Jhumba

The Jagirdars of Jhumba belonged to the Bhaika house of the Sidhu Dynasty. It’s founder of Bhai Budha Singh who was son of Bhai Gurbaksh Singh, the ruler of Bhatinda.

Bhai Budha Singh took part in the union of Sikh Confederacies in 1762, which attacked Sarhind and captured it from the Mahomedan Governor Zin Khan, who was slain. The spoils were divided amongest the victors according to the amount of assistance rendered, and Budha Singh received as his share the village lands of Sarhand, a camel swivel and one hundred and fifteen matchlocks.

He returned to Jhumba, and shortly afterwards took possession of twenty-eight villages in the Bahor llaka. He next joined with Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the Chief of Kot Kapura, and Bhai Desa Singh, in the spoliation of Bahak Bodla, which was divided among the allies in the usual fashion, Budh Singh receiving one-eighth. He died at Kaithal after a fighting career of thirty-four years, in which period he managed to acquire lands yielding Rs. 84.000 in revenue. His son Tek Singh was killed in an endeavour to push the family boundaries beyond what his father had bequeathed him. Ram Singh, nephew of Tek Singh, exchanged the Sarhand lands for twelve villages in the Adampur Ilaka, with the Maharaja of Patiala. In the time of his successor Faujdar Singh, the Babarpur possessions were lost in a quarrel with the Raja of Nabha. After Faujdar Singh came Mahar Singh, who, in 1835, received five villages in the Jhamba Ilaka from the Maharaja Karam Singh of Patiala, in exchange for Bahor lands. But owing to a quarrel over the details the Maharaja refused possession; and in the fight which followed, Mahar Singh was worsted. He promptly placed himself under the protection of the Governor-General’s Agent at Ambala, who decided the case in his favour; and the villages were duly made over. The brothers Mahar Singh and Kandla Singh effected a partition of the property in 1838, when the country was taken over by the British. The former received the villages of Jhumba-Hasana, Bahujatri, Piori and Ghagar, with half of Bahubian and a portion of Bahak Bodla. Mahar Singh died in 1841.

He is supposed to have been poisoned by his brothers-in- law, who were desirous of securing the management of the estate during the minority of his sons. They were duly appointed agents of the property; but their oppression of the cultivators made them so unpopular that Bhai Kandla Singh, brother of the deceased, attacked and slew them with the approbation of the country side. This crime was punished by the confiscation of all the family jagirs, small pen- sions being fixed for the maintenance of Kandla Singh and his relatives. The case was made the subject of a revised order by the Board of Administration in 1850, when Bhai Zabarjang Singh was reinstated in his father’s jagir holdings in Jhumba, Ghagar and part of Bahak Bodla. Three ladies of the family were given jagirs in Husana and Bahus Khurd and Kalan, with reversion to Bhai Zabarjang.