Lehna Singh Sandhawalia was discovered hiding in an underground chamber; his thigh had been smashed in the fighting that took place earlier and he was being looked after by a faithful retainer named Rai Singh who fought bravely to protect his master. Both of them were slain and the triumphant soldiers carried Lehna Singh Sandhawalia’s head to Hira Singh.
By the evening, Hira Singh Dogra, accompanied by his uncle Suchet Singh Dogra, Rai Kesri Singh, a brave commander who had acquitted himself well in the battle and Pandit Jhalla, Hira Singh’s tutor, entered the fort of Lahore and went to the Musamman Burj, the mighty octagonal tower and the very visible seat of power in the empire. Bhai Gurmukh Singh and Misr Beli Ram, who had actively conspired with the Sandhawalias, were arrested and imprisoned.
Hira Singh and his commanders were joined by Jamadar Khushal Singh, General Ventura, Sardar Lehna Singh Majithia, and Fakir Azizuddin, the empire’s foreign minister. With complete unanimity the notables of the court agreed that the young Duleep Singh be crowned the next monarch of the empire. Jawahar Singh, Duleep Singh’s maternal uncle, brother to his mother Rani Jindan, was appointed his guardian. The twenty-five year old Hira Singh Dogra was appointed Wazir or Prime Minister.
Peace had been restored in Lahore but the future of the mighty empire of Maharaja Ranjit Singh had never looked so uncertain.
THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE SIKH EMPIRE
An uneasy calm prevailed in Lahore. Tumultuous events had unfolded and in one fell swoop almost the entire top echelon of the legendary court of the late Maharaja Ranjit Singh had been wiped out. The new Maharaja, Duleep Singh, was an infant and there were constant whisperings about his legitimacy. The new Prime Minister, Raja Hira Singh Dogra, seemed to have a good head on his shoulders, having acted rapidly to punish the rebels who had treacherously murdered Maharaja Sher Singh and the former Prime Minister, Raja Dhian Singh Dogra, but he was young and inexperienced. Throughout the short reign of Maharaja Sher Singh, the Sikh army had been restless, mutinying multiple times, turning on their European and Indian officers, rioting and plundering the homes of the citizens of Lahore. As if all this were not enough, the empire was under threat from the British, who were by then the undisputed masters of the rest of the Indian subcontinent. During Ranjit Singh’s lifetime, his power and his adherence to the treaty he signed decades ago with the British had kept Punjab safe. The anarchy that followed his death and the rapid deaths of Maharaja Kharak Singh, Maharaja Naunihal Singh, Maharaja Sher Singh and Raja Dhian Singh Dogra had created an unprecedented opportunity for the western expansion of British rule. Lieutenant Colonel Henry Steinbach commanded an infantry regiment in the empire’s army. He continued to serve after Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s death and survived the various mutinies during which European officers were repeatedly targeted. Steinbach, who went on to serve under Raja Gulab Singh Dogra and ultimately command his army, was an eyewitness to the troubles that followed the death of Maharaja Sher Singh and Raja Dhian Singh Dogra, which he documented in a book that was published after he left India.76
The first threat to the new regime was internal and came from within the young Prime Minister’s family. His youngest uncle, Raja Suchet Singh Dogra, who was a brave soldier but no statesman, became intensely jealous of his nephew, feeling that he had a greater right to the Prime Minister’s position, being older and more experienced. He decided to march upon Lahore from his estates in Jammu, accompanied by about fifty armed men. He was confident that when he arrived in Lahore, the Sikh army would throw their weight behind him and depose his nephew. The highly intelligent Hira Singh was more than a match for his uncle! Hira Singh addressed the leaders of the troops and pre-empted their desertion by offering them further increases in pay and when Suchet Singh Dogra arrived to affect his coup, not one soldier was willing to support him.
Retribution was inevitable and Suchet Singh Dogra fled Lahore with the Sikh army in pursuit, taking refuge in a temple, roughly three miles from Lahore. Heavily outnumbered, Suchet Singh Dogra and his small band fought like lions and held the army at bay for three hours, but the temple was reduced to rubble by artillery fire and soon the defenders were massacred to a man. Hira Singh had not sought this conflict and was much saddened at the outcome. He made sure that his uncle was cremated with great respect and all the traditions that their Rajput heritage demanded were diligently followed.
