Jind

The ruling family of Jind has a common ancestor with that of Patiala, in the celebrated Sidhu Jat, Chaudhary Phul, from whom so many of the best houses in the Punjab have sprung. Raja Gajpat Singh, founder of the Jind dynasty, was a great grandson of Phul. His daughter, Bibi Raj Kanwar, married Sardar Mahan Singh, Sukarchakia, and became the mother of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Lahore. Gajpat Singh took part in the Sikh coalition of 1763 against Zin Khan, Afghan Governor of Sarhind, and received a large tract of country as his share of the spoil, including the districts of Jind and Safidon. His rebellion was condoned by the Court of Delhi, and he was appointed izaredar of the villages in his possession. In 1767, his accounts were a lakh and a half in arrears, and the local Governor put pressure upon him for settlement by sending him a prisoner to Delhi. He ultimately discharged the demand and was taken into favour, receiving the title of Raja in a Royal Firman under the seal of the Emperor Shah Alam. This was in 1772. From this time Gajpat Singh assumed the style of an independent.

His position on the north-western corner of the Rohtak country made it easy for him to invade Gohana and Hissar whenever the Mahratas happened to have their hands full elsewhere; and he and his son, Bhag Singh, ultimately held these territories as lessees of the Mahratas, and held them until the beginning of the present century. Raja Bhag Singh had shrewdly held aloof from the combination against the English; and when Sindia’s power was ultimately broken and that Chief was obliged, under the Treaty of 30th December, 1803. to surrender his possessions west of the Yamuna, Lord Lake rewarded Bhag Singh by confirming his title in the Gohana estates.

He afterwards accompanied Lord Lake as far as the Bias in his pursuit of Jaswant Rao Holkar, and he was sent as an envoy to his nephew, the Maharaja Ranjit Singh, to dissuade him from assisting the fugitive Prince. The mission was successful and Holkar was compelled to leave the Punjab, and Bhag Singh received as his reward the pargana of Bawana to the south-west of Panipat.

Raja Bhag Singh died in 1819 after ruling thirty years. Troublous times followed, and his grandson Sangat Singh was obliged for a period to desert his capital and make over the administration to foreign hands. Matters, however, mended after his death, sonless, in 1834 was then raised, as there were no direct heirs, though the collateral claimants were many. Orders were finally passed, in 1837, in favour of Sarup Singh, a third cousin of the deceased Raja, as the nearest male heir. But he was held as having no right to succeed to more territory than was possessed by his great grandfather, Gajpat Singh, through whom he derived his title. This consisted of Jind Proper and nine other parganas, containing three hundred and twenty-two villages, having a revenue of Rs. 2,36,000 Estates yielding Rs. 1,82,000 were resumed by the British Government as escheats.

The question of escheat Raja Sarup Singh’s behaviour during the First Sikh War was all that could be desired. His contingent served with the British troops, and every assistance was rendered in the matter of carriage and supplies. He received in reward a grant of land of the annual value of Rs. 3,000,another grant, yielding Rs. 1,000, was shortly afterwards added in consideration of the abolition of his State transit to this dues. In 1847, the Raja received a Sanad, where under the British Government engaged never to demand from him or his successors tribute or revenue, or commutation in lieu of troops; the Raja on his part promising to aid with all his resources in case of war, to maintain the military roads, and to suppress sati, slave-dealing, and infanticide in his territories.

Raja Sarup Singh’s loyalty was again conspicuous during the Mutiny. He occupied the cantonment of Karnal with eight hundred men, and held the ferry over the Jamna at Bhagpat, twenty miles north of Delhi, thus enabling the Mirat force to join Sir H. Barnard’s column. The Raja was personally engag- ed in the battle of Alipur on the Sth of June, and received the congratulations of the Commander-in-Chief, who presented him with one of the captured guns. His contingent ultimately took a prominent part in the assault on the city, scaling the walls with the British troops, and losing many of their number in killed and wounded. He was further active through- out in sending supplies to the besieging force and in keeping open the lines of communication and preserving order in the districts adjoining his State.

These splendid services received a fitting reward in the bestowal upon him of the Dadri territory covering nearly six hundred square miles, forfeited for disloyalty by the Nawab of Bahadurgarh. The state now yields over two lakhs of revenue per annum. He was also given thirteen villages, assessed at Rs. 138,000, in the Kalaran pargana, close to Sangrur, where the Raja had his capital. His salute was raised to eleven guns; and, like the other Phulkian Chiefs, he received a Sanad granting to him the power of adoption in case of failure of natural heirs, and legalizing the appointment of a successor by the two other Phulkian Chiefs in the event of the Raja dying without nominating an heir.

Raja Sarup Singh died in 1864. He is described as “in person and presence eminently princely. The stalwart Sikh race could hardly show a taller or a stronger man. Clad in armour, as he loved to be, at the head of his troops, there was perhaps no other Prince in India who bore himself so gallantly and looked so true a soldier. The British Government has never had an ally more true in heart than Sarup Singh, who served it from affection and not from fear,”

The Raja was nominated as Knight Grand Commander of the Star of India a few months before his death. He was succeeded by his son, Raghbir Singh, who was in every way worthy of his father. Immediately after his installation he was called upon to put down a serious insurrection in the newlyacquired territory of Dadri. He objected to the new revenue assessment which had been based upon the English system, though the rates were much heavier than those prevailing in the neighbouring British. Fifty villages broke into open revolt, the, Police Station of Badrah was seized, and rude entrenchments were thrown up outside some of the villages, while the tribes of Bikaner and Shekhawati were invited to help, on promise of plunder and pay. Raja Raghbir Singh lost no time in hurrying to the scene of the disturbance with about two thousand men of all arms. The village of Charki, where the ringleaders of the rebellion had entrenched themselves, was carried by assault, and two other villages were treated in like manner, and within six weeks of the outbreak the country was again perfectly quiet.

Raja Raghbir Singh furnished a contingent of seven hundred soldiers during the Afghan War in the Kuram Valley, and aided the British troops in holding the posts beyond our border. The Raja was a most able and enlightened Ruler; and his death, which occurred in 1887, while he was still in his prime, was regarded as a serious loss to the whole province. His only son, Balbir Singh, died in his father’s life-time, leaving a son, Ranbir Singh was born in 1879.