Journey to Nurpur Fort – Part 5
I slowly walk towards the gate of the fort, first comes the police station which is built in a part of the fort and then the tehsildar's office. Beyond this is the court. Along this road, deed writers have set up shelters at the roadside, sitting with their computers and printers. There is a lot of hustle and bustle. Some people are getting their applications typed from them. Lawyers in black coats can also be seen walking here and there. All this activity is in the outer section of the fort complex.
As I turn towards the main entrance of the fort, a statue in a small park catches my attention — a statue of freedom fighter Wazir Ram Singh, mounted on a horse. I begin reading the inscription written about this valiant revolutionary.
Wazir Ram Singh Pathania was born on 10 April 1824 to mother Indori Devi and father Wazir Sham Singh Pathania. At that time, after the death of Raja Veer Singh of Nurpur, his heir Jaswant Singh was only 10 years old. The British refused to accept such a young prince as the ruler. The British would often use such tactics to bring Indian princely states under their control. After the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, they used every kind of trick to capture the Sikh kingdom—something we all know. The British had seized the kingdom from Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s heir, Duleep Singh, through similar deceit.
Breaking the chain of my thoughts, I continue reading the inscription written on the statue.
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When the British refused to recognize the young prince as the ruler, Wazir Ram Singh Pathania attacked the Mamoon Cantonment on the night of 14 August 1848 with 500 of his companions. He captured the Kandi Fort, and on the morning of 15 August 1848, he pulled down the British flag, burnt it, and hoisted the flag of his own state. He proclaimed that the 10-year-old Jaswant Singh would be the ruler of Nurpur State and that he himself would be the commander-in-chief.
From there, Wazir Ram Singh Pathania began defeating the British forces moving towards Punjab. As a result, the British sent a large army to suppress this uprising. A fierce battle took place in the hills of Kopra, in which the British forces were defeated.
To crush this movement, the British government sent Brigadier Wheeler from Calcutta, and another army unit from Lahore. On 16–17 January 1849, another intense guerrilla war took place at Dale Ki Dhar. It is said that Wazir Ram Singh Pathania killed John Peel and several other high-ranking British officers with his sword named Chandi.
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After facing defeat on the battlefield, the British bribed some people and managed to surround Wazir Ram Singh Pathania when he was performing worship. Even then, before being captured, he killed six British soldiers. Later, the British sent him into exile in Rangoon, where this great son of India died on 11 November 1856.
A similar fate befell Punjab’s prince, Maharaja Duleep Singh—the British exiled him, and once he was taken away from his homeland, they never allowed him to return to India. I kept recalling the history of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, for once a secular Sikh kingdom extended till this region. What happened to the Nurpur State in 1848–49 had already been happening for nearly a decade in the Lahore Darbar. The British were plotting endlessly to annex India’s last independent kingdom into what became the world’s largest colonial empire.
At the main gate of the fort, an employee sits making entries of incoming visitors. After checking my identity proof, he writes my name in his register and signals me to go inside. There is no entry fee to visit the fort. It has been declared a protected monument by the Archaeology Survey of India. The same fort that the British had captured through conspiracies now has the Indian National Flag proudly waving above its gateway. I walk through the gate into the fort.
To be continued…
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