SULTAN MAHMUD KHAN

SULTAN MAHMUD KHAN (d. 1859) , son of General Ghaus Khan, was a commander of a section of heavy artillery during the regime of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. His derah of artillery was designated as Topkhanai Sultan Mahmud. After the death of General Ghaus Khan in 1814, although the chief command of the artillery was entrusted to Misr Divan Ghand, the battery under the former`s command was placed in the charge of Sultan Mahmud. Sultan Mahmud accompanied Maharaja Ranjit Singh on his expeditions against Multan and Kashmir. After the reorganization of the Sikh army into Brigades in 1835, when a horse battery was attached to each brigade, the heavy siege train continued to be commanded by General Sultan Mahmud as a separate corps.

The Topkhanai Sultan Mahmud was present on (lie historic occasion of the Ranjit Singh William Bentinck meeting at Ropar in October 1831. Sultan Mahmud was of exceedingly intemperate habits, and his drunkenness brought him more than once into trouble with his master, but he was a useful officer and was generally treated with favour. When Nau Nihal Singh secured power, Sultan Mahmud lost his command and was sent in charge of a troop of artillery, under General Ventura, to Mandi in the hills, but on the accession of Maharaja Sher Singh lie was reinstated and his son Sultan Alimad `Ali Khan, was made a Colonel. In 1843, both fatlier and son were engaged in the assault on the Fort of Lahore which had been taken possession of by the Sandhanvalias after the murder of Sher Singh ; and, for their services on this occasion, they received additional jagirs from the Dogra Raja Hira Singh.

Sultan Mahmud was then sent in command of the artillery to Hazara where he remained until 1848 when both he and his son were moved to the Derajat. At the outbreak of the second Anglo Sikh war. Sultan Mahmud as well as his son, Sultan Ahmad `Ali Khan, joined the rebel Sikh forces at Ramnagar and fought against the English throughout the war. After the annexation of the Punjab, service. Zigirs of Sultan Mahmud were resumed but he received a life pension of Rs 600 which he held until his deatli in 1859, at Bharoval, his ancestral village in Amritsar district.

References :

1. Sun, Sohan Lal, `Umdat ut-Twarikh. Lahore, 1885-89
2. Cunningham, Joseph Davey, A History of the Sikhs. London, 1849