Thread by @CforChatha

Akal Garh / Ali pur Chatha (Complete Thread)

Notable personalities & significance during Sikh Empire

Ali Pur Chatha (Old name: Akal Garh) was just a fort during sikh empire, adjoining villages like Ko Hara, Rasool Nagar (Old Ramnagar) are of extreme importance during sikh Empire
Lot of Sikh & Muslim Jutts lived in these villages before partition
Fort had beutiful havelis (pic)

Ali Pur Chatha (Akal Garh) is very famous now a days for lot of fish farms and being one of the largest area to supply fresh water fish in Pakistan.Due to river Chenab land of the adjoining villages was not gud fr cultivation so Fish farms helped the people a lot.
pic 3 my niece

During Sikh Empires it was a very strong hold of Khalsa Army, and two most notable personalities belonging to Akal Garh during sikh Empire were directly related to Multan.
1. Dewan Sawan Mal (Father)
2. Dewan Mulraj Chopra (Son)

So lets start it from there ...

For two centuries Multan was ruled by Mughals
 Mughals (1528 – 1752 AD)
It was quite Stable period
Sufi tombs etc survived & thrived
Afghan King : Ahmad Shah Durrani aka (Ahmad Khan Abdali) – Annexed Multan with Durrani Empire gradually >> (Pic Afghan-web.com)

Maharaja Ranjit Singh
 1818 attacked multan
Ranjit Singh Used Zamzama guns (afghan origin)
Buildings in fort got damaged a bit

Maharaja Ranjit Singh gave control of Multan to ''Dewan Sawan Mal'' (belonged to Akal Garh)

Deewan Sawan Mal became the Governor of Multan during Sikh Empire.

He belonged to Akal Garh (Ali Pur Chatha)

Some historians say hs reign in Multan was one of best Ever

ANd if he could have lived a little longer he would have been one of biggest notable personalities in region

Deewan Sawan Mal:

Made gud relations wd Lahore Darbar
Developed Strong sikh army in south Punjab
Wise policies low taxation but generated mammoth land revenues (criticiczed by muslim historians though)
40 Lakh per annum
Built Moat around fort
>>

Lahore Darbar was happy from Deewan Sawan Mal as he was generating good revenue.
Some muslim landowners who were not paying much taxes had to pay tax now due tow hich they were not at all happy, but poor was happy as rich was under tax net now. >>

Deewan Sawan Mal became very famous in Lahore Darbar as well and thats what caused Jammu Brothers Raja Dhayan Singh, Gulab Singh and Suchet Singh in north to hate Deewan.
After Death of Raja Ranjit SIngh he stopped paying revenue to any authority as well.>>

Before he and Jammu brothers might have a clash, an unfortunate event took place and a soldier caught during theft opened fire at Deewan Sawan Mal and he died in next few days due to the wound

He ws burried at ancestral haveli at Akal Garh beside a big pond. (Samadhi still dre)

Dewan Mulraj Chopra:

became the Governor of Multan who was son od Deewan Sawan Mal
He was thrown into limelight durng a chaotic period
They had ancestral land in Akal garh and also in Lahore
He playd Important role in termination of Lahore Darbar 1849

(Pic: Wikipedia)

Mulraj had opposite personality from his father
Considered as Despotic ruler by inhabitants
Deposited 18 lac revenue out of 1 crore to Raja Jawahar Singh of Lahore
Favtt of Raja Jawahar Singh after this money who did not hv any idea that actual rev was 1 crore

Meanwhile after termination of Lahore Darbar:

Sir Henry Lawrence stationed at Lahore
He kept an eye on administrators
Sir Lawrence removed loyal friends of Dewan Mulraj from key positions which created tensions between Mul raj & Lawrence
>>
Pic: Britannica (Lawrence)

Lawrence called Mul raj to Lahore after so many complains and took his resignation.

British officials sought to replace Mulraj with Diwan Vitesh Sharma, an official from the court at Lahore who was more sympathetic to their interests

But the Loyals of Mul raj in Army in Multan killed british officials who came there. Although Mul raj did not order it, it probably was a mob attack in which Mul Raj army men helped or remained impartial.
Mulraj then had no way but to support his army men.

>>

The events at Multan provided a casus belli for the British and led to the Second Anglo-Sikh War. Mulraj was portrayed as a blood thirsty despot intent on the overthrow of Duleep Singh and his British allies.

Pic: Dawn

Deewan Mul Raj:
Rebel in eyes of british
Force sent to capture multan
Defended forcefully a lot long period of time
Death penality and then converted to life imprisonment
Died on way to benaris

Samadhi along with his father near the pond at their ancestral haveli at Akal Garh (Ali Pur Chatha)

Pics: Pak Geotagging (Also inside view)

The Battle of Ramnagar (Akal Garh adjoined) ws fought on 22 N 1848 between British and Sikh forces during the Second Anglo-Sikh War. The British wr led by Sir Hugh Gough, while the Sikhs were led by Sher Singh Attariwalla. The Sikhs repelled an attempted British surprise attack.

Details of these battles can be shared in another blog sometime. In Short Battle of Ramnagar and Chillianwala was not won by British which was a huge huge surprise by the Sikh Army. This defeat paved way for final war of independence in 1857.>>

May be many other people did not give proper support to war of independence because they would have thought Sikhs wd come in power. But see it effected every body. But Chillianwala and Ramnagar was shameful defeats by sikhs to british>>

About these defeats:

In British Army, such ws shame ovr the evnts at Chillianwala dt, aftr the disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade, Lord Lucan remarked "Ths is a most serious mater", General Airey replied, "These sort of things wil happen in war. It is nothing to Chillianwala

A testimony left by a British observer says:
The Sikhs fought like devils, fierce and untamed... Such a mass of men I never set eyes on and a plucky as lions: they ran right on the bayonets and struck their assailants when they were transfixed

The graves of those british soldiers present at Ramnagar/Chillianwala cemetery today speaks volumes about that historic defeat to British Army. Cemetry is just adjacent to Summer rest house of Raja Ranjit Singh

Pics below Ramnagar (Akal Garh Fort adjoining) !!

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