Ever heard about Hari Singh Nalwa? No? That’s not surprising. Actually, I expect the same answer from 99% of my Pakistani readers. When I planned to write something about him, I thought it would be over within a few days. But now, after many days, I am still thinking about how to introduce this man to my readers. The problem is not the lack of material available about him on the internet — actually, there is more than enough for writing an article. The problem is that almost all of it is written by Sikhs, and they eulogize him, in my opinion, with considerable exaggeration. Anyway, I could not find much written by Muslim writers, his chief victims, or by neutral ones. So I shall try to keep it as “neutral” as possible. In any case, this is just a brief introduction to a man who played a considerable role in the modern history of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well.
After the collapse of Mughal power in Punjab in the mid-eighteenth century, the Sikhs rose rapidly and, within a few decades, occupied most of the areas in central Punjab. In Pakistani Punjab, by the end of the century, Sikhs were strongly established in Lahore, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Gujrat, Jhelum, etc. But these areas were not controlled by a single authority. They were ruled by numerous independent Sikh sardars, allied to each other in a kind of confederation called Misls. There were almost 12 such Misls. In Pakistani Punjab, the most important were the Bhangi Misl, controlling Lahore besides many other towns, and the Sukerchakia Misl. This second one was led by Charat Singh, then his son Mahan Singh, and ultimately by his much more famous and successful heir, Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Ranjit Singh was born in 1780 and succeeded his father when he was only 12 years old. This Misl was based in Gujranwala. In 1799, Ranjit Singh occupied Lahore and proclaimed himself Maharaja, thus starting a new era in Punjab. The subject of this article, Hari Singh Nalwa, had a father and grandfather who were also part of the Sukerchakia Misl and held a small estate in Gujranwala.
I had a vague idea about the existence of Hari Singh's haveli in Gujranwala, but was not sure about its exact location or what I would find there. To find the answers to these questions, I reached Gujranwala on 22 July 2017. In search of this place, I entered the oldest part of the city, now an overcrowded area with narrow streets lined with shops. The houses are mostly double or triple-storey. I had some important clues that the haveli exists in Bazar Street, near the fish market, and that a religious seminary now exists there.
Unfortunately, I lost the coordinates of the exact location of the haveli a few weeks ago when I changed my telephone. However, the map given at the end will give you a fairly accurate idea of its location.
The ancestors of Sahibzada Mubashar Sahib belonged to Ludhiana, where, in 1840, one of them, Hafiz Ghulam Rasul, laid the foundations of a religious seminary and a mosque. According to Sahibzada Mubashar Sahib, that mosque still exists in the Sabzi Mandi area of Ludhiana. After the creation of Pakistan, the family migrated to Gujranwala, and the haveli of Hari Singh was allotted to his late father, Maulvi Mahmood Yaseen, who passed away in 1997 and is buried inside the haveli.
Sahibzada Mubashar Sahib greeted us warmly, and we were also served tea. Despite being very busy, he gave us sufficient time and answered all our questions. He confirmed that there once existed a large garden around the haveli, but it was not allotted to them.
Now, something briefly about the subject of this post, Hari Singh Nalwa. His grandfather and father were both part of the Sukerchakia Misl and served under the ancestors of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He was born in Gujranwala, the capital of the Sukerchakias, in 1791. His father died in 1798, and he was raised by his mother. She arranged the best education available at the time, and he could read Urdu, Persian, and Punjabi. He also took great interest in martial arts and excelled in them.
He met Ranjit Singh for the first time in 1804 in Lahore when he visited the darbar to settle a property dispute. Ranjit Singh, a capable man, recognized the potential in the young boy and employed Hari Singh in his court as a personal attendant.
He began his military career as the commander of a detachment during a campaign against Kasur in 1807. Subsequently, he participated in around 20 major battles and earned great fame and reputation. He was awarded many jagirs. Some of the major campaigns he took part in were against Sialkot, Attock, Mitha Tiwana, Kashmir, Multan, Mankera, Nowshera, and Peshawar. He rose to such prominence that he was appointed the governor of Kashmir in 1820.
Perhaps few would know that the famous city of Haripur in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is named after him. According to Wikipedia, he founded the town in 1822. He also built a fort to protect the city and to serve as a stronghold for his army in the area. The fort still exists, though not in good condition. Wikipedia provides the following details of his other building projects:
He built all the main Sikh forts in the trans-Indus region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Jehangira and Nowshera on the left and right bank respectively of the river Kabul, Sumergarh (or Bala Hisar Fort in the city of Peshawar), for the Sikh Kingdom. In addition, he laid the foundation for the fort of Fatehgarh, at Jamrud (Jamrud Fort). He reinforced Akbar's Attock fort situated on the left bank of the river Indus by building very high bastions at each of the gates. He also built the fort of Uri in Kashmir.
A religious man, Nalwa built Gurdwara Panja Sahib in the town of Hassan Abdal, south-west of Haripur and north-west of Rawalpindi in Pakistan, to commemorate Guru Nanak's journey through that region. He had donated the gold required to cover the dome of the Akal Takht within the Harmandir Sahib complex in Amritsar.
It was rangit singh era and hari singh was his governor and dewan chand of pindi also held some post. After many Sikh battles in hazara these warriors somehow took prisoner Mohammad khan tareen in 1822.Mohammad Khan tareen of haripur hazara was doubled crossed by these sikhs warriors and killed in prison.rangit singh invited him as his guest and then taken to Lahore fort in 1822.If there is anything about him in Sikh history want to know where he was prisoned and killed and buried.later his son Ghulam Khan tareen captured fort of haripur from sikhs in 1834.Ghulam Khan tareen was taken prisoner by James Abbott in 1848 and later was hanged in Naini central prison ALLAH abad india.
ReplyDeleteDear Sir, Thank you for you comments and sharing this information with me. Regards.
DeleteThanks
DeleteMy grandfather who came from Gujranwala during the partition remembers the haveli and misses his then home alot. He remembers many details about the thateron wali gali, Gujranwala.
ReplyDeleteAsalam O Alikum
ReplyDeleteMy name is Noor Ul Qamar. We are looking forward to this place. We are owner of this place since 1947.if anyone want any information about the place we are here. I am son of Sahibzada Mubashar Mahmood.
Address= Yaseen Manzil, Bazar Kasera, Old City Market, Near Fish Market, Gujranwala, Pakistan.
Contact No # +92 3158915800 , 055-4212121