In the frigid and empty vastness of Tibet stands a peculiar cenotaph or memorial – that of a nineteenth century Sikh general! It is located at Toklakam, near Lhasa. What link do the two have?

The cenotaph belongs to a person named Zorawar Singh Kahluria, a warrior in Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s army who spread the Sikh empire to the east – into Leh, Ladakh and parts of western Tibet! In fact, a fort still stands in the cold and barren desert of Leh – built by Zorawar Singh in 1836 and manned by his commander Mehta Basti Ram. Basti Ram continued in possession of the fort right up to 1861. It is in the possession of the Indian Army today.

Today, the state of Jammu and Kashmir sits like a crown over the rest of India. Perhaps, in the absence of Zorawar Singh, parts of it might still have been in Afghanistan and other parts in Tibet or China! The flutter of a conquest or a treaty 200 years ago can create a storm in the present day, to rephrase a popular saying.

Zorawar Singh Kahluria was born at Kahlur, in today’s Himachal Pradesh in the late eighteenth century. This was the time when the sun of the Sikh empire had begun to rise with the conquest of Lahore by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. A young Zorawar Singh soon found himself in the great king’s army. In 1834, with Sikh rule in Punjab and Jammu firm and strong, he was sent on an expedition into Leh and Ladakh – which involved crossing the Lanvila Pass at over fourteen thousand feet! The architect of this expedition was Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu, who placed a force of five thousand Dogras under the Sikh general. A year later, he returned to this region, this time crossing the Umasila Pass at over seventeen thousand feet. Let us not forget that all this was happening in the nineteenth century, in a region where even today with the best of technology available to them, outsiders sometimes struggle to acclimatise and breathe. That this conquest of Leh and Ladakh happened in the month of November makes it even more special. The fort mentioned earlier was built soon after this conquest. The Ladakhi king Tse Palnamgyal agreed to become a vassal of Gulab Singh and one Munshi Daya Ram was kept at Leh as a representative of the Jammu court.

In 1839, the one-eyed conqueror Maharaja Ranjit Singh died at Lahore. During his time, the Sikhs had grown from a few disorganised Misls in the Punjab to masters of a vast region spanning everything from the Khyber Pass in the north to Multan in the south and east to Leh-Ladakh. It had created great generals like Hari Singh Nalwa and Zorawar Singh Kahluria. Significantly, many of Zorawar Singh’s victories came in the post-Ranjit Singh period. In the year following his death, Zorawar Singh entered Baltistan, which was then under an Afghan commander. It had been with the Afghans since the days of Ahmed Shah Abdali. He took advantage of an internal squabble among the rulers to extend the Sikh empire into the cold and mountainous region. Skardo, the capital, was attacked by an army of Dogra soldiers and newly recruited Ladakhi militiamen. The incumbent king, Ahmed Shah was deposed and put in prison. Very soon, Baltistan also agreed to the suzerainty of Jammu and Gulab Singh. By annexing Baltistan, and earlier annexing Leh and Ladakh, Zorawar Singh gave our Jammu and Kashmir state much of the shape it still retains today! Baltistan is today unfortunately a part of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. From the heights of Baltistan, Zorawar Singh returned to Leh via the Nubra valley making his conquest of the vast land complete.

Now Zorawar Singh turned his attention further east into Tibet. It was an expedition fraught with danger. The population of Leh, Ladakh and Tibet is even today extremely sparse and would have been even more so in the nineteenth century. It was a herculean task to arrange lines of logistics, over miles of cold desert. But Zorawar Singh managed the impossible and scaling the high mountain passes, conquered over five hundred miles of western Tibet! He soon reached the city of Toklakam, where the ruling king and his Chinese allies both had a presence. After having battled a host of enemies all on the fringes of “India”, the Sikh empire found itself battling the Qing dynasty! From Lahore, a great wide arc had been built, almost upto Nepal. The British, who by 1841 were masters of most of India, were alarmed by these conquests, but did not do anything due to the Treaty of Sutlej (1809). The treaty prevented Maharaja Ranjit Singh from proceeding east, and the British west.

We, of course, have the benefit of hindsight, but the attack on Toklakam perhaps stretched things too much for Zorawar Singh Kahluria. At the Battle of To Yo, fought close to Toklakam, Zorawar Singh found his supply lines stretched thin. He lost many men. A bullet pierced his chest during the battle and, finally, a sword stroke finished this brave Sikh general. The year was 1841. In the span of a few years, the Sikh empire had lost all three of its greatest personas – Hari Singh Nalwa, Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Zorawar Singh Kahluria. The gates were slowly being opened for the British Empire.

The writer is the author of Brahmaputra — Story of Lachit Barphukan and Sahyadris to Hindukush — Maratha Conquest of Lahore and Attock