ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>HAR&#298 SI&#7748GH NALV&#256 (1791-1837)</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="HAR*,SIDGH,NALV,Person,Person"> <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">&#65279HAR&#298 SI&#7748GH NALV&#256 (1791-1837), celebrated general of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh, was born in April 1791, at Gujr&#257&#7749w&#257l&#257, now in Pakistan, to Gurdi&#257l Si&#7749gh, an Uppal Sikh and a <i>&#7693er&#257d&#257r</i> in the Sukkarchakk&#299&#257 <i>misl</i>. The family originally came from Maj&#299&#7789h&#257, near Amritsar. His grandfather, Hard&#257s Si&#7749gh, had been killed fighting against Ahmad Sh&#257h Durr&#257n&#299 in 1762. His father, Gurdi&#257l Si&#7749gh, had taken part in many of the campaigns of the Sukkarchakk&#299&#257s -- Cha&#7771hat Si&#7749gh and Mah&#257&#7749 Si&#7749gh.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Har&#299 Si&#7749gh was hardly 7 years of age when his father died. His mother, Dharam Kaur, had to move to her parental home to live under the care of her brothers. There Har&#299 Si&#7749gh learnt Punjabi and Persian and trained in the manly arts of riding, musketry and swordsmanship. Dharam Kaur returned to Gujr&#257&#7749w&#257l&#257 when her son was about 13 years old. In 1805, Har&#299 Si&#7749gh participated in a recruitment test for service in the Sikh army and so impressed Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh with his skill at various drills that he was given appointment as a personal attendant. Not long after, he received the commission with a command of 800 horse and foot. This rapid promotion was owed to an incident in which he had cloven with sword the head of a tiger which had seized him. From that day he came to be known as B&#257ghm&#257r, the tiger-killer, and earned the title of Nalv&#257.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Har&#299 Si&#7749gh was commander of a regiment at the time of the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257's final attack on Kas&#363r in 1807 and gave evidence of his prowess on the field of battle. He was rewarded with a handsome <i>j&#257g&#299r</i>. In the years 1809-10 he participated in the Si&#257lko&#7789, S&#257hiv&#257l and <u>Kh</u>ush&#257b expeditions and in four (1810, 1816, 1817 and 1818) of Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh's seven campaigns against Mult&#257n. He fought in the battle of Attock in 1813 as second-in-command to D&#299w&#257n Mohkam Chand, and in Kashm&#299r in 1814 and 1819. Kashm&#299r was occupied and, in 1820, Har&#299 Si&#7749gh was appointed its governor in succession to D&#299w&#257n Mot&#299 R&#257m. He restored order in the turbulent areas, and reorganized civil administration. The territory was divided into <i>parganahs</i>, each under a collector, and <i>th&#257n&#257s</i>, each under a <i>th&#257ned&#257r</i>. The habitual criminals were bound down and robbers infesting the forests were suppressed. Construction of forts at &#362&#7771&#299 and Muzaffar&#257b&#257d and <i>gurdw&#257r&#257s</i> at Ma&#7789an and B&#257r&#257m&#363l&#257 was undertaken and work was started on laying out a spacious garden on the bank of the River Jehlum. To alleviate the misery of the people in the wake of the unprecedented floods of 1821, he took measures to provide prompt relief. From Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh, Har&#299 Si&#7749gh received a special favour when he was allowed to strike a coin in his own name. This coin, known as the Har&#299 Si&#7749gh&#299 rupee, remained in circulation in the valley till the closing years of the nineteenth century. In 1822, he was assigned to the Pa&#7789h&#257n territory of Haz&#257r&#257 on the northwest of the Sikh kingdom, where he remained for fifteen years and settled the disturbed area. He built a strong fort near S&#257lik Ser&#257i, on the left bank of the Dor river, and on the road from Hasan Abd&#257l to Abbo&#7789&#257b&#257d and named it Harikishanga&#7771h, in honour of the Eighth Gur&#363. He also raised a town in the vicinity of the fort, Har&#299pur, which later grew into a busy commercial and trade centre. From 1827 to 1831, he was engaged in repelling Sayyid Ahmad Barelav&#299's fierce campaign against the Sikhs.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In 1834, Har&#299 Si&#7749gh finally took Pesh&#257war and annexed it to the Sikh dominions. Two years later, he built a fort at Jamr&#363d at the mouth of the <u>Kh</u>aibar Pass and sealed it once for all for invaders from the northwest.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; On 30 April 1837, as he was locked in a grave battle against the Af<u>gh</u>&#257ns under Akbar <u>Kh</u>&#257n, Har&#299 Si&#7749gh received four gun wounds, and two sabre cuts across his breast. He continued to issue orders as before, until he received a gunshot wound in the side. He mustered his failing strength for the last time and managed to ride up to his field tent, from where he was taken to the fort. Here the same evening the great general passed away. His last instructions were that his death should not be made public until the arrival of the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257's relief column.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Sandhu, Autar Si&#7749gh, <i>Hari Singh Nalwa</i> [Reprint]. Delhi, 1987<BR> <li class="C1"> Hugel, Baron Charles, <i>Travels in Cashmere and the Punjab</i>. Tr. T.B. Jervis [Reprint]. Patiala, 1970<BR> <li class="C1"> Bhagat Singh, <i>Maharaja Ranjit Singh</i>. Patiala, 1983<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>The Heritage of the Sikhs</i>. Delhi, 1983<BR> <li class="C1"> Prem Singh, B&#257b&#257, <i>Har&#299 Si&#7749gh Nalv&#257</i>. Amritsar, 1937<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Aut&#257r Si&#7749gh Sandh&#363<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>