Chachaji

When we say I

We normally mean this body.

But am I this I?

How long this body will remain?

But perhaps the soul in the body is the real I.

But how to find it and how to realise it?

It’s an enigma.

How to solve this?

It seems we are still in the nursery class and we have to go to the preparatory and make sincere endeavours to gallop and jump from class to class to find out the truth of the soul and its relation with the Brahman.

To call this I, a name was given. Who gave this name, I do not know. But the name was strange — Sikandar Lal.

Sikandar Lal was the name with which I grew up and did all my schooling and passed the matriculation examination in Dayanand Anglo-Vedic High School from the University of Punjab, Lahore.

But why this name Sikandar, and further Lal added to it? Sikandar (Alexander) is a great name in history who conquered many countries but at the end he said, “My hands should be kept out of the coffin to show that I am going empty-handed.”

Lal is perhaps the spirit or the soul which will never perish.

I too shall go leaving everything here. That is why I never claimed anything as my own. According to our tradition the body will be burnt to ashes.

“Dust thou art,

To Dust thou returnest.”

And Lal — perhaps the Atman — will continue its journey.

But how the name Sikandar Lal was changed into Surendra Nath is unusual and is a mystery. I will reveal later when the opportunity arises.

This is about my name but who am I and from where have I come, which dynasty? Usually it is said that my parents gave birth to me. This also is a mystery which is difficult to unveil. But all the human beings are born like this. It is really a matter of contemplation.

My father was a link in a family chain and I was a further link of that chain and my mother was a link of some other chain. About them I shall tell at the appropriate time. I knew my father very well but I have not seen my grandfather. I was brought up by my grandmother in my childhood.

I tried my best to trace out the history of my dynasty and ultimately I could trace the same from the National Archives of Delhi from a book titled The Chiefs of Punjab 10 — 2 by Sir Lepal H. Griffin, KCSI.

This book revealed the lineage from Shri Karnamal. Shri Karnamal was a diwan in the court of Emperor Shahjahan. When Shahjahan was imprisoned by his own son Aurangzeb, Karan Singh was asked by Aurangzeb to accept Islam. Karan Singh refused to do so and was consequently executed by the order of Aurangzeb.

This family came into the limelight during the time of Sardar Bhag Singh, my great grandfather. The name of my grandfather was Lala Jawahar Mal. Sardar Bhag Singh was given the command of an army and sent by Maharaja Ranjit Singh to settle the seditious conditions in the country around Jhelum.

On the disbanding of this army which had successfully accomplished its mission, Sardar Bhag Singh was given the charge of the part of Khewra Salt Range. Sardar Bhag Singh made his headquarters deep into the hills at the village Vahalee — my birthplace. In the course of administration of the salt-range its valuable mines were transferred by Maharaja Ranjit Singh to Raja Gulab Singh of Kashmir. When the British Government transferred the territory of Kashmir to Gulab Singh he was given the title of Maharaja.

Sardar Hada Singh, one of the sons of Sardar Bhag Singh accompanied Maharaja Gulab Singh to his new kingdom.

In 1850 when Raja Moti Singh, son of Sardar Dhyan Singh, was given the territory of Poonchh, Sardar Hada Singh was appointed an official of the darbar. Haveli Tehsil, in Rawalpindi, Distt., was awarded to him as a permanent jagir.

In 1865 Sardar Hada Singh was made the minister (wazir) of Poonchh with the hereditary title of Sardar. At this occasion the village of Kalhota with a revenue of Rs.900/- per annum was added to his previous jagir. Later the title of Sardar was recognised by the Government as a hereditary distinction and title for this dynasty.

Sardar Hada Singh continued to do excellent service as a minister till his death in 1869. At this time his elder son Sardar Kartar Singh was only ten years old, but four years later, at the age of 14, in 1873, Kartar Singh was appointed to the post of Mashir-e-Khas (Private Minister) and the village of Mung-Bajri in Bag Tehsil with a revenue of Rs.352/- per annum was awarded to him as the family jagir.

Sardar Kartar Singh was subsequently promoted to the position of Madar-ul-Maham and granted the title of Sardar Bahadur.

In 1879 at the time of the Afghan war, Sardar Kartar Singh and his brother Sardar Hari Singh offered their services to the Government and were awarded a sanad (certificate) as a token of appreciation of their services.

Again in 1887 at the time of Her Majesty Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, Sardar Kartar Singh received a sanad from the Viceroy of India in recognition of his spirit in public service of Poonchh State. Sardar Kartar Singh who was provincial darbari died in 1900. His only son Sardar Krishnadev Singh, who was being educated at the Chiefs’ College, Lahore, died in an epidemic of influenza in 1918.

Sardar Hari Singh was now the head of the family. He maintained his hereditary connections with Kashmir and Poonchh States.

But the obligations and pressures to manage his estate, which had since grown vast throughout Punjab, did not allow him to keep up the Kashmir State Service. He was the authority responsible for collecting the custom duty for the whole of the State.

It was a very vast and lucrative work.

In 1909 Sardar Hari Singh was one of the biggest landlords in the Punjab, and his holdings aggregated to about 16000 acres of land in the districts of Jhelum, Jhang, Gujranwala, Lyalpur, Shahpur, and Rawalpindi. The estate paid about Rs.20,000/- per annum in land revenue.

In the Lyalpur Canal Colony the land owned by the family was at that time 127 murabbas (635 acres) and the family also owned a very large number of house properties in the cantonments of Jhelum, Rawalpindi and Murree. They were lamberdars (revenue collectors) of six villages in Jhelum and Lyalpur. And they themselves founded four villages named after members of their family. In the management of this huge property Sardar Hari Singh was acclaimed as an excellent landlord for the management of his estate and for his business acumen.

He was considered to be the model landlord and his estate secretariat at Vahalee was praised by many of the government officers for perfect and excellent management.

Sardar Hari Singh rose to the position of a provincial darbari and a member of the Jhelum District Board and the Jhelum Cantonment Committee. He was a man of great philanthropic nature and donated large sums for charitable purposes, such as relief in famine and plague epidemics, the promotion of education and the care of sick, orphans, destitutes and widows. He built a number of schools, mosques, temples, dharamshalas, tanks and drinking fountains. He built a special hospital at his headquarters at Vahalee as a memorial to Her Majesty Queen Victoria. For his act of generosity Sardar Hari Singh received a special sanad from the Viceroy and a gold watch from the Lt. Governor of Punjab.

He also received a large number of certificates from government officers of various departments all of whom spoke very highly of his liberality, loyalty, business ability and readiness to assist in all administrative measures for the good of the people.

I am writing all these details which are to be continued for the reason that all this has an indirect and occult impact upon my life.