Malerkotla
Encyclopedia
Municipal council
A municipal council is the local government of a municipality. Specifically the term can refer to the institutions of various countries that can be translated by this term...
in Sangrur district
Sangrur district
Sangrur district is in the state of Punjab in North-West Republic of India. Earlier Barnala was part of Sangrur district, but now Barnala is a separate district.-Sangrur consists of following cities:DHURIMALERKOTLA...
in the 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 state
States and territories of India
India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
of Punjab
Punjab (India)
Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
. It was the seat of the eponymous princely state
Princely state
A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...
during the British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
. The state acceded unto the union of India in 1947 and was merged with other nearby princely states to create the Patiala and East Punjab States' Union (PEPSU).
When that political entity was reorganised in 1956, the territories of the erstwhile state of Malerkotla became part of Punjab.
History
Malerkotla, a MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
majority state, ruled by Sherwani
Sherwani (tribe)
Sarwani or Sherwani is a Batani Pashtun tribe settled in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.- History :The history of Pashtuns is based mainly on myths and largely on truths. One Niamatullah, in the court of Mughul Emperor Jahangir, in 17th century wrote the history of Pashtuns, in his book"TARIKH E...
of Arab origin(According to latest research done on DNA test by a member of Sherwani Family .They belong to Haplogroup J2). Maler Kotla state was founded in 1600. It is a historic fact that during the 1947 riots when Punjab was in flames, the State of Malerkotla did not witness a single incident of violence; through it all, it remained a lone island of peace.
The origin of this rare occurrence dates back to 1705, when Sahibzada Fateh Singh
Sahibzada Fateh Singh
Sahibzada Fateh Singh was the youngest of Guru Gobind Singh's four sons. He and his older brother, Sahibzada Zorawar Singh are among the most hallowed martyrs in Sikhism. He is also known as Baba Fateh Singh...
and Sahibzada Zorawar Singh
Sahibzada Zorawar Singh
Sahibzada Zorawar Singh was the third of Guru Gobind Singh's four sons. He and his younger brother, Sahibzada Fateh Singh are among the most hallowed martyrs in Sikhism....
, 9 and 7 year old sons of 10th Sikh Guru, 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...
, were ordered to be bricked alive by the governor of Sirhind, Wazir Khan, his close relative, Sher Mohammed Khan, Nawab of Malerkotla, who was present in the court, lodged vehement protest against this inhuman act and said it is against the glorious tenets of Quran and Islam. Wazir Khan nevertheless had the Sahibzadas tortured and bricked into a section of wall while still alive. At this the noble Nawab of Malerkotla walked out of the court in protest
Guru Gobind Singh on learning this kind and humanitarian approach profusely thanked the Nawab of Malerkotla and blessed him with his Hukamnama, Kirpan
Kirpan
The kirpan is a ceremonial sword or dagger carried by orthodox Sikhs. It is a religious commandment given by Guru Gobind Singh at the Baisakhi Amrit Sanchar in CE 1699, all baptised Sikhs must wear a kirpan at all times....
etc. In recognition of this act, the State of Malerkotla did not witness a single incident of violence during partition.
During the partition of India
Partition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
, the Ruling Family of Sheikh Sadr-ud-Din Sherwani migrated to Pakistan and living mostly in Model Town, Lahore, Muzzafargarh, Khangarh. Though many also contribute this peace to the presence of the shrine of 'Baba Haidar Sheikh', the Sufi saint, who founded the town of Malerkotla more than 500 years ago.
Education
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
. Besides regular classes of M.A. (Persian), Certificate courses (Urdu, Persian and Arabic), PGDCA (1 year) and CCA (6 months) certificate in computer application, Computer Courses are also being run.
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
population. 55% percent of the residents of Malerkotla are Muslims with sufficient Sikh
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"...
and Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
population. Due to the Muslim majority in Malerkotla in schools across Malerkotla Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
is taught alongside Punjabi
Punjabi language
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...
and Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
.
Further reading
- Kinship and the Political Order: The Afghan Sherwani Chiefs of Malerkotla (1454-1947), Contributions to Indian Sociology, Vol. 28, No. 2, 203–241 (1994).http://cis.sagepub.com/cgi/content/citation/28/2/203