The Enthronement of Mai Chand Kaur-1840

Home , Chand Kaur, Dhian Singh, Kharak Singh, Mehtab Kaur, Sher Singh

ZENITH International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research ______ISSN 2231-5780 Vol.6 (2), FEBRUARY (2016), pp. 99-105 Online available at zenithresearch.org.in

THE ENTHRONEMENT OF MAI CHAND KAUR-1840

DR. DHARMJIT SINGH

M. PHIL, PH. D. (HISTORY) PRINCIPAL, MATA SAHIB KAUR GIRLS COLLEGE, TALWANDI SABO, (BATHINDA)

ABSTRACT: The main objective of the present paper is that how after the sad demise of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1839, the interests of the State were not taken care and conspiracies were envisaged to downplay the antagonistic candidature for enthronement. Contemporary and secondary sources were exhausted to make a fair and comprehensive account of the theme under study. At places, day to day reports from sources such as the Chronicler of Lahore Darbar, Sohan Lal Suri‟s Umdat-Ut Tawarikh and the then serving military officers related with the British and Lahore Kingdom are extensively quoted for achieving the main objectives of the present study. Mai Chand Kaur, daughter in law of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and wife of Maharaja Kharak Singh, acceded to the throne of Lahore Darbar as regent and remained in power from November 30, 1840 to January 18, 1841. Her enthronement came through machinations. Cleavage was discernible among the courtiers and each group was there to promote the cause their favourite candidate. Bloody path was taken to get the candidature of the other party bypassed. Lahore Kingdom became a prey to the Court conspiracies after the unfortunate demise of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in which the interests of the State were subjugated and individual concerns got the front seat. Mai Chand Kaur managed to utilize these concerns to attain her enthronement, though finally she became a trap to the web of negative connotations which she herself woven.

KEY WORDS: Vacancy of Throne, General Confabulations, Law of Primogeniture, Persisted Stalemate.

Notes and References:

1. Lapel H.Griffin, The Punjab Chiefs, Vol. 1, C. Maccarthy, Chronicle Press, Lahore (1865), p.7. Hereafter cited as Lapel H.Griffin, The Punjab Chiefs, p.7

2. Barkat Rai Chopra, Kingdom of the Punjab 1839-1845, Vishveshvaranand Institute, Hoshiarpur (1869), p7. Hereafter cited as Barkat Rai Chopra, Kingdom of the Punjab 1839- 1845

3. Lapel H. Griffin, The Punjab Chiefs, p.7

4. Thomas Henry Thornton, History of the Punjab and the Rise, Progress and Present Condition of the Sect and the Nation of the Sikhs, Allen, London (1945), p.226. Hereafter cited as Thomas Henry Thornton, History of the Punjab and the Rise , Progress and Present Condition of the Sect and the Nation of the Sikhs

ZENITH International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research ______ISSN 2231-5780 Vol.6 (2), FEBRUARY (2016), pp. 99-105 Online available at zenithresearch.org.in

5. After having bathed in the Ravi after the cremation of his father Kharak Singh, Kanwar Nao Nihal Singh started back towards the fort. As he was entering the arcade of the portal, a crash was sounded. The heavy battlements of the entryway fell upon both youths , Kanwar Nao Nihal Singh and Mian Udham Singh , the elder son of Gulab Singh Dogra , who died at the spot while Kanwar was allegedly „made dead‟ after some time (Barkat Rai Chopra, Kingdom of the Punjab 1839-1845, p.95).

6. Thomas Henry Thornton, History of the Punjab and the Rise , Progress and Present Condition of the Sect and the Nation of the Sikhs, p. 227. See also : Dr Dharmjit Singh, Rani Chand Kaur in the Turbulent Politics of Punjab ( !802-!842), Twentyfirst Century Publications, Patiala, 2015, p.3

7. Khushwant Singh, The Fall of the Kingdom of the Punjab, Eastened Ptinters, Calcutta (1962), p.26.

8. Summon Burj was a high pedestal tower inside the fort near Hazuri Bagh where the dead body of Nao Nihal Singh was positioned after his unnatural death for some time.

9. Lapel, H. Griffin, The Punjab Chiefs, p.7

10. It was rumoured that the Mai actually never bore any child. Her mother Sada Kaur took them from their parents and proclaimed them as offsprings of Mehtab Kaur. She had even earlier experimented such a thing. In 1804, a son was presented to the Maharaja by her, whose name was Isher Singh, the child died a year and a half after his birth. It was, however, certain that neither his mother was Mehtab Kaur nor his father, Maharaja Ranjit Singh. So far as Kanwar Sher Singh was concerned he was the son of Chintz weaver, named Nihala, native of Mukerian, Hoshiarpur District, in the jagir of Sada Kaur and was the son of a Muhamadan woman, Manki, a slave girl. ( Lepel H. Griffin,, The Punjab Chiefs, p. 7)

11. Thomas Henry Thornton History of the Punjab and the Rise, Progress and Present Condition of the Sect and the Nation of the Sikhs, p.226

12. Faqir Azizuddin was the son of Sayyad GholamMohaiuddin who held a subordinate office under Nawab Abdul Samad Khan and Zakria Khan, Governors of Lahore. Khushal Singh or Khushhal, as he was first called, was the son of a poor Brahman shop-keeper of Ikri, District Meerut.

