Origins The area, which was known as Maler, was received as a jagir in 1454 A.D. by
Sheikh Sadruddin-i-Jahān, a pious man of the
Sherwani tribe of
Afghanistan, and was ruled by his descendants. Local tradition says that
Bahlul Lodi (1451–1489), the Afghan king who had most of western
India under his control, desired to rule
Delhi and on his way, he was caught in a sand drift. During 1451 and 1452, the king married off his daughter
Taj Murassa to
Sheikh Sadruddin after being enthroned in Delhi, and also gave him the area of Maler as a
jagir. The triump of the Sikhs after the
Battle of Sirhind (1764) attracted the hostilities of the Malerkotla ruler Bhikhan Khan, whom was anxious about a similar fate for Malerkotla, as Malerkotla had assisted Zain Khan in the
Vadda Ghalughara massacre. Amar Singh of Patiala and Bhikhan Khan later would fight at Kakra, with Patiala prevailing and capturing the settlements of Sherpur and Bhasaur, and the Malerkotla ruler being killed. in part due to the issue of cow slaughter taking place in the city as well as other motivations influencing the expedition including the role of the nawab in the killing of a relative of Guru Gobind, as well as the contemporary nawab's ostensible role in the Vadda Ghallugura- a massacre in which 25,000 Sikhs were said to have been killed. His forces were stopped and repelled, with assistance coming from the rulers of Patiala. The state was also under the suzeranity of
Mahadaji Shinde.
19th century In 1808, Ranjit Singh arrived at the town and demanded an extortionate tribute of one million rupees from the state. Upon the nawab's inability to accumulate this wealth,
Ranjit Singh attacked, forcing the nawab to take loans from wealthier Sikh neighbors to pay the due. The nawab subsequently appealed to the British and shortly after ceded to British suzerainty. On 3 May 1809 Maler Kotla became a
British protectorate and was made part of the
Cis-Sutlej states until 1862. Malerkotla ranked 12th in the Punjab
Darbar in 1890.
Partition of India and
Ludhiana district During the
1947 riots when Punjab was in flames, the State of Malerkotla did not witness a single incident of violence; through it all, it remained a lone island of peace. The State of Malerkotla experienced relatively insignificant communal violence due to the aforementioned objections of Sher Mohammed Khan to
Wazir Khan's handling of
Gobind Singh's sons.
Post-independence Following
Indian independence and the signing of the
instrument of accession to the
Dominion of India in 1948, Maler Kotla joined the newly established state of
Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU) until its merger with
Punjab in 1956. == Demographics ==