Faridkot

Flag of Faridkot

For early history see Sidhu Dynasty The Maharaja of Faridkot is the hereditary head of the Brar sept of Sidhu tribe. The Brar refers to the descendants of Rao Brard a Sidhu Jat, who is known for his conquest of Bidowal, Panj Gran, Fakkarsar, Kot Laddu and Lahri from the Muslim Bhatis. He had 2 sons the elder Rao Dhul received the greater kingdom and the younger Rao Paur was given the fort of Bhidowal and other territories. From Rao Dhul, the rulers of Faridkot are descended and from Rao Paur , the rulers Patiala, Jind, Nabha and other Phulkian chiefs are descended. Rao Paur was successed by Rao Vinaypal who conquered the ancient fort of Bhatinda and made it his capital. Under Manik Singh the grandson of Vinaypal, the kingdom stretched from the shores Ghaghar river to the shores of Sutlej. Rao Aasi Singh the grandson of Vinaypal, added murusi territory to the kingdom. Rao Aasi Singh was followed by Fateh Singh, who maintained very cordial relations with the Delhi Sultans to avoid fight with the Muslim Bhatis who by now have grown very powerful. The Chief of the Bhatis with the help of Lodhi Sultans of Delhi, attacked and took control of the Brar kingdom. Sangar the son of Fateh Singh, to avenge the loss of his people helped Babur against Ibrahim Lodhi. Sangar and other Brar Chiefs fought bravely at the battle of Panipat. In return of his service, the Brars were given there old chiefships of Bhatinda, Bidowal and Panjgrain, while Sangar was appointed chaudhary(headmen/Chief) of the Brars.

Chaudhary Sangar founded the town of Chakran , now a deserted village in the district of Kot Kapura and made it his new capital. The story is told that in the reign of the Emperor Akbar, the Muhammadan Bhattis of Sirsa and the Brars quarrelled about their boundaries, and both parties went to Dehli to ask the Emperor to adjudicate between them. Bhallan, the son of Sangar, represented the Burar clan, and Mansur, who was supposed to have influence at Court, one of his daughters being in the royal harem, was the champion of the Bhattis. The Emperor gave them an audience in open Durbar, and, as was customary, presented them with turbans and a dress of honour. Mansur at once began to wind the muslin round his head, when Ballan snatched it from him. A scuffle ensued in which the turban was torn in two. The Emperor was amused at the quarrel and said that his decision would correspond with the length of the pieces of muslin which each had managed to retain. On being measured the fragments were found exactly equal in length, and the Bhattiana and Burar boundary was accordingly laid down on a principle of equality, half the disputed country being given to either claimant. This tradition is preserved by the Burars in a well known line —

Bhallan chira phari Akbar ke Darbar.(Balan tore the turban in Akbar’s Darbar)

In the days of Bhallan the Burars held Kot Kapura, Faridkot, Mari, Mudki and Muktsar, and he was appointed by the Dehli Government Chaudhri or headman of the tribe. On his death, without male issue, Kapura, the son of his brother Lala, succeeded him as Chaudhri. Kapura was born in 1628 and succeeded his uncle in 1643. He was a brave and able man and consolidated the Burar possessions, winning many victories over his neighbours the Bhattis and others.

He founded Sirianwala, now in ruins, but abandoned it for a new residence Kot Kapura, named after himself and which he is reported to have founded at the suggestion of Bhai Bhagtu a famous Hindu ascetic. This town was peopled by traders and others from Kot Isa Khan, and the reputation which Kapura enjoyed for justice and benevolence induced many emigrants to settle in the new town which soon became a place of considerable importance.

