CHATTAR SINGH ATARIWALA

CHATTAR SINGH ATARIWALA

Chatar Singh Atariwala was a leader of the revolt against the British occupation of the Panjab in 1848-49. He belonged to the junior branch of the Atari family. His father Jodh Singh was the son of Kaur Singh, who, along with his brother Gauhar Singh, had settled in the village of Atari. Jodh Singh entered the service of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1805 and was given a big jagir in Pothohar. After his death he was succeeded by Chatar Singh, whose elder brother Partap Singh had died of injuries received in the battle of Balakot against Syed Ahmad Barelvi in May 1831.

Sardar Chatar Singh came to limelight after the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in June 1839. He took no part in the intrigues that preceded and followed the death of Maharaja Sher Singh in September 1843. In the same year Chatar Singh’s daughter Tej Kaur was betrothed to Maharaja Duleep Singh, the youngest son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He had come to the throne after the death of Sher Singh. Under the carders of Minister Jawahar Singh, brother of the queen-mother, Jind Kaur, Fateh Khan Tiwana and Chatar Singh were deputed to seize Prince Peshawara Singh suspected of intriguing against the young Maharaja. The prince was induced to surrender his fort of Attock and was then done to death by the Tiwana Sardar.

Evidently disgusted with the treasonable conduct of the people at the helm of affairs like the Missars Tej Singh and Lai Singh and the Dogra Gulab Singh in the first Anglo-Sikh War (1845- 46), Chatar Singh played no part therein. He, however, detested the alien rule of the East India Company aiming at the ultimate annexation of the Panjab. Soon after the war, Chatar Singh was appointed governor of Peshawar in place of his son Sher Singh who had been there since 1844. From Peshawar he was transferred to Hazara. He had been evidently sent to the north-west of the Panjab to keep him away lest he should at any time, as a popular choice of the people, rise to be the prime minister of the state in place of the traitor Tej Singh. At Hazara Chatar Singh soon came to be pitted against the Assistant Resident, Captain James Abbott. Abbott had been there earlier in connection with the demarcation of the boundary with Kashmir which had been given away by the British Government to Raja Gulab Singh as a reward for his services to them during the first Anglo-Sikh War.

With the outbreak of rebellion in Multan in April 1848, there was a marked change in the British attitude towards the Panjab. According to Article 8 of the Treaty of Bharowal of December 16, 1846, the British Government was to be responsible for the preservation of peace in the country up to September 4, 1854, when Maharaja Duleep Singh was to attain majority. The British Resident at Lahore, Sir Frederick Currie, and the Governor-General of India saw in the Multan insurrection an opportunity which could be exploited for the annexation of the Panjab. Although nothing could be proved against the queen-mother Jind Kaur that she was in any way implicated in the Multan affair, she was exiled from the Panjab in May 1848 for ’political reasons’. This made Sardar Chatar Singh anxious about the future of the royal family and of the state of the Panjab. He, therefore, asked the Resident to fix a date for the marriage of the Maharaja with his daughter. But the Resident turned a deaf ear to the Sardar’s request.

Captain Abbott, who was only mi assistant and adviser to the Sardar, adopted a hostile attitude and assumed the role of a super governor. He not only interfered with his day-to-day administration but also accused him of conspiracy for the expulsion of the British from the Panjab. Not only this, he excited the religious sentiments of the local Muslims and called upon them, with promises of remission of three years’ revenue, to harass and drive out the Sikh governor. On August 6, 1848, the Hazara Muslims surrounded the town of Haripur where Chatar Singh lived. In self-defence the Sardar directed his Lahore troops to bring their guns. But Commandant Canora, an American artillery officer in the Sikh service, refused to obey. Evidently, he was in league with Abbott. Under the Sardar’s order, Canora was shot down and the guns were brought to the place of defence by artillerymen.

The Resident at Lahore endorsed the action taken by Chatar Singh and also felt that Abbott was responsible for much of the mischief done. Yet he took no action to prevent him from his hostile designs. On the other hand, he allowed the Hazara affair to take an awkward turn and ratified the suggestion of Captain Nicholson, another assistant of his, to punish the Sardar with forfeiture of governorship and confiscation of his jagirs. Surrounded by blood-thirsty Hazaras and persecuted by Abbott, and having no hope of justice and succour from the Resident, who would not permit him even to resign his post, Chatar Singh wrote to his son. Raja Sher Singh, on August 23, 1848, saying that he was left with no alternative other than 'to adopt military measures to guard his life and honour’. Sher Singh was then helping the British at Multan in suppressing the rebellion of its governor, Mulraj.

There were clear indications at this time that, regardless of the terms of the treaty with die Sikh government, Lord Dalhousie had made up his mind to annex the Panjab to the British dominions. Raja Sher Singh, therefore, left the British camp at Multan and moved up to join his father. Without any declaration of war, the British army under Lord Gough, the Commander-in-chief, moved into the Panjab and attacked Sher Singh at Chellianwala on January 13,1849. Here the British army met at the hands of Sher Singh a disaster worse than that in Afghanistan in 1841. Chatar Singh joined Sher Singh at Chellianwala. But Multan fell to the British cm January 22, 1849. With the release of that army Chatar Singh and Sher Singh suffered a defeat at Gujrat on February 21 and surrendered on March 10. And the Panjab was annexed by Lord Dalhousie on March 29, 1849.

Chatar Singh and his sons were confined within the limits of their village Atari, but on unfavourable reports against them, their property was confiscated and they were imprisoned in Allahabad. Here they were able to establish contact with the exiled Queen-Mother. The result was that Chatar Singh and his sons were removed to the fort of Calcutta where he ended his days in exile and died on December 27, 1855.

References:

DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY – Vol 1,2,3 edited by S. P. Sen – Institute of Historical Studies – Calcutta – 1972

Ahluwalia, M. L. and Kirpal Singh, The Pioneer Freedom Fighters, Longmans, 1963; Foreign Secret Consultations, October 7, 1848, Nos. 503 and 617: April 26, 1850, No. 106; February 28, 1851, No. 76 (National Archives of India, New Delhi); Foreign Political Consultations, January 18, 1856, No. 21 (National Archives of India, New Delhi); Griffin, L. H., Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab, Lahore, 1909; Kaye, J. W. and Malleson, G. B., History of the Indian Mutiny, 3 Vols., 1878- 1880.

VANDE MATARAM

 

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