No sooner had he dealt with this threat, when a new one appeared. His other surviving uncle, Raja Gulab Singh Dogra and his fallen uncle Suchet Singh Dogra’s widow, hell-bent on revenge were plotting another revolt. The crafty Gulab Singh Dogra incited Kashmira Singh and Peshora Singh, also sons of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who had been sidelined during his lifetime, against the new regime.
Other forces had started to array themselves against the infant king and his young minister as well. Bhai Bir Singh was a retired soldier-turned-ascetic, who had a large following at his dera or compound at Naurangabad. He had 1200 musketeers and 3000 cavalry at his command. More importantly he had the goodwill of the common people, as he was regarded as a veritable saint, feeding thousands of pilgrims in his kitchen every day. The last remaining Sandhawalia Sardar, Attar Singh had not been idle either. A formidable warrior with a large following, and known to be the greatest Sikh general during the final years of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, he came out of hiding in Malwa and crossed the Sutlej to join Bhai Bir Singh.
Meanwhile, palace intrigue and a few toxic personalities conspired to make things even more difficult for Hira Singh Dogra. Rani Jindan had assumed the role of queen mother and had introduced her brother Jawahar Singh into the council as her guardian and advisor. Another powerful presence at court was the baleful Brahmin priest, Pandit Jalla, a Rasputin-like figure who had been Hira Singh’s tutor and advisor since his childhood. Jalla was an extremely arrogant and ill-tempered man who was universally hated, particularly by Gulab Singh Dogra and his clan. Given the uncertainty, several Sikh Sardars or chiefs started secret negotiations with the British, in an attempt to have their estates guaranteed after a British intervention, which seemed inevitable.
Hira Singh tried valiantly to deal with everything he was faced with. He dismissed European officers who he knew were intriguing with the British and summoned the British vakil or representative to court, demanding to know why they had given refuge to the traitorous Attar Singh Sandhawalia and questioning their troop movements along the Sutlej. He moved the Sikh army to the border in response and prepared for the impending conflict.
Kashmira Singh and Peshora Singh, aware of the highly agitated state of the Sikh army, decided to take advantage of the situation and proclaimed their right to the throne of Lahore. Hira Singh responded by deploying his uncle Gulab Singh Dogra against them. He harried them and ejected them from their stronghold in Sialkot. The princes also joined Bhai Bir Singh’s camp at Naurangabad, which became the centre of the revolt against the dominance of the Dogras. Such was the mystique of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s legacy that many Sikh soldiers deserted and switched sides to join the rebellion led by Kashmira Singh and Peshora Singh.
Hira Singh, of course, was very aware of what was happening. He harangued the soldiers, reminding them that Attar Singh Sandhawalia was a traitor who had defected to the British and had been conspiring with them to take over the empire. He reminded them of the murder of Maharaja Sher Singh and his father, Dhian Singh Dogra by the Sandhawalias and alleged that Bhai Bir Singh, Kashmira Singh and Peshora Singh had become the unwitting pawns of the traitors and the British. His rhetoric had the desired effect and the Sikh army agreed to march upon Naurangabad.
Bhai Bir Singh, a sincere man and a devout Sikh, baulked at the prospect of Sikhs shedding each other’s blood and tried to mediate a settlement. Fate, however, intervened and during negotiations the hot-tempered Attar Singh Sandhawalia lost his head and killed one of Hira Singh’s emissaries. Hira Singh’s army retaliated with artillery fire upon Bhai Bir Singh’s camp, killing several hundred. Among the dead were Kashmira Singh, B
hai Bir Singh and Attar Singh Sandhawalia!
The rebellion had been crushed.
The Sikh army returned victorious but highly remorseful; they had killed a man who was universally revered as a saint and they had sullied their hands with the blood of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s sons. Their historical resentment against the Dogras, who were seen as relative newcomers who had usurped the position of the Sikh Sardars in the empire, began to simmer again as they blamed Hira Singh for what had happened. Hira Singh tried to placate them by announcing that he was about to convert to Sikhism and by promising them further rewards and pay increases, but the soldiers continued to eye him with suspicion.
The Punjab Intelligence Journal dated 14 May, 1844 records that Raja Hira Singh endeavoured to keep the soldiers in good humour and promised them much, at the same time giving them presents and honours. The Sikh soldiers took the gifts but said, ‘We killed our guru and got two rupees; what kind of men are we?’77
In July 1844, Lord Hardinge, a highly respected general replaced Lord Ellenborough as British Governor General. The appointment of a military man to the position sent a worrisome signal to the Lahore court. Later that year, the British commander-in-chief in India travelled to Ludhiana and Ferozepur, British outposts on the Punjab frontier, to inspect his troops, triggering fears of an invasion in Lahore. The border was fortified and the Sikh army once again readied for battle.
