Gentleman warrior who founded the ‘Fauj-e-Khas’

There are so many amazing stories of old Lahore that seem to be lost to the collective memory of the new expanded city now of over 12 million. In 1947, just 74 years ago, the city’s population was 550,000. The rate of change you can well imagine.

In days of old, stories were carried through word of mouth, and one such story which I picked up from my late father was the story of ‘Kuri Bagh’. In an earlier piece a few years ago we dwelt on it, but then it was about time that its connection to the great Sikh-era general also needs to be told. The idea sprung after in Paris one came across the Allard Menu, considered the finest French cuisine. Food for a Lahori is a weakness. The Allard family is almost considered ‘royalty’ in the world of French cuisine. In Lahore, this general married the daughter of the Raja of Chamba, a relation of Ranjit Singh, and was hence considered ‘royalty’ by him.

When his funeral came to Lahore in February, 1839, the maharajah ordered a royal funeral. Never before had such a grand funeral been seen. Ironically, exactly 100 days later, the maharajah himself passed away.

But let us stick to Allard. On Edwards Road is the mausoleum of the Sufi Mauj Darya. Next to it stood Kapoorthala House, which was once known as ‘Kuri Bagh’, or the daughter’s garden. The two daughters buried there both belonged to Gen. Jean-Francois Allard, the great French general who built the famous ‘Fauj-e-Khas’ and was the most trusted European officer in the Punjab Army.

As you move southwards on Old Anarkali Bazaar and reach Munshi Chambers, to the east is the back of the Income Tax Department building, also built on the original grounds of the garden. A lane along Munshi Chambers takes you to the back wall of the department and to the south you will see the grand mausoleum of Gen Allard and his two daughters. For years it was decaying, but then the French embassy in Islamabad provided funds for its conservation. My own take is that the scholar Jean-Marie Lefon, the Punjab history expert, had a hand in this effort. It is a magnificent building, and certainly worth a visit.

Now back to Gen Jean-Francois Allard, born in 1785 in Saint Tropez in France. At the age of 18 he joined Napoleon’s Army and during the various campaigns in Italy, Spain and Portugal, was injured several times, twice seriously. He was awarded by Napoleon himself with the ‘Legion d’Honour’ and promoted as a captain in the 7th French Hussar Regiment.

After the Battle of Waterloo, instead of surrendering he quietly slipped away eastward and ended up in Iran, where the ruler Abbas Mirza Qajar, himself a famous military commander of the Persian-Russo wars, recruited him for training his soldiers on modern European tactics. But as he went back on his promise to make him a colonel - after the British forced the Qajar king to dismiss all French soldiers - Allard quietly left and moved to Lahore in 1822, where after reasonable scrutiny Maharajah Ranjit Singh hired him to train his cavalry on modern European lines.

So it was that Allard raised a whole corps of ‘dragoons’ and ‘lancers’. After a demonstration in front of the impressed Maharajah, he was promoted and made a full-fledged general and his corps was named ‘Fauj-e-Khas’ (special corps). On hearing of his story, his bravery under Napoleon, his services to the Qajar ruler and the performance of his trained Persian troops, the British stab in the back, and then his marriage to the daughter of the ruler of Chamba, he was declared ‘Goora Shahi Sahib’.

But then Allard himself was a charming highly-educated army officer who had learnt the Persian language and could compose verses in it. He quickly picked up Punjabi. His stamp and coin collection of ancient India and Iran brought him fame among scholars, which still prevails. For his bravery he was awarded the highest Punjabi award the ‘Kaukab-e-Iqbal-e-Punjab’ (Bright Star of Punjab).

Now about the Fauj-e-Khas. When Allard took over the three battalions of Sheikh Basawan’s ‘Paltan-e-Khas’, of Sardar Bahadar Deva Singh’s ‘Shergils’, and the Gurkha regiment of Balbhadra Kunwar, he combined the three experienced regiments into the new ‘Fauj-e-Khas’ and re-equipped and modernised them to suit their European training. With new uniforms and coloured turbans this regiment was the most highly disciplined of the entire Sikh Army.

In later battles on every front this ‘Fauj-e-Khas’, led by Gen Allard from the front, because of their speed, penetrating power and tactics, all very disciplined, was described by Lord Roberts of India as the “finest army in Asia”. Initially they were called ‘Fransisi Sowar’, but then renamed ‘Rajman Khas Lansia’ or Special Lancer Regiment, and Rajman Daragun, or Dragoon Regiment. In the initial period the recruits protested against giving up the traditional ‘ghorcharas’ (horse displays), Allard retorted by recruiting a new regiment of dragoons.

By 1825 the forces under Allard reached 6,000 soldiers combined of cavalry, infantry and artillery. Allard took orders from only Ranjit Singh, who told him that he would not interfere. Amazingly the flag of the ‘Fauj-e-Khas’ was the French tricolour with the words ‘Vahiguru Ji Ki Fateh’. An East India Company document tells us that their intelligence assessment was that no British regiment could match them.

Just as centuries before the Mongols conquered the known world with sabres and high-speed horses, so the ‘Fauj-e-Khas’ had carbines used with great efficiency on fast-moving horses. For close quarter battles their curved sabres and winding daggers did the job. No prisoners were taken for it slowed down a thrust.

Their headquarters were in today’s Civil Secretariat in Lahore, with the old horse stable – where today our ancient archives lie rotting – the entire northern buildings housed the ‘fauj’. Ranjit Singh granted Allard several ‘jagirs’ and his salary was Rs30,000 a year. To understand its value imagine that gold in those days sold for $19 an ounce (today (2022) it is $2,000 an ounce). So by today’s standard, Allard’s monthly salary would be five million rupees a month. Such was the status and value of General Allard to Maharajah Ranjit Singh.

Among the military campaigns in which he excelled was the 1825 Peshawar and Derajat campaigns, the campaign against Syed Ahmed Barelavi, and the 1837 attack on Jamrud, in which Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa was killed. From Multan to Kabul to Kashmir and along the eastern borders, his soldiers wreaked terror. Their ability to move from battle to battle at great speed confused opposition. But back in Lahore, he was a most gracious host and a connoisseur of excellent French and Lahori food.

Gen Allard and his wife, Shahzadi Bano Pan Dei, who he had married in 1826 in Lahore, and his children went in 1834 to France on two years leave. He returned with gifts and a letter from the French king Louis Philippe. On his return in 1838 he was sent to Peshawar to assist Gen. Avitabile, where he had a heart attack and passed away. On his wishes, his body was brought back to Lahore and all along the route people gathered to pay respects. On crossing Shahdara on the 19th of February 1839, he was provided with gun salutes right up to ‘Kuri Bagh’, where his two daughters lay buried in a mausoleum he had got built himself.

The tomb of his daughter Marie Charlotte was constructed by Allard himself. His wife left Lahore and went to France where she died and was buried there. Such was the deep commitment of the great General Jean-Francois Allard to Lahore and its ruler. Unknown he lies in fast changing times.