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Jassa Singh Ahluwalia

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Sultan-ul-Qaum
Nawab
Sardar
Baba
Jassa Singh Ahluwalia
Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, 18th century depiction
Honorable Jathedar
5th Jathedar of Akal Takht
In office
1753–1783
LeaderSikh
Preceded byKapur Singh
Succeeded byPhula Singh
4th Jathedar of Buddha Dal
In office
1753–1783
Preceded byKapur Singh
Succeeded byNaina Singh
Personal details
Born
Jassa Singh

3 May 1718
Ahlu, Lahore Subah, Mughal Empire
(present-day Lahore district, Punjab, Pakistan)
Died23 October 1783 (aged 65)
Bandala, Sikh Confederacy
(present-day Amritsar district, Punjab, India)
Resting placeCremated at the Dera Baba Attal, Amritsar
Spouse(s)Mai Sahibji
Sadarani Raj Kaur Sahiba
RelationsBagh Singh (grand-nephew)
Children3
Parents
Known for
  1. Sikh raids on Delhi
  2. Siege of Amritsar (1748)[1]
  3. Killing Salabat Khan[1]
  4. Sikh Occupation of Lahore (1761)
  5. Battle of Harnaulgarh (1762)
  6. Battle of Sirhind (1764)
  7. Establishing Independent Sikh state Kapurthala (1772)
  8. Battle of Delhi (1783)
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Not to be confused with Jassa Singh Ramgarhia.

Sultan-ul-Qaum Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (3 May 1718 – 23 October 1783) was a Sikh leader during the period of the Sikh Confederacy, being the Supreme Leader of the Dal Khalsa. 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.

Early life

Jassa Singh was born on 3 May 1718 CE, in the Ahlu village near Lahore, Punjab.[2] Originally known as Jassa Singh Kalal,[3] he styled himself as Ahluwalia after his ancestral village.[4]

Jassa Singh is described as a member of the Kalal or Wine distiller caste.[5][6][7][8][9][10] During the period of Kharak Singh (r. 1870-1877) a Bhatti Rajput origin story was also created.[11] According to this tradition, the Bhatti Rajputs descended from Krishna, and one of them - Rana Har Rai - had to leave the throne of Jaisalmer for refusing to marry his niece to the Mughal emperor Akbar. Har Rai migrated to Punjab, where his descendants married with the Jats, and gradually they became Jats.[12] Starting with Sadhu Singh (also called Sadho or Sadda Singh), they married with Kalals, and the family came to be known as "Ahluwalia Kalal". British administrator Lepel Griffin, who wrote an account of the rulers of Punjab, dismissed this tradition as fictitious.[13]

According to the dynasty's account, Sadhu's Singh's great-grandson Badar Singh and his wife remained childless for a long time, and sought blessings from Guru Gobind Singh. As a result, Jassa Singh was born to them.[14]

The formation of the Dal Khalsa and the Misls

In 1733, Zakariya Khan Bahadur attempted to negotiate peace with the Sikhs by offering them a jagir, the title Nawab to their leader, and unimpeded access to the Harmandir Sahib. After discussion at a Sarbat Khalsa, Kapur Singh was elected leader of the Sikhs and took the title of Nawab. He combined the various Sikh militias into two groups; the Taruna Dal and the Budda Dal, which would collectively be known as the Dal Khalsa. Sikh militias over 40 years of age would be part of the Budda Dal and Sikh militias under 40 years were part of the Taruna Dal.[15] The Taruna Dal was further divided in five jathas, each with 1300 to 2000 men and a separate drum and banner.[16] The area of operations of each Dal, or army, was Hari ke Pattan, where the Sutlej river and Beas River meet; the Taruna Dal would control the area east of Hari ke Pattan while the Budha Dal would control the area west of it.[17] The purpose of the Budda Dal, the veteran group, was to protect Gurdwaras and train the Taruna Dal, while the Taruna Dal would act as combat troops. However, in 1735, the agreement between Zakariya Khan and Nawab Kapur Singh broke down and the Dal Khalsa retreated to the Sivalik Hills to regroup. Later the command of Dal Khalsa was taken by Jassa Singh Ahluwalia who was an able and powerful administrator, even displaced & brought Mughal’s centre of power at the time (Red Fort) under Khalsa flag. He made the foundation of Khalsa firm for future generations to lead.[citation needed]

Military campaigns

Nadir Shah's invasion

In 1739, Nadir Shah, the Persian ruler, invaded much of Northern India, including Punjab, defeating the Mughals at the Battle of Karnal in 1739, he plundered the city of Delhi (Shahjahanabad) robbing it of treasures like the Peacock throne, the Kohinoor diamond and the Darya-i-Noor diamond. Meanwhile, all the Khalsa bands got together and passed a resolution that Nadir shah had plundered the city of Delhi and now he is taking Indian women as slaves to his country. Sikhs made a plan to free all the slaves. Jassa Singh Ahluwalia was 21 years old at that time, he planned raids to free all slaves. He along with other Sikh bands attacked Nadir shah forces, freed all slaves and sent those slaves back to their families safely.[18][19]

