Kapurthala State, with its capital at

Kapurthala Kapurthala is a city in Punjab state of India. It is the administrative headquarters of Kapurthala District. It was the capital of the Kapurthala State, a princely state in British India. The aesthetic mix of the city with its prominent build ...

, was a former

Princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

. 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Gazetteer of India ''The Imperial Gazetteer of India'' was a gazetteer of the British Indian Empire, and is now a historical reference work.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 The Punjab States Agency was an agency of the Indian Empire. The agency was created in 1921, on the model of the Central India Agency and Rajputana Agency, and dealt with forty princely states in northwest India formerly dealt with by the Prov ...

and acceded to the Union of India in 1947. In colonial India, Kapurthala State was known for its

communal harmony Communal may refer to: *A commune or also intentional community * Communalism (Bookchin) * Communalism (South Asia), the South Asian sectarian ideologies *Relating to an administrative division called comune *Sociality in animals *Community ownersh ...

, with its Sikh ruler

Jagatjit Singh Maharajah Sir Jagatjit Singh Sahib Bahadur (24 November 1872 – 19 June 1949) was the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Kapurthala State, Kapurthala in the British India, British Empire of India, from 1877 until his death, in 194 ...

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 with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

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

Origins

The ruling dynasty of Kapurthala originated in the

Ahluwalia misl Ahluwalia (also transliterated as Ahluvalia) was a misl, that is, a sovereign state in the Sikh confederacy of Punjab region in present-day India and Pakistan. The misl's name is derived from Ahlu, the ancestral village of the misl leaders. The A ...

. According to this account, 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 ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

- Khorasani army. His son Salibahan established the city of

Sialkot Sialkot ( ur, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of Sialkot District and the 13th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined with Jammu (the winter capital of Indian administered Jammu and Ka ...

, 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 Indian state of Rajasthan, located west of the state capital Jaipur. The town stands on a ridge of yellowish sandstone and is crowned by the ancient Jaisalmer Fort. This fort contains a ...

area, where they came to be known as Bhatti

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

tribe. After

Alauddin Khalji Alaud-Dīn Khaljī, also called Alauddin Khilji or Alauddin Ghilji (), born Ali Gurshasp, was an emperor of the Khalji dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic empire based in Delhi that stretched over lar ...

's conquest of Jaisalmer, some of the Bhatti tribe people's migrated to

Tarn Taran district Tarn Taran district is one of the districts in the Majha region of Punjab, India. The main cities are Tarn Taran Sahib, Bhikhiwind, Khadur Sahib and Patti. The City of Tarn Taran is a holy place for Sikhs. Tarn Taran district was formed in 2 ...

, mingled with

Jats The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and subse ...

. Gradually, they came to be known as Jats, and in the 17th century, they joined

Guru Hargobind Gurū Hargobind (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਹਰਿਗੋਬਿੰਦ, pronunciation: l 19 June 1595 – 28 February 1644), revered as the ''sixth Nānak'', was the sixth of ten Gurus of the Sikh religion. He had become Guru at the young age of e ...

's army. Ganda Singh of this family raided

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

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

fief A fief (; la, feudum) 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 Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a for ...

of Ahlu and some other villages. Ganda Singh's son Sadhu (or Sadho) Singh lived in Ahlu, because of which the family came to be known as Ahluwalia. Sadhu Singh and his four sons married into Kalal families, because of which the family came to be known as Ahluwalia. The descendants of Sadhu Singh son Gopal Singh (who was the grandfather of Jassa Singh) established the royal family of Kapurthala. The British administrator

Lepel Griffin Sir Lepel Henry Griffin, (20 July 1838 – 9 March 1908) was a British administrator and diplomat during the British Raj period in India. He was also a writer. Early life Lepel Henry Griffin was born in Watford, England on 20 July 1838. ...

(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

rose to prominence under

Jassa Singh Ahluwalia Sultan-ul-Qaum Sardar 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. He was also Misldar of the Ahluwalia Misl. This period w ...

, 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. Even after other misls lost their territories to

Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He s ...

Sikh Empire The Sikh Empire was a state originating in the Indian subcontinent, formed under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who established an empire based in the Punjab. The empire existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahor ...

, 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. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

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

Religion

Royal dynasty

Sardars

* Jassa Singh (1777 – 20 October 1783) (b. 1718 – d. 1783) * Bagh Singh (20 October 1783 – 10 July 1801) (b. 1747 – d. 1801)

Rajas

* Fateh Singh Ahluwalia (10 July 1801 – 20 October 1837) (b. 1784 – d. 1837) *

Nihal Singh Nihal Singh CB (4 May 1863 – 20 July 1901) was the Jat ruler of Dholpur state (1873–1901) in Rajasthan, India. Nihal Singh. Maharaj Rana of Dholpur. References *Dr. Ajay Kumar Agnihotri (1985) : "Gohad ke jaton ka Itihas" (Hindi) *Dr ...

(20 October 1837 – 13 September 1852) (b. 1817 – d. 1852) *

Randhir Singh Randhir Singh may refer to: * Randhir Singh of Kapurthala (1831–1870), ruler of the Indian princely state of Kapurthala * Randhir Singh of Bharatpur (died 1823), ruler of the Indian princely state of Bharatpur * Randhir Singh (Sikh) (1878–1961) ...

(13 September 1852 – 12 March 1861) (b. 1831 – d. 1870)

Raja-i Rajgan

(12 March 1861 – 2 April 1870) (b. 1831 – d. 1870) *

Kharak Singh Kharak Singh (22 February 1801 – 5 November 1840) was the second Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. He was the eldest son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire and his consort, Maharani Datar Kaur. He succeeded his father on 27 June ...

(2 April 1870 – 3 September 1877) (b. 1850 – d. 1877) Maharaja de kapurthala jagatjit singh

(3 September 1877 – 12 December 1911) (b. 1872 – d. 1949)

Maharajas

(12 December 1911 – 15 August 1947) (b. 1872 – d. 1949) *Paramjit Singh *

Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

Sukhjit Singh

MVC MVC may refer to: Science and technology * Maximum-value composite procedure, an imaging procedure * Multivariable calculus, a concept in mathematics * Multivariable control, a concept in process engineering * Mechanical vapor compression, a desal ...

Crown Princes

* Tikka Raja Shatrujit Singh

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