Page:Who's Who in India Supplement 1 (1912).djvu/71

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At the request of the Chief Commissioner the Maharaja sent a force of six hundred foot and two hundred horse, which was afterwards doubled in strength, to Jhajjar, to maintain order there; and at the request of the Oudh authorities eight hundred infantry and two hundred sowars were sent to that province. The entire Patiala troops employed in the British cause during 1857 comprised eight guns. 2,156 cavalry, 2,856 infantry, with 156 officers: that employed in the following year was 2 guns, 2,930 infantry, and 907 sowars, making a total force of 3,063 cavalry, 5.720 infantry, 156 officers and 10 guns.

Maharaja Narindar Singh's splendid services in connection with the Mutiny were duly acknowledged and rewarded by the Government with the gift of the Sovereign lights in the Narnaul division of the forfeited State of the Jhajjar Nawab. The sovereignty of pargana Kanaud of Jhajjar and the taluka of Khamanu were transferred to Patiala State in liquidation of the loans advanced to the British Government by the Maharaja during the Mutiny. The Bahadur Sardars were placed under the jurisdiction of the State. The number of trays of khilat was increased and the titles of Farzand-i-Khas, Daulat-i-Inglishia, Mansur-i-Zaman, Amir-ul-Umara Sri were conferred on His Highness in perpetuity. He was the first Indian Chief nominated on the Council of the Viceroy and Governor-General, and one of the first recipients of a Knighthood of the Star of India. His rule is memorable for the many works of public utility, reform and charity which he inaugurated. During the famine of 1861 the Maharaja distributed grain worth fifteen lakhs amongst his subjects, and granted large remissions of revenue. On the death of Maharaja Narindar Singh in 1862 the Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab made the following remarks, expressed in a Gazette Extraordnary :

"His Honour laments the removal in the prime of life and usefulness of a Feudatory Prince, who, at the time of the Mutiny of the Native Army in 1857, performed the most eminent services to the Crown, and who administered the