PREDECESSORS AND SHORT HISTORY: The
Ramgarhia
misl,
was
one
of
the most powerful of the Sikh confederacies, and towards
the close of the 18th century, it could bring into the
field about 8,000 men. Their territory was parts of
Amritsar, Qadian, Batala and Sri Hargobindpur, in the Bari
doab and Miani, Sarih, and Urmur Tanda in the Jalandhar
Doab. After the seizure of all Ramgarhia jagirs by
Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the family were allowed a jagir of
35,000Rs in value for their maintenance. The word
Ramgarhia is composed of the terms Ram (God) and Garh
(fort). Hence the adjective Ramgarhia means Custodians of
the Castle of God. The fort which was the head quarters of
the family, the history of which is given hereafter was
named Ramgarh. Members were...
- Khushal Singh,
1st Misldhar of Ramgarhia misl 1748/-, born in Guga
village near Amritsar.
- Nand Singh
Sanghania, 2nd Misldhar of Ramgarhia misl,
born in Sanghani village near Amritsar, he extended
the fort of Ram Rauni at Amritsar, and which was
later called Ramgarh, giving its name to the misl.
- Sardar Jassa Singh,
3rd Misldhar of Ramgarhia misl -/1803, born 1723 at
Tchogill, 20 kilometres east of Lahore, he joined the
jathda of Nand Singh Sanghania and learnt the art of
warfare at an early age, in 1745, he and his brothers
briefly entered the service of Nawab Adina Beg Khan,
the Imperial Governor of the Jalandhar Doab,
afterwards they went to Amritsar where they partially
fortified Amritsar with a solid mud wall, but Adina
Beg, ordered it destroyed, Jassa Singh took command of
the misl after Adina Beg's death in 1758, he named the
fort, Ramgarh and the misl Ramgarhia, he attached many
villages, and gave some as jagirs to his brothers; a
confrontation with Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia,
eventually resulted in the loss of all the Ramgarhia
estates, and he himself had to flee to Sirsa, across
the Sutlej, where he remained till 1783, after which
he returned to the Punjab; he joined with Sardar Mahan
Singh Sukerchakia and Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra and
defeated Sardar Jai Singh Kanhaiya, thus getting his
estates back, married and had issue. He died on 20th
April 1803.
- Sardar Jodh Singh (qv)
- Sardar Vir Singh [Wir/Bir], he succeeded his
brother in his jagir, married and had issue. He died
1828.
- Baba Jaimal Singh, married and had issue. He
died 1848.
- Baba Uttam Singh, born 1807, married and had
issue.
- Baba Datar Singh, married and had issue.
- Baba Chhajoo Singh
- Baba Meghar Singh
- Fateh Singh, born 1819, married and had issue.
- Joawala Singh, born 1834, married and had
issue.
- Baba Sobha Singh, married and had issue. He died
1845.
- Baba Achhar Singh, born 1814, married and had
issue. He died 1880.
- Baba Ganga Singh, married and had issue.
- Arjan Singh
- Sunder Singh, married and had issue.
- Hira Singh
- Diwan Singh
- Tarkhu Singh [Tarcutta Singh], married and
had issue.
- Taringa Singh [Tarbhanga Singh], married and
had issue.
- Gulab Singh
- Thakur Singh [Thacker Singh], married and
had issue.
- Karam Singh
- Dayal Singh
- Nihal Singh
- Chhatar Singh [Chatter Singh], married and
had issue.
- Baba Kadar Singh, married and had issue.
- Sardar Jodh Singh,
4th and last Misldhar of Ramgarhia misl 1803/1808, in
1807, he accompanied Maharaja Ranjit Singh to Kasur
with all his force against Qutb ud-Din, who
surrendered after a month`s resistance, soon
afterwards quarrels with his cousins, encouraged
Maharaja Ranjit Singh to attack Amritsar in 1808,
where he took Ramghar Fort and then seized all the
Ramgarhia jagirs, he was provided an adequate pension
for his maintenance, in 1810-1811, he and Diwan Mohkam
Chand, annexed Faizullapuria possessions to the
growing domain of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, he died 23rd
August 1815 in Amritsar.
FAMILY OF SARDAR JASSA SINGH
- Baba Har Das, he was a Hindu of the Najjar or
carpenter caste, and was resident at Sursingh in the
Lahore district, where he was content to ply his
trade, he took Pahul
from the hands of Guru Gobind Singhji, afterwards he
fought in the campaigns of Banda Singh Bahadur,
married and had issue. He was killed in in 1716 at the
battle of Bajwara
- Bhai Bhagwan Singh, he underwent baptism into the
Sikh faith, and with the addition of 'Singh' to his
name, he wandered about the country, making converts
to his new faith, with 200 followers, he entered the
Imperial forces under the Governor of Lahore, and
rose to become a distinguished officer; married and
had issue, five sons. He was killed at Lahore in a
fight with Shahanshah Nadir Shah during his invasion
of India in 1739.
