SARDAR MANGAL SINGH (d. 1864), manager of Prince Kharak Singh`s Empire , came from a Sandhu Jat Jagirdar family of the village of Siranwali, in Sialkot district, which traced its ancestry to one Husain who founded, at the beginning of sixteenth century, Hasanali, a village in Gujranwala district. Mangal Singh`s grandfather Chaudhary Dargah Singh , who was the first in the family to adopt the Sikh faith, migrated from Siranwali to Gurdaspur owing to straitened circumstances to which he had been reduced, and joined Sandhu Jat Ruler Sardar Jaimal Singh Of Kanhaiya as a horseman His son Lal Singh, the father of Mangal Singh, succeeded him and was promoted to command 100 horse.
Mangal Singh`s sister Ishar Kaur was married to Prince Kharak Singh in 1815 at Amritsar. This brought the brother favours from the court. A jagir of the value of Rs 5,000 was conferred upon Mangal Singh and he was given charge of the Chun tari tract in Lahore district. Kharak Singh was so pleased with his management that he entrusted him in 1820 with the charge of all his affairs, civil and military, and gave him an enhanced Jagir of Rs 19,000 with the title of Sardar.
Mangal Singh also secured the possession of his old family village of Siranwali, which was then held by Sham Singh Attariwala. He retained the favour of his master, though the management of princely estates was in 1834 transferred to Chet Singh Bajwa. Maharaja Sher Singh resumed most of Mangal Singh`s original estates but granted him new ones of the value of over a lakh of rupees which he retained until 1846, when Raja Lal Singh seized them leaving him a much reduced jagir. Mangal Singh was appointed Adulate or judicial officer of the Rachna Doab by the British Resident, Major Lawrence. Mangal Singh died in June 1864.
References :-
- Sun, Sohan Lal, `Ihnddt-ut-Twankh. Lahore, 1885-89
- Griffin, Lepcl, and C.F.Massy, Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab. Lahore, 1909
