The Bhangi Misl Blogspot

  There is a portrait of Sardar Gujjar Singh Bhangi available at this link : https://jatchiefs.com/sirdar-gujjar-singh-bhangi-of-lahore/?fbclid=IwAR2rSUAh0kfv4OEWIq7oaEgjZArzlHVwoZomafzCKVsl3QysjKwnszLyYV0 Please note that he was not a Sandhu but a Dhillon (not that it matters to us Sikhs but for historical accuracy - his nephew descended through his brother is a Dhillon so he is a Dhillon - see my previous post on Ferozepur). His maternal grandfather was Sardar Gurbaksh Singh Sandhu of Village Roranwala who adopted Sardar Lehna Singh Kahlon - I believe his mother Mai Lakshmi married Chaudhary Nathu Dhillon.  I think that Gujjars descendents can be found in Village Rangarh near Amritsar. Gujjar is one of my favourite Sikh warriors having conquered so much territory for the Sikh Quam from Ferozepur to Attock. Maharaja Ranjit Singh is reported to have said that he was “blessed to be one-eyed” like the great Sardar Gujjar Singh Bhangi, by his court historian Sohan Lal Puri in the...

 Sardar Gujjar Singh Bhangi conquered the Ferozepur and surrounding areas in 1761. A few photos of the ferozepur fort and surrounding cantonment area are at the end of this article. Ferozepur, it’s fort and surrounding cantonment areas as well as areas around had once belonged to the Bhangi Misl (Kahlon-Dhillon branch if you like, as this was separate to the main Dhillon branch from Sardar Hari Singh Dhillon albeit they were all together like peas in a pod!) … having been conquered by Sardar Gujar Singh Bhangi (under Sardar Hari Singh Bhangi) in 1761 and assigned to his nephew Gurbaksh Singh who assigned the area to his middle son Dhanna Singh…upon whose death the property went to Dhanna Singh’s widow Rani Lachman Kaur who died issueless leading to the British takeover in 1835 after consent from Maharaja Ranjit Singh …whose dependency this was apparently  (British built Ferozepur Cantonment over it). The British may have built Ferozepur Cantonment on our lands illegally - and ...

 The more I have read on the final days of the Bhangi Misl and the rise of Maharaja Ranjit Singh as King of the Lahore Darbar the more it seems to really have been a family affair in the end. There were 3 Misls that were involved in the struggle that all had family ties with each other. These 3 Misls were the Bhangi, the Sukarchakia and the Kanhayia - the fight for sovereignty of the Punjab was essentially between these three in the end with the other Misls playing bit parts. Now, if there are 3 people how does one person emerge as the winner?  The answer is that 2 people have to gang up against 1 to defeat them and this is exactly what happened with the Kanhayia Misl and Sukarchakia Misls ganging up on the Bhangi Misl....but only after it had been weakened first as too strong to take on initially.  So, how did the Bhangi Misl get weakened? In the struggle, you have to bear in mind that the Bhangi Misl had two branches - the Dhillon and our branch let's call it Kahlon (as...

 Through marriage, the Kahlons are connected with the house of Nawab Kapur Singh, a Virk Jat who is a major figure in Sikh history being 11 years old when Guru Gobind Singh died 1708 and 19 at the time of massacre of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur and his followers in Delhi in 1716. He was the first leader of the Sikh nation after Banda Singh Bahadur, and in 1721 underwent initiation at the hands of Bhai Mani Singh, one of the most important Martyrs of the Sikh faith and a companion of Guru Gobind Singh himself...you will find his painting at every Sikh Gurdwara and read about him seperately. Nawab Kapur Singh's brother was called Dhan Singh, and it is Dhan Singh's granddaughter that Sardar Lehna Singh Kahlon married who was the sister of  Sardar Budh Singh Faizullapuria who inherited Kapur Singh's Misl..ie Nawab Kapur Singh's grand-niece.  Note : as the Bhangi Misl was the most powerful this was a good alliance for the two Misls, but Bhangi Misl Sardars contracted marriages ...

