Kapurthala State, was a kingdom and later princely state of the Punjab Province of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. Ruled by Ahluwalia Sikh rulers, spread across . According to the 1901 census the state had a population of 314,341 and contained two towns and 167 villages.Kapurthala state
''

The Imperial Gazetteer of India ''The Imperial Gazetteer of India'' was a gazetteer of the British Indian Empire, and is now a historical reference work. It was first published in 1881. Sir William Wilson Hunter made the original plans of the book, starting in 1869.< ...

'', 1909, v. 14, p. 408. In 1930, Kapurthala became part of the Punjab States Agency and acceded to the Union of India in 1947. In colonial India, Kapurthala State was known for its communal harmony, with its Sikh ruler Jagatjit Singh building the Moorish Mosque for his Muslim subjects. At the time of the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

, the ruler of the Kapurthala State opposed the partition of India and advocated for a united, secular country.

History

Origin

According to mythology, Krishna's descendant Gaj built the fort of Gajni, and lost his life in a battle against a joint

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

- Khorasani army. His son Salibahan established the city of

Sialkot Sialkot (Punjabi language, Punjabi, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of the Sialkot District and the List of most populous cities in Pakistan, 12th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined ...

, and started the Shak era after defeating the Shaks in 78 CE. After the Muslim conquest of Punjab, his descendants migrated to the

Jaisalmer Jaisalmer , nicknamed ''The Golden city'', is a city in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, located west of the state capital Jaipur, in the heart of the Thar Desert. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Jaisalmer district ...

area, where they came to be known as Kalal

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

tribe. After

Alauddin Khalji Alauddin Khalji (; ), born Ali Gurshasp, was a ruler from the Khalji dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate in the Indian subcontinent. Alauddin instituted a number of significant administrative changes in the Delhi Sultanate, related to revenue ...

's conquest of Jaisalmer, some of the former ruling Kalchuri Kalal tribe people migrated to Tarn Taran district. In the 17th century, they joined Guru Hargobind's army. Ganda Singh of this family raided

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

, whose governor Dilawar Khan persuaded him to join the Lahore army, and assigned him the

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

of Ahlu and some other villages. Ganda Singh Kalal's son Sadhu (or Sadho) Singh Kalal lived in Ahlu, because of which the family came to be known as Ahluwalia. The descendants of Sadhu Singh Kalal through his son Gopal Singh Kalal (who was the grandfather of Jassa Singh Kalal) established the royal family of Kapurthala. The British administrator Lepel Griffin (1873) dismissed this account as spurious. The Sikh author Gian Singh, in his ''Twarikh Raj Khalsa'' (1894), wrote that the Ahluwalia family adopted the Kalal caste identity much before Sadhu Singh. The ruling dynasty of Kapurthala originated in the Ahluwalia misl. The Ahluwalia misl rose to prominence under

Jassa Singh Ahluwalia Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (3 May 1718 – 23 October 1783) was a Sikh leader during the period of the Sikh Confederacy, being the supreme leader of the Dal Khalsa (Sikh Army), Dal Khalsa. He was also Misldar of the Ahluwalia (misl), Ahluwalia Mi ...

, who was the first person to use the name "Ahluwalia". Originally known as Jassa Singh Kalal, he styled himself as Ahluwalia after his ancestral village of Ahlu and belonged to the Kalal community. He is regarded as the founder of the Kapurthala State.

Establishment

In 1774, Jassa Singh Kalal conquered Kapurthala from Rai Ibrahim Bhatti. Even after other misls lost their territories to

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 ...

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 ...

, the emperor permitted the descendants of Jassa Singh to retain their estates. After 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 ...

took over the Sikh territories in 1846, Jassa Singh's descendants became the ruling family of the Kapurthala State.

Demographics

Royal dynasty

List of rulers

Crown Princes

* Tikka Raja Shatrujit Singh

Dewan / Ministers of Kapurthala State

* Dewan Banna Mal Gautam (Manager Of Oudh Estates of Maharaja Kapurthala) * Dewan Mathra Dass (Private Secretary) * Dewan Ramjas Dhir *Dewan Acchru Mal Gautam (Revenue Minister) s/o Dewan Banna Mal * Dewan Durga Dass Gautam * Dewan Ambika Parshad Gautam (Accountant General) * Dewan Mohabbat Rai * Dewan Abdul Hamid (Prime Minister) * Dewan Shiv Narayan Randev (Chief Secretary Of Kapurthala State) * Sirdar Bhagat Ram Randev (Chief Judge) * Sirdar Dwarka Dass Randev, Bar At Law S/O Dewan Shiv Narayan Randev (Assistant Manager Oudh and Last Chief Justice Of Kapurthala State) * Dewan Hari Chand Chopra (Finance Minister) * Dewan Saudagar Mal * Dewan Badrinath * Dewan Surendranath * G.T Fisher (Chief Minister) * Dewan Sureshwar Dass (Home Minister) * Dewan Ajudhia Dass (Revenue Minister) * Sirdar Suchet Singh * Sirdar Kishan Singh * Dewan Raj Kumar Chopra (Chief Justice ) * Dewan Jermany Dass * Dewan Kuljass Rai

Orders of chivalry

The Royal House of Kapurthala awards three

orders of chivalry An order of chivalry, order of knighthood, chivalric order, or equestrian order is a society, fellowship and college of knights, typically founded during or inspired by the original Catholic military orders of the Crusades ( 1099–1291) and p ...

; these knighthoods include: *Nishan-i-Shahi, awarded in three classes (founded by Maharaja Jagatjit Singh Bahadur in 1898) * Nishan-i-Iftikhar, awarded in three classes (founded by Maharaja Jagatjit Singh Bahadur in 1914) *Nishan-i-Askari, awarded in three classes (founded by Maharaja Jagatjit Singh Bahadur in 1927) The decoration of the Nishan-i-Iftikhar includes the coat of arms of Kapurthala State.

Gallery

File:Qila Jallow Khana, Kapurthala State.jpg, Qila Jallow Khana, Kapurthala State File:Old Baradari at Shalimar Garden, Kapurthala State.jpg, Old Baradari at Shalimar Garden, Kapurthala State File:Photograph of the State Gurdwara of Kapurthala State during a thanksgiving service.jpg, Photograph of the State Gurdwara of Kapurthala State during a thanksgiving service File:Old court complex , Kapurthala State 02.jpg, Old court complex, Kapurthala State File:Photograph of Buggy Khana, Kapurthala State 02.jpg, Photograph of Buggy Khana, Kapurthala State

Notes

References

External links

*
Kapurthala
www.sikh-heritage.co.uk {{coord, 31, 23, N, 75, 23, E, region:IN_type:landmark_source:kolossus-svwiki, display=title 1772 establishments in India 1947 disestablishments in India Gun salute princely states Sikh Confederacy