The Camel Merchant of Philadelphia

by Sarbpreet Singh

  Ranjit Singh’s forces prevailed and Amritsar was taken. One of the prizes was a massive cannon, known as the Zamzama, which had been used by Ahmad Shah Abdali to devastating effect in the Third Battle of Panipat against the Maratha armies. Subsequently, it had fallen into the hands of the Bhangis and was known as the ‘Bhangiyan di tope’ (the cannon of the Bhangis). It was during the course of this campaign that the first meeting between Akali Phoola Singh and the young king first took place. Various historical accounts claim that Ranjit Singh obtained the services of Akali Phoola Singh and his Nihangs after the capture of Amritsar, but no detailed contemporary accounts confirm this. Sita Ram Kohli in his book on Ranjit Singh, somewhat tersely states that a major confrontation between the Bhangi forces and Ranjit Singh was avoided at the intercession of Jodh Singh Ramgarhia and Akali Phoola Singh.29

  Sher-e-Punjab Maharaja Ranjit Singh, an often quoted work in Punjabi by Baba Prem Singh Hoti Mardan, also makes similar claims. The account presented in that book has the Bhangi forces holed up in the city of Amritsar, with the gates shut tight, bombarding the forces of Ranjit Singh with cannon, who out of reverence for the holy city, responds by firing blanks! At that juncture, the notables of Amritsar, including Akali Phoola Singh arrive at the scene and broker a truce, which results in the city being turned over to Ranjit Singh with a promise of a large estate to the widow of Sahib Singh Bhangi for her family’s upkeep. No mention is made of Akali Phoola Singh entering Ranjit Singh’s service in this account either. Another account by Major G. Carmichael Smyth too raises some questions about the nature of the relationship between Phoola Singh and Ranjit Singh.30 His account mentions that Phoola Singh and his followers did serve Ranjit Singh, but that their service was more out of a hatred for Muslims rather than any special regard for Ranjit Singh himself.

  A second incident occurred in the winter of 1809, just a few months after Ranjit Singh had sealed an alliance with the British by signing the Treaty of Amritsar. Akali Phoola Singh, who was then resident at Damdama Sahib, south of the Sutlej River near Bathinda, heard a rumour about an imminent attack on Punjab by the British. In order to preempt the enemy, he mustered a band of Akalis and attacked a small contingent of troops escorting Captain White, a British surveyor encamped at the village of Fatohke, close to Nabha.

  The incident is described in Lepel Griffin’s account of the Sikh rulers of Punjab.31 According to his account, Captain White, who was engaged in surveying activities, protected by an escort of eighty sepoys, was attacked at the village of Chowki, by a large band of cavalry and infantry under the command of the Akali Phoola Singh, the same man that had attacked Metcalfe’s escort at Amritsar. The citizens of nearby villages joined the attacking force until it grew to more than a thousand and plundered the British camp. The British force only found safety by storming the village of Patoki, which it held until the arrival of Ram Singh, nephew of Raja Jaswant Singh, a British ally who ruled the neighbouring state of Nabha, with fresh reinforcements. In the skirmish, six of Captain White’s party were killed and nineteen wounded.

  The kings of Nabha, Jind and Patiala all promised to bring Akali Phoola Singh to justice but they proved to be utterly ineffectual. Phoola Singh, who resided at Damdama, near Bathinda, owned allegiance to no king, and his sacred character as an Akali was his protection, as it had been at Amritsar. But finding the British government determined to punish him, he crossed the Sutlej and returned to Amritsar much to the discomfort and chagrin of Ranjit Singh. Much pressure was put upon the Maharaja to compel Akali Phoola Singh’s surrender but such was his influence, that although he was banished for a time, he was later taken back into favour and once again became the leader of the Akali troops in the Maharaja’s service.

  Lepel Griffin’s account is interesting for a number of reasons; it is clear that in 1809, a full seven years after Akali Phoola Singh is said to have ‘entered Ranjit Singh’s service’, he seemed to answer to no master. Fully aware of the treaty between Lahore and the British, he attacked Captain White’s entourage with impunity, secure in the knowledge that Ranjit Singh would not be able to bring him to book. This is certainly consistent with the independent, larger-than-life image that the Nihangs cultivated. The other interesting aspect of Griffin’s account is the grudging admiration that he displays for Phoola Singh’s bravery, recognising his ‘courage and devotion’ while referring to him as a ‘criminal’!