The final crisis during Raja Hira Singh’s tenure as Prime Minister came from an unexpected source. Rani Jindan reportedly had a lover; a courtier named Lal Singh and became pregnant through the liaison. She arranged for an abortion, which was botched and she almost died, and rumours started to fly. Pandit Jalla, always blunt and unpleasant, publicly cast aspersions on Rani Jindan’s character. The infuriated Rani and her brother Jawahar Singh appealed directly to the panches, the five-member regimental committees that wielded the real power in the Sikh army, who were generally well-disposed towards the infant Maharaja Duleep Singh and his mother. The panches, already hostile towards Hira Singh, particularly after the death of Kashmira Singh and Bhai Bir Singh, resolved to drive Hira Singh Dogra and Pandit Jalla out of Punjab once and for all.
In a panic, Hira Singh appealed to his uncle, Raja Gulab Singh Dogra, who dispatched 7000 Dogra troops to support his nephew. This further infuriated the panches and they decided to arrest Hira Singh Dogra and Pandit Jalla. Hira Singh Dogra, with an escort of Dogra soldiers, fled Lahore with Pandit Jalla in tow.
By that time, Alexander Gardner, the artillery officer who had participated in the murder of Chet Singh Bajwa, and had been one of the defenders of Lahore fort during the civil war had become Raja Gulab Singh Dogra’s right hand man and principal army commander. In his memoir, Gardner recounts the fate of Raja Hira Singh Dogra.78
Gardner was tasked with leading the Dogra contingent that Raja Gulab Singh Dogra had dispatched to Lahore. The troops were deployed in such haste that there was no time for a written order. Instead, Gulab Singh Dogra gave him a gold ring with his seal as proof that Gardner represented him. By the time Gardner and his Dogras arrived in Lahore, the city was in ferment and the Sikh soldiers were trying to hunt down Hira Singh Dogra and Pandit Jalla.
Hira Singh first fled to his late father’s mansion in Hira Mandi, but finding it indefensible took 1200 men and retreated to Shahdara, on the outskirts of Lahore. The Sikh army then began a systematic slaughter of the Dogra forces. Gardner, as the Dogra commander, was in great danger, but some Akalis who recognised him as an old officer of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s took him under their protection. They dressed him up in Akali garb and kept him in their camp. A photograph of Gardner that has survived shows him with a full beard and whiskers. It is not difficult to imagine that Gardner would have made a very convincing Akali and thus escaped detection!
On 21 December, 1844, the Sikh army converged upon Shahdara and asked Hira Singh to turn Pandit Jalla over to them and surrender, promising to spare him any bodily harm. No such guarantees were offered for Pandit Jalla. Hira Singh decided to take his chances and run with the Sikh army in hot pursuit. With him were Pandit Jalla and his cousin, Sohan Singh, Gulab Singh Dogra’s son. After a running fight for nine miles, Hira Singh Dogra and his band were overwhelmed. Hira Singh Dogra, Sohan Singh Dogra and Pandit Jalla were beheaded and the Akalis paraded their heads through Lahore. Gardner claims that dressed as an Akali, he personally carried Pandit Jalla’s head. Other accounts suggest that the head of Pandit Jalla was subjected to great indignities. The Akalis carried it around for days, hurling abuse and collecting money from the onlookers. When they had tired of the sport, the head was fed to dogs by the order of Jawahar Singh.
Almost a fortnight passed before Gardner was able to retrieve the Dogra princes’ heads and send them to Raja Gulab Singh Dogra for cremation.
The death of Hira Singh Dogra created a huge power vacuum as no leaders of note were left at court whose authority was accepted by either the Sikh Sardars or the panches of the Sikh army. Gradually, Rani Jindan started exercising control on behalf of her son. Her strongest allies were her brother Jawahar Singh and her lover Raja Lal Singh. Since Rani Jindan observed ‘purdah’, she was always veiled and could not interact freely with the male courtiers. Her maidservant, a thirty-year old woman named Mangla who was also the mistress of Jawahar Singh, became her confidante and intermediary in her dealings with the court. The court did not treat Rani Jindan with a lot of respect; she was young, inexperienced and her relationship with Lal Singh and her brother’s with Mangla were the subject of much salacious gossip.