Kapura was a malguzar or tributary of Dehli Empire, and appears to have served it With some fidelity, for when Guru Govind Singh visited him in 1704, and begged for his assistance against the Muhammadans, Kapura refused to help him, possibly believing, with many others at that time, that the cause of the new faith was altogether hopeless. Isa Khan, the owner of the fort and village of that name, was Kapura’s great rival and enemy, and watched his growing importance with
the utmost jealousy. The two Chiefs had constant quarrels resulting in much bloodshed, but Isa Khan, finding that he was unable to conquer Kapura by force, determined to subdue him by gentler means, and concluded with him an agreement of perpetual friendship. Then, inviting him to his house, he feasted him, in chivalrous fashion, and assassinated him at the close of the banquet.

Kapura, who was eighty years old at his death in 1708, left three sons, Sukha, Sajja and Makhu, who determined to avenge their father’s murder, and, assembling the clan and obtaining the aid of a strong Imperial force, they attacked Isa Khan, defeated and killed him and plundered his fort.

Sajja, though the second son,* succeeded his father as head of the family, but only survived him twelve years, when his brother Sukha Singh became Chief. He added to his possessions the estates of Rahadatta, Behkbodla, Dharamkot, Karman and Mamdot, and founded the new village of Kot Sukha. To his younger brother, Makhu, the villages Rori and Matta, were assigned from the patrimony, and these are still in the possession of Makhu’s descendants. Sukha died in 1731, aged fifty, leaving three sons, Jodh, Hamir and Vir, who for some time lived together in peace, but at length they quarreled and the two younger wished to divide the estate. To this Jodh, the eldest, would not agree, and Hamir and Vir then asked assistance from some of the Sikh Chiefs then rising to power. Sirdars Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, Kapur Singh Faizullapuria, Jhanda Singh Bhangi and Krora Singh, founder of the misl of that name. These were ready enough to interfere and, crossing the Satlej in force, compelled Jodh to assign the district of Mari Mustafa to Vir, and Faridkot to Hamir, retaining for himself Kot Kapura, with five villages known as the “Kharch Sirdari”, “ the excess usually allowed the eldest son, to support the honor of the Chiefship, in families in which the rule of equal partition ordinarily prevails. The confederate Chiefs then induced the brothers to embrace Sikhism, and having caused them to receive the “pahal” or Sikh baptism, recrossed the river.

Sirdar Hamir Singh was thus the first independent Chief of Faridkot. His brother Jodh Singh, in 1766, erected a new fort at Kot Kapura and almost rebuilt the town ; but his oppression was so great that the inhabitants left it, and the artizans, who had been renowned for their skill and industry, emigrated to Lahore, Amritsar and Pattiala. With Raja Amar Singh, of this last named State, he was constantly engaged in hostilities ; and, in 1767, the Raja having found at the suggestion of the Chief’s brother, a satisfactory pretext for a quarrel, marched to Kot Kapura with a strong force and prepared to invest the fort, when Jodh Singh and his son, advancing too far beyond the walls, fell into an ambuscade laid by the Pattiala troops and was killed, fighting gallantly to the last, his son Jit Singh being mortally wounded.

Jodh Singh was succeeded by his son Tegh Singh who appears to have been a man of very small intelligence. He continued the family feud with Pattiala, and avenged his father’s death by massacring all the inhabitants, men, women and children of the four Jalal villages who were in the pay of Pattiala and by whom Jodh Singh had been slain. Hamir Singh of Faridkot joined in this expedition, but – shortly afterwards quarreled with his nephew who refused submission to him, and taking him prisoner confined him in the Faridkot fort. The Phulkian Chiefs, however, used all their interest to get him set at liberty, which Hamir Singh only consented to do on condition that he would never leave his town of Kotkapura. The result was the utter disorganization of the estate.

The zamindars, unable to obtain justice, refused to pay revenue, and robbery and violence were everywhere prevalent, while Maha Singh Sarai, brother-in-law of the Pattiala Chief, seized Mudki and eighteen neighbouring villages.

