Malerkotla State
1454–1948
Coat of arms
Motto: Heaven's Light Our Guide[1]
Detail of Malerkotla State from a map of British and native states in the Cis-Sutlej Division between 1847–51, by Abdos Sobhan, 1858
Capital	Malerkotla city
Common languages	Urdu,English,Punjabi,Hindi,Pashto
Religion	Sunni Islam
Government	Absolute Monarchy
Nawab of Malerkotla
• 1657 - 1659	Muhammad Bayazid Khan(First)
• 1710 or 1712 - 1717	Ghulam Hussain Khan
• 1717 - 1762	Jamal Khan
• 1762 - 1763/64	Bhikan Khan
• 23 August 1908 – 15 August 1947	Ahmad Ali Khan(Last)
History
• Established	1454
• Partition of India	15 August 1947 1948
Population
•	77,506
Preceded by Succeeded by Mughal Empire Dominion of India

TheState of Malerkotla orMaler Kotla was aprincely state ofAfghan origin in thePunjab region established in the medieval era and lasting to the era ofBritish India. It has been described as being a princely enclave.^[2]

Its rulers belonged to aSarwani andLodiPashtun dynasty from Afghanistan, and its capital was inMalerkotla.^[2] In the 19th century, the Muslim-ruled state was surrounded by Sikh states.^[2] The state belonged to thePunjab States Agency. During the partition of Punjab in 1947, the state was mostly spared from bloodshed from Sikh mobs owing to the role the former ruler of the polity played in attempting to safeguard the sons of Guru Gobind Singh.^[2] The lastNawab of Maler Kotla signed theinstrument of accession to join theDominion of India on 20 August 1948.

The area, which was known as Maler, was received as a jagir in 1454 A.D. bySheikh Sadruddin-i-Jahān, a pious man of theSherwani tribe ofAfghanistan area, and was ruled by his descendants.^[3]

Local tradition says thatBahlul Lodi (1451–1489), the Afghan king who had most of westernIndia under his control, desired to ruleDelhi and on his way, he was caught in a sand drift.^[4] In the darkness the King spotted a dim light of a lamp still burning in the wind. It was the hut ofSheikh Sadruddin and when the king found out he came to the hut to show his respect and asked the holy man to pray for him to bear a son and have victory.^[4] During 1451 and 1452, the king married off his daughterTaj Murassa toSheikh Sadruddin after being enthroned in Delhi, and also gave him the area of Maler as ajagir.^[4]

The descendants ofSheikh Sadruddin branched into two groups. One started ruling the state and were given the title ofNawab when theMughal Empire arose.^[4] The other branch lived around the Shrine of Shaikh Sadruddin, controlling its revenue from pilgrims.^[4]

The State of Malerkotla was established in 1657 by Bayazid Khan. After saving the life ofMughal EmperorAurangzeb in a tiger attack, Bayazid Khan was granted the privilege to build a fort, which he named Malerkotla and eventually gave its name to the state.He was First Nawab of state

The roots of communal harmony in the area date back to 1705, whenFateh Singh andZorawar Singh, the 9- and 7-year-old sons of 10thSikh Guru,Guru Gobind Singh, were ordered to be bricked alive by the governor ofSirhind,Wazir Khan. His close relative, Sher Mohammed Khan, Nawab of Malerkotla, who was present in the court, lodged a vehement protest against this inhuman act and said it was against the teachings of Islam. Wazir Khan nevertheless had the boys bricked into a section of wall while still alive. At this, the Nawab of Malerkotla walked out of the court in protest. Guru Gobind Singh on learning this approach profusely thanked the Nawab of Malerkotla and blessed him with hishukamnama andkirpan.Banda Singh Bahadur's avoidance of attacking Malerkotla has been attributed to the actions of Sher Mohammed Khan, howeverJ.S. Grewal notes that Banda's passivity towards the state was due to his prescribed route taking him elsewhere. Wars between Malerkotla state (originally siding with the Mughals, and later the forces ofAhmad Shah Abdali and the Rohilla Afghans, both of whom repeatedly raided Punjab during the eighteenth century) and the Sikh powers in Punjab resumed shortly after. Relations between the two oscillated during this period- involving events of intermittent warring as well as interventions of mutual defense against certain extra-local Sikh invaders.

