Sandhawalia clan (Sandhanwalia sardars)

The Sandhawalias (also Sandhanwalias or Sandhanvalias) are a Jat Sikh family whose home was Raja Sansi near Amritsar. Wikipedia says the family traces itself to Chaudhary Chanda Singh, who settled at the village of Sandhu Wala and so came to be called Sandhanwalia, with his sons moving to Rajasansi, and that both the Sandhawalias and Maharaja Ranjit Singh's Sukerchakia line descend from a common ancestor, Budh Singh. Roopinder Singh's review in The Tribune of Preminder Singh Sandhawalia's family history, Noblemen and Kinsmen (1999), says the author traces the family root to Didar Singh, who moved from Sukerchak village to Sandhawala in 1780, and that Ranjit Singh shared their ancestral stock but not a direct line of descent.

Its leaders: In the 1840s the leading Sandhawalias were Atar Singh, Lahina Singh and Ajit Singh, son of Basava Singh and nephew of the other two. After them the best-known member was Thakur Singh (1837 to 1887), Lahina Singh's son.

Key moments

• 2 December 1840: after the deaths of Maharaja Kharak Singh and Kanwar Nau Nihal Singh, Atar Singh and Ajit Singh reach Lahore and Rani Chand Kaur is proclaimed Maharani.
• 17 to 20 January 1841: Sher Singh, backed by the army, besieges the Fort. A ceasefire on 17 January persuades Chand Kaur to give up her claim, and he takes the throne on 20 January. Ajit Singh flees to the British and Atar Singh follows.
• 17 November 1842: Sher Singh pardons Atar Singh and Ajit Singh on the surety of Baba Bikram Singh Bedi of Una, and Ajit Singh reaches Lahore.
• 15 September 1843: Ajit Singh shoots Sher Singh at the Shah Bilawal baradari and cuts off his head, and Lahina Singh kills his twelve-year-old son Partap Singh nearby. In the Fort Ajit Singh kills the wazir Dhian Singh.
• 16 September 1843: Hira Singh, Dhian Singh's son, and Suchet Singh, with General Avitabile's battalions, storm the Fort and Ajit Singh and Lahina Singh are killed. The Raja Sansi fort is razed and the family's lands are ordered to be ploughed with asses. Atar Singh alone escapes, to British territory.
• 1873: Thakur Singh becomes the first president of the Singh Sabha at Amritsar.
• 1884 to 1887: Thakur Singh goes to London to stand by Maharaja Duleep Singh, escapes to Pondicherry on 6 November 1886 and dies there on 18 August 1887. The Encyclopaedia says Duleep Singh named him prime minister of his emigre government.

Where it stands: The family's ruin in 1843 ended its place at the Lahore court. Its later name rests on Thakur Singh's part in the Singh Sabha and the Duleep Singh cause, and on Preminder Singh Sandhawalia's family history.