SherleneGirardi at 13:05, 23 October 2025

2025-10-23T13:05:28Z

Ds Abhishek: Contributed a new entry to the website.

2022-05-29T16:32:07Z

Contributed a new entry to the website.

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{{Short description|Third Maharaja of Sikh Empire from 1839–1840}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Nau Nihal Singh
| image = Nau Nihal Singh.jpg
| caption = Nau Nihal Singh in court<ref name="cia">[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/pakistan/ "Pakistan"] The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency.</ref>
| succession = 3rd [[Maharaja]] of the [[Sikh Empire]]
| reign = 8 October 1839 – 5 November 1840
| birth_date = 11 February 1821
| birth_place = [[Lahore]], [[Sikh Empire]] {{small|(present-day [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]], [[Pakistan]])}}
| death_date = {{death-date and age|5 November 1840|9 March 1821}}
| death_place = [[Lahore]], [[Sikh Empire]] {{small|(present-day [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]], [[Pakistan]])}}
| predecessor = [[Kharak Singh]]
| successor = [[Chand Kaur]]
| spouse = [[Nanaki Kaur Atariwala]]
<ref name=eos>{{cite web |url=http://www.learnpunjabi.org/eos/index.aspx
| title=KHAṚAK SIṄGH MAHĀRĀJĀ (1801–1840) |last=Āhlūwālīā |first=M. L.
| website=Encyclopaedia of Sikhism |publisher=Punjabi University Patiala
| access-date=19 May 2016}}</ref>
| spouse-type = Consort
| spouses = [[Sahib Kaur|Sahib Kaur Gilwaliwala]] Bhadauran Kanwar Katochan Kanwar
| occupation =
| religion = [[Sikhism]]
| house = [[Sukerchakia]]
| father = [[Kharak Singh]]
| mother = [[Chand Kaur]]
| issue = [[Prince|Shahzada]] Jawahar Singh
 [[Prince|Shahzada]] Bhagwan Singh (adopted)
| title = [[Maharaja]] of [[Punjab]] [[Maharaja]] of [[Lahore]] Kaukab-i-Iqbal-i-Punjab Sarkar-i-Wallah<ref>{{Cite book|last=Suri.|first=Sohan Lal|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/163394684|title=Umdat-ut-tawarikh ['Umdat at-tawārīh, engl.] An outstanding original source of Panjab history by Lala Sohan Lal Suri.|oclc=163394684}}</ref> Sarkar Khalsaji<ref>{{Cite book|last=Suri.|first=Sohan Lal|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/163394684|title=Umdat-ut-tawarikh ['Umdat at-tawārīh, engl.] An outstanding original source of Panjab history by Lala Sohan Lal Suri.|oclc=163394684}}</ref>
}}
'''Kunwar Nau Nihal Singh''' (9 March 1821 – 5 November 1840) was the third [[Maharaja]] of the [[Sikh Empire]]. He was the only son of [[Maharaja Kharak Singh]] and his consort, [[Chand Kaur|Maharani Chand Kaur]]. He was known as '''Yuvraj Kunwar Nau Nihal Singh'''. He was also known as''' Bhanwar Singh''' or''' Bhanwar Sa''' or''' Kunwar Sa''' means Respected Young Prince. ''Bhawar'' means '''Son of Kunwar''' or''' Son of Thakur'''. His reign began with the dethronement of his father [[Kharak Singh|Maharaja Kharak Singh]] and ended with his death at the age of 19 on the day of his father's funeral.<ref>R. C. Dogra, Gobind Singh Mansukhani, Encyclopaedia of Sikh Religion and Culture, Vikas Publishing House, 1995</ref>{{page needed}}

==Early life==
[[File:Oil painting of Maharaja Nau Nihal Singh displayed in the Lahore Museum.jpg|thumb|Oil painting of Maharaja Nau Nihal Singh in childhood displayed in the Lahore Museum]]
Nau Nihal Singh was born on February 11, 1821, to [[Crown prince|Yuvraj]] Kharak Singh and his first wife, Chand Kaur. He was the grandson of [[Sher-e-Punjab|Sher-e-Punjab Maharaja Ranjit Singh]] and [[Datar Kaur|Maharani Datar Kaur]] of the [[Nakai Misl]], he grew up very close to his grandparents. His father was the [[heir]] of his grandfather- thus making him second in [[line of succession]] to the throne of [[Sikh Empire|Punjab]].

