Nakai Misl

2021-05-17T15:51:43Z

2402:8100:2187:75E8:0:0:75C8:F28A:

{{short description|State of the Sikh confederacy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2018}}
{{Misls}}
The '''Nakai Misl''' ({{lang-pa|ਨਕਈ ਮਿਸਲ}} <small>([[Gurmukhi]])</small>, {{nq|نکئی مثل}} <small>([[Shahmukhi]])</small>), founded by [[Sandhu]] [[Jat people|Jat]]s,<ref name=SH11>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sikh-history.com/sikhhist/events/m-nakai.html |title=Nakai misl history |access-date=24 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815232212/http://www.sikh-history.com/sikhhist/events/m-nakai.html |archive-date=15 August 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> was one of the twelve [[misl|Sikh Misls]] that later became the [[Sikh Empire]]. It held territory between the [[Ravi River|Ravi]] and [[Sutlej]] rivers to the southwest of [[Lahore]] in what is now modern-day [[Pakistan]]. The misl fought against the [[Sial (tribe)|Sials]], the [[Pathans]] and the [[Kharal|Kharals]] before being incorporated into the [[Sikh Empire]] of the [[Sukerchakia Misl]] by [[Ranjit Singh]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bakshi|Pathak|2007 |page=3}}</ref>

==Origin==
As the legend goes, in 1595, [[Guru Arjan Dev]] (1563–1606), the Fifth Sikh Guru, with some of his followers visited the village of Baherwal. However, the holy man was not received with due hospitality. So he passed on to the neighboring village of Jambar Kalan where he lay down on a Charpai (cot) under a shady tree. By this time, Hem Raj, a Sandhu Jat, Chaudhari or headman of [[Baherwal Kalan|Baherwal]], who was absent when the Guru passed through his village, heard of what had occurred and ashamed of his town-men's inhospitality went to Jambar Kalan and brought the Guru back to his town. The Guru blessed Hem Raj and prophesied that his son and successors, would be great and powerful chiefs. However, it was more than 100 years later that the prophecy was to materialize.<ref>{{harvnb|Griffin1865|page=119}}</ref>

==History==
By 1748, when the Mughal power in the Punjab was decling and the Sikhs were on ascendance, Sardar [[Heera Singh Sandhu]] (1706–1776) took possession of the lands surrounding his native village, Baherwal and countryside of Kasur which was located in the Nakka country South of [[Majha]] Region and his misl took the name of the area they ruled. He took Amrit Sanchar (Sikh Baptism) in 1731. ''Nakka'' in Punjabi means border or some sort of a gateway and the Nakka country was located between the [[Ravi River|Ravi]] and [[Sutlej]] south of [[Lahore]].<ref>{{harvnb|Roe|Purser|1878 |page=32}}</ref> He also took [[Chunian]] from the [[Afghanistan|Afghans]] but died near [[Pakpattan]] in a battle against Sujan ''Chisti'' - a devotee of the [[Shrine of Baba Farid]].<ref name=c>{{cite book|author1=Richard M. Eaton|author-link1=Authority of the Shrine of Baba Farid|editor1-last=Metcalf|editor1-first=Barbara Daly|title=Moral Conduct and Authority: The Place of Adab in South Asian Islam|date=1984|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520046603|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y5-vzVq8hdkC&pg=PA349&dq=pakpattan&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi8_Lqqr_vVAhUFyWMKHd6eA80Q6AEITDAJ#v=onepage&q=pakpattan&f=false|access-date=29 August 2017}}</ref> His companions brought his dead body to Baherwal where it was cremated.<ref>{{harvnb|Griffin|1865 |page=118}}</ref> Hira Singh Sandhu's son, Dal Singh Sandhu, was a minor, so his nephew, [[Nar Singh Sandhu]] son of Hira Singh Sandhu's brother Natha SinghSandhu, succeeded him as leader of the [[misl]].

In 1768, Nar Singh was killed in a battle against the [[Kharal]]s at Kot Kumaliah and was succeeded by his brother, Ran Singh.<ref name=griffin120>{{harvnb|Griffin|1865 |page=120}}</ref> Ran Singh fought repeatedly against Kamar Singh, the ruler of [[Syedwala]]. Sometime before his death in 1781, he defeated him and captured [[Syedwala]]. Sardar Ran Singh greatly expanded the misl's strength so it became dominant among its neighbors. At its high point under Ran Singh it ruled [[Kasur]], [[Sharaqpur]], Gugera [[pargana]], and the [[Kharal]] fort of Kot Kumaliah and could field 2,000 horsemen. Sardar ran singh was killed by one of the [[kharal]] tribe men peroka kharal. [[Zamburak]]s, and [[artillery]].<ref name=griffin120 /> His son, Bhagwan Singh, succeeded him but could not hold his territory against Wazir Singh, the brother of Kamar Singh, who retook [[Syedwala]]. Realizing he might lose all of his territory, Bhagwan Singh set up the engagement of his sister, Raj Kour, to [[Ranjit Singh]], who was the son of [[Maha Singh]], the leader of the [[Sukerchakia Misl]], in order to gain a powerful ally.<ref name=griffin120 /> In 1785, [[Maha Singh]] was facing attacks from [[Sardar Jai Singh]] of the [[Kanheya Misl]] and called Bhagwan Singh and Wazir Singh to help him, but after they were victorious against Sardar Jai Singh, [[Maha Singh]] began to favor Wazir Singh.

