CHAPTER II

HISTORY

(a) Ancient History

The Nawashahr District formed part of the Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur Districts till it was carved out as a separate District in 1995. So, the ancient history of newly formed Nawashahr District is by and large the history of Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur Districts. In former times, the kingdom of Jalandhar comprises the whole of Upper Doabs (the area of present Nawashahr District falls in it) from the Ravi to the Satluj. According to the Padma Purana, as quoted by General Cunningham¹ the country takes its name from the great Daitya king Danava Jalandhara, the son of the Ganga by Ocean.

“At his birth the earth trembled and wept and the three worlds resounded ; and Brahma having broken the seal of meditation, and having perceived the universe lost in terror, mounted his hansa, and reflecting on this prodigy, proceeded to the sea….. Then Brahma said ‘Why, O Sea ! dost thou uselessly produce such loud and fearful sounds ?’ Ocean replied ‘It is not I, O chief of gods, but my mighty son, who thus roars’……. When Brahma beheld the wonderful son of Ocean he was filled with astonishment, and the child having taken hold of his beard, he was unable to liberate it from his grasp, but Ocean smiling approached and loosed it from the hand of his son. Brahma, admiring the strength of the infant, then said ‘From his holding so firmly let him be named Jalandhara ; and further with fondness bestowed on him this boon___’ This Jalandhara shall be unconquered by the gods, and shall through my favour enjoy the three worlds”.

“When the boy was grown up, Shukra, the preceptor of the Daityas, appeared before his father and said to Ocean.” Thy son shall through his might firmly enjoy the three worlds; do thou, therefore, recede from Jambudwipa, the sacred abode of holy men, and leave unwashed by thy waves an extent of country sufficient for the residence of Jalandhara. There, O Sea, give a kingdom to this youth, who shall be invincible. Shukra having thus spoken,……….the Sea sportively withdrew his waves, and exposed, devoid of water, a country extending 300 yojanas in length, which became celebrated under the name of the Holy Jalandhara.”²

1 Cunningham, A., Archaeological Survey Reports.V, p 145 sqq.; Cunningham,   A.,     Ancient Geography of India , p 137

As Sir Alexander Cunningham remarks, this passage undoubtedly embodies a tradition of a time when, as geologists affirm, the sea stretched in a long arm up the Jalandhar Doab to the neighborhood of the Hoshiarpur Shiwaliks.

In 327-326 BC Alexander, having conquered the Catamenia empire, marched into Gandhara and the Punjab. Thereafter came the dominion of a king Phegelas or Phegeous or Bhagale mentioned by Panini. The country to the east of Beas was exceedingly fertile and the inhabitants were good agriculturists, brave in war and living under the excellent system of internal Government, run by aristocracy who exercised their authority with justice and modernization.³

Recent excavations at various sites in the districts of Hoshiarpur and Rupnagar (Ropar) have revealed that the entire area near the Shiwalik foothills was selected for habitation not only by the early palaeolithicman, but also by those in the protohistoric and historic periods. The perennial supply of water and patches of good agricultural land and pastures ensured them a living. It is in these regions that the link between the earlier Stone Age and protohistoric periods-neolithic period may probably be found. In the explorations, seven early Stone Age sites at Aitbarpur, Rehmanpur and Takhni, 30-40 km north of Hoshiarpur at the foot of the Shiwalik Hills, have been discovered where the stone artefacts have been found. These artefacts include hand-axes, stone implements, chopping-tools and cleavers and can be type-technologically dated to 4,35,000- 1,50,000 years⁴.

Besides, these excavations, a number of other archaeological remains in the area of present Nawashahr District and around its boundaries throw much valuable light on the ancient history of this area. The whole of Punjab and the area of Nawashahr District was part of the Indus Valley Civilization. Harrapa and Mohenjodaro are the sites where remains of the Indus Valley Civilization have been found extensively. The archeological exploration made during the recent years have pushed the antiquity of the area of present Nawashahr District to the Harappan period. On the basis of surface exploration, the following new sites have been brought on the   Archaeological   map of India and the traces of the

2 Col., Vans Kennedy, from the Uttara Khanda of the Padma Purana-   Researches    in  Mythology, Appendix p 457

3 Budha Parkash, Glimpses of Ancient Punjab, (1983) pp. 23-24

4 The Tribune , Chandigarh, 10 August 1977

self-same people as at Harappa and Mohenjodaro have also been detected in the area of Nawashahr District at the following places ⁵ :

Serial No.	Name of the Village		Name of the Tahsil
1		Bairsian		Nawashahr
2		Charan		Do
3		Heon		Do
4		Maahliana		Do
5		Nurpur		Do
6		Rahon		Do
7		Sujjon		Do
8		Taharpur		Do
9		Manual		Balachaur

From the above mentioned evidence, it is established that the whole of the Nawashahr District was a part of the vast areas covered under the Indus Valley Civilization during the early period of history. This civilization developed prior to the Aryan Civilization in this region.

The excavations done and the places which are given above in the Nawashahr District have revealed the imprints of Harappa culture in east Punjab the earlier two important sites, i.e. (Harappa and Mohenjodaro) being in Pakistan. Rare and unique archaeological objects have been found in Nagar (tahsil Phillaur) in Jalandhar District very near to the area of present Nawashahr District. The earliest known cities in India were in the Valley of the River Indus. The remains of a number of different settlements have been discovered by archaeologists. These are scattered over an area of thousand miles. The two biggest cities were Mohenjodaro and Harappa. These cities were inhabited from about 2300 to 1700 BC.

The materials for a history of the tracts, which now form the Nawashahar District, are scanty in the extreme and, for the period anterior to the Muhammadan invasion, and such facts as have come down to us, relate rather to the town of Nawashahr itself, then to the territories which encircled it. The earliest historical mention of Nawashahr occurs in the reign of Kanishka the Kushana, who ruled from Kabul to the present Uttar Pradesh. There met, under his auspices, at Kuvana near Jalandhar about AD 100 a council of Buddhist teachers⁶, which set itself to the task of collecting and arranging the sacred writings of Buddhism, and bringing about a reconciliation and agreement among its different sects. At this council, the sacred texts were no longer written in the ancient Pali or Magadha tongue, but in Sanaskrit, and, as the Southern Buddhist Church refused to follow this

5 B. B Lal, S. P. Gupta, Frontiers of the Indus Civilization, p- 526 and Madhubala Archeology of Punjab 1992

6 Grunwedel, Budhist Art in India, p 18

innovation, or to recognize the authority of the Council, The Council of Jalandhar marks the final schism, between the Northern and Southern Churches (Nawashahr District was part of it).

Apart from this isolated event, the earliest fact of importance in the history of Jalandhar, is the establishment of the Rajput kingdom there. The date of this is absolutely vague. The tradition preserved by Cunningham, states that after the Mahabharta, Susarma Chandra, a Rajput of Somavanshi descent, who had held the district of Multan (Pakistan), and had fought on the side of Duryodhana, against the five Pandava brothers, retired with his followers to the Jalandhar Doab, and founded there an extensive kingdom embracing the whole of the “plain country between the Beas and Sutlej (Satluj), and all the hill country, lying between the Ravi and the frontiers of Mandi and Suket ( the then princely states in the Himachal Pradesh) to the south of the Dholadhar mountains.” This kingdom was known as that of Jalandhara or Trigartta, Trigartta being the name for the country watered by the three rivers Satluj, Beas and Ravi. The name of Trigartta is found in the Mahabharta and in the Puranas, as well as in the Rajatarangini or history of Kashmir (by Kalhana)⁷. At the time of Mahabharata, the Malavas were placed in East Punjab. In the account of the conquests of Nakula, they are grouped with the Sibis, Trigaritas, Ambasthas and Panchakarpatas. In the description of the wars of Krishana also they are mentioned with the peoples of Trigartta and Darada. In the battles of the Mahabharta, they are grouped with the Yaudheyas and Trigarttas. Thus, it is clear that theMalavas were dominant people of the Punjab,living up to the entrance of the Trigartta or Kangra at Gurdaspur in the north ⁸.

After the Achaemenian empire, the Punjab underwent a socio-political change. The Parvitiya clans spread from Trigartta to Gandhara , and thence to Kamboja and Papishi and Vahika oligarchies crowding the plains from Sind to the Satluj, and jealously guarding their pride and prestige, were engulfed and overwhelmed, by imperialist powers, organized of totalitarian and centralized principles. The unending differences and dissensions on numerous srenis, pugas, vratas, kulas and

sanghas were out of tune with the times and were consequently swept off by the march of unitary forces and the rapid expansion of monarchical rule⁹.

7 Cunningham, Alexander, Archaeological Survey Reports, V., p 148 ; Vishnnu     Purana, (Bombay,1889), Eng. trans. by H. H. Vilson. 5 vols. (London, 1864-70), p     193 and Note 122; Kalhana, Rajatarangini, Ed. And Trans. By M.A. Stein (Bombay     1892; Wesminster, 1900)

8   Buddha Parkash, Glimpses of Ancient Punjab (Patiala 1983) p p. 36-37

9   Ibid p ., 26

In the 7^th Century when the famous Chinese traveller and pilgrim Hieun Tsang visited India during the reign of Harsha Vardhana, the Kingdom of Jalandhar or Trigartta under Raja Utito (whom Alexender Cunningham identifies with the Rajput Raja Attar Chandra). It was said to have extended 167 miles ( about 268 kms) from east to west and 133 miles (about 213 kms) from north to south, thus including the hill states of Chamba, Mandi and Suket (Himachal Pradesh) and Satadru or Sirhind in the Plains. Raja Utito was a tributary of Harash Vardhana. The Rajput Rajas appear to have continued to rule over the country right upto the 12^th Century, interrupted some time or the other, but their capital was Jalandhar and Kangra formed an important stronghold.

From scattered notices of Kalhana’s Rajatarangini, the hints gained iron inscriptions, and, above all, from the information left on record by the Chinese pilgrim, Hieun Tsang, it is surmised that the area, now called Hoshiarpur, was dominated by a tribe of Chandrabansi Rajputs who maintained an independent existence for centuries before the Muhammad conquest. Jalandhar was its capital and Kangra was an important stronghold. Considerable interest was attached to this tribe, to which its representatives were believed to belong as the petty Rajput kings of Kangra and the neighbouring hills in the early years of the twentieth century. These Princes traced their genealogy from one Susarma Chandra, and asserted that their ancestors owned Multan and took part in the great war of the Mahabharata. After the war, they lost their country and retired under the leadership of Susarma Chandra to the Jalandhar Doab. In the seventh century, the kingdom is described by Hieun Tsang as extending 167 miles (268 km) from east to west, and 133 miles (213 km) from north to south. If these dimensions be correct, the kingdom, as General Cunningham points out, probably included, in addition to the plains portion of the Jalandhar Doab and the Kangra Hill States, Chamba, Mandi and Suket in the hills and Satadru or Sirhind in the plains. The country is referred to as Katoch and Trigartha in the Puranas. At as unknown date the kingdom broke up into numerous petty principalities, and the Jaswan Rajas, a branch of the Katoch Dynasty, established themselves as the owners of these principalities in the Jaswan Dun.

According to Mahabharata Salvas tribes were spread over a considerable part of the region from Ravi to the the Yamuna. The main

constituents of Salvas were Udumbara, Tilakhala, Madrakara, Yugandhara, Bhulinga and Saradanda. Later, the tribe known as Tilabharas, also known as Tilakhalas occupied the area to the south of Beas near Hoshiarpur (now part of Nawashahr District) and played a

significant role in the history of Punjab.¹⁰

The capital of the kingdom of Trigartta or Jalandhara was generally Jalandhar, Kangra (Himachal Pradesh) being also an important stronghold; but Rashid-ud-din following the celebrated Arab geographer Abu Rihan-al-Biruni (AD 970-1039) makes Dahmala, the modern Nurpur (Himachal Pradesh), the capital of Jalandhar.¹¹ When the Mangols plundered the upper Punjab and Delhi, Sultan Ghiyas-ud-din Balban (AD 1266-87) took firm measures to guard the north-west frontier. He therefore established a big cantonment at Jalandhar for the purpose. A list of the kings of Trigartta is given in Cunnigham’s Archaeological Survey Reports, V, on page 152. They lost their fort of Kangra to the Muhammadans in the reign of Muhammad-bin-Tughluq (AD 1325-1351), but forty years afterwards, at the time of Timur’s invasion, they had regained their independence and kept it until the time of Akbar (AD 1556-1605), whom they again became feudatories of the Delhi Empire. ¹² Hence forward, the hill territories of Kangra were all that was left of the kingdom, and the Rajput chiefs of Kangra and the neighboring hills, all through claimed to be the representatives of the line of Susarma Chandra.

(b) Medieval Period

The History of the medieval period begins with the fall of Hindushahi Kingdom. The Hindushahi Kingdom had shrunk to small principality, yet Anandpala, its brave ruler did not lose spirits. In fact, his repeated reverses made him all the more determined to resist the enemy to the bitter end. He shifted his Capital to Nandanah, situated on the Northern spur of the Salt Range. He gathered a small army and made an attempt to consolidate his position in the Salt Range Region. He died here a peaceful death and was succeeded by his son Trilochanpala, who had no peace, for Mahmud went on gradually advancing and in AD 1014 captured Nandanah after a brief siege. After this defeat Trilochanapala took shelter in Kashmir. Mahmud did not consider it safe to penetrate into Kashmir, but Trilochanapala too, did not like to end his days as a refugee in Kashmir. His ambition was to rule over the Punjab, His ancesteral kingdom and therefore, he returned to the eastern part of the Punjab and established himself in the Shiwalik Hills. He entered into an alliance with the Chandela ruler of Bundelkhand, named Vidyadhar, who was one of the most powerful

10   Ibid., p 35

11   Smith, VA, Early History of India, (Ist edition: Oxford .1904), I. p 62 (quoted in the Jullundur, District Gazetteer, 1904 (Lahore, 1908), pp. 23-25)

12   Cunningham, Alexander, Archaeological Survey Reports, V., p 145

princes in the northern India. Mahmud wanted to break this alliance and with that end in view he came to India once again in AD 1019 and defeated Trilochanapala in a battle near Rama Ganga. Trilochanapala had only nominal territory to rule over. The decline in his fortunes gave rise to dissentions among his followers and he was assassinated by some of them in AD 1021-22 . He was succeeded by his son, Bhimapala, who was but a petty chieftain. He died in AD 1026 and with him came to an end the once glorious and mighty Hindustani dynasty of north-western Hindustan which included the present area of Nawashahr District.¹³

Mahmud was not a ruler so far as India was concerned. He annexed the Punjab after the fall of the Hindushahi dynasty. Owing to geographical, military and strategic reasons, without occupying this part of country, his line of communications would have been unsafe and he could not have been in a position to move fearlessly into the heart of Ganga-Yamuna Doab. Mahmud annexed Punjab whose administration he entrusted to the care of a Governor. Mahmud may be said to have been the first Turk who ruled over a province of India and became the founder of a dynasty ¹⁴.

Since its conquest and annexation by Mahmud in the first quarter of the eleventh century, the Punjab, including the present area of Nawashahr, had remained an integral part of the Ghaznivide empire until its extinction in AD 1186. Jalandhar, according to the Diwan-i-Salaman ¹⁵, was taken by Ibrahim Shah the Ghaznivide and its capture was followed by that of Dhangan which was evidently within the hills and across the river from Jalandhar, and from which the enemy are said to have been driven into the Rawa or Ravi. This seems to refer to the fort of Dahmahri or Dhameri, now named Nurpur (District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh) after Nurjahan, the Damal of the Tarikh-i-Alfi, and the Rudpal of Farishta, and if so, the date is fixed as 472 H. (AD1179 ) by the latter author, or 9 years later (481 H.or AD 1188) by the former. It was certainly a fief of the Delhi Kindom in the reign of Muizz-ud-Din Bahram Shah (AD 1240-42). A college was established in the town at an early period in AD 1246 the Sultan Nasir-ud-Din (AD 1246-1266) spent

the Id-ul-zuha there. From this time, the plains portion of the old kingdom of Jalandhara appears to have remained under Muhammadan

13   Ashirbadi Lal Shrivastva, The Sultanate of Delhi, 711-1526 AD (Agra, 1971), p 55

14   Ibid., pp. 61-63

15   The Diwan-i-Salman forms a series of poems in praise of the Ghaznivide monarchs, the author of which died AD 1126 or 1131, or about 40 years after the close of Ibrahim’s resign.

