Mahan Singh Mirpuri

Sardar Raja Mahan Singh Mirpuri Bali (born in Mirpur, Azad Kashmir) was a famous general in the Sikh Khalsa Army, and was the second-in-command general to General Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa.^[1] He was conferred by Maharaja Ranjit Singh the title of Raja for his conquests of Haripur, Nowshera and Peshawar. The town of Mansehra derives its name from him.

Early life[]

Mahan Singh was born in Mirpur to a Hindu Mohyal Brahmin family of the Bali clan. He was the grandson of Himmat Singh , and his father Daata Ram was a counselor to Sultan Raja Muqarrab Khan, the Gakhar Subedar of Gujrat, Jhelum, and Rawalpindi. Mahan Singh Mirpuri, born a Brahmin Hindu, took amrit and became a Sikh.^[2]

Military career and later Life[]

While in Lahore in search of a job, he happened to participate in a hunting expedition of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, in which he caught the notice of the Maharaja by single-handedly killing a leopard with his sword. Impressed by his valor, the Maharaja had him inducted into the army under the famous General Hari Singh Nalwa.

Mahan Singh Mirpuri played a key role in the battles of Peshawar and Kashmir, and in the 1818 siege of Multan, where he was seriously wounded two times. He went on to become second-in-command to Hari Singh Nalwa. In April 1837, he was the main defender of the Jamrud Fort, holding out against an invasion by the Afghans. In the Battle of Jamrud, Hari Singh Nalwa was killed but Mahan Singh maintained the news secret until reinforcements arrived from Lahore.

Mai Desan, the widow of Hari Singh Nalwa, adopted Mahan Singh as her son and solemnized his marriage into a Mohan family of Gujranwala according to Mohyal traditions.

Mahan Singh had four sons, named Chhattar Singh, Himmat Singh, Sham Singh and Wadhawa Singh.

Death[]

Sardar Raja Mahan Singh was murdered by his own soldiers in 1844, when mutiny broke out in the Sikh Khalsa Army.

His death at the hands of mutinying soldiers was avenged by Chhattar Singh (His Son), who was himself killed soon after.

The descendants of Mahan Singh Mirpuri were targeted by Pashtun tribesmen during the 1947 Mirpur massacre for his role in the conquests of Afghan lands by the Sikh Empire which the Pashtuns still held a bitter memory of. It is said that most of his descendants were killed during the 1947 Mirpur massacre by the Pashtuns and only one of them managed to escape across the border into the newly created state of India.

See also[]

Maharaja Ranjit Singh's Generals

References[]