https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Sawan_Mal_ChopraSawan Mal Chopra - Revision history2026-08-06T08:19:41ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sawan_Mal_Chopra&diff=533713&oldid=prevWEMBruce20: adding new details2025-12-07T09:26:33Z<p>adding new details</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|Durrani governor of Multan (1820–1844)}}<br />
{{more citations needed|date=January 2021}}<br />
{{Infobox officeholder<br />
| honorific_prefix = Diwan<br />
| name = Sawan Mal<br />
| image = Diwan Sawan Mal. Watercolour by a Company artist, Punjab, ca.1865.jpg<br />
| caption = Diwan Sawan Mal seated holding a lotus. Watercolour by a Company artist, Punjab, {{circa|1865}}<br />
| native_name = <br />
| predecessor = [[Nawab Muzaffar Khan]] (as [[Durrani empire|Durrani]] governor, {{died in|1818}})<br />
<br>Several temporary Sikh governors of Multan (1818–1820)<br />
| birth_place = [[Gujranwala]], [[Sukerchakia Misl]] (modern day [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]], [[Pakistan]])<br />
| native_name_lang = <br />
| office = [[Sikh Empire|Sikh]] governor of Multan<br />
| status = <br />
| term_start = 1820<br />
| term_end = 1844<br />
| monarch = [[Ranjit Singh]]<br>[[Kharak Singh]]<br>[[Nau Nihal Singh]]<br>[[Sher Singh]]<br>[[Duleep Singh]]<br />
| death_place = [[Multan]], [[Sikh Empire]] (modern day Punjab, Pakistan)<br />
| pronunciation = <br />
| death_date = 29 September 1844<br />
| death_cause = Seriously wounded by an under-trial prisoner<br />
| known_for = <br />
| title = <br />
| term = <br />
| successor = [[Diwan Mulraj Chopra]]<br />
| parents = Hoshnak Rai Chopra (father)<br />
}}<br />
<br />
[[Divan|Diwan]] '''Sawan Mal''' (died 29 September 1844) was a [[Sikh Empire]]-era administrator and general who served as governor ([[Divan|Diwan]]) of [[Multan]] from 1820 to 1844.<br />
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==Biography==<br />
===Early life===<br />
Sawan Mal was born into a [[Hindu]] [[Khatri]] family of the [[Chopra (surname)|Chopra]] ''[[gotra]]'' originally from [[Gujranwala]], the region where [[Maharaja]] [[Ranjit Singh]]'s [[Misl]], the [[Sukerchakia]]s held sway.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=The encyclopaedia of Sikhism |date=1992–1998 |publisher=Punjabi University |others=Harbans Singh |isbn=0-8364-2883-8 |volume=4 |location=Patiala |page=82 |oclc=29703420}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Yasmin |first=Robina |title=Muslims Under Sikh Rule in the Nineteenth Century: Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Religious Tolerance |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2022 |isbn=9780755640348 |series=Library of Islamic South Asia |pages=92}}</ref><br />
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===Career===<br />
Along with [[Hari Singh Nalwa]], he was a top commander in [[Sikh Khalsa Army|Maharaja Ranjit Singh's army]]. As a general under Ranjit Singh, he assisted in wresting the [[subah]] (province) of Multan from the [[Durrani Empire|Durrani]] governor [[Nawab Muzaffar Khan]], [[Siege of Multan (1818)|in 1818]]. After a series of incompetent governors, Sawan Mal was appointed as the [[Diwan (title)|Diwan]] of the region.<br />
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Diwan Sawan Mal successfully cultivated indigo in the Multan area through an early, plentiful, and constant source of water realized by irrigation canal construction, which was tied to commercial cash cropping.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Gilmartin |first=David |title=Blood and Water: The Indus River Basin in Modern History |date=14 April 2020 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520355538 |pages=18–25 |chapter=1: Introduction: Community and Environment - The Settling: The Indus Basin - Canals}}</ref> Diwan Sawan Mal promoted the chakdari system and invited Hindu settlement in the region, with canal-building arrangements being centered around wells.<ref name=":02" /> <br />
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In 1834, he signed an agreement on behalf of the [[Maharaja Ranjit Singh|Maharaja]] with Sardar Karam Khan, a [[Mazari (Baloch tribe)|Mazari]] warrior respected in his tribe as well as in the [[Sikh Khalsa Army|Sikh Army]]. Karam Khan was the younger brother of Mir Bahram Khan, chief of the [[Balochi people|Baloch]] Mazari tribe, thereby ending the long war between the [[Sikhs]] and the Mazaris of [[Rojhan]]. He was succeeded to the governorship of Multan by his son, [[Diwan Mulraj Chopra]], who was the last ethnic [[Punjabis|Punjabi]] to administer [[Multan]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Heroes and Villains of Sikh Rule |url=http://www.sikh-heritage.co.uk/postgurus/herosvillains/heroes%20villains.htm}}</ref><br />
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Sawan Mal died on 29 September 1844 due to wounds inflicted upon him by an under-trial prisoner.<ref name=":0" /><br />
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==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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{{Authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chopra, Sawan Mal}}<br />
[[Category:Punjabi Hindus]]<br />
[[Category:Military personnel of the Sikh Empire]]<br />
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]<br />
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]</div>WEMBruce20