a humiliating defeat, and forced him to retreat, with five thousand Afghan soldiers killed. Jassa Singh Ahluwalia with an army of about twenty thousand Sikhs roamed in the neighbourhood of the Afghan camp, plundering it.
in 1774 from Rao Ibrahim Bhatti and made it his headquarters. Jassa Singh died in Amritsar in 1783 AD. Being issueless, he was succeeded by Bhag Singh, whose son, Fateh Singh became a close collaborator of Ranjit Singh.
on April 4, 1985.
Baron Sultan ul Quam Nawab Jassa Singh ahluwalia was also known as 'Guru ka lal' (the beloved son of Guru).
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
leader during the period of the Sikh Confederacy
Sikh Confederacy
The Sikh Empire was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The empire, based around the Punjab region, existed from 1799 to 1849. It was forged, on the foundations of the Khalsa, under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh from a collection of autonomous Punjabi Misls...
. He was also Misldar of the Ahluwalia Misl
Misl
Misl generally refers to the twelve sovereign states in the Sikh Confederacy. The states formed a commonwealth that was described by Antoine Polier as an "aristocratic republic"...
. This period was an interlude, lasting roughly from the time of the death of Banda Bahadur
Banda Bahadur
Banda Singh Bahadur was a Sikh warrior and martyr. He became part of struggle against the Mughal Empire in the early 18th century, after meeting Guru Gobind Singh. Guru Gobind Singh gave him the new name of Banda Singh Bahadur...
in 1716 to the founding of the Sikh Empire in 1801. He founded the Kapurthala State in 1772.
Early life
Sultan ul Quam Nawab Jassa Singh Ahluwalia was born at a village called Ahlu near LahoreLahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
, established by his ancestor, Sadda Singh, a disciple of the sixth Sikh Guru, Guru Har Gobind
Guru Har Gobind
Guru Hargobind Sahib, also Saccha Badshah was the sixth of the Sikh gurus and became Guru on 25 May 1606 following in the footsteps of his father Guru Arjan Dev. He was not, perhaps, more than eleven at his father's execution...
. Hence, the name Ahluwalia stuck to him.The followers of Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia are known as Ahluwalia or Walia, Walia is the short form of Ahluwalia.His father, Sardar Badar Singh Sikand died in 1723 A.D., when Ahluwalia was hardly five years old. His mother entreated Mata Sundari
Mata Sundari
Mātā Jīto was the first of three wives of the last Sikh guru Gobind Singh Mata Jito was the daughter of Harjas Bhikia of Lahore. She married the guru on 21 June, 1677. The couple had three children together: Zorawar Singh, Jujhar Singh and Fateh Singh. Very little is known of her life outside the...
, widow of Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh is the tenth and last Sikh guru in a sacred lineage of ten Sikh gurus. Born in Patna, Bihar in India, he was also a warrior, poet and philosopher. He succeeded his father Guru Tegh Bahadur as the leader of Sikhs at a young age of nine...
, to take him into her care. Mata Sundari agreed to do so. She brought him up affectionately, instructing him in the arts of war and peace. He studied Sikh scriptures under Bhai Mani Singh. Later, Mata Sundari asked Nawab Kapur Singh
Nawab Kapur Singh
Nawab Kapur Singh is considered one of the pivotal figures in Sikh history, under whose courageous leadership the Sikh community traversed one of the darkest periods of its history. He was the organizer of the Sikh Confederacy and the Dal Khalsa. Nawab Kapur Singh is regarded by Sikhs as a leader...
to take charge of the promising youth. Nawab Kapur Singh was pleased with Jassa Singh's supreme devotion to the faith and a sense of duty and humility. He appointed him as a storekeeper with his forces. Ahluwalia participated in many battles as well where he proved himself to be a natural leader. In a 1748 meeting of the Sarbat Khalsa
Sarbat Khalsa
Sarbat Khalsa from sarva, a Sanskrit word meaning all or everything, was a biannual deliberative assembly of the entire Khalsa held at Amritsar in Panjab during the 18th century...
Nawab Kapur Singh appointed him as his successor. His followers awarded him the title Sultan-ul-Qaum (King of the Nation).
