MARRI BAKSHI RAAM SINGH KONTRILA GUJJAR KHAN

 

This is not just any other house ..this building was called "Uch Mari " and its residents were famous far and wide during the British rule ..and some were called Rai Bhadur Sahab ..Because of your efforts I needed to complement the reseatch so you can know whose great building you have captured in the camera .A descendant of the owners of this house has written about his family in this book. THE BAKHSHI FAMILY OF KAUNTRILA, by Kanwal Nain Singh Bakshi. Published in association with Hemkunt Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India, 2005. 212 pages. It is during the lifetime of Durbari Shah's grandson's grandson, Bakhshi Lajja Singh (born around 1720), that the name of "Bakhshi" first surfaces. Lajja Singh received this appellation as an honorary title, in the course of his distinguished service to Ahmed Shah Abdali, the self-proclaimed king of Afghanistan. As we can obviously see, "Bakhshi" has tenaciously clung to his descendants as a family name, right up until the present day. Besides being the first "Bakhshi", it is noteworthy that Lajja was also the first "Singh" in the family lineage. Numerous descendants of Bakhshi Lajja Singh served under Maharajah Ranjit Singh, and during the post-Ranjit Singh period, until the annexation of Punjab by the British in 1849. Gohar Singh, Bakhshi Lajja Singh's eldest grandson, was born in 1777. It is during his lifetime, circa 1800, that the family migrated to their seat at Kauntrila, and it is his direct offspring that make up the bulk of the rest of the book. While some of them rose to prominence in the police and other government services, many others pursued brilliant army careers. One of these scions was the illustrious Jagat Singh, whose portrait graces the book's cover. Like his father, Hari Singh, who fought under Maharajahs Ranjit Singh and Sher Singh, Jagat Singh excelled in the military profession. A member of the renowned Bengal Lancers, he was decorated numerous times for his gallantry, receiving the title of "Sardar Bahadur" and "The Order of British India, First Class". A photo of Major Bakhshi Avtar Singh, his chest impressively bedecked with medals, in genial conversation with Air Chief Marshall Arjan Singh, helps to bring the history of this prominent line of the family closer to our own present times. Avtar Singh lived to the ripe old age of 101; when this book was published, his widow, Sardarni Partap Kaur, was the seniormost living lady of the Bakhshi family. (With Thanks Mr. Gurpreet Singh Anand)