ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>CHATAR SI&#7748GH A&#7788&#256R&#298V&#256L&#256 (d. 1855)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="CHATAR,SIDGH,AlR*VL"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279 CHATAR SI&#7748GH A&#7788&#256R&#298V&#256L&#256 (d. 1855), commander and provincial governor under minor Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Duleep Si&#7749gh, was the son of Jodh Si&#7749gh A&#7789&#257r&#299v&#257l&#257. Jodh Si&#7749gh had joined the service of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh in 1805 when he received large <i>j&#257g&#299rs</i> in the Po&#7789hoh&#257r country. On the death of his father in that year, Chatar Si&#7749gh succeeded to the <i>j&#257g&#299rs</i>, then amounting to over a lakh of rupees annually. He devoted most of his time to farming and kept generally aloof from state affairs during the reign of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh. When after the assassination of his son, Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Sher Si&#7749gh, in September 1843, his daughter, Tej Kaur, was betrothed to Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Duleep Si&#7749gh, he came into prominence politically. He was appointed governor of Pesh&#257war in August 1846. In November 1847, the title of R&#257j&#257 was recommended for him by the Council of Regency, but was at his request conferred upon his son Sher Si&#7749gh instead. Chatar Si&#7749gh was then transferred to Haz&#257r&#257, where as the governor of the province he came into conflict with the overbearing Assistant British Resident, Captain James Abbott, his assistant and adviser for the demarcation of boundary between the Punjab and Kashm&#299r which had been given away by the British to the &#7692ogr&#257 R&#257j&#257 Gul&#257b Si&#7749gh for his services to them during the first Anglo-Sikh war. Since the Mult&#257n outbreak in April 1848, James Abbott had been continually reporting to the Resident at Lahore that discontent prevailed among the Sikh troops stationed at Haz&#257r&#257; in September 1848, he alleged that a conspiracy was being hatched by Chatar Si&#7749gh, its Sikh governor, to subvert British power in the Punjab. He charged him with high treason, and leading the local chiefs and large numbers of Muslim levies he had raised he marched on Har&#299pur to expel the Sikh governor. At this juncture, Commodore Canora, an artillery officer in the Fort, who was in secret communication with Captain Abbott, refused to move his battery, and was consequently shot down at Chatar Si&#7749gh's orders. Under the orders of the British Resident at Lahore this Haz&#257r&#257 incident was investigated by Captain Nicholson who in his enquiry report not only exonerated Chatar Si&#7749gh, but also justified the defensive measures he had taken to save the besieged capital of Haz&#257r&#257 from Abbott's Muhammadan mercenaries. Resident Frederick Currie, notwithstanding Nicholson's report, issued orders which amounted to Chatar Si&#7749gh's virtual dismissal and the confiscation of his <i>j&#257g&#299rs</i> which drove him to open defiance. The Haz&#257r&#257 revolt now escalated into hostilities between the British and the Sikhs. After their defeat at Gujr&#257t on 21 February 1849, Chatar Si&#7749gh and his sons, R&#257j&#257 Sher Si&#7749gh and Avt&#257r Singh, were detained by the British in their village, A&#7789&#257&#7771&#299, and then imprisoned at All&#257h&#257b&#257d from where they were removed to Fort William at Calcutta to prevent them from establishing contact with the exiled Queen Mother, Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 Jind Kaur. They were released in January 1854. Chatar Si&#7749gh died in Calcutta on 27 December 1855.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> S&#363r&#299, Sohan L&#257l, '<i>Umd&#257t-ut-Tw&#257r&#299<u>kh</u></i>. Lahore, 1885-89<BR> <li class="C1"> Griffin, Lepel, and C. F. Massy, <i>Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab</i>. Lahore, 1890<BR> <li class="C1"> Hasrat, B J. , <i>Life and Times of Ranjit Singh</i>. Hoshiarpur, 1977<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Ga&#7751&#7693&#257 Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>