  The characterisation of the Nihangs as ‘religious fanatics’ by a number of British observers needs to be taken with several grains of salt. There is no doubt that the Nihangs were a proud and fractious lot, who recognised no earthly authority other than that of the Khalsa Panth (the community at large, which partly represented the Guru’s authority after Guru Gobind Singh’s passing). There are, however, no accounts that explicitly point to Nihang actions aimed at people of other faiths, driven by bigotry.

  Fakir Syed Waheeduddin of Lahore, a descendant of the famous Fakir Azizuddin, one of Ranjit Singh’s closest advisors, provides a slightly more nuanced perspective on the Akalis, based on family chronicles in the possession of the author’s clan.32 He says that Phoola Singh and his Akalis were difficult men to get along with. Their way of life seemed paradoxical because on the one hand they were humble and pious people continually praying and doing menial jobs for the love of the Guru in the holy places and Gurdwaras while on the other hand they believed that they were entitled to exact from the community whatever they needed for their upkeep. Their needs were not many and they seldom took more than they needed, but whatever they needed they took by force if need be. To serve a worldly master was against their creed and it was truly an article of faith of them to defy and prey upon the powerful and the rich while serving and helping the poor and weak. In the matter of religious doctrine and practice they were uncompromisingly orthodox. While they were dreaded by the rich and the privileged, they enjoyed a great deal of popularity among common Sikhs.

  Ranjit Singh treated Phoola Singh both as an individual and as the leader of the Akalis, and exploited him effectively in both capacities. As an individual, he was a brave and brilliant soldier and as the leader of the Akali movement, he represented a force which, if not harnessed for the benefit of the state, could be dangerous and destabilising. Getting the proudly independent Akali leader to accept royal service was a masterstroke, but it cost Ranjit Singh a good deal of patience and tolerance. Akali Phoola Singh, like many other Akalis, would insult people with impunity and not even Ranjit Singh was exempt from this behaviour.

  Akali Phoola Singh seems to have had some kind of strange respect for the Fakir brothers (the author’s ancestors and prominent figures in Ranjit Singh’s court). Not only did he spare them the indignities that he choose to subject other powerful people to, he even listened to mild rebukes from them. The Akalis treated the Fakir brothers with respect after their own fashion and addressed them as Babaji or Sainiji, words which are used to address holy men.

  Fakir Nuruddin was stopped one day by a band of Akalis near the Shahidganj Mosque and asked to pay them what they used to call a ‘gappha’ or a gift of money. He mentions that they did so in a very respectful manner and he gave them two thousand rupees. The Maharaja was furious when he learned of the incident and had the men arrested and produced before him. Fakir Nuruddin, fearing that the men would be severely punished, told the king that he had given the money voluntarily as an offering to the Akalis! The king was very displeased as he suspected the truth and did not want the men to go scot-free. The wise Nuruddin was never bothered by the Akalis again!

  Colourful stories, some perhaps apocryphal, abound about the interactions between Akali Phoola Singh and his ‘sovereign’. The book The Real Ranjit Singh by Fakir Syed Waheeduddin mentions an anecdote, which is referenced in other sources as well.

  Amritsar was a city of very narrow streets and anyone riding in the howdah of an elephant would pass within inches of overhanging balconies on both sides of the street. One day, while the Maharaja was passing unde
r a balcony, riding on an elephant, Akali Phoola Singh sallied forth in a manner that anyone with even a passing familiarity with rustic Punjabi culture will recognise: ‘O you one-eyed man*, who gave you that buffalo to ride on?’ Ranjit Singh looked up and said with mock humility, ‘Your honour, it is a gift from you’, eliciting a hearty guffaw from the Akali.

  Another colourful story has the young, lovelorn monarch being summoned to the Akal Bunga (in the Golden Temple Complex, later to be known as the Akal Takht) by Akali Phoola Singh to answer for a personal infraction, which he admitted to and meekly submitted to the religious authority of the Akali, accepting the extraordinary punishment of being whipped for his offence.

  Even though the details of how the relationship developed are murky, there is general agreement among historians that Akali Phoola Singh and his men fought valiantly under Ranjit Singh’s banner during multiple campaigns. As an example, in 1807, he played a key role in the capture and annexation of Kasur, a state within Ranjit Singh’s dominions, which had often rebelled against his authority.

