|
 Maharaja
Kharak Singh was eldest son of Maharaja
Ranjit Singh, born on 9 February 1801.
He was married to Chand Kaur, daughter
of Jaimal Singh Kanhaiya, in 1812. The
Maharaja brought him up in the family's
martial tradition and assigned him to
a variety of military expeditions. While
barely six years old, he was given the
nominal command of the Sheikhupura expedition
(1807); was placed in charge of the
kanhaiya estates in 1811; and deputed
in 1812 to punish the recalcitrant chiefs
of Bhimbar and Rajauri. He was invested
with the command of Multan expedition
(1818) as well as of Kashmir (1819).
He was also sent on a similar campaigns
undertaken by Ranjit Singh for the conquest
of Peshawar and against the Mazaris
of Shikarpur.
Frail in constitution, Kharak singh
ascended the throne in June 1839 on
the death of his father. From the very
first day he had encounter the envy
of his powerful and ambitious minister,
Dhian singh Dogra. Dhian Singh resented
especially the ascendancy of the royal
favourite Chet Singh Bajwa, a trusted
courtier who had also been Kharak Singh's
tutor. The Dogras started a whispering
campaign against the Maharaja as well
as against Chet Singh. It was given
out that both the Maharaja and his favourite
were surreptitiously planning to make
over the Punjab to the British and surrender
to them six annas in every rupee of
the state revenue and that the Sikh
army would be disbanded. To lend credence
to these rumours , some fake letters
were prepared and discreetly intercepted.
Gulab Singh Dogra, Dhian Singh's elder
brother, was charged to work upon Kharak
Singh's son, Kanvar Nau Nihal Singh,
then travelling in his company from
Peshawar to Lahore. Misled by these
fictitious tales, the young prince became
estranged from his father.
Matters came to a climax when, in October
1839, Dhian Singh made a plot to assassinate
Chet Singh Bajwa. Early on the morning
of 9 October the conspirators entered
the Maharaja's residence in the Fort
and assassinated Chet Singh in the presence
of their royal master, who vainly implored
them to spare the life of his favourite.
Kharak singh was removed from the Fort
and he remained virtually a prisoner
in the hands of Dhian Singh. Kanvar
Nau Nihal Singh took the reins of the
government into his own hands, but he
was helpless against the machinations
of his dogra minister, who continued
to keep father and sone separated from
each other. Dhian Singh subjected Kharak
Singh to strict restraint upon the pretext
that he might not escape to the British
territory. Doses of slow poison were
administered to the Maharaja, who was
at last delivered by death on 5 November
1840 from a lonely and disgraceful existence.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Copyright © Harbans Singh "The
encyclopedia of Sikhism. Vol III."
pages 494-495
|