(Smith, V.A., Early History of India (Ist Edition; Oxford, 1904), IV., pp. 520- 521)

rule, though the former reigning family maintained their authority in the hills. In one of the numerous Mughal invasions during the reign of Ala-ud-din Khilji (Ad 1296-1316), the invaders under Dua were defeated near Jalandhar by Ulugh Khan and Zafar Khan in AD 1297.¹⁶

The Punjab remaind under the Tughlaq dynasty from AD 1320-1413. This period was full of ups and downs. History took a new turn during the reign of Abu Bakar. Abu Bakar murdered Ghiyas-ud-din on 19 February 1389 and himself accended the throne.

Abu Bakar (AD 1389-1390).- Abu Bakar’s authority remained established at Dehli for some time, but a serious rebellion broke out at Samana. The centurion officers rose against the Governor, Khurshid, a loyal adherent of Abu Bakar and put him to death at Samana. One of the Amirs, Junid of Samana, assassinated Khurshid and sent his head to Prince Nasir-ud-din Muhammad. The Prince, who was at Nagarkot, was earnestly solicited to come and assert himself by all the Afgan Amirs. He was then loitering in the Shiwalik Hills of Kangra to make another attempt to capture the throne of Delhi. Muhammad, having received the invitation, marched immediately to Samana, passing through Dasuya and Jalandhar. He arrived at Samana and crowned himself Sultan in April 1389. He started from Samana to Delhi with twenty thousand horses which swelled to fifty thousand on the way, but he was defeated by Abu Bakar. Though Muhammad was defeated and had fled, yet he did not lose his courage to make another attempt for the throne and was finally succeeded. Abu Bakar was imprisoned and Muhammad was raised to the throne on 31 August 1390. He had appointed Sarang Khan the overall Governor of the Punjab who made his headquaters at Dipalpur.¹⁷

Amir Taimur (AD 1398-1399).- This area faced a great devastation during the return journey of Taimur from Delhi, when he retreated along the outskirts of the Shiwalik Hills to Jammu. He had heard of Nagarkot and wished to capture it, but did not penetrate so far into the interior of the hills. The Hindu Rajas gave him a tough fight. He passed through Bajwara and Dasuya in present Hoshiarpur District. At that time, the Khokhars appear to have been powerful in the district.¹⁸

Taimur left Punjab all prostrate and bleeding. There was utter confusion and misery. The provinces of Samana, Bhatner, Bhatinda, Dipalpur, Shiwalik Hills, Lahore, Multan, Jammu and Sind were

16)  Smith, V.A., Early History of India (Ist edition; Oxform, 1904), pp.71,162

17)     Bakhshish Singh Nijjar, Punjab Under the Sultans (1000-1526 AD) (Delhi 1968) pp. 59-60

18)     Ibid., pp. 63-65

so thoroughly ravaged, plundered and burnt that it took these parts many years to recover their good old days. Tuglaq Kingdom was totally uprooted. The Punjab and the upper Sindh were governed by Khizr Khan, the Viceroy of Taimur. Taimur died in January 1405, which elated Iqbal Khan and encouraged him to settle accounts with Taimur’s nominee Khizr Khan in the Punjab.¹⁹

Khizr Khan (AD 1414-1421).- When the house of Tughlak had fallen in consequence of the sack of Delhi by Taimur (1398), and had been succeeded by the Sayyids (1414-1450), the country fell into a very disturbed condition, and insurrectionary movements were frequent. In AD 1416, Malik Tughan assassinated the Governor of Sirhind, but was driven into the hills by Malik Daud and Zirak Khan. In AD 1417, he returned with a considerable army and besieged Sirhind. Zirak Khan was sent against him by Khizr Khan of Delhi; and on his approach he retreated towards the hills but was overtaken at Payal (now Tahsil of Ludhiana district) and compelled to expel the murderers from his camp, to pay a heavy fine and to give his son as a hostage.²⁰ He was then, it is stated, allowed to retain possession of Jalandhar.²¹  In 1419, the peace of the Punjab was again disturbed by an adventurer, who appeared at Bajwara and pretended to be Sarang Khan, who had expelled Khizr Khan, from Multan in 1396, a little before Taimur’s invasion. There was a big rising in Bajwara, as many interested people exhorted the ignorant people to join the pretender. Khizr Khan directed Islam Khan, the Governor of Sirhind, to march against the pretender and to crush the rising. Islam Khan marched from Sirhind and was joined by Zirak Khan, the Governor of Samana, and by Tughan Rais, the Governor of Jalandhar Doab. The pretender was supported by Khwaja Ali Mazindrani the Amir of Jath in Sindh. The pretender advanced from Bajwara to Rupnagar to meet the combined forces of the Governors of Sirhind, Samana and Jalandhar. Islam Khan inflicted a crushing defeat on the rebels who retreated into the Simla Hills. The Royalists occupied Rupnagar. The pretender was further pursued, but he escaped to the Shiwalik Hills. Later, Tughan Rais way laid the pretender and put him to death in February, 1419 and took possession of the wealth which he had amassed.²²

In AD 1419, the Tarikh-i-Mubarak   Shahi²³ mentions

19 Ibid., p 66

20     Smith, V.A., Early History of India (Ist Edition Oxford 1904), IV p 49

21   J. Briggs, English Translation of Tarikh-I-Farishta entitled History of the Rise of   Mahomedan          Power in India, Vol I. p 510

22 Bakhshish Singh Nijjar, Punjab Under the Sultans (1000-1526 AD) (Delhi 1968),   pp.71-72

23     Smith, V.A., Early History of India (Ist Edition Oxford 1904), IV pp. 51-52

Tughan,“Rais of the Turk-bachchas of Jalandhar” of Jalandhar, as aiding Sultan Shah Lodhi, Governor of Sirhind and uncle of Bahlol Lodhi, against a pretender, who had assumed the name of Sarang Khan, and raised a rebellion in the mountains of Bajwara near Hoshiarpur, which were then dependent on Jalandhar. In Rajab 823 H. (AD 1420), Tughan again revelled against Khizr Khan, besieged Sirhind, and overran the country as far as Mansurpur and Payal, Malik Khair-ud-din was sent against him from Delhi and was joined at Samana by the forces of Zirak Khan, and Tughan retreated, crossing the Satluj at Ludhiana, but the river being low, the royal forces followed, on which he fled into the country of Jasrath Khokhar, and his fief was given to Zirak Khan.²⁴

On the death of Taimur, Jasrat escaped from prison, returned home and assumed the leadership of his tribe and set himself up at Sialkot. Intervening in the civil war in Kashmir between Ali Shah and Shahi Khan while favouring the latter he gained immensely by his victory. Being enriched with wealth and equipment and fortified by the friendship of the new King of Kashmir, he conceived of conquering Delhi. The joining of Tughan Rais, after his defeat at the hands of Khizr Khan’s general, Zirak Khan, further strengthened his hands and emboldened him in his designs. Availing himself of the opportunity provided by the death of Khizr Khan, he crossed the Ravi, the Beas and the Satluj, swooped down upon the Governor of Ludhiana, Rai Kama-ud-Din Firoz Mian, at Talwandi, defeated him and drove him to the east. Encouraged by that victory, he ravaged the country as far as Rupnagar and recrossing the Satluj, laid siege to Jalandhar, worsted and imprisoned the Governor, Zirak Khan. From there, he marched on Sirhind, but the rains delayed his plan of conquest.²⁵

Mubarak Shah (AD 1471-1434).- In the following year (AD 1421) Zirak Khan, then Governer of Jalandhar, was obliged to withdraw into the fort of Jalandhar on the approach of Jasrath Khokhar, who after a raid upon the country south of Satluj, had recrossed the river, and marched against him. In July, 1421, when Mubarak Shah reached Samana, he heard that Jasrat had raised the siege of Sirhind and had returned to Ludhiana. Mubarak Shah seems to have spent some time here, strengthening his forces and waiting for the rains to give him breathing-space. When he advanced on Ludhiana in the second half of September, he found that Jasrat had abandoned the city and had crossed to the other side of the river, taking all the boats he could lay his hands on. For forty days, both the armies remained in camp on the opposite banks of the river. When the rains ceased a little, Mubarak Shah

24 Ibid., pp 52-53

25 Fauja Singh, History of Punjab, Vol.III (1000-1526 AD), (Patiala, 1972), pp.220-21

marched on Qabulpur on his side of the river. Jasrat naturally crossed the river to reach the opposite bank to keep the enemy in slight. Now there followed a Strange Sight the two armies marching the opposite sides of the Satluj, each trying to keep the other in sight. When the rainy season was over the river became fordable at places. In October 1421 a wing of the royal army took Jasrat by surprise on his side of the river at Rupnagar. As Jasrat was putting his forces in battle array he found that Mubarak Shah had crossed the river a little higher up and was thus threatening his other flank. He sought safety in slipping through the royal army and crossed the river to reach Jalandhar. From there, he hastened back to his strongest fort at Talwara. There Mubarak Shah followed him with the help of Raja Bhim of Jammu. Mubarak Shah captured the fort at Talwara and razed it, but not before Jasart had escaped farther into the mountains.

In 1432 Mubarak Shah transferred Jalandhar and Lahore from the charge of Nusrat Khan to that of Malik Allahabad Kaka Lodi. When the Gakhar Chief heard of the transfer of Nusrat Khan from Lahore, he once more came out of his retreat from the hills. He wanted to try his strength once more against the new Governor of Lahore, Malik Allahabad Kaka Lodi; who was yet on the way to Lahore to take over the charge. Jasrath marched against the new Governor, who was compelled to seek shelter at Kothi situated between Jaijon and Mahalpur, about 16 Km to the south of Bajwara in the Hoshiarpur District.²⁶ Mubarak Shah was murdered on the 19 February 1434.

Muhammed Shah (AD 1434-1445).- In 1441, Muhammad Shah confirmed Bahlol Lodhi of Sirhind in the Governorship of Lahore and Dipalpur, and sent him against Jasrath. But Bahlol came into terms with the Khokhar chief, revolted, and remained independent, and finally, in AD 1450, became sovereign of Delhi.

Alauddin Alam Shah (AD 1445-1451).- At the time of Alauddin Alam Shah, India was split into a number of independent states. The Sultanate of Delhi had long before the rise of the Sayyids been considerably diminished in its size and strength. At that time Sarang Khan in the Bist Jalandhar Doab created disturbances, which had to be crushed under the personal direction of the Sultan.

Bahlol Lodi ascended the throne on 27 Muharram 855 (approx-AD 1501). During this period, the Punjab ceased to be a problem tract for Delhi. There is no reason to believe that Bahlol Lodi made any

26 Ibid., pp. 181-192

changes in the headquarters of the local administrators in the plains. As before, Samana, Sunak, Hansi, Hisar, Panipat, Karnal, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Lahore, Dipalpur, Bathinda and Bajwara continued to be the centres of local administration, thought it is possible that Bahlol Lodi might have combined two or more charges under a trusted commander, without, thus, disturbing the seats of authority.

The peace of the Punjab was very much disturbed during 1520-1524 when Babar, the first Mughal Emperor, started his expenditions against Hinsustan. Taking advantage of this confusion, Ibrahim Lodi sent an army against Daulat Khan Lodi. His army was completely broken up at Bajwara in the Hoshiarpur District and the Sultan had to eat and humble pie.²⁷

Mughal Dynasty.- On Babar’s fourth invasion of India, in AD 1524, he gave Jalandhar and Sultanpur in Jagir to Daulat Khan Lodi at whose instigation he had come. In 1525, leaving Shah Mir Hassan and some officers to guard Lahore, Babar moved ahead with his troops with all possible speed and reached Kalanaur, 26 km west of Gurdaspur. He was anxious to overtake Daulat Khan Lodi and Ghori Khan who were seized with panic and had shut themselves up in the Fort of Malot near Hariana in the Hoshiarpur District. He ordered Muhammad Ahmedi and Kutlaq Qadam to pursue them and they were strictly instructed to intercept every move into and out of the Fort of Malot, so that the garrison might not escape. Babar crossed the River Beas opposite Kahnuwan²⁸ and marched down the Jaswant Dun, taking Malot, Kotila and other forts on his way and crossed the Satluj near Rupnagar. It was on this occasion that Dilawar Khan, son of Daulat Khan, joined Babar, coming up through Sultanpur and Kochi.

In 1540, Humayun was expelled by Sher Shah. His retreat was covered at Jalandhar, by his brother Mirza Hindal, who was finally obliged to retire before the Afghans, who crossed the Beas at Sultanpur.

In 1555, on arriving at Kalanaur in the Gurdaspur District from Lahore, Humayun despatched a strong body of troops under Bairam Khan and Tardi Beg to attack Nasib Khan the Afghan General, who lay encamped at Panj Bhain near Hariana in the Hoshiarpur District. Bairam Khan

pushed on to Hariana which, after a slight skirm, was surrendered by Nasib Khan and much vauable plunder. Bairam Khan marched to Jalandhar from Hariana via Sham Chaurasi and occupied the town and the surrounding country.

27   Bakhshish Singh Nijjar, Punjab Under the Great Mughals (1526-1707 AD)          (Bombay, 1968) p 14

28 Ibid., p 15

On the defeat of Sikandar Sur at Sirhind, and his flight to the hills, Shah Abu Maali was sent to Jalandhar to hold him in check; but instead of staying there he advanced to Lahore and thus gave Sikandar Sur an opportunity of collecting an army, and making another effort to secure his throne. In March 1557, Akbar was at Delhi when the news

reached that an instigation of Mulla Abdulla Sultanpuri and Sikandar Sur had descended upon the plains of Jalandhar Doab and had started collecting the revenue. In consequence, Akbar was sent in charge of Bairam Khan to the Punjab and advanced by way of Sirhind, Sultanpur and Hariana on Kalanaur, while Sikandar Sur withdrew to Mankot. The imperial forces immediately advanced through Jalandhar to the Shivalik Hills and encamped at Dasuya. The hill Rajas, who had sided with Sikandar Sur deserted him and submitted to Akbar. After receiving the submission of the Raja of Kangra, Akbar took up his residence at Jalandhar, where among others, Kamal Khan, a grand-nephew of Jasrath Khokhar before mentioned, waited on him and was well received. Akbar was now called to the east to meet Hemu, and during his absence Sikandar Sur defeated Khizr Khan, Governor of Lahore, at Chamiari, which may be the village of that name in the extreme north of the Jalandhar District. This disaster necessitated the return of Akbar, who had defeated Hemu at Panipat. Sikandar Sur was forced to return to Mankot, whick was taken after a siege of six months. In AD 1560, Bairam Khan, who had been appointed Khan Khanan on Akbar’s accession, and had been virtual sovereign, lost his power and withdrew with the avowed intention of proceeding to Mecca. On the way, however, irritated at some further events, he changed his intention, and going to Dipalpur, he collected troops and prepared to attack Jalandhar. He advanced by way of Tihara, where a party of his friends under Wala Beg was defeated, by Abdulla Khan, Mughal ; and shortly after he himself was brought to action and beaten by Atka Khan on 23 August 1560, at Gunachaur, a large village about 16 km northwest of Rahon. After his discomfitures at Gunachaur, Bairam Khan retreated towards the Shivalik Hills to recoup his strength and to try his luck once again. To pursue him the royal camp moved towards the Shivalik Hills from Ludhiana on 1 October 1560, Bairam Khan had fortified himself in the capital of Raja Ganesh of Talwara who was a great chief in the midest of the Shivalik Hills. A great battle was fought between the imperial and Bairam’s troops, at Talwara. Sultan Hussain Jalair, one of the most trusted friend of Bairam Khan, died on the battle field. His head was cut off by his adversaries and sent to Bairam Khan, who, seeing it, wept with great grief.²⁹ The royal forces besieged the fortress of Talwara.