The end of Tegh Singh was very tragical He had been for long on the worst of terms with his son Jaggat Singh, who, in 1806, set fire to the house in which his father was residing, and a large quantity of powder having been stored in the vaults beneath, the house was utterly destroyed and the Chief killed by the explosion. The guilty son did not long enjoy the lands of which he thus became possessed. The next year, 1807, his elder brother, Karam Singh, calling Diwan Mohkam Chand to his assistance, defeated him and took possession of the district, but the Diwan and his master Maharaja Ranjit Singh had no intention of restoring it to the rightful owner, and Kotkapura the Maharaja kept for himself, giving five Jalal villages to the Raja of Nabha. The villages of Mudki, which Maha Singh had seized, Ranjit Singh also retained, leaving to Maha Singh shares in two only, Patli and Hukumatwala In 1824, Jaggat Singh made an attempt to recover the estate and drove the Lahore garrison out of Kotkapura, but he was unable to hold it, and was compelled to surrender it after twenty days. He then endeavoured to make his peace with Lahore, and gave his elder daughter in marriage to Sher Singh, the Maharaja’s reputed son ; but the following year, 1825, he died without male issue. The descendants of Karam Singh, the elder brother are still living, but are of no political importance.

It is now necessary to return to the younger branch of Faridkot, represented by Hamir Singh, who, in 1763, received that estate as his share of the patrimony. The town had been founded some time before and named after a celebrated saint, Baba Farid, but Hamir Singh enlarged it, inducing traders and artizans to people it, and built a brick fort for its protection. He had two sons, Dal Singh and Mohr Singh, the former of whom was of an untraceable disposition, and rebelled against his father who suspected that Mohr Singh, the younger brother, was also concerned in the plot. He, accordingly called them both before him to test their temper directed each to fire at the leg of the bed on which he was reclining, with their muskets, or, according to other accounts, to shoot an arrow at it. Dal Singh fired without hesitation and split the leg of the bed ; but Mohr Singh refused, saying that guns were fired at enemies and not at friends. This conduct so pleased the Chief that he declared Mohr Singh his heir, and banished Dal Singh altogether from Faridkot, assigning for his support the villages of Dhodeki, Malloh and Bhalur.* This selection of Mohr Singh as his successor, created a deadly feud between the brothers, and Mohr Singh besieged his rival in Dhodeki. But the latter managed to hold his own, and, calling to his assistance the Nishanwala Chief, defeated his brother and compelled him to return to Faridkot.

Sirdar Hamir Singh died in 1782, and Mohr Singh succeeded him. The new Chief was an incapable, debauched man, and paid no attention to the administration of his estates, several of which, Abuhar, Karmi and Behkbodla were seized by his neighbours. He married a daughter of Sirdar Sobha Singh of Man in Jhind, by whom he had a son Char Singh, or as he is generally known, Charat Singh, and who, accordingly to the almost invariable practice of the family, rebelled against his father. The origin of the quarrel was as follows.

Mohr Singh had another son, Bhupa, born of a Muhammadan concubine, Teji, of whom he was passionately fond ; and this boy had a far larger share of his father’s love and attention than the legitimate son, who regarded his rival with the greatest jealousy and dislike. On one occasion the Chief was setting out on an expedition towards Philor, and told Bhupa to accompany him. The spoiled child refused unless his father allowed him to ride the horse on which his brother always rode and on which he was then mounted. Mohr Singh ordered Charat Singh to dismount and give Bhupa the horse. This insult, though an unintentional one, sank deep into the heart of Charat Singh. He could not endure that he, the legitimate son, should be slighted for the son of a slave girl, and determined on revenge.

