Hari Singh Bhangi: Difference between revisions

HART SINGH BHANGI (d. 1765), nephew and adopted son of Bhuma Singh, was the founder of the Bhangi misl or chiefship. Hari Singh received initiatory rites of the Khalsa at the hands of Baba Dip Singh Shahid. At the time of the formation of the Dal Khalsa in 1748, Hari Singh was acknowledged head of the Bharigi clan as well as leader of the Taruna Dal. He vastly increased the power and influence of the Bharigi misi which began to be ranked as the strongest among its peers. He created an army of 20,000 dashing youths, captured Parijvar in the Tarn Taran parganah and established his headquarters first at Sohal and then at Gilvali, both in presentday Amritsar district. Lastly, he set himself up at Amritsar where he established a residential area with a market known as Katra Hari Singh, and started constructing a fort called Qila Bharigian. Hari Singh constantly harassed the Afghan invader, Ahmad Shah Durrani, during his invasions into India. A few months after the massacre of the Sikhs at Kup, near Malerkotia, in what is known in Sikh history as Vadda Ghallughara or the Great Killing (February 1762), Hari Singh attacked Khwaja Sayyid ka Kot, and seized from there a large quantity of arms. In 1763, along with the Kanhaiyas and Ramgarhias, he sacked the Afghan stronghold of Kasur. In 1764, he ravaged Bahawalpur and Multan. Crossing the River Indus, he realized tribute from Baluchi chiefs in the districts of Muzaffargarh, Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Isma'il Khan. On his way back home, he reduced Jharig, Chiniot and Sialkot. When Baba Ala Singh of Patiala submitted to the authority ofAhmad Shah Durrani in March 1765 accepting certain concession from him, the Taruna Dal under Hari Singh marched upon Patiala to chastise him. Hari Singh was killed in this campaign, allegedly owing to the conspiracy of those who had been jealous of his growing influence. According to Khushwant Rai, Hari Singh was poisoned to death.

Griffin, Lcpel, and C.F. Massy, Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab. Lahore, 1909 Gupta, Hari Ram, History of the Sikhs, vol. IV. Delhi, 1982 Ganda Singh, Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluvalia. Patiala, 1969