The Driving Force
The Driving Force
Two brothers, Dewan Amrit Rai and Dewan Tehli Ram, and their families lived at Shajahanbad in Multan
district (now in Pakistan). Their caste was Mehrotra. They were landlords with big jagirs (estates)
and were very influential during the reign of the Moghal emperor Humayn, son of the emperor Barbar.
Barbar was the first Moghal emperor of India.
The brothers, somehow, earned the ill-will or wrath of the governor of Multan and he reported them
to the emperor at Delhi.
They left for Delhi with their families and relatives but without any means, because the governor
confiscated their property. They were very brave and tough people. During their long journey to
Delhi they had little food and other essentials to survive. They often restored to force to get
food. The emperor officials reported all this to the emperor.
When the clan reached Delhi, Humayun had died and his son Akbar was on throne. He called the two
brothers to the court, heard them and examined the reports. He ordered the brothers that either they
go to Chittor (Rajasthan) to join the royal army, fight against the rebelled Rajputs and capture the
fort from the Rajputs or else they will be executed.
The brothers had no choice but to go to Chittor and join the army. There, they examined the
situation and devised a plan to capture the fort.
They planned to send a spy to enter the fort, assess the situation and take an account of the enemy.
Mathila Bhatt in disguise of a hermit (sadhu or faqir) was chosen for the job. He acted as a deaf
and dumb hermit and went to the gates of the fort. The guards stopped him, pushed him back but he
acted well to convince the guards that he is a pious person without any motive. He was allowed to
enter the Chittor fort.
The fort inside was a complete town with all the essentials to survive. The four walled fort had
residential quarters with the roofs of thached material like wild grass. Thousands of pigeons had
nests in the roofs. Mathil, somehow, brought a pair of pigeons with him and came out of the fort
unsuspected.
Two Khosla brothers, Amrit Raj and Tehli Ram, took army commanders into their confidence about their
plan. They tied very thin wires to the feet of two pigeons and fixed some laquer to the other end of
wires. Lacquer, a combustible material, was ignited and the pigeons were let go. It was the middle
of night. The pigeons anxious to go to their offsprings, flew towards their nests. Within hours, the
tached roofs and army barracks were on fire. The royal army attacked the fort when Rajput forces
were busy inside extinguishing the fire. The Mugul force entered the fort and captured it.
The brothers returned to Delhi as conquerors. Akbar honored them. One brother was sent to Hydrabad
Deccan as a govorner and the other brother was appointed a minister of the court at Delhi with an
estate of rupees 20,000 and the owner of seven villages near Talwan, district Jalandhar, Punjab.
Thus one family of Khosla's settled near Talwan. Dewan Lachhami Narain, the son of this brother,
built the fort and founded the village of Narain Garh near Talwan on the banks of the river Suttej.
The emperor Akbar died and his son Jahagir and grandson Shahjahan ruled India. When Auranzeb, the
son of ShahJahan occupied the throne, he converted many noble Hindu families to Islam either by
allurements or by threat of killing. The khosla family at Talwan also received the notice to accept
Islam. These Khoslas had a very loyal family barber. He offered to convert himself to Islam in place
of Khoslas provided his family would be well looked after by Khoslas. Some Khoslas still keep this
promise by observing a custom. Whenever khoslas perform any ceremony like wedding or childbirth,
they always offer something special (money or sweets) to their barber.
Aurangzeb died and the Mughals empire almost disappeared with him. The sikhs gained power in the
Punjab in the beginning of eighteenth century. Some Bedi families were residing at Mokandpur in
Nawashahr district. Bedi community is known as the the family of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism.
Two horses of Bedi families were stolen from Mokandpur. The horses were traced at Talwan, but were
not recovered. It is said that the Bedis, the religious people, cursed Talwan with dire
consequences. As a chance would have been, an epidemic spread and some people died. Khoslas fearing
the curse left Talwan for good. Most of them went to Rahon in Jalandhar district (now district
Nawashahr). Others moved to other parts of India. During this exodus, some families moved to
Nurmahal. Later on more Khosla families moved to Nurmahal from Rahon. The exodus from Talwan occured
perhaps in the first half of eighteenth century. Thus Rahon and Nurmahal became the center of Khosla
community. Most Khoslas around the world today come from anyone of these towns Nurmahal, Rahon, or
Talwan.