29 Ibid., p 37

Bairam Khan finally submitted to Akbar in October 1560. During Akbar’s reign Jalandhar was one of the mint cities, but only copper was coined at it.

Shortly after the accession of Jahangir (AD 1605), his son Prince Khusrau rebelled, and leaving Agra, withdrew to Lahore via Delhi. He was besieging the citadel of Lahore when he heard of the arrival of the Emperor’s advance-guard at Sultanpur, and at once marched for the Beas. When he reached Bhairowal, on that river, the imperial forces had already crossed, and a battle took place in which he was totally defeated. Under Jahangir’s successor, Shah Jahan, the serai at Dakhni was built, and apparently, the high-road between Delhi and Lahore was laid out and provided with wells, mile stones (Kos-minars) and other conveniences for travellers. In this and the previous reign much was done to improve the country, and many villages were founded, among which some of the bastis about Jalandhar, and the town of Phagwara (District Kapurthala), called originally Shahjahanpur, may be mentioned.

During the rest of the seventeenth century, Jalandhar Doab including the area of present Nawashahr District remained firmly attached to the Delhi Empire. The district was, no doubt, affected by the rebellions and rival claims to the throne which are matters of general history, and it can hardly have escaped being disquieted by the disturbances caused by the conflict of the Mughal authorities with the Sikhs in the neighbourhood to the south of the Satluj. But the lower part of the Doab is not physically of such a nature as to make it a favourable field for rebellion, and the Muhammadan population was too predominant, to give the Sikhs much encouragement, to select Jalandhar as the scene of their efforts. With the death of Aurangzeb, in AD 1707, the empire began to approach its fall, but it may be doubted, whether there was any marked weakening of authority till the invasion of Nadir Shah, in AD 1739. Sanads of Muhammad Shah (AD 1719-1748) are not rare, and from these it would seem that the administrative machine was still in working order. These are addressed to the usual officials, Faroris, Faujars, Naib-Faujdars, Chaudhris and others, and were certainly not looked upon as waste paper by the persons to whom these were granted. A very interesting sanad found in the possession of the Zaildar of Hium, during the Revised Settlement of the Jalandhar District of AD 1880-85 by Mr. Purser, Settlement Officer, was one given by Sayyid Abdulla Khan, Prime Minister of Farrukhsiyar, apparently in the second year of the reign of that Emperor (1713-1719), in which a number of villages in the Dardak parganah were enumerated as belonging to the zamindaris of certain person. Nadir Shah’s invasion (AD 1739), culminating in the sack of Delhi, completely destroyed the power of the empire. Normally its authority continued for about twenty years longer, but its resources had been so diminished, that it was incapable of asserting its rights, or even defending itself successfully, against the numerous enemies, who now started up in all directions. Among these were the Sikhs who had been crushed for a time, when their leader Banda Bahadur was defeated and his forces nearly exterminated by Abdul Samad Khan Governor of the Punjab, in AD 1716.³⁰

The Sikh Gurus and the District.- The first five Gurus of the Sikhs appear to have had no contact with the district. The execution of Guru Arjan Dev, father of Hargobind caused great indignation among the Hindus and the Sikhs. Guru Hargobind is regarded as the first champion in arms who consolidated his army to save Sikhism from the wrath of the Mughals. With a view to strengthening his army, the Guru undertook several tours of various places in Punjab, preaching religion and military resistance. After the battle of Gurusar (District Bathinda) between Hargobind and the Mughal troops sent from Lahore, the former came to Kartarpur in the Jalandhar Doab. Differences having arisen between Hargobind and Painda Khan leader of the Pathan mercenaries in the employ of the Guru. The Guru dismissed him from his service and he caused the defection also of 500 other pathans as well, and went to complain to his cousin Qutab Khan, then the Governnor of Jalandhar who at first refused to help an ungrateful Wretch, but thinking that the empror might be pleased at such eventure asked Painda Khan to make his complain to King-empror in person at Lahore.³¹Emperor Shah Jahan, sent a big expedition against the Guru, this time commanded by the rengade Painda Khan and Kale khan the brother of Mukhlis Khan. They were also joined by the Jalandhar troops. The Guru’s forces (comprisingly 5,000 soldiers) were encircled at Kartarpur but were able to turn the tables on the besiegers. Fighting in the van of the Sikh forces were Bhai Bidhi Chand and Hargobind’s own sons Gurditta and Tyag

Mal. In this battle the Guru’s younger son Tyag Mal displayed a remarkable skill and won the title of Teg Bahadur from his father.³²The imperial troops were routed and both Painda Khan and kale Khan were killed.

The Guru visualized that the struggle of the Sikhs against the Mughals was not going to end soon, he, therefore, thought of finding a place which could serve as centre from the point of view of military

30 Ibid., pp. 35-37

31  Dr Gopal Singh, A History of Sikh People (1469-1988) p 230

32   Hari Ram Gupta, History of the Sikhs, Volume-I, The Sikh Gurus,1469-1708,        (New Delhi) p 170

strategy. In this exigency, he thought of Raja Dharam Chand of Hindur and deputed his eldest son Gurditta to him. The Raja immediately agreed to allow him to choose a suitable place. He selected a site near the borders of the Kahlur State, the present day Bilaspur (now in Himachal Pradesh). He built a few houses there and named the place Kiratpur, the Headquarter of the Guru.³³

The Guru had suffered heavy losses in men and material. He expected another attack from the enemy. Guru hurriedly retired from Kartarpur in order to reach Kiratpur via Phagwara. The Mughal troops reorganized themselves and pursued the Guru. It was almost a running battle. At Phagwara another pitched battle was fought three days later on 29 April,1635. It was a drawn battle. The Guru rushed towards the Rupar (now Rupnagar) ferry (through the present area of Nawashahr District) to cross the River Satluj.³⁴

Guru Hargobind spent the remaining five years of his life at Kiratpur. There, he was not disturbed by the Mughal Government. The reason seems to be that the Guru had lost almost all his wordly goods. He had persuaded a large number of his soldiers to revert to the plough. Most of the Kangra hill chiefs were in revolt against the Mughal Government and so the attention of the Emperor was directed towards them. Many Hindus and Musalmans of the neighbourhood were becoming his disciples and were strengthening Sikhism. Guru Hargobind died at Kiratpur in 1644. After the death of Har Krishan, the eighth Guru of the Sikhs, on 30 March 1664, Tegh Bahadur was installed as the ninth Guru at the age of 43. Owing to harassment by the Mughals, the Guru was not allowed to live at one place, and he was on the move, administering to the spiritual needs of the people. He went to Kiratpur-the town founded by his father. Shortly after that, he proceeded on tour to Dacca and Assam, and after returning to the Punjab, he did not like to stay at Kiratpur on account of rivalries, conspiracies and intrigues. At a distance of 8 km to the north below the Hill of Naina Devi and close to the village of Makhowal, the Guru purchased a piece of fallow land from the Raja of Bilaspur. He called it Nanki Chak after his mother. The portion of the town to the southeast was later named Anandpur. Here, an event of historic significance took place.

The execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur was the most serious event that strained the relations between the Sikhs and the Mughals to the breaking point. It set the hearts ablaze not only of the Sikhs but also of the Hindus. They now believed that any attempt at reconciliation with

33  Hari Ram Gupta, History of the Sikh Gurus ( New Delhi, 1973) pp. 120-121.

34   Hari Ram Gupta, History of the Sikhs, Volume-I, The Sikh Gurus, 1469-1708 (New        Delhi 1984) pp.170

the Mughal Government was impossible. It was realized that the people themselves must find their own salvation against the cruel and corrupt Government. This task was taken up by Guru Gobind Singh, son of Guru Tegh Bahadur. His succession ceremony was performed at a place at Anandpur, called Damdama Sahib.³⁵

Like Guru Tegh Bahadur, his son, Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth and last of the Sikh Gurus, maintained active contract with this area on account of the religio-political role assumed by him. His lifelong exertions to fulfil the twofold mission –to avenge the death of his father and to rid the people of the tyranny of the Muslim rule –had obliged him to confine his activities to the comparatively inaccessible area along the Shiwaliks. To facilitate his military campaigns and afford him a safer place, he had made Anandpur, the newly founded fortified town, his headquarters. It is here that in 1699, Guru Gobind Singh created the Khalsa to fight against the tyranny of the Mughals.

 At the behest of the Guru, thousands of people congregated on the hill of Anandpur, where now Gurdwara Keshgarh Sahib stands. The Guru made the most stirring speech on saving religion which was in great peril, and about his divine mission. The Guru explained that in order to safeguard their spiritual and temporal rights, the people should not depend on fate. They should individually feel any national wrong done and collectively organize means to withstand it. The Guru then initiated five Sikhs, namely Daya Ram, a Khatri of Lahore , Dharam Das, a Jat of Hastinapur, Sahib Chand, a barber of Bidar , Himmat Chand, of Jagannath and Mohkam Chand, a Chhimba, of Dwarka. All these five Sikhs had responded to the call of the Guru for a supreme sacrifice he demanded, i.e., their heads. The Guru baptized them by making them drink from a common bowl the Amrit (the nectar of immotality) he had prepared by dissolving lumps of sugar (patase) in water and sanctifying the sweetened water by stirring it with a double-edged sword (khanda), reciting at the same time five banis (compositions) from the Adi Granth and the Dasam Granth. By so doing, he converted them into singhs (lions) from men of ordinary calibre and designated them as Panj Pyare (the Five beloved ones.) After administering to them the baptism of steel, he stood before the five Beloved Ones in a spirit of utter humility and requested them to baptize him as he had baptized them. On that day Gobind Rai became Guru Gobind Singh. Such an example of a Guru’s becoming the disciple of his own disciples is unprecedented in world history and makes Guru Gobind Singh one of the greatest figures, of whom the world is rightly proud.The tenth Guru transformed a section of the lifeless Hindu society

35 Hari Ram Gupta , History of the Sikh Gurus (New Delhi, 1973); pp. 132-144

into brave and fearless soldiers, called the Khalsa. He created the Khalsa not for any territorial gains, but to protect helpless people to defend themselves against the onslaughts of fanaticism and tyranny of the worst kind. The Guru’s Khalsa consisted of three Shudras, one high-caste Hindu and one Jat. Now a Singh was supposed to wear five K’s, i.e., kesh or unshorn long hair, kangha or comb, kirpan or sword, kara or steel bangle and kachharra or a pair of short drawers³⁶. The Guru fought eight battles against the Mughals at Anandpur Sahib in the pre-and post-Khalsa period.

On being commissioned by Guru Gobind Singh from the Deccan to the Punjab in 1708, to punish those who had persecuted the Sikhs and executed his father and innocent children. The Jalandhar Doab consisting of the present districts of Jalandhar, Nawashahr, Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala could not remain unaffected. Banda Bahadur used the Jalandhar Doab as a base from which he led expeditions against the Mughal forces. The Jalandhar Doab remained a centre of his exploits till 1711. At that time, Shamas Khan was the faujdar of the Jalandhar Doab, with his headquarters at Sultanpur. Inspired and encouraged by their small successes, the Sikhs in the Jalandhar Doab now considered themselves strong enough to face the faujdar himself. Therefore, they sent him a letter in the form of a parwana, calling upon him to submit. But according to the author of Banda the Brave, this ultimatum was sent by Banda himself, which read, “The only means of your safety are to pay homage to the Khalsa and in future consider yourself their tributary, and to send with the bearer a considerable quantity of ammunition, and come yourself with all your treasure”.³⁷

Shamas Khan was a shrewd man. So on the one hand, he sent a little quantity of lead and powder to the Sikhs, assuring for more to follow, and on the other hand proclaimed a jehad with the beat of the drum. The Sikhs took his message as genuine and relaxed in the hope of getting more. During that time-lag, Shamas Khan prepared for the fight and collected his men and material. It is said that more than a hundred thousand men were collected by him, in addition to a large horde of crusaders. They then proceeded against the Sikhs. On hearing their advance, the Sikhs moved with all their force (which Khafi Khan’s exaggerated view puts at 70 to 80 thousand). They had with them their cannon which were carried from Sirhind. According to Ganda Singh, “In all probability, it was at this time that they called upon Banda Singh and the Sikhs in the Gangetic Doab to hurry to the Punjab.” This seems to be

plausible, too. The Sikhs then reached Rahon- a town little away from

36 Ibid., pp. 180-85

37      G.S. Deol, Banda Bahadur, 1972

Sultanpur. They occupied here the mounds of some old brick-kilns and used the brick-kiln as a garhi (fortress), threw lines of their camp and got ready for the battle. From this place, as Khafi Khan relates, ‘the Sikhs sent out patrols in all directions and issued threatening orders to the Chaudhris, the revenue-payers, the qanungos, and the revenue officers calling upon them to submit.³⁸

The combined force of Shamas Khan came up to Rahon and attacked the Sikhs. The battle began with the discharge of guns and muskets. The imperialist forces fell upon the Sikhs like locusts on a crop from all side with cries of “Ali, Ali” and ‘Allahu-u-Akbar’. The Sikhs replied with volleys of their cannon, but they were completely at a disadvantage due to the overwhelming numbers of the enemy. In the circumstances, they thought it better to retire and take defensive positions in the fortress of Rahon. They were besieged for several days in the fortress, though at night they organised and despatched small parties to attack the enemy and inflict losses on them. Later, they thought of giving deception to the enemy and then making a surprise attack. Under this resolve, they slipped away from their entrenchments. Shamas Khan did not take the risk of pursuing them. In this connection, Ganda Singh remarks: “ Apparently he ( Shamas Khan) felt tired and was looking for an opportunity to leave the Sikhs alone, especially

when he thought of their being reinforced by the terrible Banda Singh, the conqueror of Sadhaura, Sirhind and Saharanpur.”³⁹

Shams Khan contenting himself with the ‘so-called victory’ returned to his headquarters (Sultanpur); stationing his men at Rahon. But as per their plan, the vigilant Sikhs came back at once after the evacuation of imperialist forces, attacked the garrison, put faujdar’s men to sword and reoccupied the fort. They then placed their own thana there.⁴⁰

The battle of Rahon was fought on the 11 October 1710⁴¹and the Sikhs drove out the Muslims from Rahon. Consequently, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur were captured by the Sikhs without much effort and they became now masters of the Jalandhar Doab.⁴²

In February-March 1711, Banda Bahadur began to extend his influence in other parts of the Punjab. After over-running the towns of Raipur and Bahrampur and subjugating the parganas of Kalanaur and Batala in the Gurdaspur District, Banda Bahadur wanted to advance

38 Ibid., pp. 67-68

39 Ibid., pp. 68-69

40 Ibid., p 69

41 Ibid., p 69

42 G.S.Chhabra, The Advance Study in History of the Punjab, Volume- I (Jalandhar-1960) p 331

Lahore, but as he was chased by the Imperial Generals, Muhammad Amin Khan and Rustam Dil Khan at close quarters and the Emperor himself was not far off, camping at Hoshiarpur on 9 June 1711, he crossed the Ravi into the Rachna Doab and went towards the hills beyond the reach of his pursuers. The capture and execution of Banda Bahadur and his followers in 1716, and the prosecution of the Sikhs that followed, completely crushed them, and they were scarcely heard in history for a generation, But though the Sikhs were temporarily subdued, the Khalsa was not dead. It waited only for a favourable hour to rise with renewed vitality, animated by bitter hatred for the sufferings it had endured, and encouraged by the memory of triumphs in the past. The hours was not long delayed, for the Mughal empire, rotten at the core, and torn by internal dissensions, was falling before the attacks of the Marathas. Under the rule of Abdus-Samad Khan and his son, Zakaria Khan (1726-1745), known better by his title, Khan Bahadur, the Sikhs were indeed prevented from any organized resistance on a large scale, and robbery was rendered dangerous by the action of a movable column; but after the invasion of Nadir Shah (1738-39) during which he put Nurmahal to rasom, they again appeared in arms, but after a temporary success were utterly defeated by Adina Beg, who had been appointed Governor (Faujdar) of the Jalandhar Doab, and Nazim of the hill country to the north of Lahore and Amritsar by Zakaria Khan. The defeat took place in 1743, apparently in the neighbourhood of Eminabad, near Gujranwala (Pakistan) some of the more important Sikh Chief, as Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, were engaged. Two years later he and the Bhangi Chiefs were again defeated (this time to the south of the Satluj near Muktsar), and obliged to fly to the hills. But in spite of these disasters, the tide had already turned, and in 1747, the Sikhs were found as allies of the empire in resisting the Afghan invader, Ahmad Shah, who had been incited to invade India by Shah Nawaz Khan, Governor of Lahore, in order to assist him against his brother, Yahya Khan ( 1745-1747), who had the support of the Delhi Court. When Ahmad Shah came, Shah Nawaz Khan repented of this treason and opposed him, but was defeated. Adina Beg and the leaders of the more important Sikh Confederacies, which will be noticed hereafter, were also opposed to the invader, who was finally defeated in 1748, near Sirhind, by Muin-ul-Mulk (popularly known as Mir Mannu), the son of the Grand Wazir, and obliged to evacuate the Punjab. Mir Mannu became Governor of the Punjab, and ruled from 1748 to 1752, retaining Adina Beg as his deputy in the Jalandhar Doab. This official was a man of marked ability, but much more intent on his own aggrandizement than careful for the interests of the State, and he was always ready to intrigue with any power that appeared likely to prove useful to him. From policy he never proceeded to extremities against the Sikhs, though he occasionally found it expedient to coerce them, and show them that it was to their advantage to be on good terms with him.