The raids of Ahmed Shah Abdali
Ahmed Shah Abdali, Nadir Shah's seniormost general, succeeded to the throne of AfghanistanAfghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, when Shah was murdered in June, 1747. He established his own dynasty, the Sadozai, which was the name of the Pashtun
Pashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...
khel
Khel
Khel is a Hindi and Urdu word meaning "game" or "sport"; as well as a Pashtu word meaning "followers of". It may refer to:* Khel , a Pashtun tribal division, see Pashtun tribal structure...
to which he belonged to.
Starting from December, 1747 till 1769, Abdali made a total of nine incursions into India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. His repeated invasions destroyed the Mughal
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
administration of the Punjab
Punjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
and the rest of Northern India. At the Third Battle of Panipat
Third battle of Panipat
The Third Battle of Panipat took place on 14 January 1761, at Panipat , about 60 miles north of Delhi between a northern expeditionary force of the Maratha Confederacy and a coalition of the King of Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Abdali with 2 Indian Muslim allies—the Rohilla Afghans of the Doab, and the...
, he defeated Marathas
Maratha Empire
The Maratha Empire or the Maratha Confederacy was an Indian imperial power that existed from 1674 to 1818. At its peak, the empire covered much of South Asia, encompassing a territory of over 2.8 million km²....
, who after treaty signed in 1752 became the protector of the Mughal throne at Delhi..
Thus he created a power vacuum in the Punjab, which was filled by the Sikhs.
The Sixth Afghan Invasion, 1762
On February 5, 1762, the Sikhs were especially the target of Ahmad Shah Abdali's sixth invasion into India. News had reached him in Afghanistan of the defeat of his general, Nur-ud-Din Bamezai, at the hands of the Sikhs who were fast spreading themselves out over the Punjab and had declared their leader, Misldar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, king of Lahore. To rid his Indian dominion of them once and for all, he set out from KandaharKandahar
Kandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 512,200 as of 2011. It is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at about 1,005 m above sea level...
. Marching with alacrity, he overtook the Sikhs as they were withdrawing into Malwa after crossing the Satluj.
The moving caravan comprised a substantial portion of the total Sikh population and contained, besides active fighters, a large body of old men, women and children who were being escorted to the safety of the interior. Surprised by Ahmad Shah, the Sikhs threw a cordon round those who needed protection, and prepared for the battle. In this formation and continuing their march, they fought the invaders and their India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n allies (The Nawab
Nawab
A Nawab or Nawaab is an honorific title given to Muslim rulers of princely states in South Asia. It is the Muslim equivalent of the term "maharaja" that was granted to Hindu rulers....
s of Malerkotla
Malerkotla
Malerkotla is a city and a municipal council in Sangrur district in the Indian state of Punjab. It was the seat of the eponymous princely state during the British Raj...
, Sirhind, etc.) desperately. Sardar Charhat Singh Sukerchakia (the grandfather of Maharaja Ranjit Singh
Ranjit Singh
Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ji was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.-Early life:...
), Sardar Hari Singh Dhillon and Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia led their forces with skill and courage. Jassa Singh sustained sixty-four wounds on his body, but he survived. Sardar Charhat Singh rode to exhaustion, five of his horses one after another.
Ahmad Shah succeeded, in the end, in breaking through the cordon and carried out a full scale massacre. His orders were for everyone in native dress to be killed at sight. The soldiers of http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jassa_Singh_Ahluwalia&action=editMalerkotala and Sirhind were to wear green leaves of trees on their heads to distinguish themselves from the Sikhs. Near the village of Kup, in the vicinity of Malerkotla, about 20,000 Sikhs died at the end of a single day's action (February 5, 1762). This battle is known in Sikh history as the Wadda Ghalughara(The Great Holocaust).
The Battle of Amritsar
Despite the Ghalughara disaster, by the month of May, the Sikhs were up in arms again. Under Jassa Singh, they defeated the Afghan faujdar of Sihind at Harnaulgarh. By autumn, the Sikhs had regained enough confidence to foregather in large numbers at AmritsarAmritsar
Amritsar is a city in the northern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering 3,695,077...
to celebrate Diwali
Diwali
Diwali or DeepavaliThe name of the festival in various regional languages include:, , , , , , , , , , , , , popularly known as the "festival of lights," is a festival celebrated between mid-October and mid-December for different reasons...
