FATEH SIṄGH MĀN (d. 1845), son of Shām Siṅgh Mān, soldier, diplomat and commander in Mahārājā Raṇjīt Siṅgh's army. He entered the service of the Mahārājā as a trooper, and took part in several campaigns, including those of Multān (1818) and Kashmīr (1819). He rose to be a kumedān. In 1811, he had a jāgīr worth one lakh of rupees and maintained a contingent of 300 horsemen. He served mostly in the northwest frontier region, across the Indus. After Mahārājā Raṇjīt Siṅgh's death, he became an active partisan of Kaṅvar Nau Nihāl Siṅgh and Wazīr Dhiān Siṅgh. In 1839, he served under Kaṅvar Nau Nihāl Siṅgh in the Sikh army sent to Peshāwar to assist Colonel Claude Wade in Shāhzādā Taimūr's expedition to Kābul.

         In the courtly intrigue following the death of Mahārājā Khaṛak Siṅgh and Kaṅvar Nau Nihāl Siṅgh, Fateh Siṅgh Mān aligned himself with the faction supporting Rāṇī Chand Kaur against Sher Siṅgh. The faction comprised Sandhāṅvālīā Sardārs, the Jammū brothers, and the Bhāīs. However, the accession of Sher Siṅgh to the throne of Raṇjīt Siṅgh on 20 January 1841 broke up the faction supporting Chand Kaur. Fateh Siṅgh submitted to Mahārājā Sher Siṅgh and saved his jāgīrs and command. He continued thereafter to serve in the Sikh army, retaining his influence at the court.

         The army pañchāyats deputed Fateh Siṅgh to Jammū to negotiate with Rājā Gulāb Siṅgh the surrender of Hīrā Siṅgh's treasure which the Ḍogrā chief had carted away to his capital. Gulāb Siṅgh paid Rs 4,00,000 as earnest money, and promised to surrender the treasure at an early date. The Lahore deputation left Jammū but was waylaid outside the town by Gulāb Siṅgh's troops and Fateh Siṅgh Mān was killed on 28 February 1845.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

  1. Sūrī, Sohan Lāl, 'Umdāt-ut-Twārīkh. Lahore, 1885-89
  2. Griffin Lepel and C.F. Massy, Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab, Lahore 1909
  3. Bhagat Singh, Maharaja Ranjit Singh and His Times, Delhi, 1990
  4. Smyth, G, Carmichael, A History of Reigning Family of Lahore, Patiala, 1970.

B. J. Hasrat