Hari Singh Nalwa was like King Nal in bravery

Maharaja Ranjit Singh ji was such a warrior whose name used to scare the Afghans. When the children used to cry, the mother used to say, shut up or else the pipe will come. The name of this great warrior was Hari Singh Nalwa, who led many wars against the Pathans. Hari Singh Nalwa is compared to the best generals of India in terms of strategy and tactics. He played an important role in the victories of Kasur, Sialkot, Attock, Multan, Kashmir, Peshawar and Jamrud. Hari Singh Nalwa was born on 28 April 1791. His father’s name was Gurdayal Singh Uppal and mother’s name was Dharam Kaur. In childhood, he was fondly called Hariya by the people of the house. His father died at the age of seven. At the age of 14, in the talent search competition organized by Maharaja Ranjit Singh on Vasantotsav in 1805, Hari Singh Nalwa introduced his amazing talent in spear, arrow and other competitions, impressed by which Maharaja Ranjit Singh recruited him in his army. have done. Soon he became one of the trusted generals of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh once went hunting in the forest with some of his soldiers and Hari Singh Nalwa. At the same time a huge size tiger attacked them. When all the soldiers were cowering in fear, Hari Singh came forward to save them all from that tiger. Hari Singh grabbed the jaws of the dangerous tiger with both his hands and tore its mouth in the middle. Seeing his bravery, Ranjit Singh said ‘You are brave like Raja Nal’, since then he became famous as ‘Nalwa’.

During the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, from 1807 to 1837, Hari Singh Nalwa fought the Afghans continuously for three decades. After winning complex battles against the Afghans, he established Sikh rule in Kasur, Multan, Kashmir and Peshawar. Nalwa conquered many territories and brought them under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He made a special contribution in the victory of Attock in 1813 AD, Multan in 1818 AD, Kashmir in 1819 AD and Peshawar in 1823 AD. Through his campaigns, he expanded the northwest frontier of the Sikh Empire by capturing a large part of the Afghan Empire across the Indus River. Nalve’s forces changed the course of history by driving the Afghans to the other side of the Khyber Pass. The Khyber Pass is an important route to enter India from the west. Through this pass, Greeks, Huns, Shakas, Arabs, Turks, Pathans and Mughals continued to attack India for almost a thousand years. Hari Singh Nalwa completely put an end to this historically humiliating process by closing the Khyber Pass. He was made the governor of Kashmir and Peshawar. In Kashmir, he minted a new coin which came to be known as ‘Hari Singhi’. This coin is still displayed in museums today. British rulers have also compared Hari Singh Nalwa to Napoleon. He is also called Sher-e-Punjab. Harisingh Nalwa played a major role in Multan Vijay. On the call of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, he was at the forefront of the self-sacrifice squad. Many of his companions were injured in this struggle, but the fort of Multan came into the hands of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Maharaja Ranjit Singh had to make many efforts to win Peshawar. Peshawar was ruled by Sultan Mohammad, the brother of the ruler of Afghanistan. Here Hari Singh Nalwa led the army in the war. The ruler here was so scared of Hari Singh Nalwa that he left Peshawar and ran away. For the next ten years, under the leadership of Hari Singh, Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s suzerainty over Peshawar remained, but there were occasional conflicts. It was completely conquered on May 6, 1834.

In 1837, when Raja Ranjit Singh was busy with his son’s wedding, Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa was guarding the North West Frontier. At the same time, the entire Afghan army attacked Jamraud, then Nalwa had asked Raja Ranjit Singh to send army towards the fort of Jamraud, but no army reached for help for a month. Sardar Hari Singh fought valiantly with his handful of soldiers but being wounded in this sudden fatal attack, Nalwa ordered his representative Mahan Singh not to announce his death till the arrival of fresh army for help. So that the soldiers do not get discouraged and stand bravely. Fearing the presence of Hari Singh Nalwa, the Afghan army retreated for ten days. Despite being injured, Hari Singh Nalwa attained Veergati while fighting. As a distinguished warrior, Nalwa also earned the respect of his Pathan enemies. In the year 1892, a Babu Gajju Malla Kapoor of Peshawar got a monument built inside the fort in his memory. The Government of India also issued a postage stamp in his honor in 2013.

Suresh Kumar Goyal