Although the Sikhs had rendered good service against Ahmad Shah, they did not discontinue their insurrectionary movements on his retreat, and Mir Mannu was obliged to take the field against them; while Adina Beg was actually attacked by the Ahluwalias near Hoshiarpur. In 1748, Ahamd Shah again invaded the Punjab, but was bought off. A third time the Durani monarch came, when Mir Mannu, who had become independent of Delhi, had withheld the tribute due to Kabul. On this occasion, Adina Beg practically left his chief unsupported, and the latter was totally defeated in 1752; but was retained as Governor by Ahmad Shah. Adina Beg now saw his advantage in a more zealous policy, and being deputed to bring the Sikhs into order, defeated them at Makhowal. In this battle he was supported by the bulk of the Ramgarhia Confederacy. He, however, still temporized, and gave the Sikhs favourable terms, and indeed, took many of them into his pay. Mir Mannu died the same year 1752 and the Governorship of Lahore was held by his widow Murad Begum, on the part of the Afghan King, till 1755, when she was treacherously seized by her son-in-law the Wazir of Delhi.

This led to the fourth invasion of Ahmad Shah, during which he plundered Nurmahal and slaughtered its inhabitants, Adina Beg, who seems to have assisted the Wazir, had to have been put in nominal charge of Punjab, escaped to the hills, and encouraged the Sikhs to resist the Afghans. After plundering Delhi, Ahmad Shah retired, leaving his son, Prince Taimur, as Governor of the Punjab. Adina Beg who had been at times roughly handled by the Ahluwalia Sikhs, now joined their leader, Jassa Singh, and with his assistance, in 1756, took possession of Jalandhar and defeated the Afghan General Sarbuland Khan, who had been left in charge. Where arms were of no avail Adina Beg succeeded by bribery in escaping the vengeance of Prince Taimur with whom he seems to have temparized, now posing as his very humble servant, and again beating his troops. On his way back to Kabul Ahmad Shah had pillaged and burnt Kartarpur, a sacred city of the Sikhs, 16 Km to the north-west to Jalandhar and the following year, 1757, the Sikhs, under Baba Badbhag Singh, with the connivance of Adina Beg, in revenge, treated Jalandhar similarly. But though supported by the Sikhs, Adina Beg found his position precarious and called in the assistance of the Maratha leader, Ragoba. The Marathas expelled the Afghans, occupied the whole of the Punjab, and made Adina Beg the Governor of that province, in 1758. But the Sikhs were as little submissive to the Marathas, as they had been to their predecessors, and it was only in Adina Beg’s old charge, the Jalandhar Doab, that there was anything like order. At the end of 1758, Adina Beg died leaving no son to succeed him.

Next year Ahmad Shah invaded India for the fifth time, drove out the Marathas, and at the battle of Panipat, in 1761, destroyed for ever their chance of being again masters of the Punjab. He then returned to Kabul, leaving Buland Khan Governor of Lahore and Zain Khan Governor of Sirhind. The Sikhs were now so strong that they began to build forts all over the country. They defeated Khwaja Ubed, who was in command at Lahore, and shut him up in that town. In 1762, Ahmad Shah appeared for the sixth time and falling on the combined Sikh forces near the village Kup (District Sangrur), where they were engaged in hostilities with Zain Khan, inflicted on them the most terrible defeat they had ever experienced. This holocaust of 5 February 1762, is known to the Sikhs as the Vada Ghallughara (the great massacre). However when Ahmad Shah had gone back to Kabul, leaving Saadat Khan Governor of Jalandhar, they came together again, and in December, 1763, defeated and slew Zain Khan near Sirhind. This victory established Sikh independence; and though Ahmad Shah returned in 1764 and again in 1767, when he made the Katoch Rajput Chief Ghamand Chand Governor of Jalandhar, he did not recover any substantial power; and as far as the Jalandhar Doab is concerned, Afghan sovereignty, even in name, ended in the latter year.

Sikh Misls and Maharaja Ranjit Singh.–The repeated invasions of Ahmed Shah Abdali had not only exposed the hollowness of the Mughal Empire, but had given the Sikh misls the long-awaited chance of proclaiming their independence and assumption of political power in whatever territory they could lay their hands on. Ahmad Shah Abdali realized that they would occupy the north-western region as soon as his hold became weak. On the withdrawal of the Afghan holds from the north-western region of the country, the tract was divided among the Sikh leaders of various groups who were organized as misls or confederacies. These misls continued to fight against one another all through troubled times in the eighteenth century until Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the leader of the Sukarchakia misls, appeared on the scene.

The misls closely associated with Nawashahr District are described below :

Ahluwalia Misl

Ahluwalias, under  the  leadership  of  Jassa  Singh,  played     a

significant role in the history of the present Nawashahr District*, when India was attacked by Nadir Shah in 1739, he spread terror in the country, and carried away an enormous amount of money as his booty. While Nadir Shah was returning to his country, his rear was plundered at several places by the Sikhs. The Ahluwalia Chief, Sardar Jassa Singh, played an important part in relieving Nadir Shah of his spoils. Shortly afterwards, Jassa Singh built the Fort of Dalewal on the bank of the Ravi, and in 1743, he attacked and carried away a large treasure which was being carried by the Mughals from Eminabad to Lahore. Zakriya Khan, the Lahore Viceroy, was shocked when he received the news, and he ordered Adina Beg, the Faujdar of the Jalandhar Doab, to march against the Sikhs and punish the Ahluwalia Sardar. Jassa Singh, however, fled to the Satluj, while barbarous persecution against the Sikhs continued. Hundreds of them were captured and brought to Lahore and were tortured to death at Shahidganj. In the meanwhile, Jassa Singh appeared on the Satluj, punished the Muslim officers and captured an extensive territory. In 1747, he attacked Kasur, just at that time, Ahmed Shah Abdali appeared in the Punjab and the Sikhs suffered heavily at his hands in the neighbourhood of Sirhind. After the Durrani chief retired from the Punjab, Jassa Singh fell upon Gurdit Mal, the deputy of the new Lahore Governor, Muin-ul-Mulk, near Hoshiarpur. The Lahore Government started persecuting the Sikhs once again.

In 1757 Ahmad Shah Durrani appointed his son Timur Shah Governor of Punjab. As he was a minor, the Durrani’s Commander-in- Cheif, Jahan Khan, managed the State affairs. He was a harsh administrator. He drove away Adina Beg Khan, the Governor of the Jalandhar Doab, into the hills. He also prosecuted Sodhi Wadhbhag Singh of Kartarpur. Adina Beg planned to retaliate. He won over Jassa Singh Ahluwalia by payment of a heavy tribute and permitting the Sikhs to plunder the Jalandhar Doab with the help of the Sikhs and Marathas from Delhi he succeeded in expelling Timur Shah and Jahan Khan from the Punjab in April 1758. On the retirement of Ahmed Shah Durrani from the Punjab in 1761, the Dal Khalsa under Jassa Singh Ahluwalia attacked Khwajah Mirza, ex-Governor of Lahore. In July 1761, Saadat Khan and Sadiq Beg Khan Afridis, the faujdars of the Jalandhar Doab, were defeated. According to eye-withness Tahmas Khan Miskin they, “were thrown out like a fly out of milk”. Jassa Singh then rushed upon Sirhind and plundered a part of it, as they were opposed by Nawab of Malerkotla, this town was laid waste, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia maintained cordial relations with Phulkian Chiefs.

* Some village of Balachaur area and 24 villages of Banga area were in this misl

During the third battle of Panipat in 1761, when Ahmed Shah Abdali was fighting the Marathas and there was a complete political breakdown at Lahore, the Sikhs under Jassa Singh get yet another opportunity to spread their plundering activities over the whole province, and to occupy the different territories. Sirhind was sacked once again, and the Sikhs occupied Dogar and Nypal in the Firozpur District, and Jagraon and Kot Isa Khan on the left side of the Satluj, together with Hoshiarpur.⁴³

In March 1763, Jassa Singh accompanied the Dal Khalsa to Anandpur Sahib to celebrate the Hola. Some Sikhs complained to Jassa Singh that Gala Khan Rajput of Kathgarh and the Zamindars of Shahkargarh maltreated the Sikh inhabitants of those places. Jassa Singh led on expedition against them and established Sikhs Thanas and military posts at Kathgarh and Balachaur to keep the refractory people in cheek. He then realized tribute for the Dal Khalsa from the neighboring rajas of Bilaspur and Nalagarh.⁴⁴ While returning to Fatehabad he seized Kot Isa Khan from Qadir Shah.

In 1769 Jasssa Singh captured Jalandhar and its neighbouring territory in collaboration with Khushal Singh Singhpuria. He kept Jalandhar with himself and gave the neighboring villages to Khushhal Singh. After a couple of years, out of regard for his patron Nawab Kapur Singh, he entrurted Jalandhar also to Khushal Singh who established his headquarters there.⁴⁵

In 1778, the Afghan invasions were stopped and the Muslim authority in the Punjab was destroyed. Delhi was inconfusion; the Sikhs who had parceled out the major portion of the Punjab among twelve of their divisions called the misls. They now started fighting among themselves. There was a clash between the Ahluwalia and the Ramgarhia misls. In 1776, the Ahluwalia Chief invited the Sukarchakias, the Kanhayas and the Bhangis to his assistance, Jassa Singh Ramgarhia was defeated and fled to Hariana in the Hoshiarpur District, leaving this possessions north of the Satluj into the hands of the allies. Jassa Singh Ahluwalia died in 1783.⁴⁶

43   G.S. Chhabra, The Advanced Study in the History of the Punjab,          Vol.I  (Jalandhar,1960) pp 467-469

44      Hari Ram Gupta, History of the Sikhs, Volume IV ‘The Sikh           Commonwealth  or Rise and Fall of Sikh Misls, p 31

45   Ibid., p. 35

46    G.S. Chhabra, The Advanced Study in the History of the Punjab,           Vol.I (Jalandhar, 1960) pp 467-469

Dallewalia Misl

Out of the twelve confederacies only one that of the Dallewalias was founded in the extreme of south-west of the Jalandhar Doab which area of present district Nawashahr was part at that time. It was one of the most powerful misls and according to one account ⁴⁷ could put between 7,000 and 8,000 horsemen into the field. This number is probably a maximum; and must include the forces of all chiefs who at any timebelonged to the confederacy, though they may have afterwards become independent; but with this proviso, and considering the wide extent of the Dallewalia possessions, which included almost the whole of the three southern tahsils of Jalandhar, parts of the Hoshiarpur, Firozpur, Ludhiana and Ambala districts and reached as far as Thanesar and Ladwa (Haryana), it is not likely that there is any serious exaggeration in this estimate. The condederacy derives its name from the village of Dala (Kapurthala District), a little to the north-east of Lohian (Nakodar Tahsil), on the Jalandhar-Firozpur road. But, though called after this village, the Dallewalia confederacy had its origin in the neighbouring village of Kang, which belongs to the Nakodar Tahsil, and lies between three and five kilometres south of Lohian, on the south of the Bein (stream). Tara Singh Gheba, was the founder. He was a very poor man and had a goat-herd of 100 goats; his goats were stolen by a famous Gujar robber, Suleman, and his few household effects were carried off to pay the Kang’s taxes ; and then Tara Singh went to Dala and became a Sikh, taking the pahul from one Gurdial, a Khatri, and commenced life again as a robber.

Tara Singh’s reckless bravery won him many a companion. One day in the beginning of 1757, he came across a forging party of Ahmad Shah Durrani. They had plundered a few villages, and were in search of a ford to cross the Bein. They seized Tara Singh to show them the place where they could cross with their loaded horses. He told them that the stream could be crossed on horse-back only. They gave him a horse and asked him to show the way by actually crossing it. On crossing the river he galloped off into the Jungle, and won a fine horse as a prize⁴⁸.

The Dallewalia misl rose to great power and eminence under Tara Singh Ghaiba. In 1760 he seized the parganahs of Dharamkot and Fatahgarh lying to the south of the Satluj. He gave Fatahgarh to his cousins Dharam Singh and Kur Singh of village Kang. Dharamkot was kept under him. In the Jalandhar Doab he took Dakhni from Sharf-ud-din Afghan. He occupied Nawashahr Doaba. Then he captured Rahon

47    Ambala Regular Settlement Report, Southern Paraganahs p 13

48 H. R. Gupta The History of the Sikhs, Volume-I, p 54

and its neighbourhood. Rahon stood on a high eminence commanding a good view. It was made the seat of his Government. He expelled Manj Rajputs from Nakodar. He took possession of a large number of villages situated along the right bank of the Satluj including Mahatpur and Kot Badal Khan⁴⁹.

In March 1763, Tara Singh was going to attend the Hola festival at Anandpur. He was on his way from Ludhiana to Rupnagar. In the vicinity of Morinda he caught sight of a convoy going to Sirhind. It was plundered and the Hola festival was celebrated with great éclat and

enthusiasm. In the plunder of Kasur in May 1763, he obtained cash and jewellery worth four lakhs of rupees. In January 1764, at the fall of Sirhind, Tara Singh acquired Ramuwala and Mari in Moga tahsil ( Now part of newly formed District Moga), and at both these places he built forts. Ghungrana was also occupied⁵⁰.

