The Akal Bunga in Amritsar where the Bhangi Sardars resided.

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 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 Bungas or Palaces were mostly put up around the Darbar Sahib complex  by the Misl Sardars after Ahmad Shah Abdali blew up the Sanctum with a cannon in1762, and filled the tank with dead cattle….this included the Bhangi Misl Sardars as well as Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, Sardar Jassa Singh Ramgharia as well other Sardars such as Jai Singh Kanhaiya….most of these were later demolished in British times to make way for a clock tower which itself was demolished in the early 1940s.

I shall post sometime later on how much of Amritsar was built by the Bhangi Sardars such as Hari Singh Bhangi or Gujjar Singh as you will be surprised.





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