Jhanda Singh

JHANDA SINGH (d. 1774) succeeded his father, Hari Singh, to the leadership of the Bharigi principality upon his death in 1765. Under Jhanda Singh, the power and prestige of the Bharigi misi rapidly increased. In 1766, he challenged both Shuja' Khan. Afghan governor of Multan, and Mubarak Khan, the ruler of Bahawalpur. As a result of the battle that followed, the holy town of Pakpattan was declared to be the line of demarcation between the Bharigi territories and those belonging to the Muslim chiefs. In 1772, Jhanda Singh attacked Multan once again, and drove out the Nawab. Multan became a Khalsa territory and the city was parcelled out between Jhanda Singh and his commander, Lahina Singh. Jhanda Singh then went on to sack Jharig, Khushab, Mankcra and Kala Bagh. He also attacked the stronghold of Chattha Jatts at Rasulnagar, later known as Ramnagar. He seized from there the Zamzarna gun, which later became famous as Bhariglari dl Top, i.e. the gun of the Bharigis, and carried it to Amritsar. Jhanda Singh completed at Amritsar the Fort of the Bharigis begun by his father, Hari Singh. He also laid out a garden there and erected another Katra or bazaar named after him. Towards the end of his career, Jhanda Singh was involved in constant warfare and feud with the oilier Sikh chiefs. He was killed in 1774 when embroiled in a battle with the Kanhaiyas and the Sukkarchakkias atJammu wither he had marched to settle the issue of succession to the chiefship.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Griffin, Lepd, and C.F. Massy, Chiefs tind Families of Noli' in I/if Punjab. Lahore, 1909

2. Seetal, Solian Singh, 'I'hi' Sik/i Mi.wls and Ihf Pnnjah. Ln

JHANDA SINGH (d. 1797), of Sultanvind near Amritsar, like many other Majha Jatts of his time, took advantage of the breakup of the Mughal power to secure an estate for himself. Having seized certain villages in Sialkot which he made over to his younger brother, he turned in 1759 eastwards to the rich country between the Sutlej and the Beas. He acquired 16 villages around Basi Kalari and Singhvala, tahsil Hoshiarpur, 40 villages in Kathgarh, and 17 in Jamiatgarh, now in tahsil Garhsharikar, yielding an annual revenue of over a lakh of rupees. He died in 1797, and was succeeded in his Hoshiarpur estate by his son, Tara Singh, who built five small forts for the protection of his patrimony. But Tara Singh had to admit the supremacy of Maharaja RanjTt Singh, his acknowledgement taking the usual form of supply of horsemen fixed according to the extent of his holdings.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Griffin, Lepel, and C.F. Massy, Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab. Lahore, 1909

JHANDA SINGH (d. 1833), sonofGurbakhsh Singh, was a trooper under Sahib Singh Bharigi of Gujrat before he joined Maharaja Ranjit Singh's army in the early years of the nineteenth century. He fought in many of the Maharaja's campaigns, including those of Karigra (1809) and Kashmir (1819). Maharaja Ranjit Singh granted him eleven villages in jdgir in Amritsar district. Jhanda Singh was killed in 1833 in a private feud. His son, Javala Singh (d. 1847), served for some time in the Sikh army on the frontier at Bannu and Kohat.

References

1. Griffin, Lepel, and C.F. Massy, Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab. Lahore, 1909