. Abdali made a mild effort to win over them and sent an envoy with proposals for a treaty of peace. The Sikhs were in no mood for peace and insulted the emissary. Abdali did not waste any time and turned up at the outskirts of Amritsar.
The Battle of Amritsar (October 17, 1762) was fought in the grey light of a sun in total eclipse. It ended when the sunless day was blacked out by a moonless night with the adversaries retiring from the field: The Sikhs to the fastness of the jungles of the Lakhi(the forests of a hundred thousand trees located in Central Punjab) and Abdali behind the walled safety of Lahore.
The formation of the Dal Khalsa and the Misls
Until now, the Sikh forces were divided into 65 jathas (bands). Baron Nawab Kapur Singh reorganised them into twelve bands, each of with its own name, flag and leader. These Armies or jathas, which came to known later on as Misls (literally "equal", also "an example") together were, however, given the name of the Dal KhalsaDal Khalsa
Dal Khalsa is a socio-religio-political organization of the Sikh nation, based in the city of Amritsar . The primary aim of Dal Khalsa is to achieve the independence of the Punjabi-speaking Sikh majority region of North West India through peaceful and democratic means in order to establish a...
(or the Army of the Khalsa). Baron Jassa Singh Ahluwalia was nominated as the Supreme Commander of the Sikh Confederacy in addition to being Baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
of the Ahluwalia Army (misl).
The Eighth Afghan Invasion, 1766
Battle of Chillianwala
The Battle of Chillianwala was fought during the Second Anglo-Sikh War in the Chillianwala region of Punjab, now part of modern-day Pakistan. The battle was one of the bloodiest fought by the British East India Company. Both armies held their positions at the end of the battle and both sides...
against the British
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
). They vacated Lahore, but faced squarely the Afghan general Jahan Khan at Amritsar. The Sikhs inflicted a humiliating defeat, and forced him to retreat, with five thousand Afghan soldiers killed. Jassa Singh Ahluwalia with an army of about twenty thousand Sikhs roamed in the neighbourhood of the Afghan camp, plundering it.
Death
Jassa Singh continued with his campaigns. After Abdali's ninth and last invasion in 1769, Jassa Singh wrested KapurthalaKapurthala
Kapurthala is a city in Punjab state of India. It is the administrative headquarters of Kapurthala District. It was the capital of the Kapurthala State, a princely state in British India. The secular and aesthetic mix of the city with its prominent buildings based on French and Indo-Saracenic...
in 1774 from Rao Ibrahim Bhatti and made it his headquarters. Jassa Singh died in Amritsar in 1783 AD. Being issueless, he was succeeded by Bhag Singh, whose son, Fateh Singh became a close collaborator of Ranjit Singh.
Trivia
A commemorative postage stamp on Baba Jassa Singh Ahluwalia was issued by Government of IndiaGovernment of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
on April 4, 1985.
Baron Sultan ul Quam Nawab Jassa Singh ahluwalia was also known as 'Guru ka lal' (the beloved son of Guru).
See also
- Baba Deep SinghBaba Deep SinghBaba Deep Singh is revered among Sikhs as one of the most hallowed martyrs in Sikhism and as a highly religious person. He is remembered for his sacrifice and devotion to the teachings of the Sikh Gurus....
- Jassa Singh RamgarhiaJassa Singh RamgarhiaJassa Singh Ramgarhia was a prominent Sikh leader during the period of the Sikh Confederacy. He was the Commander of the Ramgarhia Sikh Cavalry misl . This period was an interlude, lasting roughly from the time of the death of Banda Bahadur in 1716 to the founding of the Sikh Empire in 1801...
- Nawab Kapur Singh Virk
- MislMislMisl generally refers to the twelve sovereign states in the Sikh Confederacy. The states formed a commonwealth that was described by Antoine Polier as an "aristocratic republic"...
- Maharaja Ranjit Singh's GeneralsRanjit SinghMaharaja Ranjit Singh Ji was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.-Early life:...