In April 1837 at the age of sixteen he was married to [[Nanaki Kaur Atariwala|Bibi Nanaki Kaur Atariwala]], daughter [[Sham Singh Attariwala]] (1790–1846) of the village of [[Attari]] in Amritsar district of Punjab. She was the only wife to hold the title of Maharani, she died in 1856. His wedding was planned by his grandmother, [[Datar Kaur]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Atwal|first=Priya|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LPcTEAAAQBAJ&q=royals+and+rebels|title=Royals and Rebels: The Rise and Fall of the Sikh Empire|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-756694-7|language=en}}</ref> The occasion was marked by a display of extraordinary splendour and lavishness. He was secondly, married to [[Sahib Kaur|Sahib Kaur Gilwaliwala]], daughter of Sardar Gurdit Singh Gilwaliwala, of Amritsar she died in 1841 after giving birth to their stillborn son, posthumously. His third marriage was to Bhadauran Kanwar Sahiba, daughter of a Sardar of Bhadaur. His last wife was Katochan Sahiba, daughter of Mian Rai Singh, of Lambagraon. His last two wives committed [[Sati (practice)|Sati]] in Lahore on 6 November 1840 on his funeral.<ref>{{Cite book|last=L.|first=M'Gregor, W.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/162560191|title=The history of the Sikhs.|publisher=Jam. Madden|oclc=162560191}}</ref>

== Early military campaigns and administration ==
[[File:Painting of Maharaja Kharak Singh (right) with his son Nau Nihal Singh (left).jpg|thumb|Painting of Maharaja Kharak Singh (right) with his son Nau Nihal Singh (left)]]
Like his father, he was brought him up in his family's martial tradition and assigned to a variety of military expeditions. At the age of 13 in 1834 he participated in the Peshawar campaign. He was then appointed to administer the country in the Attock region. The same year, the province of Peshawar was farmed out to him for an annual payment of Rs 12,00,000. In 1835, he suppressed a revolt in the Derajat and Torik.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=PREM NARAYAN SINGH|first1=PREM NARAYAN SINGH|last2=NITYANAND SINGH|first2=NITYANAND SINGH|title=ChemInform Abstract: REACTIONS AND SYNTHESIS OF 2,4-DIMETHYL-7,8-BENZOQUINOLINE|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/chin.197506268|journal=Chemischer Informationsdienst|volume=6|issue=6|pages=no|doi=10.1002/chin.197506268|issn=0009-2975}}</ref>

In 1836, he accompanied his father to the borders of Sindh to confront the Talpurian amirs. He took part in the operations of the Khyber in April 1839, he commanded a Sikh army which proceeded to Peshawar to assist Colonel Wade`s contingent on its march from [[Punjab]] to [[Kabul]] across the [[Khyber Pass]].<ref>{{Citation|last=OSBORNE|first=W. G.|title=The Court and Camp of Runjeet Sing (1840)|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1198wp5.8|work=The First Anglo-Afghan Wars|pages=35–38|publisher=Duke University Press|doi=10.2307/j.ctv1198wp5.8|access-date=2021-10-10}}</ref>

