Nauhshara Nagli

Like the Majithia chiefs, the Hon’ble Lt. Sardar Buta Singh is of the Shergil Jat tribe. Chaudhri Sarwani, the fifteenth in descent from Chaudhary Sher Singh  , the founder of the tribe, built the village of Naushahra, otherwise known as Raipur Sarwani, during the reign of the Emperor Shah Jahan, and was permitted to hold it rent-free as remuneration for collecting the revenues of the surrounding district. For several generations the family held the office of Chaudhri, paying the revenue into the Imperial treasury, until Mirza Singh joined the confederacy of Sardars Jai Singh and Hakilat Singh Kanhaya, about 1752, and obtained, as his share of the conquered territory, the villages of Ratangarh,Uchak, Bhori,Bhikuchak, Rampur, Saluwal, Malkana and several others, worth Rs. 15,000 per annum. Mirza Singh died in 1787, and Sardar Jaimal Singh, son of Fukikat Singh, unmindful of the many and great services of the deceased, resumed the larger portion of his estates; and Sirdar Fateh Singh Kanhaya still further reducel them.When, howerer, the sons of Mirza Singh grew up, Sardar Nadhan Singh Kanhaya granted them Madhupur and Salowal in the Hoshiarpur district, worth Re. 1,500 and Mai Sada Kaur, the mother-in-law of Ranjit Sigh, gare to Kahan Singh the rillages of Bhogar, Barialah and Kohala, worth Rs. 2,000.When Ranjit Singh seized the possessions of the Kanhaya Misal, Kahan Singh lost the last-named villages; but he was made an officer in the irregular cavalry, and fought with his regiment at Kasur and in the Kangra expedition of 1809. When Sardar Desa Singh Majithia was made governor of all the hill districts between the Beas and the Sutlej, Kahan Singh was placed under his orders; and from that time both he and his son, Jassa Singh, remained in the service of the Majithia chiefs. Thy accompanied them in the field; filled civil offices under them; and their history differs in no important respect from that of their feudal lords. Sardar Jassa Singh had for two years charge of the Sikh temple at Amritsar, under Sardar Lehna Singh Majithia. After Lehna Singh’ departure for Benares, Jassa Singh remained in the employ of the Lahore Darbar; but on the annexation of the Punjab he war thrown out of employment, and his cash pension of Re. 770 resumed He held jagirs to the value of Re. 2,800, chiefly in the Gurdaspur district, at Malkana, Hayati, Salowal, Bahrampur, Malkawala, Ratan-gark and Shergarh, besides two wells and a garden at Naushahra Nangal, where he usually resided. These jagirs are upheld in perpetuity to the family, Haram Singh, the only son of Sardar Jassa Singh, was a Deputy Iuspector of Police. He died in 1868. Ranjit Singh, brother of Kahan Singh, was never under the Majithia chiefs. He was, soon after the death of his father, made a commandant of cavalry in Raja Hira Singh’s brigade, inheriting a half share of his father’s estate. He served at Multan, Bannu, Peshawar and elsewhere, but was not a man of any note. He was killed in 1846, leaving one son, Wasawa Singh, then A child six months old. Harnam Singh left a son, Arur Singh, who at the time of his father’s death was four years of age. His property was brought under the Court of Wards, and was administered successively by the late Sardar Gulab Singh Bhagowalia and Ajit Singh of Atari. He was educated at the Government High School in Amritsar and attained his majority in 1885. In 1888 he was made an Honorary Magistrate of the second class at Naushahra with powers over 133 villages in KathuNangal Thana, and in 1907 he was given the powers of a Magistrate Of the first class in the same district. He was a Provincial Darbari and ager of the Golden Temple–a position to which considerable influence and responsibility were attached during his time. He was awarded a C.I.E. in 1913 and a K.C.I.E. in 1921. He was also Honorary Civil Judge in the Amritsar district. On his cousin Wasawa Singh’ death in 1903, Sardar Sir Arur Singh inherited all his property. He owner jagirs worth Re. 1,500 chiefly in Gurdaspur, 33 squares of land on the Chenab canal and about 800 ghumaons in Amritsar. Sir Arur Singh furnished 700 recruits during the Great War, for which he was awarded two recruiting medals, a gun and a sword. The Recruiting Officer remarked :-” His total is double that of any other civilian recruiter,’ and His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief wrote:-” The army is fully aware of the great services rendered by him in the interest of recruiting. I am very grateful to him for the assistance he has offered.” He also raised 8 lakhs of rupees, to which he subscribed 27 thousand from his own pocket, for the War Loan. He collected Re. 20,000 for the Aeroplane Fund and another Rs. 25,000 for the Imperial Relief Fund, donating at the same time Re. 1,000 to these from his own pocket. He died in 1926. The Hon’ble Lt. Sardar Buta Singh, C.B.E., the present head of the family, is the son of Sir Arur Singh. He is a hereditary Sardar, a Provincial Darbari, a member of the Council of State since 1932, a first class Honorary Magistrate, a Lieutenant in the A.I.R.O., Joint Secretary of the Khalsa College, Amritsar, and a Vice-President of the Amritsar Central Co-operative Bank. He is married to the daughter of Sir Jogendra Singh, the late Minister for Agriculture, Punjab. Surendara Singh, the second son of Sir Arur Singh, has recently come of age. He has until recently been studying in the Government College, Lahore; but now that his estate is released from the Court of Wards, he will presumably look after its arrangements personally.