  Fakir Syed Waheeduddin claims that Ranjit Singh often had to reprimand Akali Phoola Singh and ask him to return any goods or money that he had extracted from the wealthy that had not already been distributed to the poor. According to him, the Akali’s freebooting ways stopped only after his force was incorporated into Ranjit Singh’s armies and his attention turned to a series of military campaigns.

  By 1814, Akali Phoola Singh had yet again quarrelled with Ranjit Singh and retired to Anandpur Sahib. Sohan Lal Suri, the official diarist and record-keeper in Ranjit Singh’s court, records that Diwan Moti Ram was sent to capture Phoola Singh, who had risen in revolt on the pretext of helping Sada Kaur, Ranjit Singh’s estranged mother-in-law. The Diwan brought them both back to Lahore and the revolt came to an end.33

  The actual story is a lot more colourful and is told in a little more detail in Lepel Griffin’s The Rajas of the Punjab. One of the princes of the kingdom of Jind, Pratap Singh, was locked in a battle of succession after his father died. His claims were opposed by the British, who after the treaty of Amritsar, were the overlords of the kingdoms across the Sutlej. Pratap Singh fled Jind and took refuge with Phoola Singh, who viewed his claims as being legitimate. Lepel Griffin writes that the rebel prince sought refuge with Akali Phoola Singh, who was staying at the nearby town of Nandpur Makhowal with a seven hundred-strong force of Akalis in attendance. There, Pratap Singh remained for several months defying British attempts to capture him. The British agent wrote to Raja Jaswant Singh of Nabha and the Khans of Malerkotla, asking them them to combine their forces and attack the Akali. The Raja of Nabha refused to oblige because he knew that his Sikh soldiers venerated Akali Phoola Singh and feared a revolt if he moved against the doughty warrior.

  The forces of Patiala, also loyal to the British, eventually captured Pratap Singh and delivered him to the British. Akali Phoola Singh, however, evaded capture, and allying himself with Sardar Nihal Singh Attariwala, a powerful Sikh chief, he levied tribute in what was effectively British territory. Much annoyed by the episode, Ranjit Singh tried to rein the Akali in by inviting him back to Lahore to enter his service again, but Akali Phoola Singh, who was wont to do exactly as he pleased, rejected the summons and instead decided to stay at Muktsar, an important place of pilgrimage for many Sikhs because of its association with the tenth Sikh Guru.

  Baba Sahib Singh Bedi, a descendant of Guru Nanak and an elder statesman among the Sikhs was deputed by Ranjit Singh to bring Phoola Singh around. The Akali was persuaded to travel to Amritsar, where the Maharaja offered elephants, horses and weapons to Phoola Singh and his followers. The Maharaja also built a barracks at Amritsar for them, which later developed into the headquarters of the Akalis and came to be known as the ‘Akalian-di-Chhauni’ or the Akali cantonment.

  Akali Phoola Singh had already distinguished himself in battle during the Kasur campaign in 1807. After his return to Amritsar, he and his men saw action in several other campaigns. He played a prominent role in the capture of the hill states of Rajouri and Bhimbar in 1815, as well as the campaigns to consolidate Lahore’s control over the Nawab of Bahawalpur in 1816 and to extract tribute form the rulers of Hazara and Multan, territories that had long been under Afghan sway.

  The legend of Akali Phoola Singh and his band was much enhanced during the eventual capture of Multan.

  Interestingly, Carmichael Smyth likens the Akalis to the Ghazis, Muslim warriors, who were often at the forefront of Jihads or holy wars and courted martyrdom with great enthusiasm. In their book Islamic Rulings on Warfare, Aboul-Enein, H. Yousuf and Zuhur Sherifa define the word ‘ghazi’ as ‘warrior of the faith’. ‘Ghazi’ is an Arabic term originally referring to an individual who participates in ‘ghazw’ or military expeditions or raiding; after the emergence of Islam, it took on new connotations of religious warfare.

