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| Ranjit Singh ਰਣਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ رانجیت سنگھ | |
|---|---|
| Maharaja of Punjab Maharaja of Lahore Sarkar-i-Wallah (Head of Government)[1] SarkarKhalsaji SinghSahib[2] | |
.png) Company School portrait painting of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Lucknow, Awadh,c. 1810–20 | |
| 1stMaharaja of Sikh Empire | |
| Reign | 12 April 1801 – 27 June 1839 |
| Investiture | 12 April 1801 atLahore Fort |
| Predecessor | Position established |
| Successor | Kharak Singh |
| Wazir | Khushal Singh Jamadar(1801 – 1818) Dhian Singh Dogra(1818 – 1839) |
| Maharaja of Kashmir | |
| Reign | 3 July 1819 – 27 June 1839 |
| Predecessor | Position established (Ali Shah as theEmir of Kashmir) |
| Successor | Kharak Singh |
| Governor | List
|
| Sardar of Sukerchakia Misl | |
| Reign | 15 April 1792 – 11 April 1801 |
| Predecessor | Maha Singh |
| Successor | Position abolished |
| Born | Buddh Singh 13 November 1780[3] Gujranwala,Sukerchakia Misl,Sikh Confederacy (present-dayPunjab,Pakistan) |
| Died | 27 June 1839(1839-06-27) (aged 58) Lahore,Sikh Empire (present-day Punjab, Pakistan) |
| Burial | Cremated remains stored in theSamadhi of Ranjit Singh, Lahore |
| Spouse | Mehtab Kaur Datar Kaur Jind Kaur See list for others |
| Issue among others... | Kharak Singh Sher Singh Duleep Singh |
| House | Sukerchakia |
| Dynasty | Sikh Empire |
| Father | Maha Singh |
| Mother | Raj Kaur |
| Religion | Sikhism |
| Signature (handprint) |  |
Ranjit Singh (Punjabi: ਰਣਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ;Persian: رانجیت سنگھ;c. 13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), born asBuddh Singh (Punjabi: ਬੁੱਧ ਸਿੰਘ), was the founder and firstmaharaja of theSikh Empire, ruling from 1801 until his death in 1839.
Born toMaha Singh, the leader of theSukerchakiaMisl, Singh survivedsmallpox in infancy but lostsight in his left eye. At the age of ten years old, he fought his first battle alongside his father. After his father died around Ranjit Singh's early teenage years, he became leader of the Misl. Ranjit was the most prominent of the Sikh leaders who opposedZaman Shah, the ruler ofDurrani Empire, during his third invasion. After Zaman Shah's retreat in 1799, he capturedLahore from the Sikhtriumvirate which had been ruling the citysince 1765. At the age of 21, he was formally crowned at Lahore.[4][5][6][7]
Before his rise, the Punjab had been fragmented into a number of warringSikh,Muslim, andHindu states.[8] A large part of Punjab was under direct Durrani control.[9][5] By 1813, Ranjit Singh had successfully annexed the Sikh misls and taken over the local kingdoms;[10] the following decades saw the conquest of Durrani Afghan-ruled territories ofMultan,Kashmir andPeshawar into his expanding Sikh Empire. Ranjit Singh established friendly relations with theBritish.[11]
During his reign, Ranjit Singh introduced military reforms, structural changes in administration, and modernisation.[12][13] HisKhalsa army and government included Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus, andEuropeans.[14] His legacy includes a period of Sikh cultural and artistic renaissance, including the rebuilding of theHarmandir Sahib inAmritsar as well as other majorgurdwaras, such as theTakht Sri Patna Sahib and theHazur Sahib Nanded under his sponsorship despite being located outside of his realm.[15][16] He also founded theOrder of the Propitious Star of Punjab in 1837. Ranjit Singh was succeeded by his sonKharak Singh after his death in 1839.