In 1772, he with numerous other chiefs, came to the assistance of Amar Singh when the latter’s half brother, Himmat Singh, had rebelled. In 1778, when the Raja had been defeated by Sardar Hari Singh of Sialba, supported by Sardar Jassa Singh, Ramgarhia, Tara Singh was one of the chiefs who hastened to his help; another ally from the Jalandhar Doab was Bibi Rajinder of Phagwara. Hari Singh had originally belonged to the Dallewalia confederacy, and probably Tara Singh was not sorry to get a chance of taking revenge for his successful claim to independence. In 1779, when the Delhi Court made an attempt to recover the Malwa country, Tara Singh joined the other leaders of the Khalsa in resisting the Wazir, Nawab Majd-ud-daula Abd-ul-Ahd, and the attempt ended in failure. On the death of Amar Singh, in 1781, the Dallewalia Chief back up the rebellion of Sardar Mahan Singh, against Raja Sahib Singh, who was the brother of Bibi Chand Kaur, Tara Singh’s daughter-in-law. But he soon deserted the rebel Sardar, who was then obliged to surrender. About 1788, Sialba and Patiala had become fast friends and attacked the Singhpurias, who had been encroaching on the Sialba territory. But Tara Singh was still opposed to his former dependants, and, with other chiefs, interfered and prevented any serious injury being done to the Singhpurias. On this occasion Malerkotla was on the Patiala side, which Tara Singh apparently did not forget, for in 1794, he supported Bibi Sahib Kaur in the religious war, he preached against the unhappy Afghans of that State. However, neither did Patiala forget their former assistance, and by bribes and threats the invaders were got rid of. A little before, in the same year, Marathas invaded the cis-Sutluj States and were defeated at Murdanpur, near Ambala by Bibi

49 Ibid., pp. 54-55

50 Ibid., p 55

Sahib Kaur, who herself led the Patiala troops and was supported by a detachment of Tara Singh’s forces, among other auxiliaries. In 1799, the Phulkian Chiefs were involved in war with George Thomas, the adventurer, whose headquarters were at Hansi in the Hissar District and at Georgegarh (Jahazgarh), in the north-west of the Jhajjar Tahsil of Rohtak District and whose disciplined troops were more than a match for the Sikhs. Tara Singh Gheba, on this occasion was on the side of the Phulkians, and was engaged in the indecisive battle at Narangwal between the Jind troops and George Thomas. Further to the west Tara Singh took part in the affairs of the Faridkot State ; and induced Chart Singh, who had deposed and imprisoned his father, Mohr Singh, to release him. But the days of the confederacies were nearly numbered, and one powerful state was being gradually formed by Ranjit Singh out of the separate and often mutually hostile fragments into which the country had hither to been broken. One of the earliest to succumb was the Dallewalia confederacy. In 1807, Ranjit Singh crossed the Satluj and attached the Rajput fort of Naraingarh in the Ambala District. Tara Singh, Gheba, accompanied him, got ill, and died on his way home, during the siege. His death was kept secret while the body was sent in all haste to Rahon to be burnt. But the funeral rites had scarcely been performed, when the Sikh army appeared before Rahon, whither Ranjit Singh had hastened to make himself master of his old ally’s possessions. According to J.D.Cunningham, Tara Singh’s widow, Rani Rattan Kaur, “equalled the sister of the Raja of Patiala in spirit, and she is described to have girded up her garments and to have fought, sword in hand, on the battered walls of the fort of Rahon.”⁵¹ No doubt Rattan Kaur would have fought Ranjit Singh or anyone else with the greatest pleasure ; it would not have been the first time she had led her troops; and, according to tradition still current in the country, she was never so happy as when at the head of a body of horse ; but though some pretence of defending Rahon and Nawashahr was made, real resistance was out of the question, and the Dallewalia possessions on this side of the Satluj passed, practically without a blow, into the hands of the representative of the Sukarchakias. Tara Singh Gheba, is said to have been 90 years old when he died, and he was head of the Dallewalias for at least 44 years. In character he appears to have been simple in his taste, and in private life singularly amiable and good-natured, though it may be doubted whether he was of that exemplary piety which the author of the Barah Misl attributes to him. He was evidently the favourite hero of this chronicler, as page after page is devoted to anecdotes showing the good

51 J. D. Cunnigham, A Hitory of the Sikhs ( London 1849), p 144

heart of the fine old chief. With the agriculturists he was especially friendly and ever ready to enquire into their grievances. Nominally, it is told, they paid him one-fourth or one-fifth of the crops, but in reality he took one-tenth. In domestic affairs he was as unhappy as most Sikh chiefs, and, if possible, surpassed Ranjit Singh in philosophical indifference to family disgrace. He was evidently a man of great ability, courage and energy, and probably, in moral qualities superior to the Sikhs of a later generation.

Ramgarhia Misl

Jassa Singh, the founder of the Ramgarhia misl, had in 1752 taken service with Adina Beg. Adina Beg is said by one account to have given him charge of a large belt in the Jalandhar Doab of which he subsequently became master. Some area around of Banga (presently part of Nawashahr District) was part of this misl.⁵² But, however, this may be, in about four years Adina Beg was driven out of Jalandhar by Prince Taimur, on which Jassa Singh left him, and built or restored a fort at Amritsar, called the Ram Rauni (from which the misl takes name), which was demolished shortly afterwards by Adina Beg. But on the death of Adina Beg, Jassa Singh conqured a considerable belt in the north-west of the Jalandhar Doab and also came into collision with Sardar Mansa Singh of Garhdiwala of the Dalawala misl, but in 1776 he was driven across the Satluj by the Kanhya and other misls. In 1783 the Kanhyas’ power roused the jealousy of the Sukarchakias and they allied themselves with Sardar Chand of Kangra, who recalled Jassa Singh, and thus enabled to recover his territory. Last his son Jodh Singh succeeded him in 1803 and in 1805 assisted Lord Lake in his pursuit of Holkar ,but in 1816 dissessions in this family led to the intervention of Ranjit Singh who seized all his territories. These lay mostly in the Dasuya Tahsil.⁵³

From the Fall of Confederacies (Misls) to British Annexation.- After having conquered Daska and Chiniot (Pakistan) in 1799, the Maharaja marched into the Jalandhar Doab plunding and making annexations he proceeded to Phagwara (in the Doab), which was held by a rich widow of one Chuhar Mal. He forced her to retire, to Hardwar and occupied her territory. It has been said that the Sikhs of the Jalandhar Doab were only partially under the rule of Maharaja Ranjit

52 Hari Ram Gupta, Histoy of the Sikhs Volum IV The Sikh Commonwealth or Rise and Fall of the Sikh Misls p 291

53 Punjab District Gazetteers, Volume XIII A Hoshiarpur District, Part A 1904 (Lahore) 1905 p 18

Singh, and that their leader was the Ahluwalia Chief. Still though Ranjit Singh broke the power of the great chiefs, he did not proceed to extremities against their feudal subordinates. These were mostly left in possession of a considerable portion of their estates, and in return were obliged to supply a proportionate number of men for the army, and, in some cases, to render personal service. The rest of the country was either given on a similar tenure to other followers of the Sikh Government or was held by Nazims of Governors who were appointed by the ruler of the day, and who paid, or rather agreed to pay, a certain revenue for the country committed to their charge. The first Nazim of the Jalandhar Doab was Diwan Mohkam Chand. When he was away on service, the Doab was managed by his son Moti Ram. In October, 1814, the Diwan died and was succeeded by Moti Ram. He held the appointment till he was made Governor of Kashmir, in 1819, and his place in Jalandhar was taken by his son Kirpa Ram. In 1826, the latter considering himself ill-used by Raja Dhian Singh of the Jammu family, brought only 50 horsemen to the Peshawar expedition instead of his whole contingent. Ranjit Singh at once took away the government of Jalandhar from him, and made it over first to Fakir Aziz-ud-din, and then to Sardar Desa Singh Majithia. In a year and a half, Kirpa Ram was again taken into favour and was appointed to Kashmir, where he remained till 1831, when he again fell before the enmity of Raja Dhian Singh. Moti Ram, who had been appointed to Jalandhar, also succumbed at the same time, and his place was taken by Sheikh Ghulam Muhi-ud-din, one of his followers. This man was the first of the Governors known as the Sheikhs, who were of evil repute on account of the merciless way they exacted the last farthing from the people. Ghulam Muhi-ud-din appears to have practised his extortions in person in Kashmir, and by deputy in Jalandhar. After one year, the people raised such an outcry at his oppressive administration that he was recalled, and Misr Rup Lal, another object of dislike to Raja Dhian Singh, was sent in his place to Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur. He had his faults, but his taxation was generally light, and he was one of the best of the Sikh Governors in any part of the Punjab. His headquarters were at the town of Hoshiarpur (Balachaur Tahsil of Nawashahr District was part of Hoshiarpur District at that time). In 1839, Maharaha Ranjit Singh died, and the Jammu family at once had the Misr recalled, and Ghulam Muhi-ud-din was again deputed to this Doab. In April 1841, he was sent with his Jalandhar levies, chiefly Muhammadans, in company with Raja Gulab Singh, another member of the Jammu family, to restore order in Kashmir, where the Sikh troops had mutinied. His place in Jalandhar was taken by his son, Sheikh Imam-ud-din Khan; but he, too, soon left for Kashmir appointing his relations, Sheikhs Karm Bakhsh and Sandhi Khan his agents in the Doab. They held the post till, at the end of the First Anglo-Sikh War, the country between the Satluj and the Beas was ceded to the British in 1846. The second administration of the Sheikhs was just as oppressive as the first. It may be noted here that the Faizullapuria estates were not put under Diwan Mohkam Chand at first, but were administered for four years by Nur-ud-din, brother of Fakir Aziz-ud-din. In the long period of forty years, during which Jalandhar was more or less subordinate to the Government of Lahore, scarcely any remarkable event occurred in the southern part of the Doab that has not already been narrated. An exception must be made as regards the case of Bikrama Singh and Atar Singh, Bedis, which necessitated the despatch of an army to restore quiet in the country about Dakhni and Malsian, near Nakodar. In the First Anglo-Sikh War, 1845-46, the Jalandhar Doab, though the principal prize of the victors, was not the scene of any remarkable military event. The army of Sardar Ranjodh Singh, Majithia, marched through the Doab and were Joined by the troops of the Ahuwalia Chief. They crossed the Satluj at Phillaur on 17 January 1846, and after a temporary success at Badowal, were totally defeated by Sir Henry Smith at Aliwal, eleven days later, and driven across the Satluj at Ghug, about 3 km south of Talwan. The Sikhs retreated to Phillaur (which was abandoned by its garrison),and then dispersed. After the battle, the main body of the English army marched for Sobraon, while Brigadier Wheeler crossed the river in pursuit of the Sikhs, also near Talwan, and advanced on Phillaur and occupied the fort, the keys, of which had been made over to him at Talwan by Chaudhri Kutb-ud-din, who for this service got a pension and after wards a grant of waste land, where the village of Kutbiwal now stands. From Phillaur the English marched to Jalandhar.

(c) Modern Period

From the Annexation 1846 to 1857

On its annexation in 1846, the Jalandhar Doab was formed into a Commissionership, to which Mr. John Lawrence (afterwards Lord Lawrence), was appointed. Cantonments were built at Jalandhar, Phillaur, Nakodar and Kartarpur, in the present Jalandhar District. Jalandhar is still a cantonment, but the other three places were abandoned: Nakodar and Kartarpur in 1854, and Phillaur in 1857.

One of the most important duties of the Commissioner and his subordinates was to see that the forts with which the district was studded, were pulled down. This was a procedure highly distasteful to some of the Sikh Chiefs. Sardar Lehna Singh Majithia, managed to put off the demolition of the Daroli fort for two years, his agent solemnly declaring the walls and bastions had been pulled down. But when Lawrence went to the spot he found nothing had been done. Finally he had to employ his own workmen, and the Sardar had to pay a goodly sum on account of their wages. Probably the chiefs had an eye to future contingencies, and the Second Sikh War, 1848-49, was not long in breaking out. The area of present Nawashahr District was not the scene of any military operations in this war, though some fighting took place in the adjoining district of Hoshiarpur. However, if the ‘Chahar Bagh-i-Punjab’ by Ganesh Das Badhera is to be believed, it was a native of Jalandhar who struck the first blow in the outbreak which led to the annexation of the whole of the Punjab, for the soldier who wounded Bans Agnew as he was inspecting the fort at Multan (Pakistan), was Amir Chand, alias Chojir, a resident of Phillaur. For the First two years after its cession by the Sikhs ( in 1846), the Jalandhar Doab, known till 1863 as the Trans-Satluj States, was subordinate directly to the Supreme Government at Calucutta, but afterwards (in 1848) it was placed under the chief authority at Lahore (Pakistan), to whom whether as Resident Board of Administration, Chief Commissioner, Lieutenant-Governor or Governor, it remained subordinate ever since.

The Great Uprising of 1857

When the great uprising of 1857 occurred, Phillaur was occupied by some of the 3^rd Native Infantry. Part of the regiment was at Ludhiana. At Jalandhar, the 6^th Light Cavalry, the 36^th and 61th Native Infantry and some Native Artillery were stationed. The 8^th Foot and Horse with a troop of Artillery were the European garrison. Brigadier Hartley was in command but was succeeded by Brigadier M.C. Johnstone before the actual outbreak occurred at Jalandhar. The Civil Officers were the Commissioner, Major Lake, the Deputy Commissioner, Captain Farrington, the Assistant Commissioner, S.S. Hogg, and the Extra Assistant Commissioner G. Knox. The district was of importance, as one of the main lines of communication between the Punjab and Delhi passed through it, and was commanded, where it crossed the Satluj, by the Phillaur fort, and besides, being rich in agricultural resources, it was able to supply ample means of carriage and other necessaries of an army in the field. When news of the outbreak at Meerut arrived, on 12 May 1857, Major Lake was not at headquarters, but Captain Farrington was present at a council held by Brigadier Hartley, at which it was determined to secure Phillaur and to establish telegraphic communication with it. Mr. Brown, the Superintendent of Telegraphs, had the telegraph at work by 10 O ‘clock the same evening, and by 3AM next morning the native troops had been replaced by 150 men of the 8^th Foot. Two guns were taken from Phillaur to Jalandhar and with the two already there were placed under a guard of the same regiment. Two guns were equipped for service in any part of the district where required. The tahsil at the Jalandhar City was strengthened to serve as a fort; the men of the Sher-Dil Police Battalion were called in from the district; the treasure was placed under a European guard, and all the European inhabitants were brought together. On the first intimation of the ourbreak at Meerut, the Raja of Kapurthala, Randhir Singh, proceeded to Jalandhar with all the troops he could collect, and with his brother, Bikram Singh, remained there the whole of the hot weather.

The Civil Treasure, ordinarlly kept under a sepoy guard at the Kachahri was transferred to the 8^th Regiment, but afterwads, by the orders of Brigadier Johnstone, placed in charge of the two Native infantary Regiments in equal shares, while new remittances were forwarded to Phillaur. As the guard of the 36^th Native Infantry remained staunch to the last, only Rs 5,000 were lost when the uprising occurred. There was no lack of evidence to show that a rebellious spirit was abroad in the native regiments. Constant fires had occurred in the Cantonments (about 6 km from the City and Civil lines), and other signs of anti-British feelings had been manifested; but the military authorities disregarded these warnings, placed confidence in their men, neglected an opportunity for disarming them, and when the crises came were found unprepared. At 11 PM on 7 June a fire broke out in the Cantonments. When the officers went down to extinguish it, they were fired on and many of them wounded some mortally. All the native troops, with the exception of the artillery, which opened on the rebels with grape, and of fractions from each regiment, were in open rebellion, the cavalary being the most zealous and urging on the infantry whenever the latter seemed to waver. The object of the rebel troops was to get to Delhi: and as the City, Civil Stations and Jail lay in the opposite direction and were, moreover, guarded by the Kapurthala troops, they remained unharmed. The rebel troops are supposed to have left Jalandhar in two bodies about 1 AM on 8 June. One went off in an orderly manner towards Hoshiarpur, and marching about 208 km in 54 hours, made good its escape along the hills. The second and larger party made for Phillaur, which they reached the same morning. Here they were joined by the 3^rd Native Intantry, and got a boat with which some of them crossed the river and brought over more boats, and the whole party crossed during the day. Local reports say that the crossing was effected at Kariana and Lesara, about 8 and 14 km respectively up the river, and this seems correct. On the south side of the Satluj they were encountered by Ricketts, the Deputy Commissioner of Ludniana, with three companies of the 4^th Sikhs under Lieutenant Willams, two Nabha Guns and some irregular matchlock men and troopers; but he was unable to prevent them advancing on Ludhiana and taking possession of the fort. In their hurry they had left Jalandhar without laying in a supply of ball cartrijge, and were disagreeably surprised to find plenty of guns and powder at Ludhiana but no shot, not even musket-balls. From Ludhiana they went to Dehlon, and thence to Malerkotla, where they arrived on the morning of the 10^th. They then proceeded into the west of the Karnal District (Haryana) passing close to Patiala and obliging the Raja, who had gone with his troops to the assistance of the District Officer at Thanesar, to return to guard his own capial. In the end, they succeeded in reaching Delhi. The action of the military authorities at Jalandhar was as weak after the outbreak as before it. No pursuit was attempted till 7 AM on the 8 June, when the sun was well up, though as the troops were despatched in such light marching order that neither rations nor servants to cook were sent with them, and earlier start might have been possible. General Johnstone says the troops did not start before 7 AM and could not have been sent sooner because he did not know till 3.30 AM in what direction the rebel troops had gone, and some time was needed for laying in supplies, etc., the troops did their best. They got to Phillaur the same evening, a distance of about 38 km, which was good work in June. But they were always a march behind the rebel troops. When the rebel troops were at Phillaur, the pursuers were at Phagwara; the rebel troops had reached Ludhiana when the pursuers got to Phillaur; Dehlon, when the pursuers entered Ludhiana and Malerkotla, when the pursuit ceased at Dehlon, on the morning of June 10. The 8^th Foot returned the same evening to Ludhiana and thence to Jalandhar, where it afterwards joined General Nicholson’s movable column and assisted in disarming the 33^rd and 35^th Native Infantry regiments at Phillaur, on June 25. The 33^rd Native Infantry had been stationed at Hoshiarpur, and the 35^th Native Infantry at Sialkot and Gujrat (Pakistan), and both had come with General Chamberlain, who commanded the movable column before his promotion, when he was succeeded by General Nicholson. In June, the forces at Jalandhar were strengthened by 300 Tiwana Horse under the command of Sher Muhammad Khan, a member of the family of Tiwana Maliks of Mitha Tiwana, in District Shahpur (Pakistan), Major Lake was requested to raise a Sikh regiment on the spot; the Conquest-tenure Jagirdars (the representatives of Misldars or leading men of the old confederacies), were called on to supply men, horse and foot, which they willingly did; the foreign element was strengthened by the enlistment of a number of Daduputras from Leiah. These levies with the Kapurthala troops were quite sufficient to preserve the peace of the district. The European women and children were sent to Lahore in June. A wing of the 8^th Foot marched for Delhi about the same time, and the second wing left also for that destination in August. The European troops in the Doab then consisted of only a hundred men at Phillaur and the same number at Jalandhar. After the fall of Delhi the country was disarmed, and matters were not long in settling down into their usual state. The Tiwana horse left for Oudh (Uttar Pradesh) in December, and the Kapurthala troops followed them in May 1956.

