Gulab Singh

Raja of Jammu

Kishore Singh died in 1822 and Gulab Singh was confirmed as raja of Jammu by his suzerain, Ranjit Singh. Shortly afterward, Gulab Singh secured a formal declaration of renunciation from his kinsman, the deposed Raja Jit Singh.

As raja of Jammu, Gulab Singh was one of the most powerful chiefs of the Sikh Empire. Under the imperial and feudal army arrangement, he was entitled to keep a personal army of 3 infantry regiments, 15 light artillery guns and 40 garrison guns.

In 1824 Gulab Singh captured the fort of Samartah, near the holy Mansar Lake. In 1827 he accompanied the Sikh general Hari Singh Nalwa, who fought and defeated a group of Pashtun rebels led by Syed Ahmad Barelvi at the battle of Shaidu. Between 1831 and 1839 Ranjit Singh bestowed on Gulab Singh the jagir of the salt mines in northern Punjab, and the nearby Punjabi towns like Bhera, Jhelum, Rohtas, and Gujrat.

In 1837, after the death of Hari Singh Nalwa in the battle of Jamrud, the Muslim tribes of Sudhan, Tanoli, Karral, Dhund, Satti and Maldayal rose in revolt in Hazara and Poonch. The insurgency of Poonch was led by Shams ud-Din Khan, a Sudhan chief and former confidential follower of Raja Dhyan Singh. Thus the betrayal of Shams Khan against the regime was taken personally, and Gulab Singh was given the task of crushing the rebellion. After defeating the insurgents in Hazara and Murree hills, Gulab Singh stayed at Kahuta for some time and promoted disunion among the insurgents. Then his forces were sent to crush the insurgents. Eventually, Shams Khan and his nephew Raj Wali Khan were betrayed and their heads were cut off during their sleep while the lieutenants were captured, flayed alive and put to death with cruelty. The contemporary British commentators state that the local population suffered immensely.

Intrigue at Lahore

On the death of Ranjit Singh in 1839, Lahore became a center of conspiracies and intrigue in which the three Jammu brothers were involved. They succeeded in placing the administration in the hands of Prince Nau Nihal Singh with Raja Dhian Singh as prime minister. However, in 1840, during the funeral procession of his father Maharaja Kharak Singh, Nau Nihal Singh together with Udham Singh, son of Gulab Singh, died under suspicious circumstances when an old brick gate collapsed on them.

In January 1841, Sher Singh, son of Ranjit Singh tried to seize the throne of Lahore but was repulsed by the Jammu brothers. The defense of the fort was in the hands of Gulab Singh.

After peace was made between the two sides, Gulab Singh and his men were allowed to leave with their weapons. On this occasion, he is said to have taken away a large amount of Lahore's treasure to Jammu.

Recognition as Maharaja

Meanwhile, in the continuing intrigues at Lahore, the Sandhawalia Sardars (related to Ranjit Singh) murdered Raja Dhian Singh and the Sikh Maharaja Sher Singh in 1842. Subsequently, Gulab Singh's youngest brother, Suchet Singh, and nephew, Hira Singh, were also murdered. As the administration collapsed the Khalsa soldiery clamored for the arrears of their pay. In 1844 the Lahore court commanded an invasion of Jammu to extract money from Gulab Singh, reputed to be the richest Raja north of the Sutlej River as he had taken most of the Lahore treasury.

However, Gulab Singh agreed to negotiate on his behalf with the Lahore court. These negotiations imposed an indemnity of 27 lakh Nanakshahee rupees on the raja.

Lacking the resources to occupy such a large region immediately after annexing portions of Punjab, the British recognised Gulab Singh as a Maharaja directly tributary to them on payment of 75 thousand Nanakshahee rupees for the war-indemnity. The angry courtiers of Lahore then incited the governor of Kashmir Imamuddin to rebel against Gulab Singh, but this rebellion was defeated, thanks in great part to the action of Herbert Edwardes, Assistant Resident at Lahore.

In the second Sikh War of 1849, he allowed his Sikh soldiers to desert and go to fight alongside their brethren in Punjab. The treaties of Chushul and Amritsar had defined the borders of the Kingdom of Jammu in the east, south, and west but the northern border was still undefined. In 1850, the fort of Chilas in the Dard country was conquered.

Maharaja Gulab Singh died on the 30th of June 1857 and was succeeded by his son, Ranbir Singh.

Gulabnama

Diwan Kirpa Ram of the diwan family of Eminabad wrote the first biography of Gulab Singh titled Gulabnama in the 19th century in Persian.

K. M. Panikkar describes Gulabnama as an authoritative source;

"This work, though written in the flowery style of the Persian panegyrists, is nonetheless a remarkable historical document, as the Dewan published in it many original documents which are not now available elsewhere. Its facts and chronology are beyond dispute. The Dewan was also fully conversant with the political conditions of the Punjab at the time, and his descriptions of events are vivid and informed by direct knowledge of men and things."