Kalalwala Junior

For early history see Bajwa Dynasty

The Kalalwala families(Junior and Senior) belongs to the Kalas sept of Bajwa Jats . The ancestor who gives his name to this branch of the Bajra Jats was one Kalas. He was the son of Raja Manga of Pasrur, whose grave,Manga ha Mari, is one of the sights of Pasrur and an object of veneration to the whole Bajwa tribe, Hindus ,Sikhs and Muslims. The initial rites of the marriage ceremony are celebrated on this spot by those Bajwas whose homes are not too far away to prevent a general family.

Kalas himself seems to have left Pasrur and founded a village(in the starting of 17th century), to which he gave his own name. This village is now known as Kalalwala, a corruption of the original, which, has led to a misapprehension of the origin of this fine old family. Kalas had two sons, Amir Shah(see Kalalwala Senior) and Pati. The descendants of the latter, although they were the younger branch, were the first to bring themselves to the front in the constant struggles which preceded the firm establishment of the Khalsa in the Panjab.

Hari Singh, the chief of Bhangi Misl, adopted Diwan Singh, and towards the year 1760 left him heir to a share of his estates. Diwan Singh was able to retain only half of his heritage ; and on his death, a few years later, the Khalsa proclaimed Dhana Singh as his successor. Dhana Singh had already distinguished himself in the service of Hari Singh by his gallantry at the siege of Bhera and in all the fighting round C-ujrat, while his younger brother, Man Singh, had lost his life in the service of the same Chief.

When the Bhangi Confederacy wrested Sialkot from the Pathans and Bajputs and divided the various estates, Kalalwala (as it was then called), Panwanas, Chuhara and Maharajke fell to the share of Dhana Singh. On his death in 1798, Maharaja Ranjit Singh recognized his son Jodh Singh as the representative Sardar, he being the only one of the three sons who seemed to inherit his father’s spirit. Not long after this Jodh. Singh was attacked by the Maharaja, who made the connection of the former with his old enemy Sahib Singh Gujratia the excuse for increasing his own private estates. Jodh Singh carried on the unequal struggle for some three years, but in the end was compelled to make a complete submission. On this he was granted jagirs to the value of some Rs. 60,000, and became so accomplished a courtier that, in 1816, the Maharaja married his son Prince Kharak Singh to Khem Kaur, the only child of Jodh Singh.

Sahib Singh did his utmost to prevent this alliance, which weakened his own position, on the ground that it was contrary to the custom of the Bajwa Jats, he. Sahib Singh, having already married the aunt of Eanjit Singh himself. Jodh Singh died the same year ; and the personal influence of his widow at the Sikh Court, added to that of her daughter, secured the succession of Sardar Chanda Singh to the family estates and jagirs. Chanda Singh’s father had been a Subadar in the Sham Souta Regiment, and his steady adherence to the Maharaja justified the passing over of Nadhan Singh, the only surviving son of Dhana Singh.

Chanda Singh and his elder brother Gurdit Singh rose in 1848, and, fortifying themselves in Kalalwala itself, had to be attacked and defeated by an English force, which blew up the fort and destroyed the village. Though there is now little doubt that Rani Khem Kaur had induced her cousins to act as they did, the Government granted her a pension of Es. 2,400, which she enjoyed until her death in 1886. Gurdit Singh and Chanda Singh got nothing ; and the former died soon after the annexation of the Panjab. Chanda Singh settled down to looking after the remnant of Dhana Singh’s estates, and died in 1867.

His only son, Bhagwan Singh, became the head of this branch of the family. He led the life of a country gentleman, and for some few years before his death in 1886 exercised the powers of an Honorary Magistrate. Chanda Singh married his only other child, Masammat Mahtab Kaur, to Sardar Tej Singh Atariwala. She accompanied her husband into exile, and settled down at Bareily, Horth-West Provinces, where two of her distant cousins, Hira Singh and Hakim Singh, have since joined her.

Sardar Eaghbir Singh, the only child of Bhagwan Singh, is the head of this branch. He was born in 1875, and is a student at the Aitchison College, Lahore. Sant Singh was for three years with the 1st Regiment of the Central India Horse, and now holds a commission in one of the Military Police Battalions in Burma.