 Hari Ke Patan, which is shown below now has a bird sanctuary but in 1735 it was a place of refuge for the Sikhs under Nawab Kapur Singh Virk when they left Amritsar and retired to this area…this included the 65 Jathas of which 18 were lead by Bhangi Misl Jathedars. It’s important to note that Nawab Kapur Singh, supreme leader of the Sikhs chose to marry his own niece to Sardar Lehna Singh Kahlon of the Bhangi Misl, who was one of these early Jathedars and would have fought alongside him. The Mughal Governor of Punjab Zakariya Khan organised moving columns called Gashti Fauj mounted on horses and camels to pursue the Sikhs. The Sikhs who fell into the hands of the Mughals were sent to Lahore to be executed at a place which the Sikhs called Shahid Ganj. The Sikhs had to resort to the Lakhi Jungle lying between Ferozepur and Bhatinda, where they experienced hard times due to the scarcity of food and water. They were trapped as Rae Kalha of Raekot controlled the whole area lying to th...

 The country between rivers Jhelum and the Indus was full of ravines, and it was an arid area. Between Rohtas and Rawalpindi, a distance of about 100kms Jherar, Jagatpur, Perwala and Pakoke Sarae were the strongholds of the Gakhars, a hardy and numerous tribe of great valour. Sultan Mukarram Khan of Perwala, Karmullah Khan of Dhani, and Mansur Khan of Gheb submitted to Gujar Singh. The districts of Dhani and Gheb were famous for a fine breed of horses and mules. It enabled Gujar Singh to equip his army better. Pothohar also fell to Gujar Singh. It consisted of two parganahs, Wangli and Perwala. Wangli contained eight tappas with its headquarters at Karla Town. In addition to Gakhars, there were other tribes such as Awans, Dhunds and Gulers. They were widely scattered. But their thickest population was in the districts of Jhelum and Rawalpindi. In Jhelum district they occupied the tracts of Awan Kari lying across river Gabir. They occupied a strong position in Rawalpindi district. T...

 The Rohtas Fort which Sardar Gujjar Singh Bhangi and his best friend Sardar Charat Singh Sukarchakia conquered from the maternal uncle of Ahmad Shah Durrani Nawab Sarbuland Khan enabling them to conquer Jhelum and the surrounding areas, after Sardar Gujjar Singh had previously conquered Gujrat and Lahore (latter with Sardar Lehna Singh Bhangi) from 1765…the Rohtas Fort was captured by the two sardars in the summer of 1767 after they had contracted a marriage between Gujjars middle son Sahib and Charat’s daughter Raj Kaur (Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s aunt)….the territories of Rohtas, Dhan Baloki, Ghebb and Mukhad fell to Charat’s share and the tallugas of Wangal, Bharwal, Pindi Rawal up to the boundary of River Attock fell to Gujjar. Photos available online :

 Link to Major James Browne’s India Tracts written in 1787 where he mentions the powerful Sikh chiefs of Lahore at page 111 (Lehna Singh, Gujjar Singh and Sobha Singh)…includes a history of the Sikhs. He was based at Agra, but ordered by William Hastings who was based at Calcutta to proceed to Delhi to make sure the Emperor did not make a deal with the Sikhs in 1783…the Sikhs having besieged the City under Sardar Baghel Singh (that’s why we have all the Gurdwaras in Delhi!). https://archive.org/details/dli.csl.5294/page/n111/mode/2up?q=Lahore He says  “The city of Lahore is at present divided among the three most powerful chiefs, who share the revenue arising from all imports and duties, &c. within the city, including the mint ;• the names of the present possessors are, Gujer Sing, Sabah Sing, and Laina Sing” He goes on to say that the Chiefs gathered at Amritsar and decided their campaigns for that season and chose the commander. The plunder collected during these expedit...

