Dewan Mokham Chand

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“ Mokham Chand , the most distinguished of the durbars generals ,was the son of Waisakhi Mal , a Khatri tradesman of the village Kunjah near Gujarat..[1] ”
“ The most distinguished of the generals , by whose skill and courage Ranjit Singh rose from a subordinate chiefship to the Empire of the Punjab , was Diwan Mokham Chand . The sagacity with which the Maharaja selected his officers was reason of his uniform success ...[2] ”

Ranjit Singh had seen him in action at Akalgarh three years earlier and again in the Fight against the Bhangi Sardar of Gujarat .Mokham Chand had fallen out with his Bhangi master and had come to Ranjit for employment . Ranjit welcomed him with handsome gifts of an elephant and horses and granted him the Dallewalia possessions as a Jagir . He was made commander of a cavalry unit with power to recruit 1500 foot soldiers as well .[3]

“ In the beginning of 1808 various places in the Upper Punjab were taken from their independent Sikh proprieters , and brought under the direct management of the new kingdom of Lahore , and Mokham Chand was at the same time employed in effecting a settlement of the territories which had been seized on the left bank of the Sutlej . But Ranjit Singh’s systematic aggression had begun to excite fear in the minds of the Sikhs of Sirhind [4] ”

Diwan Mohkam Chand was the Commander-in-Chief of the Sikh Forces from 1806 to 1814 A.D. [5]

He died at Phillaur on October 16 , 1814 . His son Moti Ram and grandson Ram Dayal also served the state with distinction . [6]

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[edit] References

  1. ^ Khushwant Singh A history of the Sikhs Volume 1 page 217
  2. ^ The Punjab Chiefs WL Conran and HD Crank published by Sangameel Publications Pakistan page 156
  3. ^ Khushwant Singh A history of the Sikhs Volume 1 page 217
  4. ^ History of the Sikhs from the Origin of the Nation to the Battles of the Sutlej by Joseph Davey Cunningham, H.L.O. Garrett Page 136
  5. ^ http://www.sikhstudies.org/Periodicals.asp?TtlCod=3 Institute of Sikh Studies
  6. ^ Khushwant Singh A history of the Sikhs Volume 1 page 217