The real power in the empire rested with the Sikh army, which was more or less functioning autonomously and Rani Jindan was aware that winning the panches over to her side was critical for her survival. The first test came when Peshora Singh revived his claims to the throne and reached out to the army for support. Fierce lobbying by Rani Jindan managed to get the army’s support, at least temporarily, for Maharaja Duleep Singh. Gulab Singh Dogra, never one to let any opportunity for personal advancement pass, took advantage of the turmoil in Lahore and declared himself the independent ruler of Jammu, reaching out to both the British and the Afghans for support.
The Sikh army, which had been deployed along the border with British India, was redirected to Jammu to bring Gulab Singh Dogra to heel. The army inflicted a crushing defeat upon Gulab Singh Dogra and he sued for peace, agreeing to pay large fines and standing as a supplicant before the army panches. The wily Dogra, recognising that the Lahore court was an empty shell and aware of where the real power rested, declared that he was a servant of the Sikh army and not the court, completely ignoring a summons to appear in Lahore.
Major George Broadfoot was an army officer in the Madras Army of the Company. In 1844, he was appointed British agent to the North West Frontier province, one of the most prestigious positions in British India. He was based in the British part of Punjab and was tasked with keeping his superiors informed about the events in the Sikh Empire. Sir Frederick Currie was a British diplomat who had a distinguished career in the British East India Company and the Indian Civil Service. As these events were unfolding, he was Foreign Secretary to the British government in India. Major Broadfoot, through his network of spies in both Lahore and Jammu, was very well informed about the machinations of Raja Gulab Singh Dogra. In a letter dated 16 January, 1845 that he sent to Currie, Broadfoot noted:
While Raj Gulab Singh continues to make public professions of submission to the Durbar (Lahore court), he is preparing for war and stirring up every enemy of the Sikhs that his messengers can reach. His intrigues are also incessant with Peshora Singh and with the Sikh Army.79
While the Sikh army was dealing with Raja Gulab Singh Dogra, Peshora Singh declared himself the new Maharaja and set up a rival court in Sialkot. The move plunged the empire into anarchy. Gangs of Akalis began to roam the countryside taking what they wanted from the people at will and even threatened Amritsar and Lahore. Rani Jindan worked feverishly to set up alliances t
o bolster her position and her son’s. By then Duleep Singh had been betrothed to a young girl in the Nakkai Misl, which by then was extremely weak. She broke off the engagement and betrothed her son to the daughter of the powerful Sardar Chattar Singh Attariwala. Peshora Singh, undeterred, boldly took the fort of Attock and approached the Afghans for help.
At Rani Jindan’s request, Chattar Singh Attariwala marched upon Attock at the head of a large army detachment. Peshora Singh, unable to muster Afghan support, surrendered when he was assured that he would not be harmed and agreed to accompany Chattar Singh Attariwala to Lahore for a parley. Twenty miles from Attock, he was murdered.
The last surviving son of Ranjit Singh, other than Duleep Singh, lay dead. The panches of the Sikh army were furious. Once again the blood of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s family had been shed at the hands of the army. The panches saw the hand of Jawahar Singh behind the dishonourable deed and resolved to punish him.
Alexander Gardner was in Lahore and claims to be an eyewitness to the events that followed.80
The panches deliberated for fifteen or twenty days, during which period Jawahar Singh remained terrified. Gardner claims that he met Jawahar Singh once and asked him to ‘behave like a man and face the peril’.
On 21 September, 1845, Jawahar Singh was summoned before the army council of panches. He arrived on an elephant, holding his nephew, the young Maharaja Duleep Singh in his arms. Rani Jindan followed him on another elephant. Behind her came an escort of 400 horsemen, and two elephants laden with money and gifts as an offering to the army council. An ominous salute sounded as an immense line of 180 guns was fired. So stern was the army’s discipline that, after the report of the guns had faded, not a sound was heard but the trampling of the feet of the royal cavalcade.
While the young Maharaja was received with royal honours, his mother, Rani Jindan, dressed in spotless white and veiled, cowered in fear, terrified for her brother’s safety. As soon as the procession reached the middle of the line of troops, one man came forward and cried out, ‘Stop!’, bringing the royal procession to a complete halt. The panches were solemnly seated to the right of the line of troops. Four battalions now proceeded to move Jawahar Singh’s escort to a distance. Then another battalion marched up and surrounded the elephants as ten of the panches stepped forward. The Rani’s elephant was ordered to kneel, and she was escorted to a small but beautiful tent prepared for her close by.
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