Colonel Mian Singh

Maharaja Ranjit Singh was a-hunting in a forest along with Jamadar Khushal Singh-who had arrived from Kashmir- Colonel Mian Singh, Raja Dhyan Singh and other courtiers. The hunters rode horses. Handsome, tall, upstart Khushal Singh talked with the Maharaja, whom he had just presented costly shawls, the details of the monthly revenue and other affairs of Kashmir, which was then under the governorship of Prince Sher Singh. He praised the administration, whose virtual head he himself was.

A hare came in view. Khushal Singh ran his horse after the game. Others stayed behind. Mian Singh rode back to the base camp an a went to his tent. The hare that the Jamadar pursued ran with the speed of lightning, out of the range of his gun. By a circuitous route, the hare jumped over thickets and reached the tent of Mian Singh. The frightened animal darted in, seeking safety.

Mian Singh had just entered. He took up the hare, feeling the beautiful animal's beating heart. In a few moments, Jamadar Khushal Singh turned up, and seeing the hare in the lap of Mian Singh, said, "Colonel Sahib, this is my game. Release the hare."

"No, I shall not."

"Why so, Colonel Mian Singh?"

"The hare has come into my tent. It has sought my shelter. I must protect my guest."
Jamadar Khushal Singh, thus tentalised, lost his temper. They exchanged hot words. The orderlies reported the matter to the Maharaja, who summoned the two officers to his presence.

The Maharaja, fresh from the hunt, was inclined to be humorous. He addressed Mian Singh, "Colonel, is the disputed hare your child?"

"Sire", the Colonel replied, "the hare became my ward once it entered my tent. Chivalry demands that I must shelter it."

"Sire", said the Jamadar, "the hare is my game. I gave chase to it. Col. Mian Singh has no right to it."

"Colonel," said the Maharaja, who was easily persuaded by Khushal Singh, "Khushal Singh is right. The game is his. Give it to him". `

"Not on my life, Sire. Take away my life, but I shall not give up a living being that is in my protection."

Momentarily, the Maharaja grew angry. His wrath could spell anything for the unhappy man who provoked it. But he wasn't impulsive. He thought awhile and mused over the reply that he really liked. He asked Khushal Singh not to pursue his demand any further. The matter was dropped.

Secretly, Maharaja Ranjit Singh appreciated the conduct of Mian Singh. As his way was, he rarely showed his likes. Instead, he feigned that he was displeased with Mian Singh, for having disobeyed him.

+++++++++++++

After a few months, a battle was fought between Sikhs and Pathans. Colonel Mian Singh led a Sikh regiment. He was severely wounded and he lay prostrate among those that were slain on the battlefield. Towards the night, a party of Pathans enjoying a brief spell of victory, walked over the dead Sikh soldiers, stripping most of them of their clothes and arms.

When the Pathans saw Mian Singh, among the dead Sikh warriors, they said, "What a Jat Khalsa. It is impossible to fleece his uniform".

"Well, let me try this", said one as he plunged his dagger in the side of Mian Singh. The Colonel, full of courage, endurance and fortitude, did not utter a groan as he received the excruciating thrust.

Next day, Sikh replacements came and defeated the Pathans. Colonel Mian Singh was picked up. His wounds healed and, once again, the redoubtable brave Sikh warrior was able to attend the court of the Maharaja.

The Maharaja heard of this episode, testifying to the mettle of Mian Singh. He was now well pleased with the Colonel and desired to reward him suitably by placing him on a deserved post.

+++++++++++++

Reports came from Kashmir that the administration of Prince Sher Singh was going from bad to worse. There was famine in the Valley in the year 1832 A.D. Khushal Singh was the de facto Subedar of Kashmir though he was only a deputy of the Subedar. Aided by corrupt Kashmiri officials, Warris Khan and Chander Bhan, and the Punjabis, Raj Chand and Devi Sahai, he oppressed and suppressed the famished people and extorted heavy taxes from them. The Khalsa army behaved like an army of occupation, as it were, treating Kashmiris like so many chattels. People migrated from the Valley in large numbers. The famine-stricken trekkers reached Lahore. Maharaja Ranjit Singh heard heir tales of woe. The exodus increased day by day.

To forestall the effect of these reports upon the Maharaja, Khushal Singh sent to him the customary presents, to which he added many of his own, as well as the arrears of the monthly revenues. Receiving this, the Maharaja wrote back through a courier. "We are pleased with your punctuality in sending revenue, etc. But, alas, you have spoiled Kashmir."

During the year 1833 A.D., there was some little amelioration in the lot of the starving people when two-thirds of the revenues were exempted. Even then Kashmiris trekked down to the plains. The Maharaja received reports from his spies, and otherwise. In 1834, A.D. he recalled Sher Singh and Khushal Singh to Lahore and deputed Col. Mian Singh as the Governor of Kashmir.

