Sardar Raja Mahan Singh "Mirpuri" (d. 1844) (also spelled Maan Singh "Mirpura"/"Mirpuria") was a famous General in the kingdom of Maharaja Ranjit Singh

Ranjit Singh

Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ji was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.-Early life:...

, and was the second-in-command to the famous General Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa

Hari Singh Nalwa

Hari Singh Nalwa was Commander-in-chief of the Khalsa, the army of the Sikh Empire. He is known for his role in the conquests of Kasur, Sialkot, Multan, Kashmir, Attock, and Peshawar. He led the Sikh Army in freeing Shah Shuja from Kashmir and secured the Koh-i-Nor diamond for Maharaja Ranjit Singh...

. He was conferred by Maharaja Ranjit Singh the title of Raja

Raja

Raja is an Indian term for a monarch, or princely ruler of the Kshatriya varna...

for his conquests of Haripur, Nowshehra

Nowshehra

Nowshehra or Naushera is a town and a notified area committee in Rajauri district in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.-Geography:Nowshehra is located at . It has an average elevation of 1,575 metres .-Demographics:...

 and Peshawar

Peshawar

Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....

. The town of Mansehra

Mansehra

Mansehra city is located at in Mansehra District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is very near to Abbottabad city. It is a major stop for tourists on the Karakoram Highway which leads to China...

derives its name from him.

Early life

He was born a commoner in Gujranwala

Gujranwala

Gujranwala is a industrial city in the north-east of the Punjab province. It is the sixth largest city in Pakistan with a population of approximately 2,661,360 as on 24 June 2011...

, in a Muhiyal family belonging to the Ambral branch of the Bali Clan. He was the grandson of Himmat Singh Bali, and his father Data Ram was a counselor to Sultan Mukkarb Khan, the Gakhar

Gakhars

The Gakhars are an ancient warrior clan who have predominantly resided in what is present day northern Punjab and South-Western Kashmir, Pakistan. In particular in the cities of Rawalpindi, Jhelum and regions of Gilgit, Baltistan, Chitral, Khanpur and Mirpur, Pakistan...

 Subedar of Gujrat.

Military Career and Later Life

While in Lahore

Lahore

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...

 in search of a job, he happened to participate in a hunting expedition of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, in which he caught the notice of the latter by single-handedly killing a leopard with his sword. Impressed by his valor, the Maharaja had him inducted into the army under the famous General Hari Singh Nalwa.

Mahan Singh played a key role in the battles of Peshawar and Kashmir, and in the 1818 siege of Multan, was seriously wounded two times. He went on to become second-in-command to Hari Singh Nalwa. In April 1837, he was the main defender of the Jamrud

Jamrud

Jamrud , is a town located in the Khyber Agency, one of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. The town is the doorway to the Khyber pass, part of the Hindu Kush range...

Fort, holding out against an invasion by Afghans. In the subsequent battle, Hari Singh Nalwa was done to death but Mahan Singh maintained the news secret until reinforcements arrived from Lahore.

Mai Desan, the widow of Hari Singh Nalwa, adopted Mahan Singh as her son and solemnized his marriage into a Mohan family of Gujranwala according to Muhiyal traditions.

Sardar Raja Mahan Singh he was murdered by his own soldiers in 1844, when mutiny broke out in the Sikh army.

Descendants

Mahan Singh had four sons, named Chhattar Singh, Himmat Singh, Sham Singh and Wadhawa Singh. His death at the hands of mutinying soldiers was avenged by Chhattar Singh, who was himself killed soon after. Himmat Singh's assistance to the British in the Indian Mutiny of 1857 on the orders of the Maharaja of Jammu fetched him awards from the latter. The widows of Chhattar Singh and Himmat Singh were later given pensions by the British government along with grants of agricultural land in Districts Jhelum and Gujranwala, and in Mirpur. Sardar Raja Mahan Singh's grandson Rai Sahib Bakshi Kartar Singh Bali was Vernacular Secretary in the Government of Kashmir under Maharaja Partap Singh, and President of the All India Mohyal Conference of 1906.