ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>L&#256L SI&#7748GH R&#256J&#256 (d. 1866)</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="LL,SIDGH,RJ"> <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">&#65279L&#256L SI&#7748GH, R&#256J&#256 (d. 1866), son of Misr Jass&#257 Mall, a Br&#257hma&#7751 shopkeeper of Sa&#7749gho&#299, in Jehlum district in West Punjab, entered the service of the Sikh Darb&#257r in 1832 as a writer in the treasury. He enjoyed the patronage of the &#7692ogr&#257 minister Dhi&#257n Si&#7749gh and, when in 1839 Misr Bel&#299 R&#257m had displeased the latter because of his sympathy with Chet Si&#7749gh B&#257jv&#257, he was promoted in his place D&#257ro<u>gh</u>ahiTosh&#257<u>kh</u>&#257n&#257, which position he held until the reinstatement of the former.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; L&#257l Si&#7749gh rose to power during the heyday of Waz&#299r H&#299r&#257 Si&#7749gh &#7692ogr&#257's authority when he was given a minor military command for the maintenance of which a few districts were leased out to him. L&#257l Si&#7749gh increased his influence by winning the favour of those in power. To this end, he engineered, in 1843, the murder of Bel&#299 R&#257m, his own benefactor, and Bh&#257&#299 Gurmukh Si&#7749gh, both disliked by the minister. He displayed similar ingratitude towards R&#257j&#257 H&#299r&#257 Si&#7749gh who had throughout been well disposed towards him. Besides confirming him as the controller of the Tosh&#257<u>kh</u>&#257n&#257, H&#299r&#257 Si&#7749gh had appointed him young Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Duleep Si&#7749gh's tutor in place of Jaw&#257har Si&#7749gh and had also created him R&#257j&#257 with grants of <i>j&#257g&#299rs</i> at Roht&#257s. But when Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 Jind Kaur turned against H&#299r&#257 Si&#7749gh, he lost no time in joining hands with her and her brother, Jaw&#257har Si&#7749gh, to bring about his downfall.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; By his beguiling manner L&#257l Si&#7749gh won the confidence of Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 Jind Kaur and became her closest adviser. In December 1844, he was appointed a member of the Council of Regency under her. He was made Waz&#299r on 8 November 1845 after the assassination of Jaw&#257har Si&#7749gh. As Waz&#299r and as a commander, L&#257l Si&#7749gh proved disloyal to the Sikh Darb&#257r in the Anglo-Sikh war of 1845-46. He in fact acted in conformity with the secret instructions received from the British officials. He supplied military information to Captain Peter Nicholson, at F&#299rozpur, and two divisions of Sikh troops under his command remained entrenched at Ferozesh&#257h without attacking F&#299rozpur. Brigadier Littler's garrison troops were thus allowed to escape from there and form junction with Lord Gough's army at Ferozesh&#257h. After the reverse at Ferozesh&#257h, L&#257l Si&#7749gh fled to Lahore and offered to the Council of the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 to relinquish his office. He was relieved of the office of Waz&#299r, but no change in the military command was made.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; On the eve of battle of Sabhr&#257o&#7749 (10 February 1846), L&#257l Si&#7749gh is alleged to have sent to Captain Nicholson a map of the Sikh entrenchment. During the battle, he kept his artillery battalions and the dreaded <i>Gho&#7771cha&#7771&#257s</i> away from the battlefield. He himself retired to Lahore. After the war, he was suitably rewarded by the British. He was confirmed as Waz&#299r of the State of Lahore under the Resident, Henry Lawrence. He, however, lost British patronage when it came to light that he had sent written instructions to Shai<u>kh</u> Im&#257m ud-D&#299n, the governor of Kashm&#299r, to thwart the occupation by Gul&#257b Si&#7749gh of the valley granted him by the British under a treaty signed on 16 March 1846. L&#257l Si&#7749gh was tried by a Court of Inquiry and found guilty. He was removed from his high office and expelled from the Punjab with a pension of 12,000 rupees per annum. He was sent to &#256gr&#257 and then to Dehr&#257 D&#363n, where he died in 1866.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"><i>Trial of Raja Lal Singh</i>. Punjab Government Records Office, Lahore<BR> <li class="C1"> Cunningham, Joseph Davey, <i>A History of the Sikhs from the Origin of the Nation to the Battles of the Sutlej</i>. London, 1849<BR> <li class="C1"> Hasrat, Bikrama Jit, ed., <i>The Punjab Papers</i>, Hoshiarpur, 1970<BR> <li class="C1"> Khushwant Singh, <i>A History of the Sikhs</i>, vol. II. Princeton, 1966<BR> <li class="C1"> Chopra, Barkat Rai, <i>Kingdom of the Punjab</i>. Hoshiarpur, 1969<BR> <li class="C1"> Chopra, Gulshan Lal, <i>The Punjab as a Sovereign State</i>. Hoshirpur, 1960<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>The Heritage of the Sikhs</i>. Delhi, 1983<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">J. S. Khur&#257n&#257<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>