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).[20]

The raids of Ahmed Shah Abdali

Ahmad Shah Durrani, Nader Shah's seniormost general, succeeded to the throne of Afghanistan 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.[citation needed]

Starting from December 1747 till 1769, Abdali made a total of nine incursions into the north India. His repeated invasions weakened the Mughal administration of North India. At the Third Battle of Panipat, he along with Nawab of Oudh and Rohillas, defeated the Marathas, who after a treaty signed in 1752 became the protector of the Mughal throne at Delhi and were controlling much of North India, and Kashmir.[21] However they were never able to subdue the Sikhs in the Punjab.[citation needed]

Help of Sikhs to Jats of Bharatpur

Suraj Mal (1707-63) was the founder of Jat State of Bharatpur. He was killed on 25 December 1763 near Delhi by Najib ul Daulah, the Ruhilaa chief who had been appointed Mir Bakshi and Regent at Delhi by Ahmed Shah Durrani. Suraj Mal’s son Jawahar Singh sought help from Sikhs who responded with a Sikh force of 40,000 under the command of Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia. The Sikhs crossed the Yamuna on 20 February 1764 and attacked the surrounding areas. Najib ul Daulah rushed back to Delhi thereby relieving the pressure on Bharatpur. Najib ul Daulah suffered another defeat at hands of Sikhs under Ahluwalia after a battle that lasted 20 days in the trans-Yamuna area at Barari Ghat, 20 km north of Delhi. He retired to Red Fort on 9 January 1765 and within a month Sikhs defeated Najib ul Daulah again in Nakhas (horse market) and in Sabzi Mandi.[22]

Jawahar Singh also engaged 25,000 Sikh forces under command of Sardar Jassa Singh against the Rajput Raja of Jaipur in the Battle of Maonda and Mandholi and the Battle of Kama and was defeated in both. [23][24]

Rescue of Maratha women by Sikhs

An account appearing in the 19th century texts, Munshi Kanhaiyya Lal's Tareekh-e-Punjab and Gian Singh's Shamsher Khalsa, credits Jassa Singh with rescuing Hindu women captured by Ahmad Shah Durrani after the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761. According to this account, after defeating the Marathas, Abdali captured thousands of prisoners, including 2,200 women, who were being taken to Afghanistan as slaves. When Jassa Singh learned of it, he attacked the Afghan army at Goindval on the Sutlej river, rescued the women, and sent them back to their families. Thereafter, he was known as Bandi chhor, or the Liberator of captives.[25][20]

The Sixth Abdali Incursion, 1762

In early 1762, news had reached to Ahmad Shah Abdali 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 Punjab and had declared their leader, Misldar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, King of Lahore.[26] To rid his Indian dominion of them once and for all, he set out from Kandahar. The Battle of Kup was fought on 5 February 1762 between the Afghan forces of Ahmad Shah Abdali (40,000 soldiers) and civilian Sikhs.[27] The Afghans launched a surprise attack on a civilian Sikh camp, consisting mainly of women, children and elders. The Sikh Camp only had around 5000-7000 Sikh warriors. These warriors formed a human shield around the Sikh civilians, and fought the Afghans bravely, killing thousands of Afghan soldiers. However, Abdali was able to break the ring and carried a full-scale massacre. Ahmad Shah's forces killed several thousand Sikh civilians.

In a fresh Afghan invasion of the upper Punjab, Ahmad Shah Durrani with his 100,000 Soldiers reached Malerkotla, west of Sirhind, then attacked a 20,000 Sikh army escorting 40,000 women and children, along with the elderly. In one of their worst defeats—known as Vadda Ghalughara—the Sikhs lost perhaps 5–10,000+ soldiers and had 20,000 civilians massacred. The Afghan forces of Ahmad Shah Durrani came out victorious with the night ambush on the large convoy.[28][29]

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 Sirhind in the Battle of Harnaulgarh.[30] By autumn, the Sikhs had regained enough confidence to foregather in large numbers at Amritsar 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.[citation needed]

The Battle of Amritsar (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.[31]

Battle of Delhi

The Sikhs under Baghel Singh had been raiding Delhi since 1764 but without success. On 11 March 1783 the combined Sikh army of Baghel Singh, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Jassa Singh Ramgarhia conquered the Red fort of Delhi hosting Nishan Sahib.[32][33][34][35][page needed][36]

