ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>JIND KAUR MAH&#256R&#256&#7750&#298 (1817-1863)</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="JIND,KAUR,MAHRF*,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">&#65279JIND KAUR, MAH&#256R&#256&#7750&#298 (1817-1863), popularly known as Jind&#257&#7749, was wife of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751jit Si&#7749gh and mother of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Duleep Si&#7749gh, the last Sikh sovereign of the Punjab. She was daughter of Mann&#257 Si&#7749gh, an Aulakh Ja&#7789&#7789 of Gujr&#257&#7749w&#257l&#257, who held an humble position at the court as an overseer of the royal kennels. Scant notice of Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 Jind Kaur is taken either by the official Lahore diarist, Sohan L&#257l S&#363r&#299, or the British records until 1838, when according to the former, a <i>munsh&#299</i> brought the blessed tidings of the birth of a son to her. It appears that she and her son lived a life of obscurity under the care of R&#257j&#257 Dhi&#257n Si&#7749gh at Jamm&#363. In August 1843, the young prince and her mother were brought to Lahore. In September 1843, both Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Sher Si&#7749gh and Dhi&#257n Si&#7749gh were assassinated. R&#257j&#257 H&#299r&#257 Si&#7749gh, Dhi&#257n Si&#7749gh's son, with the support of the army and chiefs, wiped out the Sandh&#257&#7749v&#257l&#299&#257 faction. Shortly after, H&#299r&#257 Si&#7749gh captured the Fort of Lahore and on 16 September 1843, the army proclaimed minor Duleep Si&#7749gh the sovereign of the State. H&#299r&#257 Si&#7749gh was appointed the <i>waz&#299r</i>. The political history of Jind Kaur begins from that date. Gradually, she assumed the role of a <i>de jure</i> regent to the minor Mah&#257r&#257j&#257. Both H&#299r&#257 Si&#7749gh and his adviser, Pa&#7751&#7693it Jall&#257, did not show her the courtesy and consideration she was entitled to. Her establishment was put under the control of Misr L&#257l Si&#7749gh. Jind Kaur mobilized opinion at the Darb&#257r against the dominance of the &#7692ogr&#257s. She and her brother, Jaw&#257har Si&#7749gh, pleaded with the army <i>pañch&#257yats</i> (regimental committees) to banish Pa&#7751&#7693it Jall&#257 and protect the rights of minor Duleep Si&#7749gh. "Who is the real sovereign?" she angrily asked the regimental committees assembled in council. "Duleep Si&#7749gh or H&#299r&#257 Si&#7749gh? If the former, then the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 should ensure that he was not a king with an empty title." The council assured the R&#257&#7751&#299 that Duleep Si&#7749gh was the real king of the Punjab. The army <i>pañch&#257yats</i> treated Jind Kaur with deference and addressed her as M&#257&#299 S&#257hib or mother of the entire <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 commonwealth.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The eclipse of the Jall&#257 regime was a political victory for Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 Jind Kaur, who had goaded the army to overthrow H&#299r&#257 Si&#7749gh and install her brother Jaw&#257har Si&#7749gh as the <i>waz&#299r</i>. She now assumed control of the government with the approval of the army <i>pañch&#257yats</i> who declared that they would place her on the throne of Delhi. Jind Kaur proclaimed herself regent and cast off her veil. She became the symbol of the sovereignty of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 ruling the Punjab in the name of her son. She reviewed the troops and addressed them, held court and transacted, in public, State business. She reconstituted the supreme <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Council by giving representation to the principal <i>sard&#257rs</i> and restored a working balance between the army <i>pañch&#257yats</i> and the civil administration.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Numerous vexatious problems confronted the Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299. Pashaur&#257 Si&#7749gh had bestirred himself again. An alarm was created that an English force was accompanying him to Lahore, and that he was being helped secretly by Gul&#257b Si&#7749gh. Second, the troops clamoured for a raise in their pay. The feudatory chiefs demanded the restoration of their resumed <i>j&#257g&#299rs</i>, remission of fines and reduction of enhanced taxes and burdens imposed upon them by H&#299r&#257 Si&#7749gh. Finally, it appeared that the diminishing revenues of the State could not balance the increasing cost of the civil and military administration.