In 1837 he was awarded with ''Kaukab-i-Iqbal-i-Punjab'' by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Upon his father's ascension he became the Tikka Kanwar ([[Crown prince]]) of [[Sikh Empire|''Sarkār-ē-Khālsā'']]. Nau Nihal was raised outside the court politics at [[Lahore]] however at the age of eighteen, and forced by his father's incapacity he returned to Lahore. He was instructed to govern in the name of his father under the direction of the vizier, [[Dhian Singh|Dhian Singh Dogra]]. When Kharak Singh became gravely ill, the court physician [[Johann Martin Honigberger]] noted that despite his father begging him to see him every day, Nau Nihal rarely visited his father.{{sfn|William Dalrymple|Anita Anand|2016}}

== Death ==
[[File:Nau Nihal Singh's haveli, now Victoria Girls High School, Lahore.jpg|left|upright|thumb|The [[Haveli of Nau Nihal Singh]] is located in [[Lahore]], [[Pakistan]].]]

Nau Nihal was popular with the royal courtiers and the general public, and was seen as a worthy successor to his father during the latter's sickness. After Kharak Singh died on 5 November 1840, Nau Nihal performed his last rites beside the [[Ravi River]] in Lahore. After the ceremony, he started returning to the palace via the [[Hazuri Bagh]], where a massive block of stone from a gate fell upon him and two of his companions.{{sfn|William Dalrymple|Anita Anand|2017|p=110}} One of the companions - Udham Singh (nephew of Dhian Singh)- broke his neck and died on the spot.

According to [[Alexander Gardner (soldier)|Alexander Gardner]], who was just steps behind Nau Nihal when the incident took place, the prince had sustained only minor injuries during this episode: he was well enough to walk on his own, and agreed to be taken on a stretcher only because of Gardner's insistence.{{sfn|William Dalrymple|Anita Anand|2017|p=111}} However, when the court physician [[Johann Martin Honigberger]] came to attend Nau Nihal in a tent, he observed that the prince's skull had been crushed, and the bedsheet was covered with blood and brain tissue.{{sfn|William Dalrymple|Anita Anand|2017|pp=110-111}} Dhian Singh insisted that the prince had suffered these injuries during the alleged accident in Hazuri Bagh. Nau Nihal died hours later, although the courtiers did not make this news public until three days later in an attempt to avoid panic.{{sfn|William Dalrymple|Anita Anand|2017|p=111}} According to Gardner, five artillery men had carried Nau Nihal from Hazuri Bagh to the tent: two of these men died under mysterious circumstances, two went on leave and never re-joined the service, and one disappeared without explanation.{{sfn|William Dalrymple|Anita Anand|2017|p=111}}L.H. Griffin in The Punjab Chiefs says,"The only reason for the mystery which shrouded the death-bed of the Prince, was the necessity which Dhyan Singh felt for keeping the fatal news from being generally known until the arrival of Sher Singh. If there had been an organised plot, the Raja would have taken care that Sher Singh should have been present in Lahore at the time of the catastrophe. The absence of Sher Singh proves the innocence of the Raja (Dhian Singh)".

The contemporary English political correspondence, which details even the most insignificant happenings at the Darbar, makes no references to any suspicion entertained in any quarters regarding the Jammu Rajas. It has been asserted that as far as contemporary European writers go, it was their studied policy to denounce the Jammu Rajas, especially Dhian Singh, because of his anti-European attitude which he had consistently maintained throughout his career. On enquiry into the matter of the 'accident', J.M. Honigberger found "more reason to suppose that the partisans of Kurruck Singh and Chet Singh were the authors of this plot against the prince, as he had intended to ask them for an account of their perfidious behaviour during his father's long illness... He (the prince) to order seven of their houses to be closed and inquiries to be made".<ref>Honigberger, Thirty Five Years in the East, vol. 1, p. 105.</ref>

Nau Nihal was cremated on 6 November 1840 at the age of 19. His mother [[Chand Kaur|Maharani Chand Kaur]] became the Empress of Sikh Empire assuming the title Malika Muqaddasa (immaculate empress). She was killed by poisoning her food on 11 June 1842.{{sfn|William Dalrymple|Anita Anand|2017|p=112}}

