Lahore Councils of Regency

To govern the State of the Punjab during the minority of Maharaja Duleep Singh, two successive councils of regency were set up at Lahore. The first functioned from 1844-46 and the second from 1846-49.

After the assassination of Maharaja Sher Singh and his son on 15 September 1843, the Dogra Raja Hira Singh had won over the Khalsa army and established himself in the office of prime minister with the minor Duleep Singh as the new sovereign. But his rule was shortlived, as he and his deputy Pandit Jalla were killed by the Army on 21 December 1844.

Maharani Jind Kaur, who had an active hand in overthrowing Hira Singh, now cast off her veil and assumed full powers as regent in the name of her minor son, Duleep Singh. To run the administration, she constituted a Council of Regency on 22 December 1844, composed of Jawahar Singh, Raja Lal Singh, Bhai Ram Singh, Bakhshi Bhagat Ram, Diwan Dina Nath, Atar Singh Kaliarivala, Sham Singh Atarivala, General Mahtab Singh Majithia, General Meva Singh Majithia and General Lal Singh Morarivala. The composition of this Council represented a combination of elder statesmen of the Darbar and army generals. Maharani Jind Kaur acted with determination and courage in transacting public business. The Council nullified the enhanced taxes and burdens that had been imposed by Raja Hira Singh. They also restored the jagirs and fiefs that Hira had assumed, returned to the feudatory sardars. The pay of the soldiery was also improved. The Council also quelled the revolts of Kanvar Kashmira Singh and Kanvar Pashaura Singh and sent a force 35,000 to Jammu to crush the rebellious activities of Raja Gulab Singh Dogra, who was brought to Lahore and arraigned on a charge of treachery against his sovereign.

After the first Anglo-Sikh war, under article 5 of the Agreement concluded between tlie British government and the Lahore Darbar at Bharoval (16 December 1846), Henry Lawrence was appointed resident with "full authority to direct and control all matters in every department of the State" and a new eight member Council of Regency was constituted, the members being Raja Tej Singh, Sher Singh Atarivala, Diwan Dina Nath, Faqir Nur-ud-Din, Ranjodh Singh Majithia, Bhai Nidhan Singh, Atar Singh Kaliarivala and Shamsher Singh Sandharivalia. The Treaty of Bharoval had changed the entire complexion of the Council of Regency. Its members could only hold office at the pleasure of the British resident. Maharani Jind Kaur was pensioned off, and the British government became the guardian of the minor Maharaja of the Punjab. A British garrison was stationed at Lahore and the entire civil and military administration of the country was vested in the British resident.

The Council of Regency had ceased to exist as a sovereign political body. It was more an instrument for subserving British interests as was done in acquiescing to the removal of the Maharani from Lahore in August 1847 and her further expulsion from the Punjab in June 1848. It also took part in forcing Diwan Mul Raj to resign the governorship of Multan in December 1847 and it meekly accepted the blame of the Multan revolt under Resident Frederick Currie’s pressure.

In directing the course of events that led to the second Anglo-Sikh war, the Council of Regency had no voice at all. None of its members spoke to contradict British accusations that the whole Sikh nation was involved in a general resurrection to reestablish the Khalsa Raj. The Council’s last dismal act was the signing, on behalf of the minor sovereign, the Instrument of deposition and annexation of the Punjab to the British empire on 29 March 1849, which spelled the end of the dynasty of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

References

1. Cunningham,J.D., A History of the Sikhs. London, 1849

2. Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, vol. 2. Princeton, 1966

3. Hasrat, B.J., Anglo-Sikh Relations. Hoshiarpur, 1968