He was the grandson of Sher-e-Punjab Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Maharani Datar Kaur of the Nakai Misl, he grew up very close to his grandparents.

In April 1837, at the age of sixteen, he was married to Bibi Nanaki Kaur Atariwala, daughter of Sham Singh Attariwala (1790–1846) of the village of Attari in Amritsar district of Punjab.

[9] Nau Nihal was popular with the royal courtiers and the general public, and was seen as a worthy successor to his father during the latter's sickness.

After the ceremony, he started returning to the palace via the Hazuri Bagh, where a massive block of stone from a gate fell upon him and two of his companions.

[11] However, when the court physician Johann Martin Honigberger came to attend to Nau Nihal in a tent, he observed that the prince's skull had been crushed, and the bedsheet was covered with blood and brain tissue.

Nau Nihal died hours later, although the courtiers did not make this news public until three days later in an attempt to avoid panic.

[citation needed] The contemporary English political correspondence, which details even the most insignificant happenings at the Darbar, makes no references to any suspicion entertained in any quarters regarding the Jammu Rajas.

It has been asserted that as far as contemporary European writers go, it was their studied policy to denounce the Jammu Rajas, especially Dhian Singh, because of his anti-European attitude which he had consistently maintained throughout his career.

[14] After Nau Nihal's death, a court faction proclaimed his uncle Sher Singh as the rightful heir, while another declared his mother Chand Kaur as the ruler.

The faction supporting Chand Kaur hoped that Nau Nihal's pregnant wife would give birth to a son.

[17] Nau Nihal Singh had ordered the construction of a bunga (tower) in the complex of Tarn Taran Sahib, one of the Holiest Sikh Shrines in the Majha Region of Punjab Kingdom.

[citation needed][18] His second wife, Sahib Kaur was pregnant at the time of his death and posthumously gave birth to their son, Jawahar Singh who was a stillborn.