Nabha State, with its capital at Nabha

Nabha

Nabha is a city and municipal council in the Patiala district to the south-west of the Indian state of Punjab. In 1998, the annual income of Nabha state was Rs 1,50,000/-.- Princely State of Nabha :...

, was one of the Phulkian princely state

Princely state

A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...

s of the Punjab

Punjab region

The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...

. The state was established in 1763 after the capture of Sirhind by the Sikh Confederacy

Sikh Confederacy

The Sikh Empire was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The empire, based around the Punjab region, existed from 1799 to 1849. It was forged, on the foundations of the Khalsa, under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh from a collection of autonomous Punjabi Misls...

. With the capture of Sirhind, most of the old imperial province was divided amongst the Phulkian chiefs. The area around Amloh

Amloh

Amloh is a town and a municipal council in Fatehgarh Sahib district in the state of Punjab, India.Amloh town was originally founded by Faiz Baksh, the Governor of Sirhind. After the fall of Sirhind in 1763, Amloh was annexed by Raja Hamir Singh, the ruler of Nabha State. It was developed by the...

 was taken by the chief of the Nabha — Hamir Singh.

In 1809, with the power of Ranjit Singh

Ranjit Singh

Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ji was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.-Early life:...

 expanding, Nabha State fell under the protection of the East India Company

East India Company

The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

. During the Indian rebellion of 1857

Indian Rebellion of 1857

The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...

 the state was loyal to its subsidiary alliance

Subsidiary alliance

A subsidiary alliance is an alliance between a dominant nation and a nation that it dominates.-British policy in India:The doctrine of subsidiary alliance was introduced by Marquess Wellesley, British Governor-General of India from 1798 to 1805...

 with the British and was granted territory as a reward.

The state entered a period of prosperity under the rule of Hira Singh

Hira Singh of Nabha

Sir Hira Singh was the ruler of Nabha State, one of the Phulkian states in the Punjab.-Early life:Hira Singh was born at Badrukhan, Jind, on 18 December 1843, the second son of Sardar Sukha Singh , from a distant branch of the royal Sikh Phulkian dynasty of Patiala, Jind and Nabha...

.

Demography

According to the 1901 census the state had a population of 297,949 and contained four towns and 488 villages. Its population at the previous two enumerations were: 282,756 (1891) and 261,824(1881).

Nabha was divided into three nizamats: Amloh

Amloh

Amloh is a town and a municipal council in Fatehgarh Sahib district in the state of Punjab, India.Amloh town was originally founded by Faiz Baksh, the Governor of Sirhind. After the fall of Sirhind in 1763, Amloh was annexed by Raja Hamir Singh, the ruler of Nabha State. It was developed by the...

 and Bawal

Bawal

Bawal is a municipality of Rewari district in the state of Haryana, India. Bawal comes under the National Capital Region of India and is strategically located on the National Highway 8, about 14  km from Rewari, 60 km from Gurgaon and about 100 km from Delhi.- Geography :Bawal is...

, with their headquarters at the town from which each is named; and Phul, with its head-quarters at Dhanaula

Dhanaula

Dhanaula is a city and a municipal council in Barnala district in the state of Punjab, India.-History:Situated 18 km west of Sangrur, Dhanaula lies on the Sangrur-Barnala road. It falls in the Barnala District and is about 12 km from Barnala. Dhanaula was founded by Gurditta, eldest son...

.

More than 54 per cent of the population were Hindus, only 26 per cent being Sikhs — although Nabha was one of the principle Sikh states of the Punjab, the remainder of the population were Muslim.

Dissolution

In 1947, with the British departure from India, the subsidiary alliance was dissolved and Nabha was briefly fully independent. Its ruler soon decided to sign an instrument of accession

Instrument of Accession

The Instrument of Accession was a legal document created in 1947 to enable each of the rulers of the princely states under British suzerainty to join one of the new dominions of India or Pakistan created by the Partition of British India.-Background:...

, acceding to the new Dominion of India

Dominion of India

The Dominion of India, also known as the Union of India or the Indian Union , was a predecessor to modern-day India and an independent state that existed between 15 August 1947 and 26 January 1950...

, when the state was combined with other princely states into the Patiala and East Punjab States Union

Patiala and East Punjab States Union

The Patiala and East Punjab States Union was a state of India from 1948-56. It was created by combining eight princely states: Patiala, Jind, Nabha, Kapurthala, Faridkot, Kalsia, Malerkotla and Nalagarh. The state was inaugurated on July 15, 1948 and formally became a state of India in 1950. The...

. It later became part of the Indian state of Punjab.