Dewan Moti Ram Khosla moved from Rahon (Nawashahr) to Nurmahal (Jalandhar) in search of better prospects. He was
the sixth generation of Lala Takhat Mal, who moved from Talwan to Rahon. Nurmahal is an old historical town. The
town was established by the emperor Jahagir, the son of emperor Akbar. A beautiful monument built of red stones
called Saria was built at Nurmahal by Jahagir. The town, even today, is known by its Saria. The town is located
on old Grant Trunk Road built by Sher Shah Suri. The Grant Trunk Road connects Pashawar to Calcutta.
These Khoslas at Nurmahal were called Rahon's Khoslas. There were three other distinct groups of Khoslas living
at Nurmahal who perhaps migrated from Talwan. The Khoslas of Rahon lived in a street called Mishra Mohalla. They
lived in big houses called Havelis. The Houses were made of small bricks. The brick walls were very wide (2-3
feet) and the ceilings were very high. The rooms were very small and each member of the family has a room.
Dewan Moti Ram and his future generation became prosperous in Nurmahal. Nurmahal was an agriculture based town.
Most of businesses in Nurmahal depended on agriculure related business including the manufacture of brown sugar.
Many khoslas became money lenders and they were prestigious. The first president of Nurmahal municipal committee
was a Khosla. Later Mela Ram Khosla, son of Prithi Ram, was the president of Nurmahal municipal committee for
many years. Sahela Ram Khosla, son of Salig Ram was a well to do man. He helped to start and manage Doaba Arya
High School in Nurmahal. Basant Rai, son of Mohkam Chand, built a Hindu Temple. The temple exists today and is
still used for worship. This hundred years old temple needs some renovation.
The government later discouraged the pratice of money lending by establishing cooperative banks. At the start of
the nineteenth century, many Khoslas started to move out to other places in search of livelihood. They started
to move to places like Lahore, Delhi, Jalandhar, Beas and Phillaur. Khoslas were educated at a vernacular (8th
grade) school that was established in about 1865 A.D.. The school was upgraded to a high school in 1925. Many
Khoslas studied in this school and many went to colleges in Lahore. By 1950, many Khoslas were employed in
banks, goverment civil and defence jobs. The havelis at Nurmahal became empty. In 1994 there were only about
half dozen families left in Nurmahal. Most of them are now engaged in agriculture or own their businesses.
The Khoslas now live in various part of India and other countries like Canada, United Kingdom (UK) and United
States of America (USA). I moved to USA in 1971. My brother and sisters also moved to USA later on.
Nurmahal has many other Khatari and Brahmin familes. Khataris casts include Nayyar, Kholi, Kochhars, Mehan and
others. Brahmins casts include Misher, Randev, Kalia and Sharma. A large number of Soods once lived in Nurmahal.
Other communities include the Ramgarias (Chauhan, Dhaman and Sambhi).
The population blend of Nurmahal changed after 1947 partition of India. The Muslims, the half of the population
of Nurmahal before partition were replaced by Arora's who migrated from Pakistan. The recent migration to
Nurmahal is from villages surrounding it.
Talwan, the home of the Khoslas, where they originated from, is a small town located on the banks of the Sutlej
river in Jullundur district. The first Khosla settled there during the regime of the Mugal Emperor Akbar. Most
of Khoslas have moved out of Talwan.They migrated to Nurmahal, Jalandhar, Rahon, Lahore and other parts of
India. There is an old Mata temple in Talwan(see Photo below) built and worshipped by Khoslas. In year 2009,
many khosla families from various towns visited the temple and held a prayer and Langar. The are planning to
refurbish the temple. There were several other Khatri families in Talwan. Swami Sharddhanand, the Arya Samaj
leader, was born in Talwan in a Vij family in 1913.
Talwan is an old historical town. Before the British rule, it was ruled by the Rajputs and Ahluwalia sikhs. The
nearest railway station is Nurmahal (5Km.). It is connected by road to Nurmahal and Phillaur (16Km.). Its
population is about 5000. The main employment is agricultral. It has a girl high secondry school.