City or fort
Malerkotla
ਮਾਲੇਰਕੋਟਲਾملیر کوٹلا
Muslim-ruled state honoured by Sikhs because its Nawab protested the execution of the Guru's younger sons. Largely spared the violence of 1947.
Malerkotla is a town in the Malwa, capital of a small Afghan principality founded in the fifteenth century.
In 1704 its Nawab, Sher Muhammad Khan, protested at Sirhind against the execution of Guru Gobind Singh's young sons, the only voice raised for them. The Guru blessed the house of Malerkotla, and Sikhs have honoured it ever since.
In 1947, when Muslims were killed or driven out of almost every other town of East Punjab, Malerkotla was spared. It is now a district and the only Muslim-majority town in Indian Punjab.
