Dewan Mokham Chand



"Mokham Chand, the most distinguished of the durbars generals, was the son of Vaisakhi Mal, a Hindu Khatri tradesman of the village Kunjah near Gujarat."

"The most distinguished of the generals, by whose skill and courage Ranjit Singh rose from a subordinate chiefship to the Empire of the Punjab, was Diwan Mokham Chand Nayyar. The sagacity with which the Maharaja selected his officers was reason of his uniform success ..."

Ranjit Singh had seen him in action at Akalgarh three years earlier and again in the fight against the Bhangi Sardar of Gujarat. Mokham Chand Nayyar had fallen out with his Bhangi master and had come to Ranjit for employment. Ranjit welcomed him with handsome gifts of an elephant and horses and granted him the Dallewalia possessions as a Jagir. He was made commander of a cavalry unit with power to recruit 1500 foot soldiers as well.

"In the beginning of 1808 various places in the Upper Punjab were taken from their independent Sikh proprietors, and brought under the direct management of the new kingdom of Lahore, and Mokham Chand Nayyar was at the same time employed in effecting a settlement of the territories which had been seized on the left bank of the Sutlej. But Ranjit Singh’s systematic aggression had begun to excite fear in the minds of the Sikhs of Sirhind"

He was the commander in chief of armies in Battle of Attock which defeated Durrani Empire Wazir Fateh Khan and Dost Mohammad Khan.

Diwan Mohkam Chand Nayyar was the Commander-in-Chief of the Sikh Forces from 1806 to 1814.

He died at Phillaur on October 16, 1814. His son Diwan Moti Ram Nayyar and grandsons Diwan Kirpa Ram Nayyar and Diwan Ram Dayal Nayyar also served the state with distinction.