Suba Singh

Suba Singh was One of the Three Sikhs who ruled Lahore city with its Governor of Punjab Lehna Singh Majithia Installed by Pashtun King Amir Ahmad Shah Abdali 1747–1772 of Afghanistan Durrani Known as Kings of Kings first crossed the Indus River in 1748, the year after his ascension – his forces sacked and absorbed Lahore during that expedition. The following year (1749), the Mughal ruler was induced to cede Sindh Delhi, Vrndavana Mathura and Kashmir and all of the Punjab including the vital trans Indus River to Afghan Pashtun forces of the DurraniEmpire.

For thirty long years Lehna Singh Majithia, Gujjar Singh Banghi and Suba Singh ruled supreme and kept paying the Afghan Pashtun Ahmad Shah Abdali 1747–1772 and his offspring Timur Shah 1772 – 1793 an annual sum as Taxes.

The Lahore Fort and the Walled Lahore City and its gates went to Lehna Singh Majithia. He was, for formal purposes, the Governor of Lahore, and was so recognized.

To Suba Singh went the area to the south of the Walled Lahore City, and he resided in the garden of Zubaida Begum in Nawankot, where he built a small fort for himself.

The area between Amritsar and Lahore, or more correctly between the Shalamar Gardens and Lahore, went to Gujjar Singh Banghi.

Gujjar Singh Banghierected that part of the city, then a jungle and invited people to settle there. He also dug wells to supply water. A mosque was also built for the Muslims in the area. He also built himself a small fort called Qila Gujar Singh. Today, a few walls of that old fort can be seen in a street between today’s Nicholson Road and Empress Road, and the area is still called Qila Gujar Singh.

On a final note, their rule of ended when Ranjit Singh besieged the Lahore Fort in 1799 and the three chieftains Lehna Singh Majithia, Gujjar Singh Banghi and Suba Singh fled, leaving the city firmly in the hands of the young man from Gujranwala Ranjit Singh.

Sources

A history of the Sikhs by Kushwant Singh