Freedom Movement

Though no country-wide freedom movement was inciated from Punjab, yet some signs of political awakening were definitely visible in the province in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The Kuka movement, aimed at expelling the British, did not succeed, but it left a permanent impression on a large section of the people of the Punjab. This movement is claimed to have directly influenced the Ghadar and other political movements in the Punjab in early twentieth century. Moreover, new awakening with the intelligentsia in the vanguard had come to stay. The Indian National Congress had been invited twice (in 1893 and 1900) to bold its session at Lahore. Thus, before the close of the last century, the spirit of freedom movement had found its way to the Punjab.

Namdhari Movement.- On 12 April 1857 Baba Ram Singh founded a socio-political sect called Namdhari, popularly known as Kuka in the Punjab with its headquarters at village Bhaini Sahib in Ludhiana District. An assembly of his followers was called at Bhaini Sahib on this day in 1857. The five Sikhs who were administered on the occasion included Bhai Sudh Singh of village Durgapur, Tahsil and District Nawashahr. In the beginning the districts of Sialkot (now in Pakistan), Amritsar, Hoshiarpur and Ludhiana formed the Chief Centres of Namdhari activities, but later on their activities spread to other districts as well. Namdharis launched a compain against the social evils of sati, child marriage and female infanticide which had entered the stronghold of the khalsa society⁵⁴.For a few years, the movement carried

54 G.S. Chhabra, The Advance History of the Punjab, Volume-II (Ludhiana, 1962) pp.368-370

on its work quietly. For religious propagation and social uplift, bands of musicians (ragi jathas) were fitted at Bhaini Sahib and sent to different directions. Of these, the ragi jatha of Bhai Suba Singh operated in the Jalandhar Doab (the present area of Nawashahr District was part of this at that time). Besides, the twenty-four missionaries, called Subas, who were allotted separate theatres of operations, included Labh Singh and Lakha Singh who carried on their activities in District Jalandhar in

addition to the districts of Hoshiarpur and Ambala (Haryana). Baba Ram Singh was very keen in reaching out to the people to deliver his message personally to them. Thus, in 1861 he toured parts of District Jalandhar. In 1863 again he passed through Jalandhar district (Nawashahr Tahsil of this district was then part of Jalandhar District) on his way to Firozpur.

On the reports received from the authorities in the different districts in 1863, the British Government became alive to the political implications of the Namdhari Movement. Of these, the report of Cap. Miller, Cantonment Magistrate, Jalandhar, was of a sensational character. It was submitted to the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police, Jalandhar on 11 June 1863. Therefore, Baba Ram Singh was placed under internment at the native place in 1863.

In course of time, the movement gained momentum, but it was ruthlessly suppressed by the British with the blowing of a large number of persons (Kukas) from guns at Malerkotla (Sangrur District) in January 1872. Many influential members of the movement were arrested, and Baba Ram Singh was deported to Burma, where he died in

1885 ⁵⁵.

Lahore Session of the Indian National Congress, 1900 . – The dawn of the twenteeth century saw the Punjab taking long strides to catch up with the national movement in the rest of the country. The sixteenth session of the Indian National Congress was held at Lahore in

December 1900. Delegates from all over Punjab including the Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts (to which the present Nawashahr District was part) attended the session.

After this no significant political event seems to have occurred in the Punjab till 1905 when the agitation that followed the partition of Bengal in that year stirred the people all over the Punjab in common with the rest of the country.

Unpopular policies of Government Raise a Political Storm in the Punjab.- In the first quarter of the twentieth century, certain factors

55 Fauja Singh Bajwa, Kuka Movement (Delhi, 1965), pp. 39-55

added to the political discontent among the people of the Punjab. The storm raised by the partition of Bengal (1905), the message of freedom and revolutionary ideas broadcast by the great leaders across the length and breadth of the country could not by-pass the Punjab. Economically also the period was of great crisis. The Punjab was visited by a series of unprecedented calamities like famine and plague. The epidemic of plague swept the Punjab and took a heavy toll of life.

Imported from China and having shown itself first in Bombay in 1896, plague broke out in epidemic form in the Punjab in the succeeding years. The first outbreak of plague occurred in October 1897, in village Khatkar Kalan, Tahsil and district Nawashahr at that time in Jalandhar District, but infection had probably been imported from Hardwar in May 1896. For these years, the disease was almost entirely confirmed to the adjacent parts of Nawashahr, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts but in November 1900, it also broke out in the other districts Thereafter it spread to other parts of the Punjab.

It took a heavy toll of human lives. The Government remained insensitive to the disasters and instead of remitting land revenue, it continued increasing it with each settlement and inflicted severe penalties on the defaulters. As a consequence, the sturdy peasants of the Punjab were mortgaging their lands, selling their cattle and implements and migrating abroad. The Punjab Land Alienation Act, 1900 saved agricultural land from passing to the moneylenders, but it did not solve the problem of rural indebtedness.⁵⁶

One of the main factors responsible for political unrest in the Punjab was the economic hardship resulting from legislation, such as like the Punjab Alienation Act Amendment Bill, the Colonization of Government Lands (Punjab) Bill, and the enhancement of the occupiers’ rates in the Bari Doab, which were promulgated by the Government of the Punjab. The Punjab Land Alienation Act, 1900, took on a communcal character. A large number of Muslims and Sikhs were included among the ‘agricultural tribes’ but the Hindus were excluded. The Punjab Land Alienation Act Amendment Bill, 1906, was a further attempt at strengthening the alienation restrictions. Its main aim was to entitle exclusively the ‘statutory agriculturists’ to acquire land under the Act (1900) and empowered district officers to disallow gifts of land for ‘religious purposes’. If such gifts seemed suspect.

Like the Punjab Land Act, Amendment Bill, the Colonization of Government Lands (Punjab), Bill, 1906, further weakened the communcal ties. It provided to the leaders of public opinion an occasion to mobilize support for anti-Government activities. After the 1857

56    Bakhshish Singh Nijjar, Punjab Under the British Rule (1849-1947), Volume I,1849 to 1902 (Delhi, 19474) pp. 157-161

uprising, the Government had rewarded the ex-soldiers (who had helped the British cause) by grants of wasteland which became, in due course, a fertile colony. A major section of new settlers came from the more denselypopulated districts of Lahore, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur and Firozpur. The area of present Nawashahr District was part of Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts at that time. These settlers had beengiven the rights of occupancy, heritable but not transferable, on certain, conditions. The Punjab Government, owing to its ex-solidiers’ loyalties, had a particular ‘paternal interest’ in this little area and introduced the Colonization of General Lands (Punjab) Bill, 1906. The Bill introduced the law of primogeniture. It was proposed to check the subdivision of land and this proposal was resented by the people as an unjustified interference in their time-honoured customs and traditions.

The economic hardships and privations perpetrated by nature produced widespread resentment against the authorities. The ‘Political Temperature’ rose high in the first two months of 1907. Many largely attended public meetings were held at Lahore, Rawalpindi, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar and other places. Lala Lajpat Rai a prominent Punjab leader, visited several places in the Punjab, organized public meetings and published articles on the economic discontent prevailing in the Province.

The deportation and arrest of Lalaji on 9 May 1907, without any substantial charges made against him, stirred up the revolutionary movement, particularly in the Punjab. This act of high-handedness of the Government in arresting one of the most respected leaders shook the faith of the educated classes in constitutional methods. Meanwhile the Punjab Government was disturbed over the anti-Government propaganda carried on in the revolutionary literature. According to the Government, appeals were addressed to the frontier tribesmen to wage a jehad against the British, and money was being raised for this purpose.

The news of Lajpat Rai’s release in November1907 was received with great excitement and relief in the political circles of the Punjab. The news was first published in The Tribune and splashed dramatically; a holiday was at once declared at the D.A.V.College, Lahore; the Arya School at Hoshiarpur was closed for two days; school buildings were illuminated and sweetmeats were distributed among the students.⁵⁷

The most important device adopted by the Government was the prosecution of the press. The Tilak, a newspaper published from Hoshiarpur, was prosecuted for publishing a ghazal by ‘Ram’, which appeared in the issue of 6 May1909. The press at which the paper was printed was also confiscated on 30 June1909. But these measures could

57       S. C. Mittal, Freedom Movement in Punjab (1905-1929), (Delhi,1977), pp. 40-56

not curb the revolutionary activities of the people.

Ultimately, the British authorities realized their mistake and the Governor-General Lord Minto (1905-1910), vetoed the bill. The land tax and the water rate were also reduced. ⁵⁸

Ghadar Movement.– The Ghadar movement originated in the United States among the enthusiastic Punjabi immigrants who had settled on the Pacific Coast of the U.S.A. and Canada. This Movement was the first purely secular movement which aimed to liberate India by force of arms. Though the vast majority of the participants were Sikhs and therefore the literature was printed in Gurmukhi and meetings took place in gurdwaras; it had nothing whatsoever to do with Sikhism as a religion. The Ghadar Movement attracted both Hindus and Muslims to fold and later influenced other revolutionary group in the country to shed their religious bias.⁵⁹ The rebellion was planned in the United States and Canada. Funds were raised from Indians living the foreign countries. The headquarters of the movement were at San Francisco. Sohan Singh Bhakna was the President and Lala Hardyal was the General Secretary of the Party.⁶⁰ A weekly paper called ‘Ghadar’ (The Rebellion) was started with Lala Hardyal a Chief Editor. Through the journal, the organisation got wide publicity and in course of time came to known as the Ghadar Party.

Many articles and poems from Ghadar were re-printed in booklets of which four became very popular, viz: (1) Ghadar di Goonj (Echoes of the Mutiny), (2) Ilan-i-Jang (Declaration of War) (3) Naya Zamana (The New Age) and (4) The Balance Sheet of British Rule in India.⁶¹

‘Ghadar’ printed occasionally the following advertisement in its “Wanted Columns”:

Wanted Enthusiastic and heroic soldiers for organizing Ghadar in Hindustan

Remuneration Death

Reward Martyrdom

Pension Freedom

Field of work Hindustan.⁶²

In the gurudwaras in the United States, Canada, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore, it became customary to recite poems from Ghadar

58      Ibid., p 66

59      Khushwant Singh and Satindra Singh, Ghadar 1915 p 57

60 The Tribune, 30 June 1982

61     Khushwant Singh and Satindra Singh, Ghadar 1915 p 20

62 Ibid., p 20

and hold discussions on political problems after evening prayers. Within a few months the Ghadar Party had the unanimous support of the entire Indian immigrant community of the pacific coast and had changed the Sikhs from loyal British subjects to ardent revolutionaries.⁶³

As war clouds gathered over Europe, leaders of the Ghadar Party began to talk of utilising the opportunity if Great Britain was involved in hostilities. Special Supplements of Ghadar were published on 28 July and 4 August 1914, explaining to the readers their duty in the event of a war. Since Canada was a part of the British empire and would automatically join Britain in the war, it was decided to shift all political activity to the United States. There were special meetings at Oxnard. Upland, Fresno, Los Angeles, Clairmont and a week after England had declared war, a general gathering of Indian emigrants took place at Sacramento. Men were exhorted to volunteer for revolutionary service and funds were collected to pay for their passage. Several thousand men enlisted and there was a rush to catch boats leaving for India.⁶⁴

The outbreak of World War I, 1914-18 was hailed by the Indian revolutionaries living abroad as a favourable opportunity to free the country from British rule through armed uprising with foreign assistance. The Ghadar Party tried to achieve the objective by sending Indians mostly Punjabis, imbured with revolutionary ideas, back to their mother country to stir up rebellion there. The Government of India were fully informed of the activities of the Ghadar Party and took necessary precautions. The Ingress Ordinance of 5 September 1914 was purposely passed to deal with the Indian emigrants coming back to India.⁶⁵

At this critical juncture, the Ghadar Party was deprived of all its top leaders. In March 1914, Hardayal was arrested in San Franciso on the charge of being an anarchist. He was released on bail, but fearing that he might be convicted or handed over to the British (his name was linked with the plot to assassinate Lord Hardinge), he fled to Switzerland. Sohan Singh Bhakna and Kartar Singh Saraba had followed the Kamagata Maru to India, and Jawala Singh, the Stockton rancher, also left the United States at the head of a party of sixty ghadarites. In the absence of these people and others who were anxious to get to India, the leadership of the party fell, as if by default of any one better, to Ram Chandra, a nominee of Hardayal.⁶⁶

The first band of revolutionaries sailed from San Francisco in August 1914 by the Korea. Ram Chandra, Bhagwan Singh “Gyani” and

63 Ibid. p 35

64    R. C. Majumdar,’ History of the Freedom Movement in  India,   Vol. II, p. 447

65 Khushwnnt Singh and Satindra Singh, Ghadar 1915 p.36

66 Ibid., p. 36

Santokh Singh (the latter two themselves scheduled to leave a few days later) came to see off the emigrants. Ram Chandra addressed them in the following words : “Your duty is clear. Go to India. Stir up rebellion in every corner of the country. Rob the wealthy and show mercy to the poor. In this way gain universal sympathy. Arms will be provided for you on arrival in India. Failing this, you must ransack the police stations for rifles. Obey without hesitation the commands of your leaders.⁶⁷

But the ghadarites soon discovered to their chaqrin that the political climate in India was far from conducive to revolution. They made desperate efforts to get some base in the peasantry. They went to religious festivals to various places in Punjab.

To deal with the situation, the Government of India passed on 29 August 1914, the Foreigners’ Ordinance to prevent entry and control the movement in India of undesirable aliens. On this basis, the Ingress Ordinance of 5 September 1914, was passed to deal with the Indian emigrants coming back to India. From among the passengers which disembarked from the ship Austerlay which arrived on 9 March 1915, two belonged to Nawashahr District. These were Jagta of village Raipur and Labhu of village Barwa (Tahsil Nawashahr).

