Diwan Bhawani Das

Diwan Bhawani Das
Finance minister of the Sikh Empire
Reign	1811-1834
Predecessor	Position established
Successor	Diwan Dina Nath[1]
Born	c. 1770
Died	1834
Father	Diwan Thakur Das
Religion	Hinduism[2]

Diwan Bhawani Das (c. 1770 - 1834) was a high-ranking Hindu^[1] official under Durrani emperors, Zaman Shah and Shah Shujah. He later became the revenue minister of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, ruler of the powerful Sikh Empire.^[3][4][5][6]

Life

Bhawani Das was born in 1770 and was the second son of Diwan Thakur Das, the revenue minister of the Durrani emperor, Ahmad Shah Abdali. He was born into a Khatri family.^[7] Bhawani Das served as a high-ranking revenue officer under Durrani emperors, Zaman Shah and Shah Shujah, mostly employed in collecting the custom duties of Multan and Derajat.

In 1808, disgusted at the way he was treated at the Kabul court, he went to Lahore to serve under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, ruler of the Sikhs. He was warmly welcomed by Ranjit Singh as the Sikh state was in need of a proper state treasury and system of regular accounts. His employment proved fruitful- Bhawani Das established an office for pay of troops and a finance office, of both of which he was made the head.^[8] He set up 12 departments called daftars (offices) to deal with all civil and military accounts. In the districts of different subahs, treasuries were established to maintain regular accounts of income and expenditure. In newly conquered territories, settlement officers were appointed to regulate revenue and finance.^[3][4][9] His successes impressed Ranjit Singh and he was appointed the finance minister in 1811.^[9] However, Bhawani Das was not an honest man, and had to reprimanded on several occasions.^[10] Sohan Lal Suri, author of the Umdat-ut-Tawarikh, writes- "His hunchback was full of mischief".^[11]

Bhawani Das was one of Ranjit Singh's counsellors at the negotiations with the British envoy, Charles T. Metcalfe. In 1810, a huge force under the command of Diwan Bhawani Das was dispatched by the Sikh court at Lahore to crush the rebellion of the popular warrior Mian Dido in the hills of Jammu and capture him. However, he failed in capturing Mian Dido despite trying his best and succeeded in only restoring order in Jammu town and failed to impose his authority in large areas of Jammu hills.^[12][13] In the same year, Bhawani Das was sent to collect tribute from the rulers of Mandi and Suket. In 1813, he invaded and annexed Haripur State in the Kangra hills^[14] and accompanied Maharaja Ranjit Singh for the acquisition of the famed Koh-i-Noor diamond from Shah Shujah Durrani.^[15] He was made chief diwan of prince Kharak Singh in 1816 and in the same year, he successfully annexed the Ramgarhia estates to the Sikh Empire.^[3]

He was also present at the Siege of Multan, where he was bribed by the Nawab of Multan.^[16][17] He also took part in the expeditions to Peshawar and the Yusafzai country.^[3][4] He suffered an eclipse in his career when he quarreled with Misr Beli Ram, the treasurer and second son of Misr Diwan Chand.^[18] Misr Beli Ram accused Bhawani Das of embezzlement and Bhawani Das was fined a lakh rupees by Ranjit Singh, and was expelled from the Lahore court to the hills of Kangra. However, his services were too valuable to wasted hence he was recalled and served as finance minister until his death in 1834. He was succeeded by Dina Nath as minister of finance.^[3][4][9]

References

1. Yasmin, Robina (13 January 2022). Muslims under Sikh Rule in the Nineteenth Century: Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Religious Tolerance. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7556-4033-1.
2. Singh, Rishi (23 April 2015). State Formation and the Establishment of Non-Muslim Hegemony: Post-Mughal 19th-century Punjab. SAGE Publications India. ISBN 978-93-5150-504-4.
3. "Diwan Bhawani Das- Sikh Wiki". Sikh Wiki. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
4. Griffin, Sir Lepel Henry (1890). The Panjab Chiefs: Historical and Biographical Notices of the Principal Families in the Lahore and Rawalpindi Divisions of the Panjab. Civil and Military Gazette Press.
5. Events At The Court Of Ranjit Singh, 1810-1817 (1935).
6. Dilagīra, Harajindara Siṅgha (1997). The Sikh Reference Book. Sikh Educational Trust for Sikh University Centre, Denmark. ISBN 978-0-9695964-2-4.
7. Yasmin, Robina (2022). Muslims Under Sikh Rule in the Nineteenth Century: Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Religious Tolerance. Library of Islamic South Asia. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 92. ISBN 9780755640348.
8. Journal of Indian History. Department of History, University of Kerala. 1926.
9. Sheikh, Mohamed (17 March 2017). Emperor of the Five Rivers: The Life and Times of Maharajah Ranjit Singh. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78672-095-5.
10. Singh, Khushwant (18 April 2017). Ranjit Singh: Maharaja of the Punjab. Random House Publishers India Pvt. Limited. ISBN 978-93-5118-102-6.
11. Suri (Lala), Sohan Lal (1961). Umdat-ut-tawarikh ... S. Chand.
12. Jeratha, Aśoka (1998). Dogra Legends of Art & Culture. Indus Publishing. ISBN 978-81-7387-082-8.
13. Mohammed, Prof Jigar. "Mian Dido: The man Jammu must know". The Dispatch. Archived from the original on 2022-12-05. Retrieved 2022-12-31.
14. "Princely States of India".
15. Duggal, Kartar Singh (2001). Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the Last to Lay Arms. Abhinav Publications. ISBN 978-81-7017-410-3.
16. Punjab Revisited: An Anthology of 70 Research Documents on the History and Culture of Undivided Punjab. Gautam Publishers. 1995.
17. Singh, Rishi (23 April 2015). State Formation and the Establishment of Non-Muslim Hegemony: Post-Mughal 19th-century Punjab. SAGE Publications India. ISBN 978-93-5150-504-4.
18. "BELĪ RĀM (d. 1843)".