Raja Raja (; from , IAST ') is a noble or royal Sanskrit title historically used by some Indian subcontinent, Indian rulers and monarchs and highest-ranking nobles. The title was historically used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. T ...

Dhian Singh (22 August 1796 – 15 September 1843) was the longest serving wazir of the

Sikh Empire The Sikh Empire was a regional power based in the Punjab, Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. It existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849, when it was defeated and conquered by the East India Company, Br ...

, during the reign of

Maharaja Maharaja (also spelled Maharajah or Maharaj; ; feminine: Maharani) is a royal title in Indian subcontinent, Indian subcontinent of Sanskrit origin. In modern India and Medieval India, medieval northern India, the title was equivalent to a pri ...

Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839) was the founder and first maharaja of the Sikh Empire, in the northwest Indian subcontinent, ruling from 1801 until his death in 1839. Born to Maha Singh, the leader of the Sukerchakia M ...

, and the brief rule of four of his successors over four years. He held the office for twenty five years, from 1818 till his assassination. Dhian Singh was a brother of Raja Gulab Singh of

Jammu Jammu () is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute ...

, who later founded the

Dogra dynasty The Dogra dynasty of Dogra Rajputs from the Shivalik hills created Jammu and Kashmir through the treaties with the East India Company following the First Anglo-Sikh war. Events led the Sikh Empire to recognise Jammu as a vassal state in 1820, ...

when he became

of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir under the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

. Another brother Suchet Singh also served the empire. The three brothers were collectively known as the "Dogra brothers" in the

, based on their

ethnicity An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they Collective consciousness, collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, ...

Biography

In the turbulent four years following the Ranjit Singh's death on 27 June 1839, Dhian remained at the helm, grappling with a power struggle in which three successive emperors and one empress died suddenly, in the build-up to the

First Anglo-Sikh War The First Anglo-Sikh War was fought between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company in 1845 and 1846 around the Firozpur district of Punjab. It resulted in the defeat and partial subjugation of the Sikh empire and cession of Jammu ...

.Following the coronation of Kharak Singh on 1 September 1839, Dhian launched a palace coup on 8 October 1839, and assassinated Chet Singh Bajwa, the favourite

courtier A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the officia ...

of the emperor. He imprisoned emperor Kharak, who later died of slow poisoning by lead and mercury. Dhian had spread rumor that the hedonistic emperor intended to sell out the

sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

of the Sikh empire to the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

. Dhian then installed the emperor's son Nau Nihal Singh, aged eighteen, to the throne. Thirteen months later, Nau Nihal, died suddenly on 5 November 1840, on the day of his father's funeral. After leaving the funeral pyre, Nau Nihal was knocked unconscious when a stone gate at Lahore Fort collapsed upon him. Udham Singh, son of Dhian's brother Gulab Singh was killed in the same incident. Dhian had the teenage emperor carried indoors, and barred any visitors, including the emperor's mother Chand Kaur. Eyewitness accounts had initially reported the emperor had only suffered minor injuries from the accident, however later the emperor was pronounced dead when Dhian presented the corpse with its head smashed. American

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Alexander Gardner, who was with Nau Nihal when he was injured, noted that five artillery men carried the emperor into the fort under the orders of Dhian. Two of these men died mysteriously, two asked for leave and never returned, and one inexplicably disappeared. On 13 January 1841, another of Ranjit Singh's sons, Sher Singh, led a coup against Chand Kaur, and after two days of siege and battle, Dhian negotiated a ceasefire, which led to Chand Kaur's

abdication Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the Order of succession, succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of ...

, and Sher succeeding to the throne as emperor. Later, Dhian had the deposed Chand Kaur's servants changed, who then assassinated Chand in her palace by smashing her head with wooden pikes on 11 June 1842. Brooklyn Museum - Portraits of Dhian Gulab Ranbir Sohan and Udham Singh

Brooklyn Museum - Portraits of Dhian Gulab Ranbir Sohan and Udham Singh

Dhian Singh and emperor Sher Singh were both assassinated on 15 September 1843, in a plot led by Ajit Singh Sandhawalia. Dhian was shot and his body cut into pieces. Dhian's son Hira Singh led a counter-coup the next day, and killed the assassins. On 17 September 1843, Hira Singh Dogra, aged 24, succeeded his father as the prime minister, with five year old infant

Duleep Singh Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh (6 September 1838 – 22 October 1893), also spelled Dalip Singh, and later in life nicknamed the "Black Prince of Perthshire", was the last ''Maharaja'' of the Sikh Empire. He was Maharaja Ranjit Singh's youngest son ...

being crowned emperor. WLA vanda Raja Dhian Singh on a Hawking Expedition

Dhian's younger brother Suchet Singh Dogra was killed on 27 March 1844, while leading a failed coup against Dhian's son Hira Singh Dogra. Hira himself was assassinated following another coup d'état led by Sham Singh Atariwala on 21 December 1844. A year later the

broke out on 11 December 1845. Dhian's elder brother Maharajah Gulab Singh Dogra, was the prime minister of the

Sikh empire The Sikh Empire was a regional power based in the Punjab, Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. It existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849, when it was defeated and conquered by the East India Company, Br ...

from 31 January – 9 March 1846, during the First Anglo-Sikh War, and then became the first emperor of Jammu and Kashmir on 16 March 1846, by the Treaty of Amritsar. This followed the 9 March Treaty of Lahore and ultimately led up to the British East India Company gaining sovereignty over the Sikh empire. Jagat Dev Singh a descendant of Gulab Singh’s brother Dhian Singh a member of Poonch ruling family ascended the throne of Jammu and Kashmir from September 1925 to February 1926.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dogra, Dhian Singh Dogra people 1796 births 1843 deaths People from the Sikh Empire