 Before the reorganisation of the 65 Sikh Jathas into 11 Sikh Misls by Nawab Kapur Singh, 18 Jathas and Jathedars belonged to the Bhangis…with one of the Jathas under Sardar Lehna Singh Kahlon! Here is the list…and you can recognise all the Bhangi Sardars…also, pay homage to these men and their mighty warriors who faced the might of the Mughal and Durrani Empires…and won! You can see that there was a Jatha under Sardar Hari Singh Dhillon, another under his oldest son Jhanda, another under his younger son Ganda, one under Natha Singh who I think is Gujjar’s father, a Jatha under Gujjar Singh Bhangi who is one of my favourites, another under Gujjar’s brother Nirbahu Singh…to whose son Gujjar assigned Ferozepur and surrounding districts, our Lehna Singh which I assume he inherited from his adopted father Sardar Gurbaksh Singh Sandhu of Village Roranwala…and you will also recognise a recurring pattern with certain villages eg Village Kanha which was mostly Sandhu Jats which also suppli...

 Sardar Bhag Singh Ahluwalia who married his daughter to the eldest son Sukha Singh of Bhangi Sardar Gujjar Singh - this was done at the behest of his nephew Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia who did this to maintain a power balance between the Misls. This is a direct ancestor of the Royal House of Kapurthala, with the current Prince Brigadier Sukhjit Singh.

Portrait of Sardar Gurbaksh Singh Kanhaiya, father-in-law of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He was the son of Sardar Jai Singh Kanhaiya leader of the powerful Kanhaiya Misl which eventually proved to be the deciding factor in the contest between the Sukarchakia Misl and the Bhangi Misl for supremacy. He was actually killed in a conflict with the Sukarchakia Misl then under the control of Ranjit’s father Mahan, but his far sighted widow Rani Sada Kaur decided to get her daughter betrothed to the young Ranjit which enabled the fortunes of the Kanhaiya and Sukarchakia Misls to be tied and to be able to defeat their competitor the Bhangi Misl.  Rani Sada Kaur was instrumental to Ranjit Singh taking Lahore - I found this on a website on what she had to say to Sardar Chet Singh Kahlon, who had locked himself in the Lahore Fort having been caught by surprise as he was a relation of Ranjit (Lehna had died two years earlier in 1797). “She said, “I want to see Chaet Singh.”  “Who are you?” Chae...

 The Gurdwara Shaheed Taru Singh put up by Sardars Lehna Singh, Gujjar Singh and Sobha Singh of the Bhangi Misl when they took Lahore in 1765…this area is Naulakha Bazaar where during the Mughal rule Sikhs would be taken to be executed. This is near the Gurdwara Shahid Ganj where Mughal Governor Mir Mannu torture and killed Sikh women and their babies. The Gurdwara is in the memory of Bhai Taru Singh (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhai_Taru_Singh). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhai_Mani_Singh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurdwara_Shahid_Ganj_Singh_Singhania

 The Mandir dedicated to the son of Lord Ram inside the Lahore Fort…dates from the time the Sikhs ruled Lahore…it’s even possible that the Bhangi Sardars Lehna, Gujjar and Sobha had it built…with the three main possibilities being Lehna, his son Chet…or Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Personally, looking at the Mandir, which is dedicated to the son of Lord Ram, after whom Lahore is named while the city of Kasur is named after the other son, I think the scale is more along the lines of it being built in the time of the Bhangi Sardars as Maharaja Ranjit Singh would have built better and bigger! Reading the history, it is actually quite astonishing how close the two communities were once…what with Bhai Vasti Ram’s Samadhi and Jhingar Suthra Samadhi just outside the fort…guess the real separation happened during British colonial times. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_Temple?fbclid=IwAR3vwSNMuXqrXnyaxsdW-URfEya3hgL73ZOkGsieqy1zgtuY06v5EVTWPvg

 The Akal Bunga in Amritsar built in 1606AD where Bhangi Sardars Lehna Singh and Gujjar Singh used to stay when in Amritsar along with the other prominent Sardars who also built their own Bungas or Palaces - Hari Singh Bhangi and other Sardars also established what were known as a Katra or Market area…the Bhangi Sardars gave what were known as Dharmarth Grants to establishments such as the Akal Bunga…and also land grants to various Sikh sects by way of what are known as Dharmarth (assume this is charitable donations in English!)…also to what were known as Mahants in those days before the Singh Sabha movement, as lines were more fuzzy then! In fact, the Bhangi Sardars Hari Singh and his sons Jhanda and Ganda appear to have been the first to give land grants to worthies such as the Bedis, descendants of Guru Nanak, and to many others - for example, Hari Singh confirmed half of the grant of Village Ratta to Pir Barkudhar, which had originally been granted by Emperor Aurangzeb. The Bun...

