Nodhpur

Tek Singh was in the service of the Bhangi Sardars of Lahore, from whom he received a grant of the then deserted village of Nodhpur. In 1794, when Nizamudin Khan drove the Sikhs out of Kasur, Sukha Singh became officer of twenty eight horse under him, and was killed, in 1806, in battle’ Sahib Singh his brother was killed about the same time in a quarrel with the zamindars of Bablair. In 1822 Monsieur Allard came to the Panjab and entered the service of the Maharaja. He was directed to raise a corps of Dragoons, and Kahan Singh Rosa Was appointed Jamadar on Rs. 30 a month under him. The next year Kahan Singh was made Rasaldar in the same regiment, in which he remained for seven years. He did such good service in 1829 on the frontier, that, at General Ventura’s recommendation, he was appointed Commandant in the Rhas Paltan, or Life Guards, on Rs. 1,000 a year; being Rs. 280 cash, and the jagir of Bilandi, worth Rs.720. He served with his regiment in Kulu, Mandi and elsewhere; and Maharaja Sher Singh raised his cash allowance to Rs.800, and gave him, in addition to Bilandi, the village of Jodhpur and some wells in Rampur worth Rs 1,000 a year. Khan Singh Was severely wounded in the breast by a musket-shot in the attack on Raja Suchet Singh in March 1844; and Hira Singh, who was then Minister, made him a Colonel and raised his emoluments to Bs. 6,120. When Hira Singh was killed by the army, the Colonel,who was considered a protégé of the Raja, was turned out of the regiment by his own men, and he then entered the force of Sardar Sham Singh Atariwala. When the regiment was in front of the enemy at Sobraon, the men, finding that they could not fight without their old Colonel, insisted upon his returning to command them, which he did with distinguished gallantry throughout the battle. After Feroze shah he had been sent with a deputation from the Panchayats of the army to Raja Gulab Singh to implore him to join them without delay. But the Raja had other designs. He professed most earnestly to desire the success of the Sikhs;he pretended to send large convoys of provisions to the army; while he waited to see whether British or Sikhs would win. He longed with his whole heart for the destruction of the latter; and when he could no longer remain inactive, he moved from Jammu with the pretence of joining them. But at Shahdera, some three miles from Lahore, he waited for the news of the great battle; and when it arrived he took possession of Lahore and the person of the Maharaja, and then marched to Kasur as the friend and ally of the British to receive, as the reward for being the most astute man of his day, the kingdom of Kashmir. In 1846 Raja Lal Singh resumed the new jagirs of Kahan Singh; but, under the Regency, his pay was again raised to Rs. 2,880, at which it stood when the War of 1848 broke out. At this time Kahan Singh was Colonel of the Dragoons at Peshawar, and was one of the first to join the national party. He was a man of great bravery and an admirable cavalry officer, and his influence with the army was great. Through the whole Campaign of 1848-49 he fought with the greatest gallantry; and he and Sardar Jawahir Singh Nalwa were, perhaps, the most dashing officers among the Sikhs. After Chilianwala a great Council of Chiefs was called, and Kahan Singh proposed to attack the British camp by night with the entire Sikh force. This was negatived by the other Chiefs, and Kahan Singh then advocated an attack early on the following morning. Sardar Chatar Singh opposed this,and thought it better to march to Gujrat, and from thence to Lahore; and the Colonel then told him that the only reason that he would not attack was that he was afraid. Swords were out in a moment, but other Sardars interposed; and Kahan Singh, calling Chatar Singh a bastard,left the tent, followed by Jawahir Singh Nalwa, who alone had supported him. After annexation Kahan Singh lost his jagirs, but received a cash pension of Rs. 600. His eldest son entered the Guide Corps as a Jamadar, and was a young man of promise, but died in 1856 of a fever contracted at Peshawar. When the Mutinies of 1857 broke out Kahan Singh was one of the first Chiefs selected by the Chief Commissioner for service before Dehli. At this time he was in very bad health, and the old wound which he had received in the days of Hira Singh had re-opened; but he was eager to distinguish himself in fighting for the English, against whom he had once fought so bravely. He started immediately for Dehli with fifteen horse and eighteen foot, and joined the Guides, with whom he served till the fall of the city. In a sally of the enemy he received a severe wound in the shoulder, and from the effects of this he never entirely recovered. It was with his whole heart that Kahan Singh served in 1857. When disabled by his wound from actual fighting, he employed himself in procuring information and on winning over to the side of the English such of his country men as were in the ranks of the enemy; and more than forty of them he induced to desert. In 1858 the Government conferred on him, in addition to his pension of Rs. 600, his old village of Balandi, worth Rs. 720, for his life; Todapur, worth Rs. 700, for his life and to descend for one generation; and the estate of Maloki-Parem in perpetuity. He also received a grant of the confiscated house of Mahbub Ali Khan at Dehli, worth Rs. 4,000. Sardar Kahan Singh died in June 1864, leaving seven sons. Hardit Singh took service in the 11th Bengal Lancers, and retired as Rasaldar in 1882 on a pension of Rs. 860per annum, having served throughout the late Afghan War. His death took place in 1887, under circumstances which warranted the belief that he had been murdered by some of his near relatives, though the offence could not be judicially proved. On the recommendation of the local authorities, Government refused to recognize Hira Singh as Jagirdar in succession to his father. It was conferred upon the deceased’s brother Bhola Singh, subject to a payment of Rs. 400 to each of his half-brothers Hari Singh and Baisakha Singh. Bhola Singh, the present head of the family, was a Jamadar in the 11th Bengal Lancers.