Misr Diwan Chand

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Not to be confused with Dewan Mokham Chand.
Multan Fort, Qasim Gate visible center-right.

Misr Diwan Chand was a notable officer of Maharaja Ranjit Singh's reign. He rose from petty clerk to the chief of artillery and commander-in-chief of the armies that conquered Multan and Kashmir.[1]He was a notable pillar of the state.[2] Diwan Chand was the son of a Brahmin shopkeeper of Gondlanwala village (in present-day Pakistan)[3].Diwan Chand was honoured with the title of Zafar Jang Bahadur—Brave Victor of Battles from Maharaja Ranjit Singh.[4][5] Diwan Chand captured Multan in 1818.[6] In 1819, he led an expedition to Shupiyan in Kashmir region, along with Ranjit Singh's son Kharak Singh.[7]

Maharaja Ranjit Singh had a great regard for the general. Once at Amritsar, the Maharaja had purchased a very precious hookah from a Hindustani merchant, although this was against the injunctions of his own religion. He presented the hookah to Misr Diwan Chand to mark the high esteem in which he was held by the Maharaja. Permission was also given to him to smoke.[8]

The contribution of Misr Dewan Chand in the making of the Maharaja's empire has also been under-estimated by British historians who have described him as a “hookah-smoking general'[9].It is a fact that Maharaja had once presented him a hookah himself.[9]

He was a great warrior and general who achieved the title of Fateh-o-Nusrat-Nasib (one who never loses in war) from Maharaja Ranjit Singh himself and made him Governor of Kashmir.[10]

Misr Diwan Chand was the Commander-in-Chief of Khalsa Army from 1817 to 1825. He was a pillar on whose back the powerful Sikh kingdom arose. [1]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Punjab History Conference, Thirty-ninth session, March 16–18, 2007: proceedings, Navtej Singh, Punjabi University. Dept. of Punjab Historical Studies
  2. ↑ Sufi, G. M. D.; Sūfī, Ghulām Muhyi'd Dīn (1974). Kashmīr, being a history of Kashmir from the earliest times to our own. Light & Life Publishers.
  3. ↑ Harjinder Singh Dilgeer (1997). The Sikh Reference Book. Denmark: Sikh Educational Trust for Sikh University Centre. p. 373. ISBN 978-0-9695964-2-4.
  4. ↑ Sufi, G. M. D.; Sūfī, Ghulām Muhyi'd Dīn (1974). Kashmīr, being a history of Kashmir from the earliest times to our own. Light & Life Publishers.
  5. ↑ Singh, Khushwant (2017-04-18). Ranjit Singh: Maharaja of the Punjab. Random House Publishers India Pvt. Limited. ISBN 978-93-5118-102-6.
  6. ↑ Kaushik Roy (2011). War, Culture and Society in Early Modern South Asia, 1740-1849. Taylor & Francis. pp. 262–. ISBN 978-1-136-79086-7.
  7. ↑ Tony Jaques, ed. (2007). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: P-Z. Greenwood Press. p. 938. ISBN 9780313335396. Retrieved 2015-09-14.
  8. ↑ Singh, Gulcharan (1976). Ranjit Singh and his generals. Sujlana Publishers.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Khullar, K. K. (1980). Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Hem Publishers.
  10. ↑ Panjab University Research Bulletin: Arts. The University. 1990.
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