In spite of Government’s precautions and internments, many of the Ghadarites were able to reach the Punjab. They exhorted the people to rise but not with much success. A large number of them were rounded up and were tried by special tribunals constituted under the Defence of India Act, 1915. No doubt, the Ghadar Movement was suppressed by the British Government with an iron hand, the great sacrificies of its leaders continued to inspire the youngmen of Punjab like Bhagat Singh and Udham Singh, who sacrificed their lives for the achievement of Independence for the country. Later on, many youngmen of this province were inspired to join the I N A (Indian National Army) organised by Subhas Chandra Bose, for the liberation of our country. The two revolutionaries Uttam Singh village Herian and Basant Singh village Karnana, tahsil Nawashahr were awarded rigorous imprisonment for 14 years in the Karnana Conspiracy Case, in Nawashar District.

Formation of the District Congress Committee, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur. – With a view to stimulate political activity, District Congress Committees were set up in the Punjab in 1917. These were affiliated to the Punjab Provincial Congress Committee. The delegates of the District Congress Committee, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur (Present Nawashahr District was part of these districts at that time), attended the Provincial Political Conference held at Lahore in 1917.

67   Ibid., p 40

Anti-Rowlatt Act Agitation, 1918-1919 –During the World War I (1914-18), Prime Minister Lloyd George and President Wilson were fighting for right of every nation to determine its own political destiny. When the war ended the Indian National Congress demanded that the principle of national self-determination had repeatedly declared that the Allies should be applied to India. But instead of withdrawing the hard extra ordinary measures O’Dwyer thought of imposing still more stringent measures to curb every type of political activity in the province. Behind the façade of Montford Reforms, the Government entrenched itself by a series of repressive legislation embodied in the Rowlatt Act, passed in March 1919. It empowered the executive to deport individuals, to set up special tribunals, to control the press and to adopt other repressive measures. Thus, the atmosphere in the Punjab was surcharged with feelings of resentment and anger at the attitude and intentions of the Punjab Government and a mood of defiance began to spread in the masses. Gandhiji appealed to the Viceroy to withhold his consent to these obnoscious measures. When his appeal was ignored, he started the passive resistance movement as a challenge to the Government. The people were called upon to disobey the new law by non-violent methods. As a mark of protest, Gandhiji announced a general hartal on 30 March, which date was subsequently advanced to 6 April. Gandhiji’s call to Satyagraha met with a tremendous response. As all over the Punjab, protest meetings were held at Jalandhar (Nawashahr Tahsil was part of Jalandhar district at that time) and other places where resolutions were passed against the Oppressive Act.

Hoshiarpur (Balachaur Tahsil of the Nawashahr district was part of Hoshiarpur District), like other towns of the Province, responded with equal fervour to the call of Gandhiji. Lala Gowardhan Dass, a veteran national leader of Hoshiarpur gave the lead. A hartal and fasts were observed on 6 April and a mass meeting was held on that day to protest against the Rowlatt Legislation.⁶⁸

During this period, the annual session of the Punjab Provincial Conference was held at Jalandhar on 2 April 1919, to spread the message of the Indian National Congress in every corner of the province so that “every citizen, town folk and villager, should be made to realize the intense necessity of doing his little bit towards the upliftment of his fellow countrymen.” Delegates of all the District Congress Committees in the Punjab as also leaders of public opinion in the few districts in the province where no Congress Committees existed attended the conference. Among others, the conference was addressed by Dr. Saif-ud-Din Kitchlew and Dina Nath of Amritsar.

68 The Tribne, Lahore, 8 April 1919

The Government prohibited Gandhiji’s entry in the Punjab and, on his refusal to obey these orders, he was arrested at Palwal (now in Haryana) on 9 April and taken back to Bombay under police escort. This was a signal for disturbances all over the Punjab. Matters came to a crisis in the massacre of Jallianwala Bagh at Amritsar on 13 April 1919, where the people assembled in a prohibited meeting were ruthlessly fired upon by the troops under General Dyer.

Non-cooperation Movement, 1920-22.- To bring the British administration stand still and to compel it to grant freedom to the people of India. Gandhiji started in 1920 the Non-Cooperation Movement in alliance with the Khilafat leaders. Its programme, among other items, included the renunciation of Government titles and boycott of elections and legislatures, law courts, government schools and colleges and foreign goods. The constructive programme of the movement was the establishment of national schools and colleges for education of children, the use of private arbitration in place of government courts, the adoption of swadeshi and the revival of hand spinning and hand weaving. The movement also aimed at removing untouchability.

The people of Punjab enthusiastically responded to the call of Gandhiji and participated in the movement on mass scale. Lawyers suspended their practice, the students in large numbers left schools and colleges and bonfires were made of foreign cloth. From time to time, there were hartals, public meetings and processions. Lajpat Rai revised his earlier stand of working the reforms and initiated propaganda for the boycott of the Councils. The Punjab Provincial Congress Committee accepted the principle of non-cooperation at its meeting of 8 August 1920. A non-cooperation committee was formed in the province as a joint venture of the Congress, the Muslim League, the newly formed Khailafat Committee, the Sikh League, the Home Rule League and the Indian Association. Gandhiji himself visited several places in the Punjab to acquaint people with the technique of non-violent non-cooperation.

After the endorsement of the non-cooperation resolutions at the Nagpur Session, the movement was pressed forward in the Province. Lajpat Rai replaced Harkrishan Lal as the President of the Punjab Provincial Congress Committee. He was moving up and down the province to secure support for the programme of non-cooperation. Meetings were held at various places in the province to rouse the people to actively come forward to make the movement a success. He also visited Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan, Lyallpur, Lahore (Pakistan), Amritsar, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur,Hariana (Hoshiarpur District. Meetings were also held at various places in the area of present Nawashahr District (as it was part of the Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur Districts) in support of the Non-cooperation Movement.⁶⁹

The District Congress Committee, Hoshiarpur, arranged a public meeting at Hoshiarpur on 23 July 1920. It was attended by a large number of delegates from all over the district. Dr Satyapal and Lala Gowardhan Das laid stress on the principle of self determination and the establishment of the Home Rule League at Hoshiarpur. Non-cooperation was also preached at this meeting.⁷⁰

The Non-coperation Movement went ahead in the area of present Nawashahr District. The leaders of the movement urged the people to wear Khaddar (hand-spun and hand woven cloth). The tailors in the district refused to stitch foreign made cloth. Beggar (forced labour) and the habit of drinking began to be given up. Some of the village headmen renounced their titles.

On 30 and 31 October 1920, a District Conference was held at Hoshiarpur. A large number of delegates and members from all parts of the district including the area of present Nawashahr District, attended the Conference. Such a great enthusiasm regarding the Non-cooperation Movement prevailed in the district that about 4,000 persons from the Una Tahsil (now in Himachal Pradesh) alone reached Hoshiarpur to participate in the Conference. Shaikh Jan Mohammad Rais of Hoshiarpur, Chairman of the Conference, laid great stress on the necessity of non-cooperation. The necessity of Swaraj and the means to attain it were also dealt within the sessions. The people present at the Conference signed in favour of boycott and Swadeshi and pledges were taken to remove beggar and untouchability.⁷¹

The Punjab devoted itself most vigourously to the boycott of the Councils. Voters were asked not to get themselves registered. As a result, the registration of voters became slack. During the elections to the Councils in 1920, only 85 voters out of 2,953 voted in the Hoshiarpur District.⁷² This boycott of elections was in support of the Non-cooperation Movement.

Gandhiji’s programme of Swadeshi found favourable climate in the Punjab. On his arrival in the Province he felt happy to see that the spinning wheel had been very popular. He admitted that it made the solution of India’s problem of poverty clearer to him. At Hoshiarpur,he was delighted to see hand-weaving cloth factories. He congratulated the

69 S. L.Malhotra, Gandhi and the Punjab (Delhi,1970), pp 117-120

70    The Tribune, Lahore, 31 July 1920

71 The Tribue, Lahore, 21 Novermber 1920

72    The Tribune, Lahore, 12 December 1920

people of the city ⁷³ on establishing such factories.

A conference, held at Jalandhar on 6 February 1921, decided to set up a National University for Women at Jalandhar. The working Committee of the proposed university decided about the middle of March 1921 to start immediately at Jalandhar a college for women, viz. the Kanya Maha Vidyalaya. ⁷⁴

On Gandhiji’s visit to Jalandhar on 8 March 1921, a welcome address was presented to him in the Nehru Garden (then known as the Empress Garden) by the Municipal Committee, Jalandhar. This action on the part of the Jalandhar municipality in complete disregard of official frowns was a welcome departure from the traditional practice of the local bodies which were required to present addresses of welcome to all kinds of officials of certain grade, good, bad or indifferent, but it was not possible for them to do honour to those among their own people whom, in their heart of hearts, they respected and revered beyond all the officials put together.⁷⁵

The Sikh Community in the Hoshiarpur District (including the area of present Nawashahr District) fully endorsed the Non-cooperation Movement of Gandhiji. A meeting under the auspices of the Sikh League was held on 25 March 1921 at Hoshiarpur. In his presidential speech, Bhai Dan Singh, a vetern leader of Hoshiarpur, exhorted the audience to follow Gandhiji’s non-violent non-cooperation. About the middle of March 1921, a Tum Tum Association was formed at Jalandhar with about 100 Tum Tum and ekka drivers as its members. It stopped the practice of payment of two paise to policeman at the time of leaving the ekka stand. The members of the association took a vow not to carry in their tum tum or ekkas any policeman free of charge.⁷⁶

Another combined meeting of the Akali Jatha and the Sikh League was held at Hoshiarpur where non-cooperation was advocated and the arrest of the Sikh were condemned. Men as well as women were urged to use khaddar, boycott Government-controlled schools and colleges and law courts by setting up national institutions and establishing panchayats.⁷⁷

Lala Lajpat Rai also visited Jalandhar on 17 August and 17 November 1921, and in crowded meetings addressed by him exhorted the people to boycott foreign cloth. Under the auspicious of the Khilafat Committee, Jalandhar, also a meeting was held on 18 September 1921, wherein people were exhorted to carry on the non co-operation

73    S L Malhotra, Gandhi and the Punjab (Delhi, 1970), p 147

74 The Tribune, Lahore, 19 March 1921

75   The Tri bune, Lahore, 11 March 1921

76   The Tribune, Lahore, 15 April 1921

77 The Tribune, Lahore, 31 March 1921

movement vigorously.⁷⁸ The Non-cooperation Movement made headway in the Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur Districts. The people were urged to wear Khaddar (hand-spun and hand woven cloth). The tailors decided not to accept foreign cloth for sewing purposes. The people stopped beggar (forced labour) and began to give up the habit of drinking. Some of the Lambardars the village headmen rename there titles.

About the middle of April 1921, a Charkha (spinning-wheel) Club was formed at Jalandhar with about 25 girls and women as members. The members of the club met every Sunday at the house of one of them and spun for about four or five hours. The thread prepared was sent to the Swaraj Ashram Lahore, for use of the freedom fighters.⁷⁹

The Non-cooperation Movement was intensified in the Hoshiarpur District (Balachaur Tahsil of present Nawashahr District was then part of Hoshiarpur District) in the succeeding years. In the district, the leaders of the Movement, notably Lala Gowardhan Das, Lala Achhuram Mal, Sheikh Jan Mohammad, Lala Milkhi Ram and Sheikh Abdul Aziz exhorted the people to support the Non-cooperation Movement. These leaders vehemently attached the policies of the British and urged the people not to cooperate with the British Government in matters of administration. Consequently, the calm and quiet city of Hoshiarpur became a centre of active political activity. The Volunteer Corps were organized in the City. These volunteers clad in khaddar and with national flags paraded the main streets of the city preaching non-violent non-cooperation.⁸⁰

The Seditious Meetings Act, was applied to the Jalandhar District (including the Nawashahr Tahsil which is now part of Nawashahr District) as it was declared ‘Proclaimed Area’ under this Act, soon after Col. C.H. Buck was appointed Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar, about February 1921. A resolution of protest against the application of the Act was passed by the Municipal Committee, Jalandhar. As soon as the Deputy Commissioner came to know of it, he called a meeting of the Municipal Committee and tried his best to convince the members about the justification of the measure but all in vain.⁸¹

The Government took severe measures to stop the Non-co-operation Movement but thousands of people, instead ofbeing cowed, courted imprisonment⁸². In a vain attempt to crush the movement in the district, Col. C.H. Buck, Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar, undertook a

78   The Tribune, Lahore, 17 April, 20 August, 21 September and 19 November 1921

79  The Tribune, Lahore, 19 March 1921

80  The Tribune, Lahore, 1 February 1921

81 The Tribune Lahore, 19 and 20 March 1921

82  The Tribune, Lahore, 16 and 30 September 1920

lecturing tour and visited Phillaur, Banga, Nawashahr, Nakodar, etc., but the movement rather gained strength as a result of his sayings and doings. He fined/arrested even young boys for shouting “Bande Matram” and “Mahatma Gandhi ki Jai”.⁸³

Gandhiji had enjoined strict non-violence on his followers. But in the train of his movement there followed incidents of violence which perturbed him. The incident of Chauri Chaura, in the Gorakhpur District of the Uttar Pradesh, particularly shocked him and he called off the movement in mid-Feburary 1922. He was, however, soon imprisoned.

As all over the province complete hartal was observed in the area falling in the present area of Nawashahr District on 20 March 1922 as a protest against the conviction of Gandhiji. In the evening at a big meeting foreign clothes were discarded and bonfire made of them.⁸⁴

A meeting of the District Congress Committee was organized at Hoshiarpur on 9 July 1922 in support of the Civil Disobedience Movement. After reviewing the political situation, Lala Krishan Lal, General Secretary of the District Congress Committee, took a pledge that the Congress could sanction civil disobedigence if and when the people fulfilled the constructive programme of non-cooperation.⁸⁵

The British authorities took several repressive measures to suppress the movement in the district. Lala Ram Lal Jali of Urmar, a member of Indian National Service was convicted and sentenced to one year’s imprisonment for carrying of Non-cooperation Movement and anti Governmment propaganda under section 108 C. L. A. Act⁸⁶. A large number of people in various parts of the present Nawashahr District courted imprisonment.

Gurdwara Reform Movement, 1920-25 – The Sikh League, inaugurated in 1919 with the avowed object of safeguarding the political and religious interests of the Sikhs, turned its attention to the mismanagement of the Harimandir Sahib at Amritsar. Under the influence of the prevailing spirit of non-cooperation, resolutions were passed at a Sikh Conference in 1920, demanding control by the Sikhs themselves of their religious and educational institutions without interference of any kind from the Government. As a result of their efforts, the Sikhs secured full control over Harimandir Sahib and the Khalsa College, Amritsar. Encouraged by this success, Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee was formed in November 1920, to

83   The Tribune, Lahore, 20 and 26 August 1921

84 The Tribune,  Lahore, 29 March 1922

85 TheTribune,   Lahore, 9 July 1922

86 TheTribune,   Lahore, 19 July 1928

undertake the management of all gurdwaras and other Sikh religious institutins. The Sikh shrines, many of which enjoyed considerable revenue, were hitherto under the Mahants who were generally of licentious character, and were accused of malversation and abuses of every kind. As a result of the agitation, some shrines voluntarily surrendered their control to the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, and a few were occupied by force, leading to fracas. It was new planned to take possession of Gurdwara Nankana Sahib (presently in Pakistan), the richest of the Sikh shrines, with an income of several lakhs of rupees. The holocauset at Nankana Sahib where, on 20 February 1921, 130 peaceful Akalis had been most mercilessly attacked, killed and burnt, stirred the whole country, and all the communities expressed their sympathies with those who had suffered. As elsewhere in the Province, a big public meeting was held at Jalandhar on 23 February under the auspices of the District Sikh League, where the atrocities at Nankana Sahib were condemned⁸⁷.

Soon after occurred the clash between the Sikhs and the Government on the question of holding the keys of the treasury of the Harimander Sahib, Amritsar. The Government refused to accept the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee as a representative body of the Sikhs and took the keys in its own control. The Sikhs were agitated and protest meetings were held. Ultimately, the Government yielded and handed over the keys to the Shiromani Committee.

As the movement for reforms in the Sikh shrines developed, the Sikhs made many daring sacrifices to capture other gurdwaras.

