Gulab Singh
More than half of Jammu & Kashmir, which Maharaja Hari Singh acceded to India on October 26, 1947, is in illegal possession of Pakistan and China nowadays. The state last Dogra dynasty ruler had acceded included Gilgit-Baltistan, areas of what is now known as Pakistan Occupied Jammu Kashmir (POJK), and China Occupied Territories of Tibet & Ladakh (COTL). The Dogra dynasty ruled between March 1846 and October 1947, a little over 101 years. The story of the Dogra dynasty makes for fascinating reading, and the maps of Union Territories (UTs) of Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir unveiled in November 2019 are those which were ruled by Dogra Maharaja Gulab Singh once.
Enrolling as an ordinary soldier in powerful Sikh Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s army at Lahore in 1809 at the age of 17, Gulab Singh become founder of Jammu & Kashmir in March 1846. For 37 years till then, he had participated in countless battles and lost his two brothers, a son, and a nephew in Lahore Durbar intrigues. It is said that he did not help the Sikhs in their war with the British. The fact is by the time Sikhs clashed with the British in December 1845, none of the four Dogras, including Gulab Singh, considered the most powerful foursome in Lahore Durbar of Maharaja Ranjit Singh once, was there at Lahore.
Incidentally, things are not always in stark black and white, nor is easy categorisation as right and wrong possible so often as shades of grey prevail. If truth be told, Gulab Singh had started distancing himself from Lahore Durbar two years before that, from March 1844 onwards. He had solid reasons for trying to extricate himself from fratricidal killings that had become an everyday affair in Lahore.
As already mentioned, Gulab Singh had lost both his brothers, Dhian Singh and Suchet Singh, within a span of barely six months in Lahore. Dhian Singh, Prime Minister of Lahore from 1828, was assassinated in September 1843 by a Sikh misl (confederation) chief, Ajit Singh Sandhwalia. Dhian Singh’s son, Hira Singh, led a counterattack and killed Sandhwalia and many of his supporters the very next day.
The next to die was Suchet Singh, who clashed with Hira Singh in March 1844. Gulab Singh then parted company with his nephew. After losing both his brothers, Gulab Singh decided Lahore was not for him and preferred moving to Jammu. Hira Singh remained the only Dogra among many feuding Sikh feudal lords in Lahore, and he too got assassinated in December 1844 by Sham Singh Attariwala, another Sikh misl leader.
Four years before the death of his brothers and a nephew in Lahore, Gulab Singh’s son Udham Singh (after whom Udhampur city, headquarters of Northern Command, has been named) had died, again in Lahore. This had happened on November 5, 1840, when a portion of the old brick gate of the fort collapsed on him in suspicious circumstances. Incidentally, it was then a free-for-all at Lahore after Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s death on June 27, 1839, as his successors could not control and administer the powerful kingdom he had set up.
So long as Maharaja Ranjit Singh was alive, he trusted the four Dogra Jamwal Rajputs from Jammu, Gulab Singh, Dhian Singh, Suchet Singh and Hira Singh. In fact, Hira Singh was a favourite of the Maharaja, whom he treated with utmost affection like his own son. In many military conquests of the Sikhs under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Gulab Singh played a key role, both in execution and planning. Gulab Singh had accompanied famous Sikh chief Hari Singh Nalwa in his conquest against Afghans, besides many other key battles the Sikhs were involved in.
After joining Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s army in 1809, Gulab Singh rose rapidly in the ranks due to his valour and participation in many conquests. So much so that his Raj Tilak as Raja of Jammu was done on June 17, 1822, by the Maharaja at Jia Pota ghat in Akhnoor on the right bank of Chenab when he was 31. The tilak was done in a unique way from top to his forehead to nose.
There is an anecdote that was recounted on June 17, 2022, by Dr Karan Singh in presence of Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Dr Karan Singh was explaining Gulab Singh’s valour to Rajnath Singh during the celebrations of 200 years of Raj Tilak ceremony at Hari Niwas Palace in Jammu. Rajnath Singh was then the chief guest at the culmination of three days of festivities and programs organised in many parts of Jammu.
“Maharaja Ranjit Singh said this (tilak) was done in a unique manner as he wanted Raja Gulab Singh’s roots to be deep and strong,” according to Dr Karan Singh. “The Maharaja’s words proved prophetic as Dogra dynasty lasted a century but his own dynasty could not last a decade after his death.” His ancestor Gulab Singh barely managed to extricate himself alive from Lahore after losing many of his dearest siblings, son and a nephew, Dr Singh added.
As stated earlier, between November 1840 and December 1844, Gulab Singh had four members of his family in Lahore in palace intrigues. By the time Governor General Henry Hardinge declared war on the Sikhs in December 1845, Gulab Singh had been away from Lahore for more than 18 months. The Sikhs lost Battle of Sobraon on February 10, 1846. The Treaty of Lahore was signed first and a week later on March 16, 1846 (Monday), the Treaty of Amritsar which led to the founding of Jammu & Kashmir.
A lot of blood was shed in the run-up to Jammu & Kashmir being welded into a kingdom (State later) under sovereign Gulab Singh. A lot of blood has been shed on Jammu & Kashmir between India and Pakistan since 1947 after Partition. The bad blood between India and Pakistan indicates the future cannot be very different either.
Leave a Comment