Nakai

Flag of Nakai Misl

The Nakai Misl was ruled by the Sandhu Jat Dynasty. It was one of the twelve Misls(States) that later became the Sikh Empire. It held territory between the Ravi and Sutlej rivers to the southwest of Lahore in what is now modern-day Pakistan. The Misl fought against the Sials, the Pathans and the Kharals before being incorporated into the Sikh Empire of the Sukerchakia Misl by Ranjit Singh. Before the establishment of the Nakai Misl, this family held the zamindari of the village of Baherwal(65.7 km northeast of Kasur) .

As the legend goes, in 1595, Guru Arjan Dev (1563–1606), the Fifth Sikh Guru, with some of his followers visited the village of Baherwal. However, the holy man was not received with due hospitality. So he passed on to the neighboring village of Jambar Kalan where he lay down on a Charpai (cot) under a shady tree. By this time, Chaudhary Hemraj Sandhu, zamindar of Baherwal, who was absent when the Guru passed through his village, heard of what had occurred and ashamed of his town-men’s inhospitality went to Jambar Kalan and brought the Guru back to his town. The Guru blessed Hem Raj and prophesied that his son and successors, would be great and powerful chiefs. However, it was more than 100 years later that the prophecy was to materialize.

By 1748, when the Mughal power in the Punjab was declining and the Sikhs were on ascendance, Sardar Heera Singh Sandhu (1706–1776) took possession of the lands surrounding his native village, Baherwal and countryside of Kasur which was located in the Nakka country South of Majha Region and his misl took the name of the area they ruled. He took Amrit Sanchar (Sikh Baptism) in 1731. Nakka in Punjabi means border or some sort of a gateway and the Nakka country was located between the Ravi and Sutlej south of Lahore. He also took Chunian from the Afghans but died near Pakpattan in a battle against Sujan Chisti – a devotee of the Shrine of Baba Farid. His companions brought his dead body to Baherwal where it was cremated. Hira Singh Sandhu’s son, Dal Singh Sandhu, was a minor, so his nephew, Nar Singh Sandhu son of Hira Singh Sandhu’s brother Natha Singh Sandhu, succeeded him as leader of the misl.

In 1768, Nar Singh was killed in a battle against the Kharals at Kot Kumaliah and was succeeded by his brother, Ran Singh. Ran Singh fought repeatedly against Kamar Singh, the ruler of Syedwala. Sometime before his death in 1781, he defeated him and captured Syedwala. Sardar Ran Singh greatly expanded the misl’s strength so it became dominant among its neighbours. At its high point under Ran Singh it ruled Kasur, Sharaqpur, Gugera pargana, and the Kharal fort of Kot Kumaliah and could field 2,000 horsemen. Sardar Ran Singh was killed by one of the Kharal tribe . His son, Bhagwan Singh, succeeded him but could not hold his territory against Wazir Singh, the brother of Kamar Singh, who retook Syedwala. Realizing he might lose all of his territory, Bhagwan Singh set up the engagement of his sister, Raj Kaur, to Ranjit Singh, who was the son of Maha Singh, the leader of the Sukerchakia Misl, in order to
gain a powerful ally. In 1785, Maha Singh was facing attacks from Sardar Jai Singh of the Kanheya Misl and called Bhagwan Singh and Wazir Singh to help him, but after they were victorious against Sardar Jai Singh, Maha Singh began to favour Wazir Singh.

Bhagwan Singh and Wazir Singh at war again and Bhagwan Singh was killed in the ensuing battle. Dal Singh, the son of Hira Singh, subsequently killed Wazir Singh in revenge but was himself killed later by a servant of Wazir Singh. In 1789, Gyan Singh, succeeded his brother, Bhagwan Singh (sons of Sardar Ran Singh Nakai). In 1798 he married his sister Raj Kaur to Ranjit Singh who become his second but most favourite queen. Raj Kaur also being the name of one of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s mothers, she took the name of Maharani Datar Kaur. In 1802, she gave birth to Kharak Singh, the heir apparent of the Sikh empire. Maharaja Ranjit Singh always fondly called her as Mai Nakain.

In 1807, Gyan Singh died and Kahan Singh succeeded him. Before having his estate seized by Ranjit Singh. Sardar Kahan Singh conquered Pakpattan in 1810. Ranjit Singh was an ambitious King and Chief. Having incorporated most of the Sikh Confederacy into his empire, he had been eyeing the holdings of the Nakai Misl. After the death of Sardar Gyan Singh, he invited the new Chief to move and live in the Lahore court, which the proud Nakai Chief steadily refused. Consequently, Ranjit Singh ordered the annexation of his holdings and granted Kahan Singh a jagir at Baherwal then valued at Rupees 15,000. A Jagir at Nankot was also granted to Sardar Khazan Singh, a son of Sardar Ran Singh Nakai, the third chief of the Nakai Misl.