Charat Singh rebelled against his father – With Kalha and Diwan Singh, his advisers, he formed a conspiracy to dethrone his father ; and during Mohr Singh’s absence, he surprised the Faridkot fort and put Teji, his father’s mistress, to death. Sirdar Mohr Singh, hearing of what had happened, hastily collected a large body of peasants and attempted to recover the fort, but he was repulsed with loss and retired to the village of Pakka, some four miles distant. Here he was surrounded by the troops of his rebel son, and, after a fruitless resistance, was taken prisoner and sent to Sher Singhwala, a village belonging to the father-in-law of Charat Singh, in which he was confined for a considerable time. At
length, Sirdar Tara Singh Gheba, a powerful Chief, interfered in his behalf and induced Charat Singh to set him at liberty, although he refused to aid Mohr Singh against his son. After this, Mohr Singh made more than one attempt to recover his authority in Faridkot, but without success, and he died, an exile, in 1798.

The fortunes of Sirdar Charat Singh – Sirdar Charat Singh now considered himself safe from attack and reduced the number of his troops. The Pattiala State, his old enemy, was not likely to attack him, for he had repulsed an attack of the famous Diwan Nanun Mal, Minister of Pattiala, during the minority of Raja Sahib Singh, with some loss, and had acquired a great name for courage. But he had forgotten to number among his enemies his disinherited uncle, Dal Singh, who was only waiting an opportunity to regain his lost possessions, and, in 1804, having collected a small body of followers, he attacked the Faridkot fort by night and obtained possession. Charat Singh was surprised and killed, and his wife and three children, Gulab Singh, Pahar Singh and Sahib Singh, barely escaped with their lives.

Sirdar Dal Singh only enjoyed his success for a single month.The children of the murdered Chief were very young, the eldest being no more than seven years of age : but they had many friends, the most able of whom was their maternal uncle Fouju Singh, one of the Sirdars of Sher Singhwala, and, moreover, Dal Singh was generally hated for his tyranny. A plot to assassinate him was formed, and Fouju Singh, with a few armed men, penetrated at night to the apartment of Dal Singh, where he was sleeping with two or three attendants, and killed him. Then they beat a drum, which was the signal for the friends of the young Gulab Singh to bring him into the fort. There he was declared Chief without opposition, and his uncle Fouju Singh was appointed Diwan or Minister. The affairs of the little State were conducted with tolerable efficiency for some time, until Diwan Mohkam Chand the Lahore General invaded the Cis-Satlej territory in the cold season of 1806-7. He seized Zira, Buria, Mokatsar, Kotkapura and Mari, which had been assigned to Vir, the youngest son of Sukha, but which had fallen into the hands of the brother-inlaw of Tara Singh Gheba. The Diwan then marched against Faridkot summoning the garrison to surrender, and, on their refusal, besieged the fort. The garrison trusted more to their position than to their numerical strength. Faridkot was situated in the true desert, and the only water for a besieging army was to be found in a few pools filled with rain water and scattered round the place, and these the besieged filled with the branches of a poisonous shrub, which so affected the water as to give the Lahore troops the most violent purging, and the General had no other resource than to raise the siege. He contrived, however, to exact a tribute of Rs. 7,000 from Fouju Singh, and in his heart resolved to conquer Faridkot on the first favourable opportunity. This opportunity was not long in arriving,* While Mr. Melcalfe, the Agent of the British Government, who had been sent to the Maharaja to conclude a treaty, offensive and defensive, against France, was in his camp, Ranjit Singh of Lahore crossed the Satlej with his whole army, on the 26th September 1808, and marched against Faridkot. He himself halted at Khai, and sent forward an advanced guard to which the fort surrendered without resistance, for the garrison knew that the Maharaja was present in person with the army, and his reputation tion for uninterrupted success was, at this time so great, that he rarely met with direct opposition. A few days afterwards, he himself marched to Faridkot, much elated at finding himself in possession of so fine a fort with so Utile difficulty. Mr. Metcalfe accompanied him, for the Maharaja, under pretense of signing the treaty, drew the British Agent from one place to another, forcing him to be an unwilling spectator of all his Cis-Satlej acquisitions, and although Mr. Metcalfe’s diplomacy was much commended by the Government of the day, there can be little doubt that he was outwitted by the Maharaja, who would have been permitted to retain all his conquests to the south of the Satlej had not the policy of the British Government suddenly undergone a change by the removal of all apprehension of a French invasion.

