ARCHIVED FORUM: Gurdwara Tapoban Sahib
Historical: The eye wittness account of the Wedding of Kanwar Nau nihal Singh
Posted by : Jarnail Singh Arshi Gyani
Date: 7/06/2004 7:53 am
Waheguru Ji ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki fateh.
For the esteemed readers of this Forum - a part of Sikh History
An eye wittness account of the Wedding of Kanwar Nau Nihal Singh son of Maharaja Kharak Singh eldest son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and...Favourite of Maharaja Ranjit Singh
The Wedding of Kanwar Naunihal Singh was THE EVENT of its time. More than 200,000 ROYAL guests.....everyone who was a Somebody in the whole of India was invited..from the Governor General and all the rajas of the Princely states to French and Portugese envoys....each Janji was sat on a decorated elephant.... and PROVIDED with a Basket full of 4,000 Gold Mohars to distribute to any poor man woman and child seen along the way....nearly 500,000 people lined the route to ATTARI....a sea of heads from Fort GobindGarh towards Attari
The wedding began with an ardass at AKAL TAKHAT and presented 100 Gold Mohars matha tek, and another 225 Rupees at harmandir sahib and then at HARMANDIR SAHIB. Maharaja gave 5000 gold Mohars to the AKALI JATHA in charge of Akal Takhat ( this shows that at this time Akal takhat did not have any one Jathedar - the Akal Takhat was UNDER the JURISDICTION of the AKALI JATHA whose JATHEDAR was AKALI PHOOLA SINGH.
Each janji was provided with a splendid bed wchich had at least 30 types of bed spreads. chadar, khes etc embroidered very finely.
Everyone from the lowest GRASS CUTTER to the Top ranking Geenrals, was dressd in his finest....by the side of the road to Attari people could be seen for miles craning their necks for a look at the Janj Procession on finely decked Elephants. Shere Punajb and the Gov genral were on the Best Elephant. On raeching Attari Sardar sham Singh Attrari welcomed the distinguished guests on to a very finely decorated carpeted stand...He presented the Maharaja with Five Fine Horses and 101 Gold Mohars. To sahibzada Kharak singh he presented 51 Gold Mohars 41 Gold Mohars to Sher Singh together with a fine Arabian Horse....every other guest was also presented with some fine gift...the Milni took place and everybody adjourned to the place of rest where each guest was provided accordingly. At night a splendid fireworks show was held to entertain. Sir Henry and Shere punjab sat under a very fine shamiana - tent. Hundreds of such tents were filled to the brim with rajas and maharajas. The next morning the Maharaja and his commanders in chief rode on elphants to the wedding place. Kanwar Nau Nihal singh and Sir Henry fann were seated on Golden Chairs on the right and left hand side of the Maharaja....all the other important guets sat accordingly.
Now the people were treated to shows of strength, swordsmanship, archery, horsemanship....every single person gathered had come with high hopes that the Maharja would not disappoint him.....and Maharja gave out money so open handedly that every one was more than satisfied...The Donation Daan giving programme was excellently organised....in a large ground where the Attrai railway station stands today, the Army had organised itself into a kind of Four walled FORT.... each human wall had one exit....everyone in the PUBLIC was herded into this enclosure...and at the EXIT each one was given ONE GOLD MOHAR.... a few hundred thousand people were served well without any pushing shoving or disarray and no one left disappointed....At this time a very strange happening took place... an old man approached the Maharja with a big container on his head and told the Maharaja... Today you ahve promised to GIVE one Gold Mohr per head to each of your guests.... PLEASE DO the NEEDFUl to me. The Maharaja called his treasurer to give this man his due.... when the treasurer tried to giv ethe man one Gold Mohr the man protested....How can this be ?? You are supposed to give ONE Gold Mohr PER HEAD.... Where are the rest of your people asked the Maharaja.... the man lifted the cover of his container...which was FILLED to the BRIM eith ANTS... the Maharaja gave out a wholehearted laugh and said.. IF you want Gold coins per head then you must count your ants and tell us how many are there OR you can just FILL up your container to the brim with the Gold Mohars.... you choose. The man chose to fill his container to the Brim...and walked away ahappy man...Many others must have wondered at his briallance. When Sir Henry saw this he was astounded at this generosity !!. Estimates put this Daan expenditure at baout 22 Lakh Gold Mohars....so if the Daan itselkf was 22 lakh then you can imagine the actual cost of this wedding. Every soldier of the Khalsa Army was given a Dastaar and Thaal full of sweatmeats.
Sham Singh attari gave the fllowing items as Dowry to his daiughter: 11 elephants, 100 horses, 100 camels, 101 cows, 101 milk giving buffaloe-cows, 500 kasmiri Shawls of silk and lots of jewels, diamonds and cash. Sham Singh attari spent over 15 lakh rupees on this wedding.
Shazada Nau Nihal Singh's wedding, originally to be a hush hush simple affair...was the finest Punjab had ever seen . This si a part of Punjab history that has a place of its own....
Prem Singh Hoti Mardaan
posted by : Dass jarnail Singh.
Re: Historical: The eye wittness account of the Wedding of Kanwar Nau nihal Singh
Posted by : anon
Date: 7/06/2004 7:27 pm
what's a janji?
Re: Historical: The eye wittness account of the Wedding of Kanwar Nau nihal Singh
Posted by : Jarnail Singh Arshi Gyani
Date: 7/10/2004 4:02 am
Waheguru Ji ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki fateh.
A janji is a memeber of the Janj - Baraat, Bride groom's PARTY that accompanied the GROOM to the BRIDE's house.
Janj is Pure PUNJABI word.....baraat is Hindi/Punjabi
dass jarnail singh
