The State of Malerkotla or Maler Kotla was a

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

in the

Punjab region 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 a ...

during the era of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. The last

Nawab Nawab ( Balochi: نواب; ar, نواب; bn, নবাব/নওয়াব; hi, नवाब; Punjabi : ਨਵਾਬ; Persian, Punjabi , Sindhi, Urdu: ), also spelled Nawaab, Navaab, Navab, Nowab, Nabob, Nawaabshah, Nawabshah or Nobab, ...

of Maler Kotla signed the instrument of accession to join the

Dominion of India The Dominion of India, officially the Union of India,* Quote: “The first collective use (of the word "dominion") occurred at the Colonial Conference (April to May 1907) when the title was conferred upon Canada and Australia. New Zealand and N ...

on 20 August 1948. Its rulers belonged to a Pathan dynasty, and its capital was in Malerkotla. The state belonged to 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 ...

History

The area, which was known as Maler, was received as a jagir in 1454 A.D. by Sheikh Sadruddin-i-Jahan, a pious man of the

Sherwani Sherwani is a long-sleeved outer coat worn by men in South Asia. Like the Western frock coat it is fitted, with some waist suppression; it falls to below the knees and is buttoned down the front. It can be collarless, have a shirt-style collar, ...

tribe of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

area, and was ruled by his descendants. Local tradition says that Bahlul Lodi (1451–1489), the Afghan king who had most of western India under his control, desired to rule

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

and on his way, he was caught in a sand drift. In the darkness the King spotted a dim light of a lamp still burning in the wind. It was the hut of Sheikh Sadruddin and when the king found out he came to the hut to show his respect and asked the holy man to pray for him to bear a son and have victory. During 1451 and 1452, the king married off his daughter

Taj Murassa Taj may refer to: Buildings *Taj Mahal, a medieval mausoleum in the Indian city of Agra *Taj Palace, an Abbasid palace in medieval Baghdad *Taj-ul-Masajid, mosque in Bhopal * Taj building, Nowshera, Pakistan *Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, inte ...

to Sheikh Sadruddin after being enthroned in Delhi, and also gave him the area of Maler as a ''

jagir A jagir ( fa, , translit=Jāgir), also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar (Zamindar) system. It developed during the Islamic rule era of the Indian subcontinent, starti ...

''. The descendants of Sheikh Sadruddin branched into two groups. One started ruling the state and were given the title of ''

'' when the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

arose. The other branch lived around the Shrine of Shaikh Sadruddin, controlling its revenue from pilgrims. The State of Malerkotla was established in 1657 by Bayazid Khan. After saving the life of Mughal Emperor

Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...

in a tiger attack, Bayazid Khan was granted the privilege to build a fort, which he named Malerkotla and eventually gave its name to the state. On 3 May 1809 Maler Kotla became a British protectorate and was made part of the

Cis-Sutlej states The Cis-Sutlej states were a group of states in the modern Punjab and Haryana states of northwestern India during the 19th century, lying between the Sutlej River on the north, the Himalayas on the east, the Yamuna River and Delhi District on the ...

until 1862. Malerkotla ranked 12th in the Punjab Darbar in 1890. During the

1947 riots It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

when Punjab was in flames, the State of Malerkotla did not witness a single incident of violence; through it all, it remained a lone island of peace. The roots of communal harmony in the area date back to 1705, when Fateh Singh and Zorawar Singh, the 9- and 7-year-old sons of 10th

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

Guru,

Guru Gobind Singh Guru Gobind Singh (; 22 December 1666 – 7 October 1708), born Gobind Das or Gobind Rai the tenth Sikh Guru, a spiritual master, warrior, poet and philosopher. When his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was executed by Aurangzeb, Guru Gobind Sin ...

, were ordered to be bricked alive by the governor of

Sirhind Sirhind-Fategarh is a town and a municipal council in the Fatehgarh Sahib district in the Indian state of Punjab. Demographics In the 2011 census Sirhind-Fatehgarh had a population of 60852. Males constituted 54% of the population and fema ...

