GUJJAR SINGH BHANGI (d. 1788), one of the triumvirate who ruled Lahore for thirty years before its occupation by Ranjit Singh, was the son of Nattha Singh, a cultivator of modest means. Strong and well-built, Gujjar Singh received the vows of the Khalsa from his maternal grandfather, Gurbakhsh Singh Rorarivala, who presented him with a horse and recruited him into his band. As Gurbakhsh Singh grew old, he made Gujjar Singh the head of his band. Eventually, the band united with the forces of Hari Singh, the leader of the Bhangi misl or chiefdom. Gujjar Singh soon embarked on a career of conquest and plunder.
In 1765, along with Lahina Singh, the adopted son of Gurbakhsh Singh, and Sobha Singh, an associate of Jai Singh Kanhaiya, Gujjar Singh captured Lahore from the Afghans. Lahina Singh, being Gujjar Singh’s maternal uncle and senior in relation, took control of the city and the fort, while Gujjar Singh occupied the eastern part of the city, then a jungle. Gujjar Singh built a mud fortress in this area and encouraged settlement by sinking wells for water supply and even building a mosque for Muslims. The area, now the site of the present-day Lahore railway station, is still called Qila Gujjar Singh after him.
Gujjar Singh subsequently captured Eminabad, Wazirabad, Sodhra, and approximately 150 villages in the Gujranwala district. In December 1765, he took Gujrat from Sultan Muqarrab Khan, whom he defeated under the city’s walls, capturing both the city and its surrounding areas and making Gujrat his headquarters. In the following year, he overran Jammu, seized Islamgarh, Purichh, and Dev Batala, extending his territory as far as the Bhimbar hills in the north and the Majha region in the south. During Ahmad Shah Durrani’s eighth invasion of India, Gujjar Singh, along with other Sikh sardars, put up strong resistance.
In January 1767, when Durrani’s commander-in-chief, Jahan Khan, arrived in Amritsar with 15,000 troops, the Sikh sardars routed the Afghan forces. Soon afterward, Gujjar Singh, with the help of Charhat Singh Sukkarchakkia (with whom he had a cordial relationship), laid siege to the famous Rohtas Fort held by the Gakkhars. This alliance was further strengthened when Charhat Singh gave his daughter, Raj Kaur, in marriage to Gujjar Singh’s son, Sahib Singh. Gujjar Singh went on to subjugate the warlike tribes of northwestern Punjab, occupying parts of Pothohar, Rawalpindi, and Hasan Abdal. Gujjar Singh passed away in Lahore in 1788.
References:
- Seetal, Sohan Singh, The Sikh Misals and the Punjab. Ludhiana, n.d.
- Gupta, Hari Ram, History of the Sikhs, Vol. II, Delhi, 1978.
- Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, Vol. I, Princeton, 1963.
- Griffin, Lepel, and C.F. Massy, Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab, Lahore, 1909
