ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>KHA&#7770AK SI&#7748GH MAH&#256R&#256J&#256 (1801-1840)</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="KHAZAK,SIDGH,MAHRJ,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">&#65279KHA&#7770AK SI&#7748GH, MAH&#256R&#256J&#256 (1801-1840), eldest son of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh, was born on 9 February 1801. He was married to Chand Kaur, daughter of Jaimal Si&#7749gh Kanhaiy&#257, in 1812. The Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 brought him up in the family's martial tradition and assigned him to a variety of military expeditions. While barely six years old, he was given the nominal command of the Shei<u>kh</u>&#363pur&#257 expedition (1807); was placed in charge of the Kanhaiy&#257 estates in 1811; and deputed in 1812 to punish the recalcitrant chiefs of Bhimbar and R&#257jaur&#299. He was invested with the command of Mult&#257n expedition (1818) as well as of Kashm&#299r (1819) . He was also sent on similar campaigns undertaken by Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh for the conquest of Pesh&#257war and against the Maz&#257r&#299s of Shik&#257rpur.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Frail in constitution, Kha&#7771ak Si&#7749gh ascended the throne in June 1839 on the death of his father. From the very first day he had to encounter the envy of his powerful and ambitious minister, Dhi&#257n Si&#7749gh &#7692ogr&#257. Dhi&#257n Si&#7749gh resented especially the ascendancy of the royal favourite Chet Si&#7749gh B&#257jv&#257, a trusted courtier who had also been Kha&#7771ak Si&#7749gh's tutor. The &#7692ogr&#257s started a whispering campaign against the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 as well as against Chet Si&#7749gh. It was given out that both the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 and his favourite were surreptitiously planning to make over the Punjab to the British and surrender to them six <i>&#257nn&#257s</i> in every rupee of the State revenue and that the Sikh army would be disbanded. To lend credence to these rumours, some fake letters were prepared and discreetly intercepted. Gul&#257b Si&#7749gh &#7692ogr&#257, Dhi&#257n Si&#7749gh's elder brother, was charged to work upon Kha&#7771ak Si&#7749gh's son, Ka&#7749var Nau Nih&#257l Si&#7749gh, then travelling in his company from Pesh&#257war to Lahore. Misled by these fictitious tales, the young prince became estranged from his father.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Matters came to a climax when, in October 1839, Dhi&#257n Si&#7749gh made a plot to assassinate Chet Si&#7749gh. Early on the morning of 9 October the conspirators entered the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257's residence in the Fort and assassinated Chet Si&#7749gh in the presence of their royal master, who vainly implored them to spare the life of his favourite.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Kha&#7771ak Si&#7749gh was removed from the Fort and he remained virtually a prisoner in the hands of Dhi&#257n Si&#7749gh. Ka&#7749var Nau Nih&#257l Si&#7749gh took the reins of the government into his own hands, but he was helpless against the machinations of his minister, who continued to keep father and son separated from each other. Dhi&#257n Si&#7749gh subjected Kha&#7771ak Si&#7749gh to strict restraint upon the pretext that he might not escape to the British territory. Doses of slow poison were administered to the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257, who was at last delivered by death on 5 November 1840 from a lonely and disgraceful existence.</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"> Waheeduddin, Faqir Syed, <i>The Real Ranjit Singh</i>. Delhi, 1976<BR> <li class="C1"> Osborne, W.G., <i>The Court and Camp of Runjeet Sing</i>. London, 1840<BR> <li class="C1"> Smyth, G. Carmichael, <i>A History of the Reigning Family of Lahore</i>. Patiala, 1970<BR> <li class="C1"> Fauja Singh, ed., <i>Maharaja Kharak Singh</i>. Patiala, 1977<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">M. L. &#256hl&#363w&#257l&#299&#257<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>