Greetings, readers! We are excited to share with you another fascinating portrait featuring our relation, Sardar Lehna Singh Kahlon of Lahore, alongside other Misldars. The portrait captures a crucial moment in the late 1700s when these Misldars gathered to discuss their strategy. In the portrait, you can clearly see Sardar Lehna Singh Kahlon sitting right in the middle - the second greybeard from the bottom right. He is quite distinctive, as you can see from the original portrait posted earlier from the V&A Museum in London, which we have also included below. It is possible that his son, Chet, may also feature in the portrait, perhaps sitting somewhere close to him. We hope that this additional information adds to your appreciation and understanding of Sardar Lehna Singh Kahlon and the significant role he played in Punjab's history. Source : https://jatchiefs.com/the-notable-chiefs-of-punjab-in-1799/

 In 1767 during his eighth invasion of India, Ahmad Shah Abdali also known as Durrani : “wrote a letter to Lehna Singh, offering him the Governorship of Lahore. As a show of courtesy he also sent him some dry fruits of Kabul. Lehna Singh who was at Amritsar, however, declined the invitation on the grounds that it was not commensurate with the guiding principles of the Khalsa to confer with an invader and thus, as his reply he returned the dry fruit along with a sample of gram, along with his own letter that contained the following words; “fruit is the food of the kings: I am an ordinary soldier and can well sustain myself on a simple meal. In regard to the offer of Governorship, I am a soldier of the Panth, which would spurn even the gift of ruler ship of the three worlds, except when it came from the Guru Gobind Singh.” In this manner Lehna Singh turned down the offer saying that to accept an offer from an invader was against the policy and honor of the Khalsa.”  Long may his...

 The Bhangi Sardars including Lehna Singh and Jhanda Singh took Multan in 1772, and their first act was to ask to see the temple at Prahlad (demolished after riots following Babri Masjid in Ayodhya). They were to hold Multan for eight years before early in January 1780, Timur Shah laid the siege to the town of Multan. Just at that, time Gujjar Singh Bhangi and Lehna Singh Bhangi along with the other Sikh Sardars at the head of 15,000 horsemen arrived with reinforcement to the help of Diwan Singh Chhachowalia. A severe battle was fought at Shujabad between the forces of Timur Shah (Ahmad Shah Durrani’s son and successor) and the Bhangi Sardars, with the Sikhs losing after taking 2,000 casualties…with the Sikhs retreating to Lahore. Timur Shah sent a force of 20,000 strong soldiers after them which overtook the Sikhs at Hujramuqim Khan where the Sikhs were again defeated before they returned to Lahore. Timur Shah then occupied Multan taking over from the Bhangi Misl in 1780…this was ...

 SECTION ON BHANGI MISL Sardars in "Sikhs in the Eighteenth Century" (our Branch which became as important, not the Dhillon Branch). Note a few corrections from me below : Note 1 : sorry to say but Chet Singh Kahlon, son of Lehna is described as an imbecile. I personally do not agree with this assessment. Note 2: Gurbaksh Singh Roranwala described as Sidhu Jat here not Sandhu.[needs to be checked as identified as Sandhu by Sir Leppel Griffin] Note 3: Gujjar Singh identified as a Sandhu Jat…but I understand him to be a Dhillon for good reason. Lehna Singh and Gujjar Singh As it has been mentioned elsewhere, sometimes Misldars rose to such heights that they were considered equal to Sardars. Even at that stage, there existed no difference between Sardars and Misldars except that the Misldars paid respect to the Sardars. In the history of Bhangi Misl, some of the Misldars acquired so much prominence and their deeds were so much glaring that it is in the fitness of things that the...