Ranjit Singh was born in aSandhawaliaJat Sikh family on 13 November 1780 toMaha Singh andRaj Kaur inGujranwala, Punjab region (present-dayPunjab,Pakistan). His motherRaj Kaur was the daughter ofSidhu Jat Sikh rulerRaja Gajpat Singh of Jind.[17][18][note 1] Upon his birth, he was named Buddh Singh after his ancestor who was first in line to take theAmrit Sanchaar. The child's name was changed to Ranjit (literally, "victor in battle") Singh ("lion") by his father to commemorate his army's victory over theChattha chiefPir Muhammad of Chattha State.[4][21]
Singh contractedsmallpox as an infant, which resulted in the loss of sight in his left eye and a pockmarked face.[4] He was short in stature, unattractive, never schooled, and did not learn to read or write anything beyond theGurmukhi alphabet.[22][23] However, he was trained at home in horse riding, musketry and other martial arts.[4]
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At age 12, his father died.[24] He then inherited his father'sSukerchakia Misl estates and was raised by his mother Raj Kaur, who, along with Lakhpat Rai, also managed the estates.[4] The first attempt on his life was made when he was 13, by Hashmat Khan, but Ranjit Singh prevailed and killed the assailant instead.[25] At age 18, his mother died and Lakhpat Rai was assassinated, and thereon he was aided by his mother-in-law from his first marriage.[26]
After the death ofAurangzeb in 1707, the Mughal Empire fell apart and declined in its ability to tax or govern most of the Indian subcontinent. In the northwestern region, particularly the Punjab, the creation of theKhalsa community of Sikh warriors byGuru Gobind Singh accelerated the decay and fragmentation of the Mughal power in the region.[27] Raiding Afghans attacked the Indus river valleys but met resistance from both organised armies of the Khalsa Sikhs as well as irregular Khalsa militias based in villages. The Sikhs had appointed ownzamindars, replacing the previous Muslim revenue collectors, which provided resources to feed and strengthen the warriors aligned with Sikh interests.[27] Meanwhile, colonial traders and the East India Company had begun operations in India on its eastern and western coasts.[27]
By the second half of the 18th century, the northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent (now Pakistan and parts of north India) were a collection of fourteen small warring regions.[5] Of the fourteen, twelve were Sikh-controlledmisls (confederacies), one named Kasur (near Lahore) was Muslim controlled, and one in the southeast was led by an Englishman named George Thomas.[5] This region constituted the fertile and productive valleys of the five rivers – Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Bias and Sutlej.[28] The Sikhmisls were all under the control of the Khalsa fraternity of Sikh warriors, but they were not united and constantly warred with each other over revenue collection, disagreements, and local priorities; however, in the event of external invasion such as from the Muslim armies of Ahmed Shah Abdali from Afghanistan, they would usually unite.[5]
Towards the end of 18th century, the five most powerfulmisls were those of Sukkarchakkia, Kanhayas, Nakkais, Ahluwalias and Bhangi Sikhs.[5][24] Ranjit Singh belonged to the first, and through marriage had a reliable alliance with Kanhayas and Nakkais.[5] Among the smaller misls, some such as thePhulkianmisl had switched loyalties in the late 18th century and supported the Afghan army invasion against their Khalsa brethren.[5] The Kasur region, ruled by Muslims, always supported the Afghan invasion forces and joined them in plundering Sikhmisls during the war.[5]
Ranjit Singh's fame grew in 1797, at age 17, when the DurraniShah Zaman attempted to bring Panjab into his control through his general Shahanchi Khan and 12,000 soldiers.[4][5] The battle was fought in the territory that fell in Ranjit Singh's controlled misl, whose regional knowledge and warrior expertise helped resist the invading army. This victory at theBattle of Amritsar (1798) gained him recognition.[4] In 1798, Zaman Shah army, which Ranjit Singh did not resist. He let them enter Lahore, then encircled them with his army, blocked off all food and supplies, and burnt all crops and food sources that could have supported the Afghan army. Much of the Afghan army retreated back to Afghanistan.[4]
In 1799, Raja Ranjit Singh's army of 25,000Khalsa, supported by another 25,000 Khalsa led by his mother-in-law Rani Sada Kaur of Kanhaiyamisl, in a joint operation attacked the region controlled byBhangi Sikhs centered around Lahore. The rulers escaped, marking Lahore as the first major conquest of Ranjit Singh.[5][29] The Sufi Muslim and Hindu population of Lahore welcomed the rule of Ranjit Singh.[4] In 1800, the ruler of the Jammu region ceded control of his region to Ranjit Singh.[30]
In 1801, Ranjit Singh proclaimed himself as the "Maharaja of Punjab",[citation needed] and agreed to a formal investiture ceremony, which was carried out by BabaSahib Singh Bedi – a descendant of Guru Nanak. On the day of his coronation, prayers were performed across mosques, temples and gurudwaras in his territories for his long life.[31] Ranjit Singh called his rule "Sarkar Khalsa", and his court "Darbar Khalsa". He ordered new coins to be issued in the name of Guru Nanak named the "NanakShahi" ("of the Emperor Nanak").[4][32][33]
