Pahuwind

Karam Singh and his three brothers were among the Sikhs who overran and took possession of the Jullundur Doab in the latter half of the eighteenth century. They secured an estate at Saranpur worth Rs. 8,000, which they held during their lifetime. All the brothers, with the exception of Karam Singh, died without issue, and in 1806, soon after Gulab Singh had succeeded to the estate, Maharaja Ranjit Singh conquered the plain country of the Doab, and Gulab Singh retired to his native village of Povind. He then entered Ranjit Singh’s service, and received this village in jagir, with the rank of Adjutant. He served with distinction under Misar Diwan Chand at Nurpur and in Kashmir, and on the termination of the latter campaign was made Commandant and received the village of Sidhu in jagir. After the capture of Multan in 1818 he was promoted to the rank of Colonel and did such good service the next year at Mankera, that he received the grant of Akbarpur, near Gugera, worth Rs. 500, with an elephant and valuable khilats. Gulab Singh was stationed at Peshawar for some years, and fought in most of the battles against Ali Akbar Khan and Dost Muhammad Khan. In the first Peshawar campaign he discovered a ford on the Indus, and led his troops over in the van of the army, to Ranjit Singh’s great satisfaction. In 1826, he received command of three infantry and two cavalry regiments, with a troop of horse artillery; and the same year his son, Ala Singh, entered the service and was made commandant under his father, with an independent jagir. When the regular army was first formed into brigades, Gulab Singh was made General, and held his rank and brigade throughout the following reign of Kharak Singh. In 1837 Gulab Singh was sent to Gujranwala with orders to confiscate the property of Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa, who had been killed at Peshawar, and whose four sons were fighting about the succession. He drove Arjun Singh and Punjab Singh out of their fortified house; threatened to hang the former, and took possession of all the property and estates. Arjun Singh determined on revenge; and when Sher Singh became King, and everyone had license to avenge his real or fancied wrongs, he attacked and burnt Povind, where Gulab Singh resided. The General, fearing for his life, fed to Jammu, where he remained for some time under the protection of Raja Gulab Singh, till the Maharaja, by advice of Dhian Singh, recalled him and placed him in command of the contingent which was to support the British army during the Kabul campaign. He accompanied Colonel Lawrence to Kabul; and his services and knowledge of the country were of considerable value. Raja Hira Singh, whose family had always befriended Gulab Singh, gare him, on the death of Maharaja Sher Singh, new jagirs to the value of Re. 7,625; and Colonel Ala Singh received new allowances, in jagirs and cash, to the value of Rs. 2,000. Gulab Singh took no part in the Sutlej campaign, his troops remaining in Lahore to protect the Maharaja; and in April, 1847, he was at the recommendation of the Resident, appointed Governor of Peshawar and, being at this time the senior General, placed in command of all the troops at that station. The elevation of Gulab Singh to this important post was a great source of gratification to the Khalsa army, for the brave old man was much loved and respected by the troops. He was created a Sardar; and in a Darbar held at Lahore on the 26th November, 1847, received the honorary title of Bahadur. Sardar Gulab Singh fulfilled the duties of his new appointment with ability and judgment; and when the Multan rebellion broke out he gave his most cordial assistance to Major G. Lawrence, then in charge at Peshawar, in preserving the peace of the district. For six months, while the insurrectionary movement was spreading more and more widely over the country, the influence of Gulab Singh and his son and deputy, Colonel Ala Singh, kept the excited Sikh soldiery to their allegiance: but when Raja Chatar Singh Attariwala approached Peshawar the troops could no longer be restrained and broke into open mutiny. Major Lawrence held his post till all was hopelessly lost, and then retired to Kohat.

Gulab Singh and Ala Singh would have accompanied him, but the General was too infirm to move quickly; and it was finally decided that he should retire to the fort of Shamirgarh, where he might make terms with the rebels. But this gallant officer refused any terms that would compromise his honour. Both he and his son remained loyal; and the Sikh army, finding that they could not be seduced by bribes or terrified by threats, kept them under restraint till the close of the campaign, when the victory of the British restored them to liberty. On the annexation of the Punjab, the whole of Sardar Gulab Singh’s personal jagirs, to the value of Rs. 17,500, were confirmed to him for life, as were those of his two sons, Ala Singh and Lehna Singh, worth Rs. 3,000 and Rs. 1,050, respectively. Gulab Singh and Ala Singh died in 1854 and Lena Singh in 1856. The descendants of Ala Singh held neither jagirs nor pensions. In 1857 Hari Singh, a servant of the late Sardar, gave information to Government that Rs. 55,000 would be found buried in a house which had belonged to Gulab Singh, and on search being made the money was found and placed in the treasury. It was claimed by Nand Kaur, the widow of Gulab Singh, and the widows of Lehna Singh, who obtained a decree for the interest of the money in equal shares. This money afterwards passed to Kishan Singh, who squandered it. Kishen Singh was a Viceregal Darbari and died in 1887. His son, Suchet Singh, served for a short time in the 1lth Lancers, and afterwards lived in comparative obscurity in Povind of which village he was Zaildar and Lambardar until his death. Sardar Gurbakhsh Singh, third and only surviving son of Kishan Singh, succeeded his brother as Zaildar and Lambardar and may be regarded as the head of the family. He is a Divisional Darbari. During the Great War he gave considerable assistance in recruitment. He owns some 2,725 acres of land and pays more than 3,500 rupees as annual revenue. His eldest son, Sardar Gurwaryam Singh, was educated at the ‘Aitchison College, from where he took the diploma. He was a member of the Lahore District Board, and is supervising his father’s property situated in the districts of Lahore, Ferozepore, Montgomery and Amritsar.  Muhammad Said, the eldest son of Sardar Hardit Singh was also a Lambardar, a member of the Montgomery District Board and a District Darbari. He and his brother, Ahmed Said, jointly hold over 1,100 acres of land in the Lahore, Montgomery and Ferozepore districts and puy over Rs. 1,500 as revenue to Government.