Sardar Jassa Singh Ramgarhia

Sardar Jassa Singh Ramgarhia was one of the leading Sikh military figures of the second half of the eighteenth century. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says he was born in 1723 at Ichogill, about 20 km east of Lahore, into a carpenter family. His grandfather Hardas Singh (died 1716) had taken the Khalsa vows from Guru Gobind Singh and fought under Banda Singh Bahadur, and his father Bhagwan Singh was killed in 1739 fighting Nadir Shah’s forces.

Key moments

• 1745: he joined the jatha of Nand Singh. Sent to negotiate with Adina Beg, the Jalandhar Doab faujdar, he was persuaded to take a minor command and soon left.
• 1748: at the Diwali gathering at Amritsar, Mir Mannu attacked. About 500 Sikhs held the Ram Rauni fort for about four months and roughly 200 died. Kaura Mal interceded, the siege was lifted and the fort was destroyed.
• After Mir Mannu died in November 1753, Jassa Singh rebuilt the fort as Ramgarh, which gave him the name Ramgarhia. In April 1758 Adina Beg’s forces besieged Sikhs sheltering in the fortress at Amritsar and eventually forced them out.
• With Jai Singh Kanhaiya he took territory in four of the five doabs, including the Riarki tract north of Amritsar and the Gurdaspur district. He collected tribute from the Kangra hill states and built a fort at Talwandi on the Beas.
• 1775: at Dinanagar he sided with the Bhangis against the Kanhaiyas and Sukerchakias. A rift with Jassa Singh Ahluwalia over Zahura then drove him out of the Punjab.
• 1780s: he raided around Delhi and the Gangetic Doab and took part in the capture of Delhi and the Red Fort. When Jassa Singh Ahluwalia took the throne on 11 March 1783, Ramgarhia contested it and Ahluwalia stepped down.
• After October 1783: Jassa Singh Ahluwalia died, and Ramgarhia returned to the Punjab. The Encyclopaedia gives no year for the return. He allied with the Sukerchakias, whose leader Mahan Singh had invited him back.
• 1787: together they marched on the Kanhaiya citadel of Batala and defeated Jai Singh Kanhaiya, whose son Gurbakhsh Singh was killed. Ramgarhia recovered his lands. Wikipedia’s article on the Battle of Achal, near Batala, puts the battle in 1785.

What he is remembered for: founding the Ramgarhia misl, named for the fort he rebuilt. At its height it held Batala, Kalanaur, Dinanagar, Sri Hargobindpur, Gurdaspur, Qadian and other places in the Bari Doab and several in the Jalandhar Doab, and Kangra, Nurpur, Mandi and Chamba paid him tribute. The Encyclopaedia also records the quarrels among the misl chiefs, including his own with Jassa Singh Ahluwalia. He died on 20 April 1803, aged about 80.