+++++++++++++

The spring had set in. The fruit trees were in the grandeur of their gorgeous blossom when Col. Man Singh entered Srinagar. His fair reputation had preceded him. The delighted people cheered from the crowded banks, as the boat procession went up the Jhelum. They were right in cherishing hopes of a very much needed welcome change. Col. Mian Singh responded to the ovation smilingly. He was shocked to see the city so dirty, the people looking haggard and their houses so many pictures of gloom.

Remembering the words of the Maharaja that he must uplift Kashmir into a prosperous and happy country, the Colonel set about the great work earnestly. He imported 50,000 maunds of grain from the Punjab and had them distributed among the people on a much lower price than the government had paid for. This largesse was unprecedented.

The corrupt officialdom was shaken to the very bottom. Scenting trouble from the intriguing officials, the Subedar selected the most honest and reliable men for key posts of the administration. Pandit Ganesh Dhar was appointed Sahib Kar. He was inspired by the selfless Colonel who was always keen on the welfare of his subjects. From Rajauri, Muzaffarabad, Karnah and Kishtwar, paddy was obtained at the rate of sixteen rupees per Khirwar and sold to the people of the Valley at three rupees a Khirwar. Cattle, fowl and buffaloes were freely distributed among farmers. For once Kashmiris breathed relief from the brutal oppressions to which earlier Subedars and more so, their officials and the unruly Sikh soldiers, had subjected them to. They said, "The Prophet of Mercy has come to Kashmir. May God bless him!"

Col. Mian Singh was inexorably consistent in his solicitude for the welfare of the people. In Anantnag he found an avaricious Jagirdar, Jagarnath Mam. The haughty landlord gave himself airs of being a yogi but he would not give away to the famished poor anything from his huge stores. The Subedar appealed to him to spare some of his grain for the starved poor.

Jagarnath would have none of it. "Who are you?" he said to the Subedar. "I am the supreme authority here".

The Colonel was flung into righteous indignation. He commanded this greedy and cruel exploiter of the people to be hanged on the spot. The corpse was left hanging on the tree – a stern reminder to profiteers. The paddy and maize that he had hoarded were distributed among the people.

The erstwhile oppressed and famished people had enough to eat. Having two square meals a day was no longer considered a luxury. Their energy replenished, they attended to their land with redoubled vigour. The fertile land of the Valley yielded rich returns. Kashmiris were once more prosperous, thanks to the Subedar, who recalled the beneficent reigns of Lalitaditya and 'Badshah'.

Next, Colonel Mian Singh - he had since been raised to the rank of a general but he was still called Colonel - turned his vigilant attention to the suppression of Galabans. They were a band of three hundred or so robbers, led by the formidable Khairo. They openly committed dacoities and abductions. Kashmiris were scared of these mounted robbers who carried away cattle and sheep, movable property, money, everything. In the time of the earlier Subedar, the government officials were themselves as good as robbers. How could they take active steps to annihilate this constant and growing menace?

The present Subedar, who placed the well-being of the subjects above everything else, was quite different, of an altogether different mould. He sent Dewan Kaban Singh to Kamraj and himself, at the head of other forces, went to Maraj - the other half of the Valley - to encircle and fight the Galabans. Spreading a strangle-hold around them, the two able Sikh warriors sandwiched the ringleaders in a tightening grip. They were hanged on roadside trees and their corpses were left dangling to act the lesson to other desperadoes.

More than half of the Galabans were taken to book. Khairo eluded arrest for some time with a price on his head. The Mukdum of a village gave him over to the police and he was hanged in the city on the main props of Zaina Kadal, where the corpse was left hanging. With that the dreaded menace was wiped away for ever.

A special tax, called Nikah, used to be levied from Muslims. The Subedar, obtaining the sanction of the Lahore Durbar, with not a little difficulty and an amount of tact, remitted this tax.

The masses, comprised of Muslims, had reason enough to be grateful to the reputed "Prophet of Mercy" and to pray for the continuation of governorship of the Colonel. The Kashmiri traders who went to Lahore conveyed this fervent desire of the people to Maharaja Ranjit Singh. For once the Maharaja renounced his policy of changing the Kashmir governor after every two or three years.

People went straight to the Colonel to demand justice from him. Two farmers who owned two mares presented themselves in the court of the Subedar. A colt was also with them. They had left their mares in a mountain pasture for summer months. The colt was born of one mare. the other mare also somehow grew into a milch mare. The colt was petted by both mares and fed itself even then on the milk of both mares. Each farmer claimed the colt as the offspring of his own mare.

The sagacious Subedar had the mares taken to a ghat, where they were tied. The colt was conducted in a boat to the middle of the river. Then, by the order of the Subedar, the mares were let loose. The mare that was the real mother swam into the water! Could there be a better test to determine the mother of the colt?

"A second Solomon has mine to Kashmir", praised every Kashmiri, as the wise Subedar became a veritable fount of justice.

They added, "Even a crow can seek justice from the Sikh Subedar". It was said that a crow, seeing the poplar, on which its nest was built, about to be felled, cawed piteously and noisily over the palace of the Subedar. The alert Colonel heard the crow and deputed a mounted soldier after the crow. As the crow flew over the roofs, the soldier traced it to the poplar. The Subedar was informed about the tree which was to be felled. He had the felling stopped. Indeed, a crow secured justice at the hands of Col. Mian Singh so said the admiring people.