Guru Ka Bagh, a small shrine about 21 km from Amritsar, had been erected to commemorate the visit of Guru Arjan Dev. Adjacent to the shrine was a plot of land on which acacia trees were planted to provide firewood for the gurdwara kitchen. The Udasi Mahant accepted baptism and submitted himself to the authority of an elected committee. Then without any apparent cause, in the first week of August 1922, he lodged a complaint that Akalis were cutting timber from the gurdwara land. The police arrested the Akalis and charged them with criminal trespass. Akali leaders held a meeting at the Guru Ka Bagh in contravention of the order under the Seditious Meetings Act. The police dispersed the meeting and arrested the leaders. The Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee took up the challenge. Jathas (bands) of 100 Akalis each were formed. They first took an oath at the Akal Takht to remain non-violent, then proceeded towards Guru Ka Bagh. The police stopped them at various points far removed from the land in dispute, ordered them to disperse, and on their refusal to do so,

87 The Tribune, Lahore , 19 March 1922

beat them mercilessly with their lathis, jack-boots and fists.

One such jatha of 102 Akalis, representing the Jalandhar District, left the Harimandir Sahib on 6 September 1922 after taking the pledge of non-violence. They were stopped at a distance of about 13 Km from Amritsar. The police endeavoured to return the Akalis to Amritsar by motor ambulance cars. The latter, however, jumped out again and reformed. The police then beaten them and threw them into the ditches by the roadside. Seventy-five men were beaten in batches in this way, the remaining twenty-seven were beaten with lathis as one lot. After a few minutes 12 Sikhs got up and reformed. They were re-beaten⁸⁸.

When C.F. Andrews visited the scene, he was deeply moved and apprised the Lt. Governor of the brutality of the police and persuaded him to see the things for himself. Sir Edward Maclagan arrived at Guru Ka Bagh on 13 September and ordered the beatings to stop. Four days later, the police retired from the scene. By then, 5,605 Akalis had been arrested, and 936 were hospitalized. The Akalis took possession of Guru Ka Bagh alongwith the disputed land. After the Harimandir Sahib keys affairs, this was the second decisive battle won.

             Not all the Sikhs accepted the cult of non-violence which the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee had adopted. The behaviour of the police at Guru Ka Bagh induced some to organize an underground terrorist movement, known as the Babbar Akali. Babbar violence was of a short but intense duration. For a few months they terrorized the Jalandhar Doab and Hoshiarpur. Encounters with the police redounded to the credit of Babbars, most of whom displayed a contemptuous disregard for their lives. But by the summer of 1923 the wave of violence was spent and most of the Babbars had been apprehended.

Ultimately, in the face of the mounting agitation among the Sikhs, the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925, placed all the important gurdwaras in the Punjab under the control of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee.

Babbar Akali Movement. –The Babbar Akali Movement was mainly concentrated in the Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar districts (the area of present Nawashahr District was part of both the districts at that time). In these two districts, the movement was regarded as an off-shoot of the combined grievances of the Kamagata Maru incident, the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy, the Nankana Sahib tragedy and the Guru Ka Bagh episode. Kishan Singh Gargajj, a pensioned-off Havildar of 2/35 Sikhs from village Baring in the Jalandhar District was its main leader. The

88 TheTribune, Lahore , 9 September 1922

leaders of the movement started a compaign of murdering officials and the loyalists. In 1921, a plan was made to murder Bowring of the Criminal Investigation Department and other officials. But the plot failed and out of eight suspects in the plot, six were arrested but Kishan Singh Gargajj and Master Mota Singh of Patara escaped.

The compaign of stirring rebellion and of threatening the loyalists continued. In the spring of 1922, it was decided to intimidate all those who were prepared to assist Government Officers within formation. Razors were, therefore, purchased at the Jalandhar Cantonment for the purpose of cutting of the noses and ears of the jholichuks. In May 1922, certain attempts were made to attack the loyalists. Some of the members of the Babbar Akali Movement were arrested, and pistols, cartridges and razors were recovered from in their possession. In June 1922 Mota Singh of Patara was also arrested.

In August 1922, a paper called the Babbar Akali Doaba appeared. Before his arrest, Kishan Singh Gargajj had delivered about 300 lectures in various districts, including Hoshiarpur the area of present Nawashahr District, exhorting people to raise a banner of rebellion. In February 1923, a dacoity was committed in the Village of Rahon by the Babar jatha and several informers and loyalists were murdered. A serous dacoity in the Jalandhar District was committed on 10 March in which a loyal Lambardar and one of his grandsons were also murdered. In the last week of October 1923, Dhanna Singh a Babbar Akali, was arrested at Hoshiarpur carrying a bomb, but when he was about to be searched, the bomb which he was carrying apparently in his right hand cost pocket exploded, resulting in his death. Five policemen standing near him were also killed instantaneously and six others received injuries. Mr Horton, the Superintendent of Police, died there and then. After about a year, Sir Malcolm Hailey, the Governor, visited Hoshiarpur and unveiled a monument erected in memory of Horton and five policemen.

Mr. Tapp, the Additional Sessions Judge, delivered his judgement on 2 February 1925 in the main Babbar Akali Conspiracy case. He found 54 persons guilty; five, namely Sardar Kishan Singh Gargajj, Sardar Sant Singh, Sardar Nand Singh, Sardar Dalip Singh and another were sentenced to death and nine others were sentenced to transportation for life and forty to various terms of imprisonment ranging from 3 to 7 years. Altogether, 91 were put on trial. Of them 3 died during the trial Those who were convicted raised loud shouts of Sat Sri Akal. On appeal, the number of those sentenced to death increased by one. All the six Babbar Akalis were hanged on 26 February

1926⁸⁹. 

Though the Babbar Akali Movement failed in its mission, yet it inspired the people of the Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar districts to fight for Swaraj. It also created a feeling of terror and frustration among the British officials and lowered the prestige of the loyalists in the eyes of the public.

Boycott of the Simon Commission, 1928.- The British Parliament appointed the Simon Commission in 1927 to inquire into the working of the reforms introduced by the Government of India Act, 1919. When the Commission visited India early in 1928, there were protests and demonstrations all over the country. Lala Lajpat Rai led an anti-Simon demonstration at Lahore. To suppress the demonstration, the Police resorted a lathi-charge which severly injured Lala Lajpat Rai. Shortly afterwards, Lalaji died and these incidents caused disturbances all over the Province.

Demonstrations and protest meetings were held in various parts of the Hoshiarpur District also and the people shouted the slogan, “Simon go back”.

Bhagat Singh came into contact with some well-known political leaders of his time, namely Anand Kishore Mehta, Lala Pindi Dass, Suffi Amba Parsad, Lala Lajpat Rai, Ras Bihari Bose, etc., during his studies at D.A.V.School Lahore. Kartar Singh Sarabha’s supreme sacrifice and the proceedings of the Lahore Conspiracy Case left a deep iumpact on his sensitive mind. A similar effect was produced on him by the Jallianwala Bagh Tragedy (1919) and the Khilafat Movement. In response to Mahatma Gandhi’s call for non-cooperation in 1921, Bhagat Singh left his school and joined the National College newly opened at Lahore. At this college, which was a centre of revolutionary activites, he came into contact with revolutionaries such as Bhagwati Charan, Sukhdev, Ranbir Singh, Ram Kishan and Tirath Ram. He went to Kanpur early in 1924 where he met Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, B.K.Dutt, Chander Shekhar Azad and some Bengali revolutionaries. He now became member of the Hindustan Republican Association formed by the revolutionaries of Uttar Pradesh and started revolutionary activities. He founded a new association known as Nau Jawan Bharat Sabha with himself as its secretary. When Lala Lajpat Rai organised a procession at Lahore to protest against the Simon Commission, Bhagat Singhand his co-workers marched in the forefront of this procession. The brutal attack of the police on Lala Lajpat Rai caused his death on 17 November 1926. The whole of the Punjab was in rage at the death of

89   S. C. Mittal, Freedom Government in Punjab (1905-1929), Delhi, 1970), pp. 212-214.

their beloved leader and Bhagat Singh was determined to avenge his death by shooting Scott and other British officials responsible for this foul deed. He shot down Assistant Superintendent Saunders mistaking him for Scott. The three youngmen Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, involved in the case, fled away unnoticed. Thereafter, Bhagat Singh and his another associate, Batukeshwar Datt, each threw a bomb in the Assembly Hall at Delhi on 8 April 1929, for which they were arrested. This was followed by the discovery of huge bomb factory at Lahore. Bhagat Singh, who was sentenced in connection with the throwing of Bombs in the Assembly Chamber at Delhi, was also (along with Rajguru and Sukhdev) accused in this case and brought to the Central Jail Lahore.

Bhagat Singh, nephew of the revolutionary Ajit Singh, belonged to the village Khatkar Kalan. Tahsil and District Nawashahr, Jalandhar. He was leader of the youth movement in the Punjab, and the fearless and defiant attitude shown by him and his comrades during their trial made a deep impression on the public. Prisoners headed by Bhagat Singh resorted to hunger-strike as a protest against their treatment in prison. When their condition became serious, there was intense agitation throughout the country. Besides an intensive press campaign, meetings and demonstrations were held demanding human treatment of political prisoners. Ultimately, Bhagat Singh, and his two comrades Rajguru and Sukhdev, were convicted in the Lahore Conspiracy Case and hanged on 23 March 1931. The news filled the whole country with poignant grief. Their dead bodies were secretly cremated by the police near Hussainiwala, a few kilometers from the Firozpur City, on the right bank of the Satluj where the memorial of these martyrs was originally built in 1965.

Bhagat Singh became the most famous of all martyrs in the annals of Indian revolutionary history. Mahatma Gandhi wrote, "there has never been, within living memory, so much romance round any life as had surrounded that of Bhagat Singh."

First Civil Disobedience Movement, 1930-31.- After the declaration of complete Independence as its goal by the Indian National Congress during its Lahore Session in December 1929, the events moved rapidly. Since the British Government paid no heed to the demand for complete Independence and the offer of Gandhiji, the Congress launched in 1930 a mass movement called the Civil Disobedience Movement. Gandhiji’s historic march to Dandi on 12 March 1930, to break the Salt Laws was a signal for a nation-wide mass movement. The repercussion of the movement thus started took various shapes such as strikes, boycott of British goods and the like. Strikes, agitations, the boycott of British goods, the adoption of Swadeshi, etc., were the methods adopted by the masses to compel the British to grant complete Independence to the country. In this connection, the following events took place at various places in the Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur Districts.

Swadeshi bazars were organized at Hoshiarpur to exhibit and supply all sorts of cloth and other articles manufactures in India to bring about an affective boycott of foreign goods⁹⁰.

The fourth session of the Doaba Political Conference was held at Mukerian in the Hoshiarpur District on 28 March 1930. Delegates from Hoshiarpur, Dasuya, Alawalpur and from other part of Doaba attended

the Conference and assured full support to Gandhiji for the success of the Civil Disobedience Movement⁹¹. 

The cloth merchants organized a meeting at Hoshiarpur on 15 April 1930 and solemnly resolved not to place any orders for foreign cloth⁹². On April 28, 1930, the Salt Satyagraha commenced at Hoshiarpur. The volunteers disobeyed Salt Laws and proceeded to different parts of the district to propogate civil disobedience.

The Government resorted to repressive measures to crush the movement and declared the Congress as an illegal organization. The British authorities arrested Gandhiji and thousands of other persons who favoured civil disobedience⁹³.

Gandhiji was arrested on 5 May 1930 and there was a nation-wide hartal to protest against his arrest. A large number of people, who went on strike in the Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur Districts were arrested. The schools at Miani in Dasuya Tahsil of Hoshiarpur were closed down and protest meetings were held⁹⁴.

The Gandhi Day was observed at Hoshiarpur by the Provincial Congress Committee. The delegates from Mukerian attended the protest meeting and laid great stress on carrying out the Civil Disobedience Movement in Dasuya, Garhdiwala and Hariana in the district. The delegates also organized a similar meeting at village Khanpur in the district on 7 June 1930⁹⁵. 

The British Government intensified the repressive measures in the district. The Police committed atrocities at Sirhala Kalan, Tahsil Garhshankar,(Balachaur Tahsil of Nawashahr District was part of the

90 The Tribune,  Lahore, 21 March, 1930

91 The Tribune,  Lahore, 1April 1930

92 The Tribune,  Lahore, 19 April 1930

93 The Tribune,  Lahore, 25 April 1930

94 The Tribune, Lahore, 6 May 1930

95      The Tribune,   Lahore, 8 June 1930

then Garhshankar Tahsil of Hoshiarpur District), and arrested Sardar Harnam Singh, President of the District Congress Committee. The Police also beat several persons for actively participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement at various places in the area presently falling in Nawashahr District⁹⁶.

On the release of Gandhiji and at the conclusion of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact on 5 March 1931, the Civil Disobedience Movement was called off. All the political detenues were released.

Second Civil Disobedience Movement, 1932-34.- The civil disobedience movement was restarted on the re-arrest of Gandhiji on 4 January 1932 on his return from the Second Round Table Conference in London, and it continued till about the middle of 1934. Mass arrests of Congressmen and severe repressive measures adopted by the Government checked the spread of the movement and it subsided by the middle of 1934.

Individual Satyagarh, 1940-41.- On the outbreak of the World War II in 1939, the Congress refused cooperation in a war which was conducted on imperialistic lines and the Congress ministers in the different provinces resigned. This was followed by the Individual Satyagarh. In the areas of present Nawashahr District, great enthusiasm prevailed among the people who signed the Satyagrah pledge and imprisonment⁹⁷.

Quit India Movement, 1942.- The failure the Cripps Mission 1942 who signed the Satyagrah Pledge to resolve the deadlock to the wide-spread disappointment and anger in the country. The situation could not be allowed to drift. The popular impression was that the Cripps episode was nothing but a propaganda stunt designed to placade British Public opinion Therefore, on 8 August 1942, the Congress Working Committee passed the famous ‘Quit India’ resolution demanding immediate complete unconditional withdrawal by the British from India. Although the Congress proposed to start a mass struggle on the widest possible scale, yet it had not made actual preparations for the same. However, the Government decided to strike immediately and on 9 August Gandhiji and all the members of the Congress Working Committee were arrested. The Indian National Congress was banned and its offices were taken possession of by the police. The British Government did all in its power to crush the Congress organization.

96 The Tribune, Lahore, 23 July 1930

97       The Tribune, Lahore, January 2 and 19 and 4 Februray, 1941

This set off a nation-wide political explosion. The people reacted voluntarily and rose spotaneously for action. A good number of persons in the Province alongwith from the area of present Nawashahr District were arrested.⁹⁸ However, the Government let loose unprecedented repression and the movement gradually lost its momentum.

The Indian Independence Act, 1947.- Although the outward signs of the Quit India Movement had gradually subsided, yet the sullen resentment against the foreign domination continued to dominate the thinking of the people. This situation dragged on till 1945, when the Congress leaders were released.

The World War II brought about a radical change. The British Empire was visibly embarrassed and even when it finally emerged victorious it was clearly no longer the invincible leviathan it had appeared to be. The results of the elections held in the beginning of 1946 were over-whelmingly in favour of the Congress.

About this time, the trial of the Indian National Army prisoners created another wave of popular demonstrations. More dangerous still were the mutiny in the Royal Indian Navy, in 1945, and the police strike in Bihar.

These developments in the background made the British Government declare its intention of leaving India and negotiations were started for the transfer of power to the Indians. The British Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act on 1 July 1947, in accordance with which the country attained independence on 15 August 1947.

The achievement of Independence was celebrated in the district, as in the rest of the country, with great enthusiasm which was, however, marred by the communal riots and exodus of minority communities from both sides of the border consequent upon the partition of the country. The partition found the entire Government in a State of paralysis. In the face of the colossal problems, prompt action was taken by the State and Central Government to arrange for the speedy relief and resettlement of the refugees and restore ordered life in the State. Simultaneously, a programme for their effective rehabilitation was launched and was completed in phases over several years.

98 The Tribune, Lahore, 21August and 13 September, 1942

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