  Before the emergence of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Punjab had been ruled by a succession of mostly Muslim rulers and chiefs for centuries. Even though Ranjit Singh’s secular credentials were impeccable, the very fact that an ‘infidel’ now ruled over vast territories that had been traditionally under Muslim control, prompted his rivals to raise the banner of jihad or holy war against him on multiple occasions. Dost Mohammad of Afghanistan was among the leaders who declared jihad against Ranjit Singh. Another prominent Jihadi leader was an Indian cleric, Syed Ahmed Barelvi, who travelled to Punjab in the 1830s to confront the Sikh ‘infidels’. The ghazis were fearless fighters who courted martyrdom in the service of Islam and were universally feared for their ferocity. Time and time again, the only troops who could withstand the onslaught of the ghazis were the Akalis under Phoola Singh, who matched the ghazis in their religious zeal and their ferocity.

  In the beginning of 1817, Nawab Muzzafar Khan, the ruler of Multan, refused to pay the annual revenues due to Ranjit Singh. A strong army was sent under the command of Diwan Bhawani Das to extract tribute from Muzzafar Khan, who was well-prepared to defend his city. The gallant Nawab, fabled for his bravery, had raised the banner of jihad, prompting thousands of ghazis to flock to the defense of Multan. Diwan Bhawani Das laid siege to Multan, whose defences were considered impregnable, without success.

  According to Baba Prem Singh Hoti Mardan, the failure incurred the wrath of Ranjit Singh and Bhawani Das was temporarily relieved of his command and fined ten thousand rupees. A force of twenty-five thousand was assembled under the nominal command of the crown prince, Kharak Singh, but the real commander was Misar Diwan Chand, who was one of the rising stars of the Lahore forces, and dispatched to Multan. It included luminaries such as Hari Singh Nalwa, Sham Singh Bahadur and Dhanna Singh Malwai. By then the Nawab’s forces had swelled to twenty thousand. The first encounter took place outside Multan, after which the Nawab and his forces retreated to the safety of the town.

  A heavy bombardment resulted in two small breaches in the outer defences, which the defenders promptly plugged with sandbags, initially denying the Durbar forces entry into the town. After several rounds of fierce fighting, the Durbar forces prevailed and took the city. The Nawab, with his sons, retreated into the fort within the city of Multan, which had even stronger defences. The besiegers tried everything, including using elephants as battering rams but the fort proved impenetrable. The siege dragged on for three months; the onset of the hot season and the spread of disease further demoralised the Durbar forces.

  News of the failure prompted Ranjit Singh to dispatch Phoola Singh with his band of Akalis to Multan. The Zamzama was brought to bear on the gates of the fort and it finally managed to create a small breach in the Khizri gate of the fort. The intrepid Akalis led by Phoola Singh and Sadhu Singh plunged into the breach. The gallant Nawab, sensing that the end was near, counterattacked with great ferocity but was slain by Phoola Singh.

  The Akalis had carried the day.

  Sita Ram Kohli, in his authoritative work on Ranjit Singh writes that the Maharaja displayed his usual magnanimity towards
the family of the fallen Nawab:

  Immediately after the assassination of the Nawab, some of the Khalsa Army entered the fort and occupied it. Sarfaraz Khan and Zulfiqar Khan, the Nawab’s younger sons were captured alive and brought to Lahore. The Maharaja extended respect and hospitality to them and endowed them with the Jagir of Sharaqpur which remained in their possession for a long time.34

  In 1823, Emir Dost Muhammad captured Peshawar from his brother Yar Mohammand who was a vassal of Ranjit Singh, and emboldened by his victory, declared a jihad against the Sikhs. With the support of Islamic religious leaders, he managed to amass a force of around 25,000. Ranjit Singh prepared to recapture the ancient city and sent 2,000 horsemen under Kanwar Sher Singh, his second son and Diwan Kirpa Ram, a senior courtier to check the advance of the Afghans. Another army division was sent under Hari Singh Nalwa, the legendary Sikh general. The Maharaja himself followed, taking the field with Akali Phula Singh.

  Sher Singh and Hari Singh crossed the Attock river via a boat bridge and took over the Jahangira fort after a short battle. Dost Mohammmad sent an army of ghazis under Dost Jabbar Khan to fight the Sikhs near Jahangira. The Afghans destroyed the boat bridge at Attock so Mahajara Ranjit Singh and his army would not be able to cross. Ranjit Singh started construction of a new bridge but he then received the news that a large number of ghazis had encircled his army across the river and that his army was facing disaster. He then ordered the army to swim across the river. The Sikh forces were successful and without much loss of men and luggage, they reached Jahangira. Here, the army was strategically divided into three sections and 800 cavalry and 700 infantry placed under the command of Akali Phoola Singh.