- Jai Singh, he was killed in action against the
Afghans in 1756 at Majitha.
- Sardar Jassa Singh (see above)
- Sardar Khushal Singh, married and had issue. He
died 1812.
- Mehtab Singh
- Sahib Singh
- Gulab Singh
- Sardar Mali Singh, married and had issue. He
died 1792.
- Sardar Tara Singh, married and had issue. He
died 1797.
- Sardar Diwan Singh, early in his career, he
conquered some territory the annual revenue of
which amounted to one lakh of rupees and built
himself a fort near Kadian, and named it
Thakargarh, with a garrison of 1400 horsemen he
fixed his residence there, later in 1820 he was
placed in charge of Baramula, a hill post on the
road to Srinagar, where he remained until his
death; after the annexation of the misl in 1808,
he was provided an adequate pension for his
maintenance, married and had issue, three sons.
He died 1834.
- Sardar Mangal Singh C.S.I., born 1800, he
entered the service of Maharaja Ranjit Singh
who granted him jagirs worth 9,000Rs, in
Dharamkot, Kalowala, Tibrah and Kundilah;
after 1834, he was sent to Peshawar in command
of 400 foot and 110 sowars, where he did good
service, taking part in the battle of Jamrud
in April 1837, he was recalled in 1839, and
sent to the hill country where he was active
in the suppression of the insurrection of
1840; he remained there till the close of the
Sutlej war in 1846, he remained loyal during
the second Sikh War, did excellent service in
guarding the roads and maintaining order in
the Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts, in 1862,
he was appointed manager of the affairs of the
Sikh Temple at Amritsar remaining in that
position until his death, and was also
appointed Honorary Magistrate of the city of
Amritsar; he was granted the title of Sardar Ba-Wikar
in 1864; he was conferred with the C.S.I. in
1876; married and had issue. He died in
February 1879 at Amritsar.
- Sardar Gurdit Singh, born 1837, he joined
a force of cavalry for service in Oudh,
being raised by Colonel Abbott in February
1858, thereafter he was made Risaldar and
served in the Oudh Mounted Police until
October 1859, after which he returned to
Amritsar and was made 1st Class Inspector of
Police, being transferred to Lahore in
September 1864, he retired in 1887; he was
appointed a divisional Darbari in 1891 and
an Honorary Magistrate in 1892, the same
year he was appointed a member of the
Municipal Committee of Amritsar, in 1893 he
was made the 15th Provincial Darbari, Member
of the Khalsa College Committee, President
of the educational Sub-committee of the
Amritsar Municipality, Member of the Khalsa
Diwan, President of the Ramgarhia community,
married and had issue. He died sp in
1900.
- Kunwar Hardit Singh, died young.
- Sardar Suchet Singh [Mitt Singh], born
1842, entered the civil service at Amritsar
as a munsif,
married and had issue, one son. He died
1879.
- Sardar Bishan Singh, together with his
cousin he enjoys a Jagir of 3,600Rs per
annum, appointed Court Inspector at
Shimla, and Provincial Darbari, married
and had issue. He died after 1890.
- Sardar Narain Singh, educated at M.B.
School, Amritsar.
- Sardar Sher Singh, born 1846, married and
had issue, two sons. He died 1888.
- Sardar Sant Singh B.A., died spm
in 1896.
- Sardar Sundar Singh, together with his
cousin he enjoys a Jagir of 3,600Rs per
annum, educated at the Government College,
Lahore, married and had issue.
- Arjan Singh Gargajj, born 1905 at Tarn
Taran, in Amritsar district of the
Punjab, in 1905, he took part in the
Akali agitation launched in 1920, he was
arrested in April 1922 on a charge of
publicly reciting a seditious poem and
was sent to jail for six months as the
youngest Akali prisoner, he became a
member of the editorial staff of the
Kirti, a professedly leftist magazine,
he was imprisoned for his anti
government writings in 1929 and, again,
in 1930; after briefly serving as
sub-editor of the Babar Sher and chief
editor of the Cartoon, he joined the
Akali as a sub-editor in 1935, author of
three published works, all in Punjabi,
viz. Do Pair Ghatt Turna, Shahid
de Bol and Mera Apna Ap.
He died 10th March 1963.
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