13. KM Panikar, Gulab Singh, Martin Hopkinson, London (1930), p.44

14. SR, Kohli, Sun Set of the Sikh Empire, Orient Longmans, Bombay (1967), p30. Hereafter cited as Kohli , Sun Set of the Sikh Empire, p.31. Hereafter cited as SR, Kohli, Sun Set of the Sikh Empire

The names of six Princes were Sher Singh and his twin brother Tara Singh born in 1807; Peshaura Singh born in 1818 and his brother Kashmira Singh born in 1819 ; Multana Singh born 1819 and Dalip Singh born in 1838.Their legality was in doubt as it was being suspected that many of them were purchased from their parents under stratagem and were proclaimed as the offsprings of Mehtab Kaur ( the wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh) (SR Kohli, Sun Set of the Sikh Empire,p.30) It is important to note that with the death of Kanwar Nao Nihal Singh, also expired the legitimate line of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (Major Hugh

ZENITH International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research ______ISSN 2231-5780 Vol.6 (2), FEBRUARY (2016), pp. 99-105 Online available at zenithresearch.org.in

Pearse, Memoirs of Alexander Gardner, p.227)

15. Sohan Lal Suri Umdat-Ut-Twarikh, Daftar I, part II, Punjab Ithas Parkashan, Chandigarh,1972 Reprinted, p. 129

16. Major G. Carmichael Smyth, A History of the Reigning Family of Lahore, W. Thacker and Co. , Calcutta, 1847, p37

Bhai Ram Singh favoured Mai Chand Kaur with all his might. His great rival and enemy, was Bhai Gurmukh Singh as he fervidly espoused the cause of Kanwar Kharak Singh.He was not altogether unenthusiastic to a coalition between the two parties ( Chand Kaur and Sher Singh) and he foresaw that without the support of Raja Dhian Singh, he would not possibly stand (Lapel H Griffin, A History of the Reigning Family of Lahore, p.51)

17. “Raja Heera Singh , son of the Chief Minister, Raja Dhian Singh was a great favourite with Maharaja Ranjit Singh than any other of his chiefs, ever not excepting his father"( Lapel H Griffin, A History of the Reigning Family of Lahore, p.51)

18. In reality after the direct descendants of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Attar Singh Sandhawalia was nearest to the claim for throne (Thomas Henry Thornton, History of the Punjab and Rise, Progress and present condition of the Sect and Nation of the Sikhs, p.221)

19 Lapel H Griffin,, A History of the Reigning Family of Lahore, p. 65

20 CH Payne A Short History of the Sikhs, Thomas Nelson and Sons, London(1915), p.142.Hereafter cited as Payne, CH Payne, A Short History of the Sikhs

21. The British discerned that she fully exploited the sympathy that the tragedy had generated and solidified her claim to the throne (Thomas Henry Thornton, History of the Punjab and Rise, Progress and present condition of the Sect and Nation of the Sikhs,p.142) See also:SR, Kohli, Sun Set of The Sikh Empire, p.31.

Raja Dhian Singh also communicated Russel Clerk, the British Representative at Ludhiana that one of the widow of Nao Nihal Singh was pregnant and Mai Chand Kaur was demonstrating that until the child was born, she should be considered as regent .She might even gain her ground by repudiating the birth of Kanwar Sher Singh ( Clerk to Maddock , Foreign Department, Secret Proceedings,23rd November ,1840, No.81, Secret Consultations, Governor General of India‟s Government).

22. Major Hugh Pearse, Memoirs of Alexander Gardner, William Blackwood , London, 1898, p.228.

23. SR Kohli, Sun Set of the Sikh Empire, p.31

Tej Singh , the nephew of Khushhal Singh, was made General in the regular Sikh force but he was weak and timid person and of vacillating nature(Lapel H, Griffin, A History of the Reigning Family of Lahore, p. 149).

Sardar Fateh Singh Mann and Sardar Gulab Singh Povindia, the Sikh Chiefs and Ghulam Mohi-ud-din and Imamuddin, the Muslim Sheikhs, dignified position at the Lahore

ZENITH International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research ______ISSN 2231-5780 Vol.6 (2), FEBRUARY (2016), pp. 99-105 Online available at zenithresearch.org.in

Durbar.

24. SR, Kohli, Sun Set of the Sikh Empire, p.31

25. Khushwant Singh, The Fall of the Kingdom of Punjab, Eastened Printers, Calcutta (1962), p.30.

26. The great men of the Kingdom spent several hours in deliberating which of the two should ascend the throne till at length on the 30th of November, 1840. The thunders of the artillery announced to Kanwar Sher Singh that Maii Chand Kaur had been chosen Queen- C.L.Orlich, Travels in India including Sinde and the Punjab, Longman, London, 1845, p.176.

27. W.L.M. McGregor, History of the Sikhs , Department of Language, Patiala, 1970 Reprinted , P.7

See also: Consequently Kanwar Sher Singh proceeded towards Kalanaur and his desire was not obtained.—Diwan Kirpa Ram, Gulab Nama translated by Sukhdev Singh Charak, Light and Life Publishers, New Delhi, 1977 p.178.

But M‟Gregor remarks that Kanwar Sher Singh retreated not to Kalanaur but to Kahnuwan, the lake town in his jagir of Batala, observing, afraid of being involved in some infamy— W.L.M McGregor., History of the Sikhs, p.7.

28. CH, Payne, A Short History of the Sikhs, p.142.

29. Clerk to Maddock, 11th December , 1840 , 309,Press List of Old Records in Punjab Secretariat, Vol. VII, p.75, Punjab State Archives, Patiala

From the very beginning it was being predictable that the new arrangement would not prove workable (Ibid.)