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Jind Kaur applied herself to the solution of these problems and secured to this end the assistance of a newly appointed council of elder statesmen and military generals. Ka&#7749var Pashaur&#257 Si&#7749gh was summoned to Lahore and persuaded to return to his <i>j&#257g&#299r</i>. Early in 1845, a force 35,000 strong marched to Jamm&#363 for the chastisement of Gul&#257b Si&#7749gh. The council had accused him of being a traitor to the Panth and charged him with treachery and intrigue against his sovereign. In April 1845, the army returned to Lahore with the &#7692ogr&#257 chief as a hostage. The pay of the soldiery was enhanced and Jaw&#257har Si&#7749gh was formally installed <i>waz&#299r</i>. Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 Jind Kaur's choice of Jaw&#257har Si&#7749gh as <i>waz&#299r</i> became the subject of criticism. To counteract the rising disaffection, Jind Kaur hastily betrothed Duleep Si&#7749gh, in the powerful A&#7789&#257r&#299 family, opened up negotiations with Gul&#257b Si&#7749gh and promised higher pay to the soldiery. When Jaw&#257har Si&#7749gh was assassinated by the army <i>pañch&#257yats</i> suspecting his hand in the murder of Ka&#7749var Pashaur&#257 Si&#7749gh, Jind Kaur gave vent to her anguish with loud lamentation. Early in November 1845, she, with the approval of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 Council, nominated Misr L&#257l Si&#7749gh to the office of <i>waz&#299r</i>.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 Jind Kaur has been accused by some historians of wishing the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 army to destroy itself in a war with the English. A much more balanced and realistic view will be obtained by a closer examination of the policies of Ellenborough and Hardinge and of other incidental political factors which led to a clash of arms between the Sikhs and the English in December 1845. The Ellenborough papers in the Public Records Office, London, especially Ellenborough's and Hardinge's private correspondence with the Duke of Wellington, disclose the extent of British military preparations on the Sikh frontier. The correspondence reveals the inside story of the main causes of the first Anglo-Sikh war -- the republican upsurge of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 soldiery to save Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh's kingdom from foreign aggression, the concentration of large British forces on the Sutlej, the British seizure of Suchet Si&#7749gh's treasure, the intrigues of British political officers to subvert the loyalty of the Sikh governors of Kashm&#299r and Mult&#257n, the rejection of Lahore claim to the village of Mor&#257&#7749, and the extraordinarily hostile conduct of Major George Broadfoot, the British Political Agent at the North-West Frontier Agency, towards the Sikhs, particularly the virtual seizure by him of the cis-Sutlej possessions of the Lahore Government. In view of these factors, the theory that the Sikh army had become perilous to the regency and that the courtiers plotted to engage the army against the British becomes untenable. On the contrary, the Regent was the only person who exhibited determination and courage during the critical period of the war with the British.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In December 1846, Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 Jind Kaur surrendered political power to the council of ministers appointed by the British Resident after the treaty of Bharov&#257l. The Sikh Darb&#257r ceased to exist as a sovereign political body. The Regent was dismissed with an annuity of Rs 1,50,000 and "an officer of Company's artillery became, in effect, the successor to Ra&#7751jit Si&#7749gh."</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 Jind Kaur was treated with unnecessary acrimony and suspicion. She had retired gracefully to a life of religious devotion in the palace, yet mindful of the rights of her minor son as the sovereign of the Punjab. Henry Lawrence, the British Resident at Lahore, and Viscount Hardinge both accused her of fomenting intrigue and influencing the Darb&#257r politics. After Bharov&#257l, Hardinge had issued instructions that she must be deprived of all political power. In March 1847, he expressed the view that she must be sent away from Lahore.