Vilianarij at 22:41, 19 April 2026

2026-04-19T22:41:53Z

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{{Short description|Subahdar of Multan from 1748 to 1751}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Diwan Kaura Mal
| image =
| office = [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] [[Subah of Multan#List of governors|governor]] of [[Multan Subah|Multan]]
| 1blankname = [[Monarch]]
| 1namedata = [[Ahmad Shah Bahadur]]
| term_start = 1748
| term_end = 1751
| predecessor = [[Nawab Zahid Khan]] (as Mughal governor)
| successor = [[Nawab Ali Mohammad Khan Khakwani|Ali Muhammad Khan Khakwani]] (as Durrani governor)
| birth_date =
| birth_place = [[Shorkot]], [[Subah of Lahore]]
| birth_name =
| death_date = 1752
| death_place = [[Lahore]]
| blank1 =
| data1 =
| spouse =
| children =
| alma_mater =
| profession =
| allegiance =
| branch =
| service_years =
| rank =
| battles =
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}}

'''Kaura Mal''' was an official of the [[Mughal Empire]] who served as [[Subahdar]] of [[Subah of Multan]] from 1748 to 1751. He served as [[Divan|Diwan]] of [[Subah of Lahore|Lahore]] and Multan on various occasions as well. Kaura Mal is notable for being one of the few [[Sahajdhari]] [[Sikhs]] in the [[Government of the Mughal Empire|Mughal bureaucracy]].

==Biography==
Kaura Mal was the son of Vallu Ram, a [[Khatri]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Gupta |first=Hari Ram |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/History_of_the_Sikhs_Evolution_of_Sikh_c/ZxJDAAAAYAAJ?hl=en |title=History of the Sikhs: Evolution of Sikh confederacies, 1708-1769 |date=1978 |publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal |pages=79 |language=en}}</ref> or [[Arora]] of Chuggh clan, originally from [[Shorkot]] in the Subah of Lahore. His father and grandfather had been in the service of governors of Multan.<ref name=":0" /> He started his career in the service of the governor of Lahore [[Zakariya Khan Bahadur|Zakariya Khan]], who appointed him as the Diwan of Multan after he helped in the capture and execution of Pannah Bhatti, a rebel chief, in 1738.{{Sfnp|Singh|2011|pp=461–462}}

In 1746 Diwan [[Lakhpat Rai]], in order to avenge the death of his brother [[Jaspat Rai]], vowed to exterminate the Sikh sect and carried out the massacre of Sikhs, in an event known as [[Chhota Ghallughara]], in spite of the pleads of Kaura Mal and the Hindu gentry of Lahore. Disgusted, Kaura Mal went to Multan and took service under [[Shah Nawaz Khan (Mughal Empire)|Shah Nawaz Khan]], Multan's governor and brother of Yahya Khan, the governor of Lahore. Soon a civil war broke out between the two brothers and Shah Nawaz Khan became governor of Lahore as well, and Kaura Mal was appointed the Diwan of Lahore in 1747.{{Sfnp|Singh|2011|pp=462–463}}

In 1748, Punjab was invaded by [[Ahmad Shah Abdali]] and Shah Nawaz Khan was forced to flee. However, after the defeat of the Afghans in the [[Battle of Manupur]] Mughal control over Lahore was re-established. The newly appointed governor of Lahore [[Mir Mannu]] not only made Kaura Mal his Diwan but also appointed him as the deputy governor of Multan.{{Sfnp|Singh|2011|p=462}}

In 1748/1749, a quarrel broke out between [[Nawab Zahid Khan]] and Shah Nawaz Khan over the governorship of Multan. Mir Mannu sent Kaura Mal who defeated and killed Shah Nawaz Khan [[battle of Multan (1749)|in a battle]]; Zahid Khan retired to [[Sitpur]] while Kaura Mal assumed the charge of Multan, [[Thatta Subah|Thatta]] and [[Derajat]].{{Sfnp|Singh|2011|pp=462–463}}<ref name="Ganda">{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Ganda |url=https://archive.org/details/SardarJassaSinghAhluwalia_651/page/n75/mode/2up |title=Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia |year=1990 |pages=61–64 |language=en}}</ref> Talwandi Rai Bhoe (now known as [[Nankana Sahib]]), where [[Guru Nanak]] spent his early-years, had been a deserted and abandoned habitation until Diwan Kaura Mal sponsored the construction of holy-tanks ([[Temple tank|sarovars]]) and memorial [[gurdwara]]s there in 1750, which had generous land holdings given to them by Kaura Mal, which formed the estate of Nankana Sahib until [[partition of Punjab]] in 1947.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Kapur |title=Guru Nanak's Life and Thought |date=October 2001 |publisher=Guru Nanak Dev University |isbn=817770012X |editor-last=Kair |editor-first=Madanjit |edition=2nd |series=Selected Works of Sirdar Kapur Singh |location=Amritsar |pages=1 |editor-last2=Singh |editor-first2=Piar}}</ref>

Kaura Mal was again recalled by Mir Mannu in October 1751 during Ahmad Shah's second invasion. He was killed by Bazid Khan of [[Kasur]] in a [[Battle of Lahore (1752)|battle near Lahore]] at the instance of [[Adina Beg]], the [[faujdar]] of [[Jalandhar Doab]].{{Sfnp|Singh|2011|p=463}}<ref name="Gandhi1999">{{cite book |author=Surjit Singh Gandhi |url=https://archive.org/details/SikhsInTheEighteenthCentury/page/191/mode/2up |title=Sikhs In The Eighteenth Century |publisher=Singh Bros. |year=1999 |isbn=9788172052171 |pages=188–189}}</ref><ref name="Advanced">{{cite book |author=G.S. Chhabra |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.29082/page/391/mode/2up |title=Advanced study in History of the Punjab |year=1960 |pages=391}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Kabuli Mal]]
* [[Sukh Jiwan Mal]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite encyclopedia |first= |last= |editor1-last=Singh |editor1-first=Harbans |editor1-link=Harbans Singh |title=Kaura Mall, Diwan, Maharaja Bahadur (d. 1752) |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia Of Sikhism | volume=II E–L |edition=Third |pages=461–463 |publisher=Punjabi University Patiala |url=https://archive.org/details/TheEncyclopediaOfSikhism-VolumeIiE-l/page/461/mode/1up |date=2011 |isbn=978-8-1-7380-349-9 |language=English}}

[[Category:1752 deaths]]
[[Category:People from the Subah of Multan]]

Kaura Mal - Revision history

Vilianarij at 22:41, 19 April 2026