==Succession==

After Nau Nihal's death, a court faction proclaimed his uncle [[Sher Singh]] as the rightful heir, while another declared his mother [[Chand Kaur]] as the ruler. The faction supporting Chand Kaur hoped that Nau Nihal's pregnant wife would give birth to a son.{{sfn|William Dalrymple|Anita Anand|p=114}} However, the widow gave birth to a stillborn baby six months later, and Sher Singh besieged Lahore with a 70,000-strong army. Ultimately, Chand Kaur agreed to acknowledge Sher Singh's claim to the throne in return for a generous settlement and safe passage, and Sher Singh was crowned on 18 January 1841.{{sfn|William Dalrymple|Anita Anand|p=115}} A few months later, on 11 June 1842, Chand Kaur's maids killed her by crushing her skull, just like her son had died. While being punished by Prime Minister Dhian Singh, they insisted that they had killed Chand Kaur on Sher Singh's orders.{{sfn|William Dalrymple|Anita Anand|pp=115-116}}

Nau Nihal Singh had ordered the construction of a bunga (tower) in the complex of Tarn Taran Sahib, one of the Holiest Sikh Shrines in the Majha Region of Punjab Kingdom.{{citation needed}}

==Child adoptions==
When Nau Nihal Singh was declared as [[Maharaja]] of [[Sikh Empire]], he adopted his cousin's son, Bhagwan Singh from the [[Kanhaiya Misl]]. {{citation needed}}<ref>{{Cite book|author=Atwal, Priya|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1256081616|title=Royals and rebels : the rise and fall of the Sikh empire|year=2020 |isbn=978-0-19-755459-3|oclc=1256081616}}</ref>

His second wife, Sahib Kaur was pregnant at the time of his death and posthumously gave birth to their son, Jawahar Singh who was a stillborn. It is alleged that she was poised with the motive of terminating her pregnancy.<ref>{{Cite conference|last1=Dutta|first1=Paromita|last2=Lal|first2=Sohan|last3=Pandey|first3=Sudhir K.|title=Calculation of effective Coulomb interaction in PrCoO3|conference=Dae Solid State Physics Symposium 2017|series=AIP Conference Proceedings|volume=1942|issue=1|page=090017|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.5028932|publisher=Author(s)|doi=10.1063/1.5028932|bibcode=2018AIPC.1942i0017D}}</ref> Sohan Lal Suri claimed that [[Sher Singh]] gave the wives of Nau Nihal Singh medicines to terminate their pregnancies.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Atwal, Priya|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1256081616|title=Royals and rebels : the rise and fall of the Sikh empire|year=2020 |isbn=978-0-19-755459-3|oclc=1256081616}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Suri|first=Sohan Lal|title=Umdat Ul Tawarikh}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |author1=William Dalrymple |author2=Anita Anand |title=Kohinoor: The Story of the World's Most Infamous Diamond |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EoJoDwAAQBAJ |year=2016 |publisher=Juggernaut |isbn=978-93-86228-08-6 }}
{{refend}}
* Gulabnama: A history of Maharaja Gulab Singh of Jammu & Kashmir-Diwan Kripa Ram;Sukhdev Singh Charak;Anita Charak Billawria
{{s-start}}
{{succession box
| title = Ruler of the [[Sikh Empire]]
| years = 8 October 1839 – 6 November 1840
| before = [[Kharak Singh]]
| after = [[Chand Kaur]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Nau Nihal}}
[[Category:1821 births]]
[[Category:1840 deaths]]
[[Category:Punjabi people]]
[[Category:Indian Sikhs]]
[[Category:Sikh emperors|Nau Nihal Singh]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian monarchs]]
[[Category:People from Lahore]]

Nau Nihal Singh - Revision history

SherleneGirardi at 13:05, 23 October 2025

Ds Abhishek: Contributed a new entry to the website.