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'''Maharaja'' Ranjit Singh' (), also called "Sher-e-Punjab" ("The Lion of the Punjab") (
1780-
1839) was a
Sikh emperor of the
sovereign country of
Punjab and the
Sikh Empire. His
Samadhi is located in
Lahore,
Pakistan.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh
Early life
Maharaja Ranjit Singh was a Panjabi belonging to the Sikh faith born in
1780 in
North India,
Gujranwala, which is now located in modern day
Pakistan, into the
Sandhawalia family.
[1] At the time much of Punjab was ruled by the
Sikhs as well Afghan overloards, who had divided the territory among factions known as
misls. Ranjit Singh's father
Maha Singh was the commander of the
Sukerchakia misl and controlled a territory in west Punjab based around his headquarters at
Gujranwala.
Ranjit Singh succeeded his father at the young age of 12. After several campaigns, his rivals accepted him as their leader, and he united the Sikh factions into one state.
Maharaja
Ranjit Singh took the title of Maharaja on
April 12 1801 (to coincide with
Baisakhi day). A descendant of
Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion, conducted the coronation ceremony
[2]. Lahore served as his capital from
1799. In
1802 he took the holy city of
Amritsar.
He then spent the following years fighting the Afghans, driving them out of western Punjab. He also captured
Pashtun territory including
Peshawar. This was the first time that Pashtuns were ruled by non-Muslims. In a historical perspective, this event was very important. For more than a thousand years invaders had come down from the
Khyber pass and ruled eastern lands. Ranjit Singh reversed this trend. When the Sikh empire finally fell to the English, they were able to retain this province. He captured the province of Multan which encompassed the southern parts of Punjab,
Peshawar (
1818),
Jammu and
Kashmir (
1819) and the hill states north of
Anandpur, the largest of which was Kangra.
Singh also hired European mercenaries to train his troops, creating the first modern Indian Army -- the
Sikh Khalsa Army, a powerful military force whose presence delayed the eventual British colonization of Punjab. He created a powerful and heavily armed state; at this point, Punjab was the only state not controlled by the British. He brought law and order, yet never used the death penalty. He stopped Indian non-secular style practices by treating Hindus and Muslims equally. He banned the discriminatory "
jizya" tax on Hindus and Sikhs.
The majority of Ranjit Singh's subjects were Muslim and had an intense loyalty towards him and his Sikhs. This was once highlighted when the foreign minister of the
Sikh Empire, a Muslim named
Fakir Azizuddin, had a meeting with the British Governor-General. When
Lord Auckland asked Fakir Azizuddin which of the Maharaja's eye was missing, he replied: ''"the Maharaja is like the sun and sun has only one eye. The splendour and luminosity of his single eye is so much that I have never dared to look at his other eye."'' The Governor General was so pleased with the reply that he gave his golden wrist-watch to the Maharaja's Minister at
Simla.
His Empire was effectively secular as it did not discriminate against Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus or even atheists. It was relatively modern and had great respect for all religions and non-religious traditions of the Empire. The only main prominent religious symbols of the empire were the Maharaja and royal family being
Sikh (but not
Khalsa) and the Army being dominated by Sikh nobles and the
Khalsa. The Maharaja never forced
Sikhism on his subjects. This was in sharp contrast with the ethnic and religious cleansing of past
Mughal rulers. Ranjit Singh had created a state based upon Sikh noble traditions, where everyone worked together, regardless of background, and where citizens were made to look at the things that they shared in common, e.g. being Punjabi, rather than any religious differences.
Ranjit Singh died in
1839.
Sikh temples built by Maharaja Ranjit Singh
At the Golden temple Much of the present decorative gilding and marblework date from the early
1800s. All the gold and exquisite marble work were conducted under the patronage of
Emperor Ranjit Singh, Maharaja of the
Sikh Empire of the Punjab. The ''Sher-e-Punjab'' (Lion of the Punjab), was a heavy donor of wealth and materials for the shrine and is remembered with much affection by the
Punjabi people. Maharaja Ranjit Singh also built two of the other most sacred temples in Sikhism. This was due to Maharaja Ranjit Singh having a deep love for the tenth Guru of Sikhism
Guru Gobind Singh. The other two most sacred temples in Sikhism, which he built, are
Takht Sri Patna Sahib ''(intiation or birth place of Guru Gobind Singh)'' and
Takht Sri Hazur Sahib the place of Guru Gobind Singh's Sikh ascension into heaven.
Abolition of Capital Punishment
Maharaja Ranjit Singh under his rule he abolished capital punishment
[3].
Character
Maharaja Ranjit Singh once punished one his Generals for killing a
nightingale when she was warbling, which had annoyed the General
[4].
Maharaja Ranjit Singh would help old men with their labour when he used to conduct his afternoon walks through Lahore, with his ministers. One incident was of a elderly man who could not lift a heavy sack. Maharaja Ranjit Singh asked the old man ''"Night is approaching, old man, why are you sitting here in darkness?"''. The elderly man answered that the sack is too heavy for me to carry home. The Maharaja carried the heavy sack all the way to the old man's house and was blessed by him
[2].
Captain Murray's memoirs on Maharaja Ranjit Singh's character.
Conquests
Ranjit Singh and his brave Sikh generals were capable of conquering such a great expanse of land for many reasons, varying from their Sikh discipline to their modern weaponry. Ranjit Singh's early conquests were minor and forgettable when he was a young misldar (baron). He conquered vast tracts of territory on all sides of his kingdom. And by 1799, he had captured Lahore.
