JHANDA SINGH BUTAUA (d. 1883), son of Sham Singh, was a jagirdar and military commander under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He saw military service in Purichh, where Diwan Dhanpat Rai and Mir Baz Khan had been causing trouble, and was then ordered to Hazara. He accompanied the Maharaja in the campaign of 1821–22 when Mankera and Dera Ismail Khan were taken, and received, for his gallantry, valuable presents. He remained mostly on the frontier, in Chhachh, Peshawar, and Hazara. He was a man of energy and ability, and the Maharaja gave him charge, under Sardar Hari Singh Nalva, of this most unruly part of the country.
In 1836, Jhanda Singh accompanied Prince Nau Nihal Singh on his Derajat expedition. During part of the Kabul campaign, he was governor of the Attock Fort. Prime Minister Jawahar Singh made Jhanda Singh Adalati, or chief justice of Lahore, in conjunction with Diwan Hakim Rai, and he held this office until 1846. In 1847, he was sent to Hazara as Naib Nazim, or deputy governor, under Chatar Singh Atarivala and Captain James Abbott, and in November, he received, at the suggestion of the Resident, the honorary title of Bahadur, with the affix Ujjal Didar, Nirmal Buddh, meaning “open countenance and pure mind.
References :
1. Griffin, Lepel, and C.F. Massy, Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab. Lahore, 1909
