ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>MAH&#256R&#256J SI&#7748GH BH&#256&#298 (d.1856)</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="MAHRJ,SIDGH,BH*"> <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">&#65279MAH&#256R&#256J SI&#7748GH, BH&#256&#298 (d.1856), a saintly person turned revolutionary who led an anti-British movement in the Punjab after the first Anglo-Sikh war, was born Nih&#257l Si&#7749gh at the village of Rabbo&#7749, in Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 district. He had a religious bent of mind and came under the influence of Bh&#257&#299 B&#299r Si&#7749gh of Naura&#7749g&#257b&#257d. After the latter's death in 1844, he succeeded him as head of the Naura&#7749g&#257b&#257d, <i>&#7693er&#257</i> and was held in high esteem by a vast following, including most of the Sikh chiefs and courtiers. Mah&#257r&#257j Si&#7749gh's revolutionary career started with the Prem&#257 conspiracy case involving him in a plot to murder the British resident, Henry Lawrence, and other pro-British officers of the Lahore Darb&#257r. Mah&#257r&#257j Si&#7749gh, whose movements were restricted to Naura&#7749g&#257b&#257d by the British, went underground. The government confiscated his property at Amritsar and announced a reward for his arrest. Bh&#257&#299 Mah&#257r&#257j Si&#7749gh intensified his activities against the British when he came to know that D&#299w&#257n M&#363l R&#257j had in April 1848 raised a standard of revolt against them at Mult&#257n. He left for Mult&#257n with 400 horsemen to join hands with M&#363l R&#257j. But soon differences arose between the two leaders, and Mah&#257r&#257j Si&#7749gh left Mult&#257n for Haz&#257r&#257 in June 1848 to seek Chatar Si&#7749gh A&#7789&#257r&#299v&#257l&#257's assistance in his plans to dislodge the British. In November 1848, he joined R&#257j&#257 Sher Si&#7749gh's forces at R&#257mnagar and was seen in the battlefield riding his black mare and exhorting the Sikh soldiers to lay down their lives for the sake of their country. Thereafter he took part in the battles of Chel&#299&#257&#7749v&#257l&#257 and Gujr&#257t, but, when R&#257j&#257 Sher Si&#7749gh surrendered to the British at R&#257walpi&#7751&#7693&#299 on 14 March 1849, he resolved to carry on the fight single-handed. He escaped to Jamm&#363 and made Dev Ba&#7789&#257l&#257 his secret headquarters. In December 1849, he went to Hoshi&#257rpur and visited the Sikh regiments to enlist their support. Bh&#257&#299 Mah&#257r&#257j Si&#7749gh, who carried on his head a price of 10,000 rupees was arrested on 28 December 1849 at &#256dampur. &#8220The Gur&#363 is no ordinary man&#8221, wrote Dr Vansittart, the Jalandhar deputy commissioner, who had arrested him. "He is to the natives what Jesus is to the most zealous of Christians. His miracles were seen by tens of thousands and are more implicitly believed than those worked by the ancient prophets&#8221. &#8220Vansittart was so greatly impressed by Bh&#257&#299 Mah&#257r&#257j Si&#7749gh's personality that he recommended special treatment to be accorded him, but the government did not wish to take any risks and deported him to Singapore where, after several years of solitary confinement, he died on 5 July 1856. He had gone blind before the end came.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Bhargava, Moti L&#257l, <i>Architects of Indian Freedom Struggle</i>. New Delhi, 1981<BR> <li class="C1"> Nahar Singh, (ed), <i>Documents Relating to Bhai Maharaj Singh</i>. Ludhiana, 1968.<BR> <li class="C1"> Ahluwalia, M.L. <i>Bhai Maharaj Singh</i>. Patiala, 1972<BR> <li class="C1"> Khushwant Singh, <i>A History of the Sikhs</i>, vol. II. Princenton, 1966<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>