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; At the time of Tej Si&#7749gh's investiture as R&#257j&#257 of Si&#257lko&#7789 in August 1847, it was suspected that the young Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 had refused to confer the title on him at the instigation of his mother. She was also suspected of having a hand in what is known as the Prem&#257 Plot -- a conspiracy designed to murder the British Resident and Tej Si&#7749gh at a <i>fete</i> at the Sh&#257l&#299m&#257r Gardens. Although neither of the charges against Jind Kaur could be substantiated on enquiry, she was removed to Shei<u>kh</u>&#363pur&#257 in September 1847, and her allowance was reduced to Rs 48,000. Lord Dalhousie, instructed Sir Frederick Currie, the British Resident at Lahore, to expel her from the Punjab. Currie acted promptly. He implicated Jind Kaur in a fictitious plot and sent her away from Shei<u>kh</u>&#363pur&#257 to Ban&#257ras. She remained interned at Ban&#257ras under strict surveillance. In 1848, allegations were made by Major MacGregor, in attendance on her, that she was in correspondence with M&#363lr&#257j and Sher Si&#7749gh at Mult&#257n. A few of her letters were intercepted and an alarm was created when one of her slave girls escaped from Ban&#257ras. She was removed to the Fort of Chun&#257r from where she escaped to Nepal disguised as a maid-servant.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 Jind Kaur arrived at K&#257&#7789hm&#257&#7751&#7693&#363 on 29 April 1849. The British Government promptly confiscated her jewellery worth Rs 9,00,000 and stopped her pension. At K&#257&#7789hm&#257&#7751&#7693&#363, the sudden appearance of the widow of Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh was both unexpected and unwelcome. Yet Ju&#7749g Bah&#257dur, the prime minister, granted her asylum, mainly as a mark of respect to the memory of the late Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh. A residence was assigned to her at Th&#257p&#257thal&#299, on the banks of the V&#257gmat&#299 river, and the Nepalese Government settled upon her an allowance for her maintenance. The Nepal Residency papers relate the details of Jind Kaur's unhappy sojourn in Nepal till 1860. The British Residency in K&#257&#7789hm&#257&#7751&#7693&#363 kept a vigilant eye on her throughout. It believed that she was engaged in political intrigue to secure the revival of the Sikh dynasty in the Punjab. Under constant pressure from the British, the Nepal Darb&#257r turned hostile towards the Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 and levied the most humiliating restrictions on her. But the forlorn widow of Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh remained undaunted. She quietly protested against the indignities and restrictions imposed upon her by Ju&#7749g Bah&#257dur. Ju&#7749g Bah&#257dur expelled from the valley one of her attendants, and the Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 dismissed the entire staff foisted upon her by the Nepalese Government. She was then ordered to appear in person in the Darb&#257r to acknowledge Nepalese hospitality, which she refused to do. The breach between her and Ju&#7749g Bah&#257dur widened. The Nepal Residency Records tell us that an open rift took place, and "several scenes occurred in which each seemed to have given way to temper, to have addressed the other in very insulting language."</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Towards the end of 1860, it was signified to Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 Jind Kaur that her son, Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Duleep Si&#7749gh, was about to return to India and that she could visit him in Calcutta. She welcomed the suggestion and travelled to Calcutta to meet her son who took her with him to England. Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 Jind Kaur died at Kensington, England, on 1 August 1863.</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"> Smyth, G. Carmichael, <i>A History of the Reigning Family of Lahore</i> [Reprint]. Patiala, 1970<BR> <li class="C1"> Bell, Evans, <i>The Annexation of the Punjab and Maharaja Duleep Singh</i>. London, 1882<BR> <li class="C1"> Ganda Singh, ed., <i>History of the Freedom Movement of the Panjab (Maharaja Duleep Singh Correspondence)</i>. Patiala, 1977<BR> <li class="C1"> Khushwant Singh, <i>A History of the Sikhs</i>, vol. II. Princeton, 1966<BR> <li class="C1"> Gill, Avtar Singh, <i>Lahore Darbar and Rani Jindan</i>. Ludhiana, 1983<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">B. J. Hasrat<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>