The Subedar was as stern in the dispensation of justice as he was sagacious. He would, unlike his predecessors in office, himself go round the City. On a visit, he inspected the boat of a Hanji in which was stored the paddy that the government sold to the people at reduced rates. The Colonel dipped his hand in river water and thrust it deep into the paddy. On taking it out, he found that a lot of dirt had stuck to his hand. (The Hanji had adulterated paddy with earth and sand.) He had the hands of the Hanji cut on the spot. Deterrent punishment could not be more exemplary.

On another occasion, he accosted a woman, carrying a load of rice which she had purchased from a grain-seller. He got it weighed and found it much less. He had the nose of the shop-keeper cut for weighing with counterfeit weights.

The beginning of 1836 A.D. heralded a severe winter in the Valley. Nature expressed the worst of her wrath on the people, when the terrible winter was followed by rain that fell continuously for forty days. The young crops were swept away. The dams and canals, that were blocked up during the (mis-)rule of earlier Subedars, served no purpose to the starving farmers. The bridges of Khannabal, Bijibehara and Pampore, over the Jhelum, were swept down by the inundated waters. Frightened people were locked up in their homes as the water level rose to the very windows of their houses, unless they were carried away.

Once again, the resourceful Colonel proved equal to the occasion. He had the dams repaired and canals opened out for their annual upkeep he founded a special grant. He knew well how to import thousands, of maunds of grain from surplus areas of Northern India to relieve the folk that might otherwise have starved. The impending disaster was largely averted, chiefly owing to the energy and selfless solicitude of Col. Mian Singh for the people. When the Maharaja heard of this as well as how the Colonel had put down an insurrection of the chiefs of Muzaffarabad, he sent the Colonel a present of silver bracelets that Sikhs wear-a token of great esteem. (Five years ago, the Colonel had, similarly, received a fine horse, with silver-bridled accoutrements).

It had since become a daily routine for the Kashmiris to pray for the continuance of the governorship of the popular, loved and respected Colonel. They were pleased with the Settlement in which the Valley was divided into twenty-four parganas -units that were better administered and where the revenue was fixed anew in accordance with the latest figures of produce of the land. In his palace, opposite to Sher Garhi, people had free access to him. He would depute many Kashmiris as delegates to attend conferences and festive meetings held at Lahore. For the first time in modern history of Kashmir, a governor thus respected a grateful people. It was he who reorganised the shawl industry of Kashmir at an hour when it had suffered at the hands of the exploiting officials.

The French traveller, Vigne, who had painted a portrait of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and mapped Punjab, (the Land of Five Rivers), visited Kashmir. Col.Mian Singh gave him a royal reception and attended to his every want. On his behalf, Pundit Ganesh Das Ganju paid the monthly revenues and presented the shawls and other products of Kashmir to the Maharaja. The Maharaja would, consistent with his policy of not pampering any official, occasionally express dissatisfaction with the accounts and so on - but he never even conceived the idea of changing the Subedar. Vigne, on his return, gave him an excellent account of the prosperity of Kashmiris.

In 1839 A.D., on the death of the Maharaja, Kharak Singh ascended the throne. He was the opposite of his father in many respects. His ways appealed little to Raja Dhyan Singh and his sons and Naunihal Singh. The latter's intrigues hastened the death of Kharak Singh. That, during all this time of internecine warfare in the Punjab, there was peace in Kashmir, is borne out by the fact that Kharak Singh, shortly before his death in 1840 A.D., deputed Col. Mian Singh to suppress an uprising of tribal chiefs in Hazara. As Naunihal Singh died suddenly, Rani Chand Kaur, aided by Gulab Singh, was the regent for some months till Sher Singh occupied the throne.

These news of Lahore reached Srinagar after months. Khalsa and Punjabi army of Kashmir grew restive. Already they had a grudge against Col. Mian Singh for not giving them a free hand to loot the people of Kashmir as his predecessors had done. They rebelled under one Tarlok Singh and sent an ultimatum to the Colonel to accept their terms for better pay and rations on par with the troops of Lahore. While the Colonel considered their demands, they treacherously broke into his residence during the night (of 17th April, 1841 A.D.) and murdered him, hacking his body pitilessly.

After the horrible murder of the Subedar, his son, Sant Singh, along with the loyal forces, retreated to the fortess of Hari Parbat. After twenty-four days of hostility, Tarlok Singh was killed by one of his men. Kashmir was in mourning all the while, at the loss of the good Subedar.

When Maharaja Sher Singh heard the sad news, he appointed Sheikh Imamud-Din as Subedar of Kashmir. Along with him, he sent Raja Gulab Singh and Prince Partap Singh, the Sheikh restored peace in Kashmir.

Life came back to normal in Srinagar and the rest of the Valley, but Kashmir had lost one of the ablest of administrators and the most loved of the Subedars.