Skip to main content

The Ballad of Raja Malhi Prakash and Sirmour's History - Some Scrambled Thoughts

I was just walking through some documents I had saved over the years, when it struck me that there has been very little new research work or relook into the history of the hill states. One particular format has been the examination of oral ballads, very few of which seem to be available in popular culture today. However, that was certainly not the case in the British era, when much field work seems to have been done by scholars of Europe on the subject, as they panned across the state of the Lahore kingdom and their adjunct territories. Sirmour was a Small Princely state along the Yamuna river's course While their purpose may have been malevolent in nature, many interesting insights got captured over the course of their work, and replication or improvement on the same seems to be rather scarce, especially in the context of what the European scholars used to call the "Punjab Hill States". One such case was on Sirmour, where very little information can be found in the publi...
Post a Comment

The Ballad of Raja Jagat Singh Pathania of Noorpur


Mughal Painting of Raja Jagat Singh Pathania, now at the Cleveland Museum of Art

Raja Jagat Singh Pathania was believed to be the greatest ruler of Noorpur state, which today stands divided between Punjab and Himachal. A mansabdar of the Mughal forces, he had spared no occasion to seek independence from the Mughal yoke. Interestingly, he had great relations with  Nurjehan, Jahangir's wife, who interceded and sued peace despite a rebellion against Shah Jahan. It was in her honor amid a trick played on the Mughals that the original kingdom of Dhameta was renamed as Noorpur.

His reign had seen the Noorpur state reach its zenith in military might and culture. However, his history is poorly documented in present times, and remains ignored barring some local scholars of Himachal Pradesh. A ballad that still survives from the historical period was documented by eminent Himachal scholar and Hindi author Dr. Gautam Sharma ‘Vyathit’. The version transcribed and translated by him is presented below from his book ‘Folklore of Himachal Pradesh’.

Though not much description has been provided in terms of timelines, in all likelihood the Emperor Nali mentioned here may refer to Shah Jahan. The ballad refers to an Afghanistan campaign. This campaign may have been the first Afghanistan campaign led by Murad Baksh in 1646 where they defended Afghanistan from the Persians. The year 1646 is believed to be the year Raja Jagat Singh died.

Listen my brothers in Noorpur reigned Raja Jagat Pathania
Son of Karamchand, grand-son of Tarachand
Given of gods, born at full term
Born to rule Noorpur.
Thou art fortunate O King, thy feet have the lucky Chakra sign
Thy forehead bears the sign of the snake which brings wealth.

Nali the Moslem king heard of Jagat Singh and sent him a letter
Jagat reads the letter of the king Nali.
“I hear that in the hills, a Jagata is becoming famous.
Come and test your powers against mine.”
Jagat Singh read the letter, his eyes grew blood shot,
“Who was it that went and spread all this?
May you die O mega barber, thou art the culprit.
You were born and brought up here and now thou has betrayed me?”

Voices arose, let us go to fight in battle field.
People dug up buried family treasures, and heaped them in their gardens.
Jagat Singh spent money in fistfuls and asked his people to get ready for battle, to die.
Some are fond of their old mothers, some are devoted to their vivacious wives,
“Those that love women may stay at home, brothers.
And those that love the king, come with me.”
The king Jagat left for Delhi.

The Moghul women sitting on roof tops saw the armies of the hill folk.
One said, “the kind of the hills has come”
The other said, “he is a subordinate of ours,”
The kind at this, yelled, “If I am truthful, I shall tie these people with handcuff.”
Raja Jagat Singh orders his servants,
“We must finish them at one go.”

“Where were you when god distributed good looks?” (the emperor Nali asked Jagat)
“When god was distributing good looks, I had gone to acquire wisdom,”
Nali saluted the brave and witty king.
“Such a brave man should be sent across the area of Atak (Attock),
Colelct as much bounty s you like in two and a half hours,
I give you Delhi to loot.”
The forces of Jagat entered the city and took all the gold and silver, and nothing else.
As the day arose, Delhi screamed and wailed,
Jagat Pathania left Delhi and reached Kabul.
He ordered his faithful soldiers to fight.
And they killed all the Moslems in sight.
Twenty-two princesses of Kabul were slain, none came to the front,
The battle over, the armies returned.

Among the high hills, Jagat pitches his tents.
And said, “I am Indra, the lord of gods,
Who is as great as I am?”
Indra was cross and sent a snow storm to finish his forces.
“Thou has been vain O king, one should not be vain.”
Indra shot arrows of snow. The dying soldiers screamed,
“Listen to us, O king!
We are getting buried in snow, who shall save us?
The snow is covering the tents.”
And soon Jagat and his armies lay buried in snow.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wazir Ram Singh Pathania, and the memory of Shahpurkandi

Poster describing Shahpurkandi Fort (courtesy Panjab Digital Library )   Pathankot. A sleepy border town today. A land of bravehearts, and more renowned for a terror attack on the air base in 2016. Yet, there was once a history of Pathankot that few remember in public memory today. Especially of Shahpur Kandi.  Shahpur Kandi is a Fort that falls in Punjab today. It used to be part of the premise of the Nurpur princely state. Nurpur was ruled by the Pathanias, a dynasty that was known as much for bravery and wit as it was for its patronage of art, patronizing the Nurpur shaili of Pahari paintings. Yet, at least nine years before the Indian war for Independence that took place in 1857, an uprising shook the British East India Company to its core.  It was 1848, and Ram Singh Pathania, who was going incognito post the collapse of the Lahore Durbar, had decided to repatriate himself with his father Sham Singh Pathania to Nurpur. Taking the title of Wazir there, these supposedl...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Living Memories of Skanda

Skanda, or Kartikeya, was a very important deity upto the 9th century AD across North India, before it starts to fade. Several Gupta era as well as other period sculptures and panels and wall panels evidence the importance,as can be evidenced in the National Museum collection in New Delhi. For instance, there is a 6th century AD panel of Skanda from the Punjab region (shown on the side)highlights a beautiful peacock on which Skanda is seated, with his trademark spear. Professor T S Maxwell writes about the earliest references to Skanda and his iconography in the north as follows: ' Probably the earliest six-headed representations of this god-and, apparently, of his consort-occur upon coins minted by the Yaudheyas, a traditionally warlike people settled in modern Rajasthan who 'lived by their weapons' (āyudhajīvinaḥ) and had Skanda as their principal god. Although the Yaudheyas persisted as a social group during the rule of the Guptas,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Iconoclasm in India - Stories from Himachal

Iconoclasm is a known reality of India's violent invasion period. People trying to deny it are lying to themselves, be it out of naivety or malice. Dr. Meenakshi Jain, a highly underrated historian, in a recent public lecture, discussed her new research project on this very important topic, and how she has been collecting evidence to the same from various sources. While there are several well documented evidences across many parts of India, including the Northern plains, what Dr Jain has found so far is a broad lack of accounts of important events being captured in the hill regions, particularly in the North-Western Himalayas. To that end, there seem to be signs, based on my own research, that there seem to be cases that are famous and may be preserved in oral traditions and written records in various ways, but need to be pieced together by proper historians, though of course people will deep interests can certainly help contribute by finding out more and sharing records. Entr...
Post a Comment
Read more