In 1809 Maharaja Sansar Chand appealed for help to Maharaja Ranjeet Singh of Punjab which was readily given and the Gurkhas driven out, the Raja of Kutlehar was then asked to pay tribute to the Sikh Monarch, and the area made over to a Sikh governor, but Maharaja Ranjit Singh wanted complete control of all the areas and one by one the hill states started to fall and in 1825 Maharaja Ranjit Singh ordered Jamadar Khushhal Singh, Diwan Kirpa Ram, Sardar Lahna Singh, the Raja of Bassoli, the Raja of Jasrota and Sardar Dhanna Singh Malwai to reduce Kutlehar. The troops laid siege to the Fort of Ramgarh but the Raja Narayan Pal and his army fought with extraordinary courage and the siege made no headway, after two months of battle it was decided that it would be most prudent to reach an agreement with the Sikh monarch, therefore an ambassador was sent with demands of surrender to the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and another was sent to the Sodhi of Kartarpur, who was a descendent of the fourth Sikh Guru, to put forward the Rajas case.

The Sodhi of Kartarpur spoke to the Maharaja and reminded him of the help and respect given by successive Kutlehar Rajas to the Sikh Gurus in times of need, the Maharaja being of religious nature agreed to the demands of surrender which were, safe passage for the royal family along with relatives, attendants, and a small army for protection and lands for maintenance and a residence befitting the Raja.

The Raja was given lands in the district of Hoshiarpur, and for residence the Fort of Charatgarh was made over. In return the Raja gave up the Fort of Ramgarh, which was the seat of the Kutlehar Government and Ilaqa Talhati, to the Sikhs.

During this period the Princess of Kutlehar was married to Tikka (subsequently the Raja) Ugar Sen of Suket, and was his eldest Rani, they had two sons and a daughter, Dei Sharda, who was married to Raja Sri Singh of Chamba in 1853, who in turn only had a daughter and she was married to Maharaja Pratap Singh of Jammu and Kashmir.

After Maharaja Ranjit Singh passed away in 1839 there was great political change and unrest, within the Court of the Maharaja and outside, the presence and influence of the East India Company had became glaringly clear even during the life of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and after him it became more authoritative, treaties were made between the Sikhs and the British but the eventual fate of the Punjab was known to all and the first war between the two was fought in 1845, during this period Raja Narayan Pal was lead to believe by the East India Company that he would be treated in accordance with the Rajas of the Simla hill States and as they were reinstalled as the rulers of their countries after the Anglo-Gurkha war, the dispossessed Raja too, on the expulsion of the Sikhs would be given his ancient territories.

Therefore the Raja was assured that the whole of Ilaqa Talhatti in Hoshiarpur district, Ilaqa Bassi Bachhertoo, Ilaqua Charatgarh, the Una tehsil alongwith all the forts and palaces, which in ancient times were a part of the Kutlehar Kingdom, would be handed over and the Raja and he would be recognized as the ruling Chief alongwith titles and styles connected with the same.

The Raja with this promise charged his own forts and expelled the invaders and gave help to the East India Company, infact there was no reason to have doubted the promise as secret correspondence was taking place between the East India Company and the Raja since early 1845, and on the 4th day of February 1846 the Superintendent of the Hill States issued a letter to “The general public, raises, and Sardars of Kutlehar. In accordance with the orders of His Excellency the Governor General, Jullundhar and Kohistan have fallen in the possession of the benign Government, it is proclaimed for general information that all the jagirdars and raises of Kutlaher should join the force of the Raja Sahib of Kutlaher and should drive away all the soldiers under the Lahore government from Kutlaher on the other side of Bias. The claimants shall receive rewards for their service in getting back the Ilaqa, after full investigations have been done” In another letter of the 22nd of February the Superintendent of the hill States wrote My dear Raja Narayan Pal, May you live long…………………….. It is proper for you that you should put forth your best efforts in getting the Forts of the country of your ancestors from the possession of the soldiers of Lahore and take possession of these yourself. By this you will win the goodwill of the East India company and get rewards ………………”

In early March, the British and Sikhs signed a treaty and the Sikhs transferred the Jullundhar Doab to the East India Company and on the 11th of March 1846 the British agreed via a proclamation to respect the rights of the hill rulers and the treaties made with Maharaja Ranjit Singh would stand, but this was not what the Raja alongwith other Hill rulers had been promised and all the Rajas were bitterly disappointed, by the time the second Sikh war took place in 1848, the Sikhs had promised that if the British were driven out of the Punjab, the Rajas would be restored to their States, the Rajas of Kangra, Nurpur, Datarpur and Jaswan revolted, the Raja of Kutlehar was invited to join the rebellion but at the same time a letter was received from Mr. Sanders, the Assistant Commissioner of Hoshiarpur, requesting the Raja not to side with the rebels, and once again the promise of the restoration of the State was made, along with more area was promised to be given to the Raja and more titles, the Raja chose to remain nonaligned but secretly sent men, guns and money to help his brother rulers eventually the British were able to subdue the rebelling Rajas who were exiled and their estates confiscated.

Once things were settled, the Raja again demanded his rightful due, his Kingdom.

Far from giving the Raja his rightful due the Raja was asked’ to remain within the Fort and not to give audiences to anyone. The people who wanted to meet their ruler were returned from the fort gates by the British army, who had replaced the Kutlehar army and a general order passed where people were not allowed to gather in groups.

The Kutlehar soldiers were retired, the ones who refused, were never heard from again. Only 25 of the elite bodyguards remained, they never left the Raja for even a minute and took turns guarding their Sovereign.

The British were aware of the spirit of the people of Kutlehar and the Kutleharias and knew well by examples past and present that neither the ruler nor the people would accept ‘outsiders’ as their masters and would at some point, sooner or later revolt and want a self administered country, therefore they set out to crush the spirit of the people.

All the Kutleharia nobility were made to hand over their armory and jagirs and a strict check put on their movement, they were not to meet their ruler under any circumstances nor were they to communicate with each other or any person of influence who could be helpful in anyway. The Forts of the hills that were not of use to the British were demolished and all cannons melted.

In this period of mayhem the Raja was blessed with a son on the 22nd of November 1849, and was named Ram Pal.

Tradition demanded a durbar be held where all the people and the nobility come and offer their nazars to their King and the heir, but this was denied and only a handful of people were allowed to offer nazar.

One afternoon British officers arrived unannounced and were allowed entry by the guards at the gates of the Fort, they marched into the fort and into the Durbar and asked for the Raja, the bodyguards refused as their Sovereign was asleep and would not be woken up, the officers were enraged and demanded that the Raja be woken up, the twenty bodyguards on duty outside the Rajas room drew their swords and stood infront of over a hundred men with guns, “we know you outnumber us but you will have to go over our dead bodies before you get to our King” the officers left, and the bodyguards created a story of valor for ever.

On the 1st of January 1859, the Punjab and its dependencies were constituted into a Lieutenant-Governorship during this time Raja Narain Pal’s health was deteriorating and as his son was still a minor he feared that the British might absorb the State altogether, there were talks about restoration, but that was all, the Rajas disappointment is apparent in his diaries, where he writes, “…………where it takes blood to carve the geographic limits of states, the British are sitting in offices making Rajas with ink, the worst suffering are the people who are subjected to these rulers who till yesterday were lurking the streets” in another entry the Raja writes “ our traditions of regard for age and station are being thrown to the wind and bloodlines of valor are giving way to bloodlines of sycophancy”

In 1864, Swasti Shri Raja Saheb Shri Narayn Pal ji Saheb Bahadur, passed away and was succeeded by his minor son, Ram Pal.