NABHA  , a native

state of India, within the Punjab . Area, 966 sq. m . Pop . (1901) 297,949 . Its territories are scattered; one section, divided into twelve separate tracts, lies among the territories of Patiala and Jind, in the east and south of the Punjab; the other section is in the extreme south-east . The whole of the territories belong physically to a plain; but they vary in character from the great fertility of the Pawadh region to the aridity of the Rajputana desert . Nabha is one of the Sikh ' Compare 2 Cor . Xi . 32 . The Nabataean Aretas or Aeneas there mentioned reigned from 9 B.C. to A.D . 40.states, founded by a member of the Phulkian family, which established its independence about 1763 . The first relations of the state with the British were in 1807-1808, when the raja obtained protection against the threatened encroachments of Ranjit Singh .

During the

Mutiny in 1857 the raja showed distinguished loyalty, and was rewarded by grants of territory to the value of over £1o,000 . The imperial service troops of the raja Hira Singh (b. c . 1843; succeeded in 1871) did good service during the Tirah campaign of 1897-98 . The chief products of the state are wheat, millets, pulses, cotton and sugar . The estimated gross revenue is £1oo,000; no tribute is paid . The territory is crossed by the main line and also by several branches of the North-Western railway, and is irrigated by the Sirhind canal . The town of Nabha, founded in 1755, has a station on the Rajpura-Bhatinda branch of the North-Western railway . Pop . (1901) 18,4.68 . See Phulkian States Gazetteer (Lahore, 1909) .