, Wazir Khan. His close relative, Sher Mohammed Khan, Nawab of Malerkotla, who was present in the court, lodged a vehement protest against this inhuman act and said it was against the teachings of Islam. Wazir Khan nevertheless had the boys bricked into a section of wall while still alive. At this, the Nawab of Malerkotla walked out of the court in protest. Guru Gobind Singh on learning this approach profusely thanked the Nawab of Malerkotla and blessed him with his

hukamnama A Hukamnama (Punjabi: ਹੁਕਮਨਾਮਾ, translit. ''Hukamanāmā''), in modern-times, refers to a hymn from the Guru Granth Sahib which is given as an injunction, order, or edict to Sikhs. It also refers to edicts issued by the contempor ...

and

kirpan The kirpan is a curved, single-edged dagger or knife carried by Sikhs. Traditionally, it was a full-sized sword but modern Sikhs have reduced the length to that of a dagger or knife due to modern considerations based on societal and legal chang ...

. Banda Singh Bahadur's avoidance of attacking Malerkotla has been attributed to the actions of Sher Mohammed Khan, however J.S. Grewal notes that Banda's passivity towards the state was due to his prescribed route taking him else where. Wars between Malerkotla state (originally siding with the Mughals, and later the forces of

Ahmad Shah Abdali Ahmad Shāh Durrānī ( ps, احمد شاه دراني; prs, احمد شاه درانی), also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī (), was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is regarded as the founder of the modern Afghanistan. In July 1747, Ahm ...

and the Rohilla Afghans, both of whom repeatedly raided Punjab during the eighteenth century) and the Sikh powers in Punjab resumed shortly after. Relations between the two oscillated during this period- involving events of intermittent warring as well as interventions of mutual defense against certain extra-local Sikh invaders. In 1795, Sahib Singh Bedi, a descendant of Guru Nanak, attacked Malerkotla, in part due to the issue of cow slaughter taking place in the city as well as other motivations influencing the expedition including the role of the nawab in the killing of a relative of Guru Gobind, as well as the contemporary nawab's ostensible role in the Vadda Ghallugura- a massacre in which twenty five thousand Sikhs were said to have been killed. His forces were stopped and repelled, with assistance coming from the rulers of Patiala. In 1808, Ranjit Singh, arrived at the town and demanded an extortionate tribute of one million rupees from the state. Upon the nawab's inability to accumulate this wealth,

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 ...

attacked, forcing the nawab to take loans from wealthier Sikh neighbors to pay the due. The nawab subsequently appealed to the British and shortly after ceded to British suzerainty. During the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: India and Pakistan. T ...

, the State of Malerkotla experienced relatively insignificant communal violence due to the aforementioned objections of

Sher Mohammed Khan Sher can refer to: People * Sher, a Baloch tribe in Pakistan * Sher-e-Bangla (''Lion of Bengal''), a popular title of 20th century Bengali statesman A. K. Fazlul Huq * Sher-e-Punjab (''Lion of Punjab''), a popular title of Maharaja Ranjit Sing ...

to Wazir Khan's handling of Gobind Singh's sons. Many local people attribute this peaceful strain to the presence of the shrine of 'Baba Haidar Sheikh', the Sufi saint, who founded the town of Malerkotla more than 500 years ago. The state was also under the suzeranity of Mahadaji Shinde. Following Indian independence and the signing of the instrument of accession to the

in 1948, Maler Kotla joined the newly established state of

Patiala and East Punjab States Union Patiala () is a city in southeastern Punjab, northwestern India. It is the fourth largest city in the state and is the administrative capital of Patiala district. Patiala is located around the ''Qila Mubarak'' (the 'Fortunate Castle') constructe ...

(PEPSU) until its merger with

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

in 1956.

List of Rulers

Chiefs

The chiefs were the holders of the jagir of Maler.

Rulers

The rulers were titled '

'. They had the right to an 11 gun

salute A salute is usually a formal hand gesture or other action used to display respect in military situations. Salutes are primarily associated with the military and law enforcement, but many civilian organizations, such as Girl Guides, Boy Sco ...

Titular Rulers

Titular Holder

References

External links

{{Authority control Princely states of Punjab Malerkotla district Muslim princely states of India * 1657 establishments in India 1948 disestablishments in India fr:Maler Kotla