Death and legacy

File:PicKingRaja.jpg
Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, 20th century painting

Jassa Singh Ahluwalia died on 23 October 1783 in Amritsar

He (Jassa Singh Ahluwalia) had the great privilege of conquering Lahore and issuing his own coin ... [and] sitting on the throne of the Mughal Emperors in the Red Fort at Delhi [after conquering it]. He fought a number of times face to face with Ahmad Shah Durrani, the greatest Asian general of his days. The invader tried to win him over in vain. The Maharajas of Patiala and Jind stood before him in all reverence and humility. The Rajas of Nalagarh, Bilaspur, Kangra Hills and Jammu touched his knees. The Nawabs of Malerkotla and Kunjpura paid him homage. And yet he remained a humble and docile disciple of Guru Gobind Singh. In the person of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, the Guru actually made a sparrow kill hawks. Jassa Singh was a great warrior, mighty general and eminent organiser. He bore thirty-two scars of sword cuts and bullet marks on the front part of his body and none on his back. He was a giant in body. ... Qazi Nur Muhammad who saw him fighting against Ahmad Shah Durrani called him a mountain.


He was a great warrior, mighty general and eminent organiser. He bore thirty-two scars of sword cuts and bullet marks on the front of his body and none on his back. He was a giant in body. His breakfast consisted of one kilogram of flour, one half kilogram of butter, one quarter kilogram of crystalline sugar slabs ( misri ), and one bucketful of butter-milk (lassi). One he-goat sufficed him for two meals…. These were the days of physical prowess, and only men possessed of indomitable will power could compete with ferocious Afghans on better footing. He was wheatish in colour, tall, fat, with a broad forehead, wide chest, loud and sonorous voice which could be clearly heard by an assemblage of 50,000 men….. The horses under him must have been the size of an elephant. This is why he could be clearly seen by Qazi Nur Muhammad in a body of fifty or sixty thousand men. His long arms came down to his knees. This enabled him to strike his sword right and left with equal valour.

— Hari Ram Gupta[37][excessive quote]

Nawab Jassa Singh Ahluwalia Government College (NJSA Government College) in Kapurthala, established in 1856 by Raja Randhir Singh of Kaputhala is named after him.[38] A commemorative postage stamp on Jassa Singh Ahluwalia was issued by Government of India on 4 April 1985.

