Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia

Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia was commander of the Dal Khalsa and founder of the Ahluwalia misl, whose remnants lasted into recent years as the princely state of Kapurthala. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says he proclaimed in 1761 the sovereignty of the Sikhs. He is remembered with the title Sultan-ul-Qaum, King of the Nation.

He was born on 3 May 1718 at the village of Ahlu near Lahore, the son of Badar Singh. His father died when he was barely five, and his mother and her brother Bagh Singh took him to Delhi, where he grew up under the care of Mata Sundari, widow of Guru Gobind Singh. When he returned to the Punjab in 1729 she gave him a sword and other arms and predicted he would rise to eminence. He joined the jatha of Nawab Kapur Singh at Kartarpur.

Key moments

• 29 March 1748, Baisakhi: the Sikh bands met at Amritsar and resolved to unite as the Dal Khalsa under Jassa Singh. The Encyclopaedia's entry on the Buddha Dal says he held joint command at first, with Nawab Kapur Singh still acknowledged as supreme commander. Before he died, Kapur Singh nominated Jassa Singh supreme commander, and the Sarbat Khalsa ratified this on Baisakhi, 10 April 1754.
• After Nawab Kapur Singh died on 7 October 1753, Jassa Singh began taking villages and set up the rakhi system, a protection levy paid for the security the Sikhs gave.
• March 1761: after the Afghan victory at Panipat, he made a surprise attack near Amritsar and rescued 2,200 women whom Ahmad Shah Abdali was carrying off as slaves.
• Autumn 1761: the Sikhs occupied Lahore without resistance. The Encyclopaedia says Jassa Singh was proclaimed King of Lahore with the title Sultan-ul-Qaum, and that a coin was issued in the names of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh.
• February 1762: at the Vadda Ghallughara near Kup, about 25,000 Sikhs were killed (the figure given in the Persian source Tahmas Nama), and Jassa Singh took twenty-two wounds. Ahmad Shah then had Sri Harmandir Sahib at Amritsar blown up with gunpowder.
• 17 May 1762: while the Shah was still at Lahore, Jassa Singh fell on Sirhind and exacted tribute from its faujdar, Zain Khan.
• 14 January 1764: the Dal Khalsa attacked Sirhind, Zain Khan was killed and the town laid waste. On 17 April 1765 the Sikhs reoccupied Lahore.

The Encyclopaedia credits him with organising the Sikhs militarily, overthrowing Afghan power in northern India and winning from the Mughal emperor the right for Sikhs to rule independently over the lands they had taken. Sirhind came under the Phulkian chiefs, Lahore went to the Bhangis, the Jalandhar Doab was shared among several misls, and the Ahluwalia principality took root at Kapurthala. He was also revered for his piety, and it was thought meritorious to receive amrit from his hands. He died on 20 October 1783, aged 65, and a samadh stands near the Golden Temple at Gurdwara Baba Atal.