First published in 2009
Reprint in 2023
During an interview with a correspondent regarding my work as a personal enrichment trainer, he asked me about my surname. As I began to narrate the story of how my ancestor, Sardar Hari Singh, acquired the cognomen ‘Nalwa’, I realised how little I knew about my ancestry. A couple of days following this interview came 11 September 2001. The events of that day changed the world order and sent everyone scurrying to locate Afghanistan on the nearest map.
I began my search for information on the ancestor who had spent a lifetime subduing the Afghans in the first half of the nineteenth century. I found Hari Singh’s contribution in consolidating the kingdom of the Sikhs chronicled in Persian, Urdu, Gurmukhi, English and even Marathi. The information, however, was fragmented and scattered. History is a faithful record of facts relating to events as they happened. My training as a scientist led me to those sources of information that best met this criterion. My endeavour was to rely on information recorded nearest to the time of occurrence of the relevant event. I have presented the information such that its source may be available to the reader.
In the first half of the nineteenth century, the British East India Company governed ‘Hindoostan’ from their headquarters at Fort William in Calcutta. ‘Sikh Affairs’ were under the charge of their ‘Foreign Department’. British agents stationed at Ludhiana, were deputed to keep an eye on the affairs of the Punjab. The National Archives of India, New Delhi, had in its collection detailed reports dispatched to the British Governor-General spanning the period of the Sikh Kingdom. The information incorporated in these records was truly phenomenal. A report by one such agent was used by the Secretary in the Persian Department of the East India Company to compile the first book on Maharaja Ranjit Singh, ruler of the Punjab. This book, published during Hari Singh’s lifetime, remained a ready reckoner for information on the Kingdom of the Sikhs.
Reports by the functionaries of the East India Company on spying missions—Charles Masson, Alexander Burnes and William Moorcroft—provided eye-witness accounts. Mohan Lal Kashmiri and Shahamat Ali, both employees of the East India Company, presented an even more knowledgeable Indo-British view. The British Gazetteers, compiled after the annexation of the Punjab, filled in many of the gaps.
Europeans travelling through Punjab— Godfrey Thomas Vigne, Reverend Joseph Wolff and Baron Charles von Hügel—rendered their personal, often unbiased, first-hand accounts of their meeting with Hari Singh Nalwa. Baron von Hügel was the most outstanding of the three. This German had taken part in the war against Napoleon and then travelled widely in Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia. The journal relating to his travels in South India, Punjab and Kashmir was translated from German into English and published under the patronage of the Honourable Court of Directors of the East India Company. Every ‘India man’ of consequence read his book. The British translator of his work referred to him as a ‘nobleman of high birth and great good sense’. Hügel’s observations were of interest because he did not entertain the prejudice of the English rulers of Hindustan or the bias of Muslim historians.
The most authentic indigenous source was the five volumes of Sohan Lal Suri’s Lahore Court chronicle—a diary of events maintained contiguously with the rule of the Sikhs. There was a remarkable concordance between the court chronicle and the British reports. There were two other sources of information from within the Punjab that were consulted. The first was a compilation of letters written by a spy at Ranjit Singh’s court, in the employ of the Deccan Peshwa. The second was an account by young Amarnath, who was later appointed the paymaster of the Irregular Cavalry.
Following Hari Singh Nalwa’s death, leading poets in the Punjab penned ballads in his memory. Besides supplementing information on the Sardar’s career, these works lent an invaluable insight into how he was viewed by the people of Punjab.
The family record of the Nalwas with the Pandas at Haridwar and Pehowa revealed much more than Hari Singh’s genealogy.
During the course of the research, I discovered a rich collection of artistic renderings of Hari Singh with private collectors and museums world wide, which are included in the publication.
Vanit Nalwa