From the capture of Lahore, he rapidly annexed the rest of the Punjab. The war rose to a climax at the battle of
Multan. Thereafter he was the undisputed ruler of northern India and the land of the five rivers. And even then, to secure his empire, he defeated the
Pashtun militias and tribes. The tables having been turned on the Mughals and Afghans, Ranjit Singh conquered yet more territory. In the year 1802, Ranjit Singh successfully invaded
Kashmir.
The Guru's Prophecy
The tenth Guru of Sikhism had ordered his Sikhs not to build any monument on the place where he Sikh ascended into heaven
[6]. The place where
Guru Gobind Singh, made ascension, and left the earth was
Nanded in current
Maharashtra in
1708. Anyone who did built any monument on this place, would make his living male progeny and blood lineage die and extinct. Maharaja Ranjit Singh was renowned for his love of the tenth Guru of Sikhism
[6]. Scholars of the time record he often used to refer to himself as ''"Guru Gobind Singh's Drum"''. His love for the Guru would bring him into conflict with the prophecy; he defied it, and built one of the five holiest sights in Sikhism, a temple,
Takht Sri Hazur Sahib[6]. Takht Sri Hazur Sahib was built as a monument and sacred place of worship to honour the place where Guru Gobind Singh left the earth and made ascension. It was completed in
1839 and that same year Maharajah Ranjit Singh died. All of his sons, except Dalip Singh, died within 5 years of his death and the temple's completion. His only remaining infant son Maharajah Dalip Singh was made kingdom less as a child by the British, within 10 years of Maharajah Ranjit Singh's death. He died penniless, in a hotel room in
Paris, after spending most of his life trying to return to Punjab, his people and regain his lost Empire
[6]. Much has been written about the ending of Maharaja Ranjit Singh's Empire, family and the Guru Prophecy. The most recent being a book written by English author Christy Campbell in his renowed book ''"The Maharajah's Box: An Imperial Story of Conspiracy, Love and a Guru's Prophecy"''
[10].
Legacy
Rulership of the state went to his eldest son
Kharak Singh. Most historians believe competent political heirs would have forged a highly durable, independent and powerful state, as Ranjit Singh had done during his rule. However, the Kingdom began to crumble due to poor governance and political mismanagement by his heirs. His successors died through accidents and murder, while the nobility and army struggled for power.
After the
First Anglo Sikh War, Punjab was defeated and all major decisions were made by the
British Empire. The Punjabi Army was reduced, under the peace treaty with the British Empire, to a tiny skeleton force. Massive punishing war compensation destroyed any meaningful, independent fiscal policy. At the end of the
Second Anglo Sikh War, it was annexed by the
British from Ranjit Singh's youngest son
Duleep Singh.
Ranjit is remembered for uniting the Punjab as a strong state and his possession of the
Koh-i-noor diamond. His most lasting legacy was the beautification of the
Harmandir Sahib, holiest site of the Sikhs, with marble and gold, from which the popular name of the "
Golden Temple" is derived.
He was also known as Sher-e-Punjab, the Lion of Punjab and is considered one of the 3 Lions of India, the most famous and revered heroes in North Indian history. While Emperor
Rajaraja Chola and
Asoka were the 2 most powerful Indian kings of history, they are not named among the 3 Lions. The other 2 Lions are
Rana Pratap Singh of Mewar and
Chhatrapati Shivaji, the legendary
Maratha ruler. The title of Sher-e-Punjab is still widely used as a term of respect for a powerful man.
After his death, the British took his heir, the young prince
Maharaja Duleep Singh, to England where he was put under the protection of the Crown. He converted to Christianity, before re-converting to Sikhism later in his life.
References
1. History of the Jatt Clans - H.S Duleh ''(Translation from original Punjabi work "Jattan da Itihas" by Gurjant Singh).''
2. http://www.sikhcybermuseum.org.uk/People/ranjitmaharaja.htm
3. http://www.jamboree.freedom-in-education.co.uk/real_history/maharaja.htm
4. http://www.allaboutsikhs.com/articles/the-sikh-rule-and-ranjit-singh.html
5. http://www.sikhcybermuseum.org.uk/People/ranjitmaharaja.htm
6. The Maharajah's Box, By Christy Campbell. ''(ISBN 0006530788)
7. The Maharajah's Box, By Christy Campbell. ''(ISBN 0006530788)
8. The Maharajah's Box, By Christy Campbell. ''(ISBN 0006530788)
9. The Maharajah's Box, By Christy Campbell. ''(ISBN 0006530788)
10. [1]
Literature
★ Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Lord of the Five Rivers, By Jean-Marie Lafont. ''(Oxford University Press. Date:2002, ISBN 0195661117)''.
See also
★
History of Punjab
★
Sikh Empire
★
Baradari of Ranjit Singh
External links
★
Official government of Pakistan cultural history article on Maharaja Ranjit Singh
★
Maharaja Ranjit Singh family history
★
Ranjit Singh profile from sikh-history.com
★
Ranjit Singh military career profile
★
Extra profile from sikh-history.com
★
Foreign officers in Ranjit Singh's Court
★
Detailed article on Ranjit Singh's Army
★
Article on Maharaja Ranjit Singh Museum
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