Recently one of my old colleagues from the US Army who had completed the staff course at Wellington with me visited Mumbai. He told me he was writing a book on Sikh Warfare. He also mentioned that he was looking into the campaigns of Hari Singh Nalwa. Who was Hari Singh Nalwa ? Sadly many of our young men have never heard of him, so I thought to do a bit of research and put his life in brief on my blog.
It is important to remember that the Sikh empire stretched over what is modern Pakistan, with Lahore as its capital. In a series of battles the Sikhs had pushed the Afghans beyond the Khyber Pass and areas like Peshawar which had long been part of the Afghan( Durrani) empire had been captured. One man who made this possible was the Commander in Chief of Ranjit Singh's Army- Hari Singh Nalwa (1791-1837).
Hari Singh Nalwa joined the Sikh Army at a young age and by his feats on the battle field rose to be the foremost Sikh General. One aspect of his campaigns needs to be understood, that in 2000 years of history of the sub-continent , Hari Singh was the only Hindu/ Sikh general who ventured west wards and won significant victories. Prior to this all the invaders had come from the east only.
Hari Singh won significant victories against the Afghans and was instrumental in capturing Multan, Peshawar, Jamrud and the Khyber pass. In fact he conquered the entire present day West Pakistan. The Pathans and the Afghans suffered a series of defeats against him. So great was his fear among the Afghan Moslems that Afghan mothers would put their children to sleep with the words Raghe hari Singh( Hari Singh is coming). He was certainly the bravest of the brave.
Hari Singh was fluent in a number of languages including Persian and British and German travellers who met him will vouchsafe that he was a great soldier. Hari Singh’s claim to greatness rests on his campaigns against the Afghan Moslems whom he defeated as never before. In fact a popular 19th century British newspaper, Tit-Bits, published this piece in its edition.”Some people might think that Napoleon was a great General. Some might name Marshall Hendenburgh, Lord Kitchener, General Karobzey or Duke of Wellington etc. And some going further might say Halaku Khan, Genghis Khan, Changez Khan, Richard or Allaudin etc. But let me tell you that in the North of India a General of the name of Hari Singh Nalwa of the Sikhs prevailed. Had he lived longer and had the sources and artillery of the British, he would have conquered most of Asia and Europe.
Let us salute this great warrior who died on the battle field at Jamrud in 1837. His death was kept a secret from the Afghans who retreated thinking that Hari Singh was still alive, so great was the fear he inspired. One cannot think of a better inspiration for the young men of today than Hari Singh Nalwa. By the way he got the surname Nalwa after he killed a tiger in combat single handed!
unparalleled !
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