The land of five waters gave the world its first cities, its saints and its songs. Broken by every empire that crossed it, it is still ours to remember, and to make whole again.

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Kingdoms & Struggles

Kingdoms & WarsWho ruled the Punjab, the Kingdom of Lahore, and the battles fought over itWho ruled the PunjabEvery ruling power, 518 BCE to todayWars & BattlesFrom the Hydaspes to BasantarStruggles & Partitions1849, 1919, 1947, 1966, 1984, 2020

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Punjab WikiPeopleRulers, chiefs and generals
Charat Singh Sukerchakia
Unknown · Wikimedia
Leader

Charat Singh Sukerchakia

ਚੜ੍ਹਤ ਸਿੰਘچڑھت سنگھ سکرچکیا

Grandfather of Ranjit Singh and founder of the Sukerchakia misl's power at Gujranwala, where he beat the Afghan governor in 1761.

Charat Singh was born in 1721 at Sukarchak near Gujranwala, a Sandhawalia Jat, and joined the Singhpuria jatha before founding his own, the Sukerchakia misl.

He made Gujranwala his base and fortified it in the 1750s. In 1761, after Abdali's victory at Panipat, the Afghan governor Khwaja Ubaid Khan besieged Gujranwala; Charat Singh and the other misls defeated him, one of the first Sikh victories over a full Afghan army. He took part in the campaigns against Abdali in 1762 and 1764 and expanded his lands to Wazirabad, Rohtas and Pind Dadan Khan.

He was killed in 1770 when his own matchlock burst in his hand during a battle with the Bhangis near Jammu. His son Mahan Singh and grandson Ranjit Singh built the Sikh Empire on the foundations he laid.

Places linked to Charat Singh Sukerchakia, numbered in order

Battles

1761Gujranwala battlefieldBattle of GujranwalaCharat Singh Sukerchakia and the Dal KhalsavsKhwaja Abed Khan, Afghan governor of LahoreSikh victory

Connected

Mahan Singh Sukerchakia
Mahan Singh Sukerchakia1760 – 1792

Father of Ranjit Singh. Expanded the Sukerchakia lands from Gujranwala and died during a siege when Ranjit was twelve.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh
Maharaja Ranjit Singh1780 – 1839

Sher-e-Punjab, the Lion of Punjab. United the misls into the Sikh Empire, ruled from Lahore for forty years and covered the Harmandir Sahib in gold.

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