Sources and archives
Every work behind The Behra Jagir — a genealogy of the Sardars of Fatehabad and the Ahluwalia house of Kapurthala — with what each one settles and what it leaves open.
Documents in hand
The primary material this genealogy was built from.
- Sir Lepel H. Griffin, The Rajas of the Punjab (Lahore: Punjab Printing Company, 1870; 2nd ed. 1873), genealogical table of the Kapurthala family at p. 454. Public domain. The earliest published source for this pedigree and the root document of the study. It carries the entry “Daughter m. Rattan Singh Behra.”
- “Behra (Jagir)” family chart, compiled in the format of the World of Royalty / Indian Princely States pages; last modified 8 May 2016. The family’s own chart. Where a point rests on this alone, the entry says so.
Published sources consulted
Printed and online works checked against the family papers.
- Christopher Buyers, “Kapurthala” genealogy, royalark.net — the fullest modern compilation of the dynasty, including the 1812 Behra marriage.
- Wikipedia: Jassa Singh Ahluwalia; Bhag Singh Ahluwalia; Fateh Singh Ahluwalia; Randhir Singh of Kapurthala; Harnam Singh; Bikrama Singh; Jagatjit Singh; Sukhjit Singh; Stuart Gilbert; Bharatiya Kisan Union.
- The Tribune (Chandigarh), 13 July 2006, heritage feature on Fatehabad — the town’s traditions; the haveli of General Rattan Singh; the patta of the twenty-two villages; Sardar Charanjit Singh and the B.K.U. The one independent published text on the family found so far. Three of its statements need checking against the family’s own deed — see the Findings.
- jatchiefs.com, Kapurthala and Ahluwalia dynasty pages.
- Essex Cultural Diversity Project, on Helen of Doddinghurst.
- Ganda Singh, Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (Patiala, 1969) — the standard life of the Sultan-ul-Qaum.
- Hari Ram Gupta, History of the Sikhs, vol. II — the invasions of Abdali, the battles of 1762, and the rebuilding.
- Ratan Singh Bhangu, Prachin Panth Prakash (1841) — the Sikh chronicle of the Ghallughara and the recovery of Amritsar.
- James Browne, India Tracts: containing a History of the Origin and Progress of the Sicks (London, 1788).
- Minhaj-i-Siraj Juzjani, Tabaqat-i-Nasiri (c. 1260) — the death of Muhammad Ghori at Dhamiak, 15 March 1206.
- Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi’l-Tarikh (c. 1231).
- Abul Fazl, Akbarnama — Akbar’s crossing of the Beas at Goindwal and visit to Guru Arjan, 24 November 1598.
- Denzil Ibbetson, A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province (1883; ed. H. A. Rose, 1911–19) — the Khokhars of the Beas at Verowal and Bharowal.
- Amritsar District Gazetteer — the imperial sarai at Fatehabad on the Badshahi road, of one design with Sarai Amanat Khan and Sarai Nurdin.
- Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 469 — Asa ki Var, Salok Mahalla 1.
- Dalvinder Singh Grewal, “Gurdwaras Related to Guru Nanak in Tarn Taran District” (2023).
- Punitinder Kaur Sidhu, Guru Nanak’s Blessed Trail (Punjab) (Lonely Planet, 2019), pp. 34–35.
Archives still to consult
Where the outstanding questions should be settled.
- Records of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, for Sardar Joginder Singh of Mukerian.
- Griffin & Massy, Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab (editions of 1890, 1909 and 1940), Amritsar district volume — the standard register of jagirdar families such as Behra. The single most likely place to find this family named in a printed register of record.
- Amritsar District Gazetteers of 1883–84, 1892–93, 1914 and 1947, for the leading families and jagirs of Tarn Taran tahsil (Fatehabad).
- Punjab State Archives, Chandigarh and Patiala: jagir continuation and settlement files after 1846–49; Kapurthala State records.
- Panjab Digital Library (panjabdigilib.org) and Archive.org, which hold scans of most of the printed works above.
- The Tribune and Punjabi Tribune obituary archives (1990, 2010) — for Rais Sardar Ravi Sher Singh and Rais Sardar Charanjit Singh.
- The writings of Bhagat Puran Singh, published and distributed free by the All India Pingalwara Charitable Society, Amritsar — in particular the autobiography volumes, Chonvian Shakhsiatan, Tera Sadra Sunijai Bhai and Unforgettable Memoirs of My Life (2016) — to locate the family-remembered mention of Commander Paramjit Singh.