Nawab Bikhan Khan had assisted theDurranis and participated inVadda Ghulaghara genocide of Sikhs on 5 February 1762.^[5]

In 1795,Sahib Singh Bedi, a descendant of Guru Nanak, attacked Malerkotla, in part due to the issue of cow slaughter taking place in the city as well as other motivations influencing the expedition including the role of the nawab in the killing of a relative of Guru Gobind, as well as the contemporary nawab's ostensible role in the Vadda Ghallugura- a massacre in which twenty five thousand Sikhs were said to have been killed. His forces were stopped and repelled, with assistance coming from the rulers of Patiala.

The state was also under the suzeranity ofMahadaji Shinde.^{[citation needed]}

In 1808, Ranjit Singh, arrived at the town and demanded an extortionate tribute of one million rupees from the state. Upon the nawab's inability to accumulate this wealth,Ranjit Singh attacked, forcing the nawab to take loans from wealthier Sikh neighbors to pay the due. The nawab subsequently appealed to the British and shortly after ceded to British suzerainty.^[6][7] On 3 May 1809 Maler Kotla became aBritish protectorate and was made part of theCis-Sutlej states until 1862. Malerkotla ranked 12th in the PunjabDarbar in 1890.

During the1947 riots when Punjab was in flames, the State of Malerkotla did not witness a single incident of violence; through it all, it remained a lone island of peace.^[3][8] The State of Malerkotla experienced relatively insignificant communal violence due to the aforementioned objections ofSher Mohammed Khan toWazir Khan's handling ofGobind Singh's sons.^[3] Many local people attribute this peaceful strain to the presence of the shrine of 'Baba Haidar Sheikh', the Sufi saint, who founded the town of Malerkotla more than 500 years ago.^[9][10]

FollowingIndian independence and the signing of theinstrument of accession to theDominion of India in 1948, Maler Kotla joined the newly established state ofPatiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU) until its merger withPunjab in 1956.

Religious groups in Malerkotla State (British Punjab province era)

Religious group	1881[11][12][13]		1891[14]		1901[15]		1911[16][17]		1921[18]		1931[19]		1941[20]
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Sikhism	28,931	40.72%	7,625	10.07%	10,495	13.54%	21,018	29.54%	21,828	27.18%	28,982	34.89%	30,320	34.41%
Islam	24,616	34.65%	26,866	35.46%	27,229	35.13%	25,942	36.46%	28,413	35.37%	31,417	37.82%	33,881	38.45%
Hinduism[a]	16,178	22.77%	39,973	52.77%	38,409	49.56%	22,902	32.19%	29,459	36.68%	21,252	25.58%	23,482	26.65%
Jainism	1,323	1.86%	1,276	1.68%	1,361	1.76%	1,268	1.78%	585	0.73%	1,286	1.55%	310	0.35%
Christianity	3	0%	15	0.02%	12	0.02%	14	0.02%	37	0.05%	135	0.16%	116	0.13%
Zoroastrianism	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Buddhism	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Judaism	—	—	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Others	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Total population	71,051	100%	75,755	100%	77,506	100%	71,144	100%	80,322	100%	83,072	100%	88,109	100%
Note:British Punjab province era district borders are not an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to district borders — which since created new districts — throughout the historicPunjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases.

The chiefs were the holders of the jagir of Maler.

The rulers were titled 'Nawab'. They had the right to an 14 gunsalute.

• Malerkotla
• Malerkotla district
• Punjab States Agency
• List of Sunni Muslim dynasties
• Patiala and East Punjab States Union

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Maler Kotla".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 487.

• Nawabs of Maler Kotla

30°32′N75°59′E / 30.533°N 75.983°E /30.533; 75.983

• Princely states of Punjab
• Malerkotla district
• Nawabs of Malerkotla
• 1657 establishments in India
• 1948 disestablishments in India
• Gun salute princely states

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