ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>M&#362L R&#256J D&#298W&#256N (1814-1851)</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="MjL,RJ,D*WN,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">&#65279M&#362L R&#256J, D&#298W&#256N (1814-1851), son of D&#299w&#257n S&#257van Mall, the governor of Mult&#257n, served as the <i>k&#257rd&#257r</i> of Shuj&#257'&#257b&#257d and Jha&#7749g during the lifetime of his father. He succeeded his father to the governorship of Mult&#257n after the latter's death on 29 September 1844. The <i>s&#363bah</i> of Mult&#257n then included the territories of Jha&#7749g and the &#7693er&#257j&#257t, and he had to pay to government annually a sum of 23,00,000 rupees. R&#257j&#257 H&#299r&#257 Si&#7749gh, gaining power at the court, imposed a heavy <i>nazr&#257n&#257</i>, or succession fee, of about 30 lakhs of rupees on M&#363l R&#257j, which he was unable to pay. But M&#363l R&#257j's real troubles began when L&#257l Si&#7749gh became the prime minister in November 1845. He arbitrarily revised the terms of M&#363l R&#257j's appointment by reducing his territories and enhancing annual payments, demanded the statement of accounts for the preceding 10 years and ordered that appeals against the decision of the governor of Mult&#257n would be heard by the Lahore Darb&#257r. To overawe M&#363l R&#257j, a force was despatched to Mult&#257n. M&#363l R&#257j chared under the stringent terms imposed and appealed to the British Resident at Lahore, Henry Law rence, at whose intercession a new settlement was effected in October 1846. M&#363l R&#257j promptly paid up the arrears, but one-third of his territory had been taken away from him and the revenue payable annually enhanced. Further, the Darb&#257r introduced export and import duties in territories administered by him. He also felt offended by the Darb&#257r's decision to hear appeals against his judicial decisions. In December 1847, he tendered his resignation which was accepted, effective from March 1848, by Sir Frederick Currie, the new British Resident at Lahore. When on 19 April 1848, K&#257hn Si&#7749gh M&#257n, the governor-designate, accompanied by two, British officers, P.A. Vans Agnew and Lieutenant Anderson, took charge from M&#363l R&#257j, his troops revolted, killed the two British officers and held M&#363l R&#257j a prisoner. But M&#363l R&#257j became the symbol of Sikhs' discontent and they rallied round him to strike against the British.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The incidents at Mult&#257n led to the second Anglo-Sikh war at the conclusion of which M&#363l R&#257j was tried by a court of inquiry and sentenced to death. The Governor-General, Lord Dalhousie, however, commuted his sentence to life imprisonment. M&#363l R&#257j was first detained at Lahore and then, in January 1850, taken to Calcutta where he fell seriously ill. He died on 11 August 1851 near Buxar on his way to Ban&#257ras.</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"> Griffin, Lepel and C.F. Massy, <i> Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab </i>. Lahore, 1888<BR> <li class="C1"><i> Gazetteer of Multan District </i>, Lahore, 1883-84<BR> <li class="C1"> Kohli, Sita Ram, <i> Trial of Diwan Mul Raj </i>, Lahore, 1993<BR> <li class="C1"> Hasrat, Bikrama Jit, <i> Anglo-Sikh Relations </i>, Hoshiarpur, 1969<BR> <li class="C1"> Chopra, Barkat Rai, <i> Kingdom of the Punjab </i>, Hoshiarpur, 1969<BR> <li class="C1"> Ganda Singh, <i> British Occupation of the Panjab </i>, Patiala, 1956<BR> <li class="C1"> Khushwant Singh, <i>A History of the Sikhs</i>, vol. II. Princeton, 1966<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Har&#299 R&#257m Gupta<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>