K1SHAN CHAND, RAI

K1SHAN CHAND, RAI (d. 1873), news writer and vakil or agent of the Sikh court at Ludhiana, the British post on the Anglo Sikh frontier, was son of Bakhshi Anand Singh. Well versed in diplomacy, he accompanied Colonel Claude Wade on a political mission to Peshawar in 1839. In 1840, Karivar Nan Nihal Singh conferred on him the title of Rai. After the death of Maharaja Sher Singh, he began exercising civil and criminal powers over territories under the protection of the Lahore Darbar, and amassed great wealth. When Raja Hira Singh became the prime minister, he grew jealous of Rai Kishan Chand`s increasing influence and his pro Gulab Singh leanings.

As hostilities broke out between the British and the Sikhs in 1845, Kishan Chand left Ludhiana and crossed the Sutlej into the Punjab. He lost his jdgirs when the Jalandhar Doab was annexed by the British. He was one of the signatories to the treaty of Bharoval on behalf of the minor Maharaja Duleep Singh, and for some time attended on the British Resident at Lahore before being permitted to retire to Batala. Kishan Cliand died in 1873.

References :

1. Suri Sohan Lal, Umdat-ut-Twarikh, lahore, 1885 – 89.
2. Griffin, lepel and C.F. Massy, Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab lahore, 1909.