Nabha - Princely State of Nabha

Princely State of Nabha

Nabha (Gurmukhi: ਨਾਭਾ) was a state of the Sikh Royal House of Siddhu Jat origins founded by the grandson of Chaudhary Phul Singh. Chaudhary Phul Singh (under the patronage and protection of Sikh Guru's Guru Har Gobind and Guru Har Rai) had six sons namely, 1. Tiloka 2. Ram Singh 3. Rudh 4. Chunu 5. Jhandu and 6.Takhtmal. Annual income of Nabha state was Rs 1,50,000/-.

Claiming descent from the Jaisal, founder of Jaisalmer State in 1156, the founder of this Sikh dynasty, Phul, was Chaudhri (Governor) of a country located at the south east of Delhi. Phul’s descendants founded 4 States: Patiala State, Jind State, Faridkot State and Nabha State. Nabha was founded by the great-grandson of Phul in 1755.

Tiloka had two sons namely, 1. Gurudutta 2. Sukh Chain. Sukh Chain's descendants ruled Jind state and Gurudatta's descendants ruled Nabha state. Gurudatta's only son was Surat Singh. Surat Singh died in 1742 prior to Gurudatta in 1744. Surat Singh had two sons 1. Hamir Singh (1755–1783 ) and 2. Kapur Singh. Hamir Singh's son Raja Jaswant Singh (1783–1840) became the ruler. He had two sons namely 1. Maharaja Devendra Singh and 2. Ranjit Singh. Maharaja Devendra Singh had two sons namely, Maharaja Bharpur Singh and Maharaja Bhagwan Singh. Maharaja Bharpur Singh died in 1863 prior to Maharaja Devendra Singh. Maharaja Bhagwan Singh ruled from 1864 to 1871, he also died without an heir. According to tradition, Hira Singh a distant relative in a neighbouring village was deicided upon as the next in line according to the Maharaja of Patiala and Jind. Maharaja Hira Singh (1871–1911), who ruled from 1871 to 1911. He was honoured with G.C.S.I. and G.C.I.I. titles by British. His only son was Maharaja Ripudman Singh (1911–1923), who became ruler in 1912 after Maharaja Hira Singh. His son was Maharaja-Tika Pratap Singh (1923–1995) born in 1919.

The town of Nabha was formerly the capital of the eponymous princely state in the British Raj. Its territories were scattered; one section, divided into twelve separate tracts, was interspersed among the territories of Patiala and Jind, in the east and south of the Punjab; the other section was in the extreme southeast of that province. The whole of the territories physically belonged to a plain; however, they varied in character from the great fertility of the Pawadh region to the aridity of the Rajputana desert.

The ruling dynasty of Nabha are Sikh the state was founded around 1763 by a member of the Phulkian family. The first relations of the state with the HEIC occurred in 1807-08, when the Raja obtained protection against the threatened encroachments of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. After British India's independence, the Princely state of Nabha united with four other Phulkian states to form the Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU), which later merged into Punjab state following the merging of other Princely states after 1949.

Colour nabhi (Maroon) is named after state of Nabha. Nabhi colour used to be state's official colour for turban. The old part of the city, sometimes termed 'Purani nabhi', is a veritable maze of narrow winding alleys which astonish you by emerging at the most unexpected places.

This is the first city which still has the Rolls Royce in the shape of animals, specially crafted for the kings of this city. These were used by the kings and are preserved in the Nabha museum. This is the city which has given us HansRaj as a very noble and respectable inspector.