Bhagwan Singh and Wazir Singh at war again and Bhagwan Singh was killed in the ensuing battle.<ref name=griffin121>{{harvnb|Griffin|1865 |page=121}}</ref> Dal Singh, the son of Hira Singh, subsequently killed Wazir Singh in revenge but was himself killed later by a servant of Wazir Singh. In 1789, Gyan Singh, succeeded his brother, Bhagwan Singh (sons of Sardar Ran Singh Nakai). In 1798 he married his sister Raj Kaur to [[Ranjit]] Singh who become his second but most favourite queen. Raj Kaur also being the name of one of Maharaja Ranjit Singh's mothers, she took the name of Maharani [[Datar Kaur]]. In 1802, she gave birth to [[Kharak Singh]], the heir apparent of the [[Sikh Empire|Sikh empire]]. Maharaja Ranjit Singh always fondly called her as ''Mai Nakain''.

In 1807, Gyan Singh died and Kahan Singh succeeded him. Before having his estate seized by [[Ranjit Singh]] in 1810, Sardar Kahan Singh had conquered [[Pakpattan]].<ref name=griffin121 /> Ranjit Singh was an ambitious King and Chief. Having incorporated most of the [[Sikh Confederacy]] into his empire, he had been eyeing the holdings of the Nakai Misl. After the death of Sardar Gyan Singh, he invited the new Chief to move and live in the Lahore court, which the proud Nakai Chief steadily refused.<ref name=griffin121 /> Consequently, Ranjit Singh ordered the annexation of his holdings and granted Kahan Singh a Jagir at Baherwal then valued at Rupees 15,000. A Jagir at Nankot was also granted to Sardar Khazan Singh, a son of Sardar Ran Singh Nakai, the third chief of the Nakai Misl.<ref name=griffin121 />

'''List of Nakai Misl Rulers from 1748–1810'''

*Sardar Hira Singh Nakai (1706–1767)
*Sardar Nar Singh Nakai (d. 1768)
*Sardar Ran Singh Nakai (d. 1781)
*Sardar Bhagwan Singh Nakai (d. 1789)
*Sardar Gyan Singh Nakai (d. 1807)
*Sardar Kahan Singh Nakai (till 1810, d. 1873).

== Descendants ==
Even after the Nakai Misl was incorporated into the Sikh empire, the Nakai Sardars continued to wield considerable influence in the land of their ancestors. The last Chief lived long but after his territory was annexed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, he stayed throughout in village Bahelwal. After annexation of the Punjab by the British, he stayed strictly neutral and loyal. As a result, he was appointed Jagirdar Magistrate in 1860, an office he held till his death.<ref name=griffin121 /> Even during the British rule in Punjab (1849–1947) the descendants of Nakai Sikh Misl, were still great Sikh Sardars of Baherwal and were respected by the British as well.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
*{{citation |title=Punjab Through the Ages |editor-last=Bakshi |editor-first=S.R. |editor-first2=Rashmi |editor-last2=Pathak |year=2007 |publisher=Sarup & Son |isbn=978-81-7625-738-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kxtEFA5qqR8C&pg=PA3&dq=nakai+misl&as_brr=1&cd=1#v=onepage&q=nakai%20misl&f=false}}
*{{citation |title=The Panjab chiefs, historical and biographical notices |last=Griffin |first=Lepel Henry |author-link=Lepel Henry Griffin |year=1865 |publisher=Chronicle Press |location=Lahore |isbn=978-1-104-70911-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q0ABAAAAQAAJ&dq=nakka%20misl&as_brr=1&pg=PA118#v=onepage&q&f=false}}
*{{citation |title=REPORT ON THE REVISED LAND REVENUE SETTLEMENT OF THE MONTGOMERY DISTRICT |last=Roe |first=C.A. |first2=W. E. |last2=Purser |year=1878 |publisher=Central Jail Press |location=Lahore |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s2gBAAAAQAAJ&dq=REPORT%20ON%20THE%20REVISED%20LAND%20REVENUE%20SETTLEMENT%20OF%20THE%20MONTGOMERY%20DISTRICT&lr&as_brr=1&pg=PA32#v=onepage&q&f=false}}
{{Sikhism}}

http://www.panjabdigilib.org/webuser/searches/displayPage.jsp?ID=4554&page=1&CategoryID=1&Searched=W3GX&sbtsro=1&viewall=1
http://www.panjabdigilib.org/webuser/searches/displayPageContent.jsp?ID=4554&page=308&CategoryID=1&Searched=W3GX
http://www.panjabdigilib.org/webuser/searches/displayPageContent.jsp?ID=7907&page=23&CategoryID=1&Searched=punjab+chiefs

[[Category:Misls]]

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Nakai Misl