Television

See also

References

  1. ^ a b H. S. Singha 2005, p. 31.
  2. ^ H. S. Singha 2005, p. 111.
  3. ^ Ahluwalia, M. L. (1989). Life and Times of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia. Publication Bureau, Punjabi University.
  4. ^ Donald Anthony Low (1968). Soundings in Modern South Asian History. University of California Press. p. 70-71. OCLC 612533097.
  5. ^ Low, D.A. (1968). Soundings in Modern South Asian History. University of California Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-520-00770-3. Retrieved 14 August 2022. With the rise to political power of Jassa Singh Kalal, the most famous Sikh chiefofthe eighteenth century, the importance of the Kalals had increased and there had been a tendency among them to abandon their degrading hereditary occupation…In addition to abandoning their hereditary occupation the Kalals tried to raise their status by changing their caste names and by claiming more respectable social origins. Jassa Singh Kalal had styled himself Ahllu- walia from the name of his ancestral village, a title which was still borne by his descendants, the royal family of the Native State of Kapurthala in British times; and one which the Sikh Kalals generally adopted as the name o f their caste. By the early twentieth century some o f the Ahlluwalias had gone further by claiming Khatri or Rajput origin.
  6. ^ Gandhi, S.S. (1980). Struggle of the Sikhs for Sovereignty. Gur Das Kapur. Retrieved 4 August 2022. The Ahluwalia Misl is also interesting for the same reason as it was led by Jassa Singh Ahluwalia , a member of Kalal caste , or distillers of palm wine . The Kalals rank among the artisans castes of the Sikhs
  7. ^ Gupta, H.R. (2001). History of the Sikhs: The Sikh commonwealth or Rise and fall of Sikh misls. History of the Sikhs. Munshiram Manoharlal. p. 24. ISBN 978-81-215-0540-6. Retrieved 4 August 2022. There lived a young man named Badar Singh of the Kalal caste known as distillers of wine...It was there that Badar Singh got a son in 1718, named Jassa Singh.
  8. ^ M. L. Ahluwalia (1989). Life and Times of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia. Punjabi University. p. 3. ...the original homeland of Jassa Singh's ancestors was Mauza Mullu Sadhu-Ke in Majha. His qaum (caste) was Kalal alias Tulsi (sub-caste).
  9. ^ Louis E. Fenech; W. H. McLeod Singh, eds. (2014). Historical Dictionary of Sikhism. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 21. ISBN 978-1442236004. ...the ruling family of Kapurthala (the descendants of Jassa Singh Ahluvalia) was also Kalal. So successful have they been that today their Kalal antecedents have been largely forgotten [...] Jassa Singh Ahluvalia, though not a Jat, was regarded as the principal misl chieftain
  10. ^ Grewal, J.S. (2007). Sikh Ideology Polity, and Social Order: From Guru Nanak to Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Manohar. p. 245. ISBN 978-81-7304-737-4. Retrieved 14 August 2022. Nevertheless, differences of caste was discounted by the Jatts themselves. Sukha Singh, a Tarkhan, was 'brought up' by Shiam Singh, a Sandhu Jatt. Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, a Kalal, was similarly 'brought up' by Kapur Singh, a Virk Jatt.
  11. ^ Sohan Singh Seetal (1981). The Sikh Misals and the Punjab States. Everybody had been dubbing the Kapoorthala dynasty as Kalaals, meaning wine vendors. But, during the time of Raja Kharak Singh , the penultimate chief of the state , an attempt was made to relate this dynasty to the Bhatti Rajput Rajput rulers of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.
  12. ^ Ganda Singh 1990, p. 1With the passing of time, they got mingled with the Jats who constituted at that time the majority community of this area. They began to enter into matrimonial alliances with them. Thus, gradually they also became Jats.
  13. ^ Ganda Singh 1990, p. 4.
  14. ^ Ganda Singh 1990, p. 6.
  15. ^ H. S. Singha 2005, p. 37.
  16. ^ Narang, K. S.; Gupta, H. R. (1969). History of Punjab: 1500 - 1558. p. 216. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  17. ^ H. S. Singha 2005, p. 39.
  18. ^ Rajmohan Gandhi (1999), Revenge and Reconciliation, p. 118, ISBN 9780140290455
  19. ^ Saggu, DS (2018). Battle Tactics And War Manoeuvres of the Sikhs. Notion Press. ISBN 9781642490060.
  20. ^ a b H. S. Singha 2000, p. 111.
  21. ^ Gordon, Stewart (February 2007). The Marathas 1600–1818, Volume 2. Cambridge University Press, 1993. ISBN 978-0-521-26883-7.
  22. ^ "Sikh Relations with Jats of Bharatpur". The sikh encyclopedia. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  23. ^ Herrli, Hans (2004) [1993]. The Coins of the Sikhs (2nd ed.). Munshiram Manoharlal publishers Pvt ltd , New Delhi. p. 233. In December 1765 Jawahir singh marched against Jaipur with 25000 sikhs who were bought off by Raja Mado Singh ,but in March 1768 Jawahir Singh , supported by 20000 Sikh mercenaries , again attacked and routed Mado Singh"
  24. ^ Hooja, Rima (2006). A History of Rajasthan. New Delhi: Rupa Publication. pp. 726, 736.
  25. ^ Ganda Singh 1990, p. 106: "...he became famous as a Liberator of bonded women. (Ghanaya Lal, Tareekh-i-Punjab-100 ; Gian Singh, Shamsheer Khalsa, 145/507"
  26. ^ Mehta, J. L. (2005). Advanced study in the history of modern India 1707–1813. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. p. 303. ISBN 978-1-932705-54-6. Retrieved 23 September 2010.
  27. ^ Bhatia, Sardar Singh. "Vadda Ghallurghara". Encyclopaedia of Sikhism. Punjabi University Patiala. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  28. ^ Jacques, Tony (2007). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges. Greenwood Press. p. 553. ISBN 978-0-313-33536-5. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  29. ^ Awan, Muhammad Tariq (1994). History of India and Pakistan, Volume 2 (2 ed.). Ferozsons, 1994. pp. 502–505. ISBN 9789690100351.
  30. ^ Raj Pal Singh (2004). The Sikhs : Their Journey Of Five Hundred Years. Pentagon Press. p. 115. ISBN 9788186505465.
  31. ^ Alikuzai, Hamid Wahed (October 2013). A Concise History of Afghanistan in 25 Volumes, Volume 14. ISBN 9781490714417. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  32. ^ H. S. Singha 2000, p. 26-27.
  33. ^ Sethi, Jasbir Singh. Views and Reviews. ISBN 9788190825986.
  34. ^ Hari Ram Gupta, History of the Sikhs: Sikh Domination of the Mughal Empire, 1764–1803, second ed., Munshiram Manoharlal (2000) ISBN 978-8-12150-213-9
  35. ^ H. R. Gupta 1982.
  36. ^ Randhir, G.S (1990). Sikh Shrines in India. ISBN 9788123022604.
  37. ^ H. R. Gupta 1982, p. 43.
  38. ^ "College of excellence, 150 years ago". The Tribune. 1 October 2006.

Bibliography

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