1 Right of adoption
2 ranted.
3 Denth of Maharaja
4 Nirandar Singh, 1862.
5 Maharaja Mahandar
6 Singh succee!
7 His education.
8 His death, 1876.
9 Maharaja Rajandar
10 Singh succeeds,
11 Tiloka becomes the
12 head of the family.
13 Gajpat Singh, his
14 grandson.
15 His conquests and
16 reverses.
17 He assumes j
18 in -
19 dence, 1772, Gepen
20 Raja Sarup §}
21 His action daring the
22 war of 16£5-s6,
23 330 iiistory oF THE PANTAD. .
24 grand amongst.the grandees, the great rdjd over all other rdjds, the holy
25 Maharaja of the Rajas, Nirandar Singh Mabandar Bahadur,”
26 Other concessions were also made; but the most valued of all these was
27 that of the right of adoption, which was also most liberally extended to
28 other chiefs of the Panjab, Sikhs, Rajputs and Mahomedans. This much-
29 prized boon at once convinced the Panjib r4j4s and chiefs that, far from
30 coveting their dominions, the British Government sincerely desired the
31 long and prosperous existence of their States.
32 The Maharaja did not live long to enjoy the honours which he had so
33 deservedly won. He fell ill of fever, and died in 1862, in the thirty-ninth
34 year,of his age, and the seventeenth of his reign.
35 He was succeeded by his son Mahandar Singh, then only ten years old,
36 and the affairs of State were intrusted toa Council of Regency, provided
37 for in 1858.
38 In February, 1870, the Council of Regency was dissolved, and the
39 Mahardjé, having completed his eighteenth year, was invested with full
40 administrative powers. His education was conducted by Ram Chandra, the
41 great mathematician of Delhi, and, in May 1870, he was created a knight
42 of the most exalted order of the Star of India. ;
43 Mahandar Singh was an enlightened prince, and introduced many measures
44 of reform in his State. In May 1870, he presented the Panjab University
45 College of Lahore with a donation of Rs, 70,000, of which Rs. 20,000 were
46 intended for founding a scholarship in honour of the visit of the Duke of
47 Edinburgh to the Panjab. He visited Simla and Calcutta, and subscribed
48 large sums to charitable institutions in those places. On the 15th of October
49 of the same year, .he formally opened the Sutlej bridge at the request of
50 Sir Henry Durand, Lieutenant-Governor of the Panjab. He died in April
51 1876, in the twenty-fourth year of his age, of diseases contracted through
52 excessive use of alcoholic liquors, and was succeeded by his son, Rajandar
53 Singh, a child of four years of age. The affairs of State were again intrusted
54 to a Council of Regency, nominated by the rajds of Jhind and Nabhd,
55 in pursuance of the treaty with the Patidldé State. The Mahardja has been
56 recently invested with powers, and promises to be a most enlightened ruler,
57 THE JHIND FAMILY.
58 The family of most importance among the Phulkias, next to the Patiala
59 House, is that of Jhind. The founder of the family was Tiloka, eldest
60 son of Choudhri Phul, the founder of the Phulkia dynasty. Gajpat Singh,
61 the grandson of Tiloka, after the defeat and murder of Zen Khan, the
62 Afghan Governor of Sirhind, in 1763, seized a large tract of country, in-
63 cluding the districts of Jhind and Safidon, which extended to Panipat and
64 Karnal. But he paid the revenue to the emperor of Delhi, and acknow-
65 ledged himself as his yassal. Having once, fallen into arrears, he was taken
66 a prisoner to Delhi by the minister, Najib Khan, and was kept in con-
67 finement for three years, at the end of which period he was set at liberty,
68 on leaving his son, Mehar Singh, as a hostage. On reaching Jhind, he
69 arranged to pay three-and-a-half lakhs of rupees to the Imperial treasury,
70 by which he not only affected the release of his son, but was created a raja
71 by the Emperor, Shah Alam, by a jirman, or royal grant, dated 25th
72 Shawal 1185 a.H. (1772 a.D.). He assumed independent power, and struck
73 coin in his capital.
74 Xn the campaign of 1845-46, Raja Sarip Singh, sixth in descent from Raja
75 Gajpat Singh, was called upon by the British authorities to supply 150
76 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com