Before abandoning the fort, Fouju Singh made as good terms for his nephews as were possible, obtaining a grant of five villages to which they retired. The Phulkian Chiefs each tried to obtain the district of Faridkot from the Maharaja. Pattiala had the best claim, for it had once been subject to her authority ; but Raja Jaswant Singh of Nabha and Raja Bhag Singh of Jhind, both bid high. But Diwan Mohkam Chand, who had set his heart on possessing Faridkot ever since his repulse in 1807, was the fortunate grantee, although he had to pay for it a large nazrana, or fine.

The restitution demanded by the British Government – When the British Government demanded from the Maharaja the restitution of all his conquests on the left bank of the Satiej, made during 1808 and 1809, Faridkot was the place he surrendered most unwillingly.

To it he pretended to have a special right, firstly, from its being a dependency of Kotkapura, which he had previously conquered; and, secondly, from an alleged promise made by the owners when it was besieged in 1807, that they would, within one month, put themselves under his authority, and that, should they fail to do so, they would consent to undergo any punishment which he might think fit to impose upon them. With regard to the first claim advanced, it is manifest that no right could be maintained on account of any connection between Kotkapura and Faridkot. Ever since the division of the territory among the sons of Sukha, Faridkot had been independent ; more powerful than Kotkapura and in no way subject to it. Even had there been any connection such as that alleged, the Maharaja’s case would have been no stronger, for his seizure of Kotkapura, before he had requested the assent of the British Government to the extension of his conquests beyond the Satlej, could not warrant his seizure of Faridkot after he had made such a request.

The second ground on which the Raja based his right was in some degree more valid, except that its truth could not be ascertained, and the conduct of the garrison and the sudden and forced retreat of Diwan Mohkam Chand seemed to contradict it ; nevertheless, the British Envoy consented to refer the claim of Faridkot being an old conquest for the decision of Government. This proposal did not at all please the Maharaja, who told Mr. Metcalfe that he must consult with the Chiefs of his army on the Satlej respecting the propriety of restoring Faridkot. The Envoy replied that he should consider the Maharaja’s moving to join his army on the Satlej as a declaration of war and quit his Court accordingly.

Diwan Mohkam Chand, at this very time, returned from Kangra, where he had been negotiating with Raja Sansar Chand for the expulsion of the Gurkhas ; and took up his position at Philor, commanding the passage of the Satlej at its most important part, opposite the town of Ludhiana. His inclination was for war with the English whom he hated and suspected, and he did not wish his master to surrender Faridkot, which had been made over to him in jagir. His influence, from his experience and ability, were very great with the Maharaja, and it was Mr. Metcalfe’s firmness alone which at this time prevented a rupture with the English.

Ranjit Singh at length, and with great unwillingness, gave orders for the evacuation of Faridkot. But Diwan Mohkam Chand evaded compliance as long as possible. He wrote to the Maharaja that a British officer had been appointed to proceed to Faridkot, and that it was intended to occupy the place with a British garrison, and urged his master to suspend his order until such time as he could verify the information sent him.* The British Government had no intention of garrisoning the town, but they had determined that it should be surrendered to its original owners, and it was resolved by the Resident of Dehli to compel the restitution by force of arms.

The hot weather was approaching when the British army could not act in the field without great inconvenience, and the immediate march of troops on Faridkot would hasten its surrender if Ranjit Singh really intended it ; or, in case the evil counsels of Diwan Mohkam Chand should prevail, would only precipitate a contest which would, sooner or later, be inevitable. At the last moment, however, the Maharaja shrank from a collision with the stored. English, and, on the 3rd of April, 1809, restored Faridkot to Sirdar Gulab Singh and his brothers. All obstacles to the completion of the treaty between Lahore and the British Government were now removed, and it was signed shortly afterwards. Faridkot remained a princely state under the British Empire until the independence of India.