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In 1802, Ranjit Singh, aged 22, took Amritsar from the Bhangi Sikhmisl, paid homage at theHarmandir Sahib temple, which had previously been attacked and desecrated by the invading Afghan army, and announced that he would renovate and rebuild it with marble and gold.[34]
On 1 January 1806, Ranjit Singh signed a treaty with the British officials of the East India Company, in which he agreed that his Sikh forces would not attempt to expand south of the Sutlej River, and the Company agreed that it would not attempt to militarily cross the Sutlej River into the Sikh territory.[35]
In 1807, Ranjit Singh's forces attacked the Muslim-ruled principality ofKasur and, after amonth of fierce fighting, defeated the Afghan chief Qutb-ud-Din, thus expanding his empire northwest towards Afghanistan.[4] In the same year he also annexed theSial-ruledJhang.[36]
The most significant encounters between the Sikhs in the command of the Maharaja and the Afghans were in 1813, 1823, 1834 and 1837.[7] In 1813, Ranjit Singh's generalDewan Mokham Chand led the Sikh forces against the Afghan forces ofShah Mahmud led by Fateh Khan Barakzai. The Afghans lost their stronghold ofAttock inthat battle.[37]
In 1813–14, Ranjit Singh's first attempt to expand into Kashmir was foiled by Afghan forces led byAzim Khan, due to a heavy downpour, the spread of cholera, and poor food supply to his troops.[citation needed] In 1819 at theBattle of Shopian, he successfully defeated the Afghan rulers and annexedKashmir valley, stretching his rule into the north and the Jhelum valley, beyond the foothills of the Himalayas,[4][38] along with a yearly revenue of Rs seventy lacs.DiwanMoti Ram was appointed governor of Kashmir.[39]
In 1818, Darbar's forces led by Kharak Singh and Misr Dewan Chandoccupied Multan, killingNawab Muzaffar Khan and defeating his forces, leading to the end of Afghan influence in Punjab.[40] The wholeBari Doab came under his rule with that conquest. With the defeat of theNawab of Mankera in 1821,the entireSind Sagar Doab came under subjugation by the Sikhs. In 1823, theYusufzai Pashtuns fought the army of Ranjit Singh north of theKabul River.[41]
In 1834, Mohammed Azim Khan once again marched towards Peshawar with an army of 25,000Khattak andYusafzai tribesmen in the name ofjihad, to fight against the maharaja. The maharaja defeated the forces. Yar Mohammad Khan was pardoned and was reinvested as governor of Peshawar with an annual revenue of Rs one lac ten thousand to Lahore Darbar.[42]
In 1835, the Afghans and Sikhs met again at theStandoff at the Khyber Pass; however, it ended without a battle.[43]
In 1837, theBattle of Jamrud, became the last confrontation between the Sikhs led by him and the Afghans, which displayed the extent of the western boundaries of the Sikh Empire.[44][45]
On 25 November 1838, the two most powerful armies on the Indian subcontinent assembled in a grand review at Ferozepore as Ranjit Singh, the Maharajah of the Punjab brought out theDal Khalsa to march alongside the sepoy troops of the East India Company and the British troops in India.[46] In 1838, he agreed to a treaty with the British viceroy Lord Auckland to restore Shah Shoja to the Afghan throne in Kabul. In pursuance of this agreement, the British army of the Indus entered Afghanistan from the south, while Ranjit Singh's troops went through the Khyber Pass and took part in the victory parade in Kabul.[47][48]
The Sikh Empire, also known as the Sikh Raj and Sarkar-a-Khalsa,[49] was in the Punjab region, the name of which means "the land of the five rivers". The five rivers are theBeas,Ravi,Sutlej,Chenab andJhelum, all of which are tributaries of the riverIndus.[50]
The geographical reach of the Sikh Empire under Singh included all lands north of Sutlej River, and south of the high valleys of the northwestern Himalayas. The major towns at the time included Srinagar, Attock, Peshawar, Bannu, Rawalpindi, Jammu, Gujrat, Sialkot, Kangra, Amritsar, Lahore and Multan.[28][51]
Muslims formed around 70%, Hindus formed around 24%, and Sikhs formed around 6–7% of the total population living in Singh's empire[52]: 2694
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Ranjit Singh allowed men from different religions and races to serve in his army and his government in various positions of authority.[53] His army included a few Europeans, such as the FrenchmanJean-François Allard, and Italian JewishJean-Baptiste Ventura though Singh maintained a policy of refraining from recruiting Britons into his service, aware of British designs on the Indian subcontinent.[54] Despite his recruitment policies, he did maintain a diplomatic channel with the British; in 1828, he sent gifts toGeorge IV and in 1831, he sent a mission to Simla to confer with the British Governor General,William Bentinck, which was followed by theRopar Meeting;[55] while in 1838, he cooperated with them in removing the hostile emir in Afghanistan.[45]
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As consistent with many Punjabis of that time, Ranjit Singh was a secular king and followed the Sikh path.[58][59] His policies were based on respect for all communities: Hindu, Sikh and Muslim.[31] A devoted Sikh, Ranjit Singh restored and built historic SikhGurdwaras – most famously, theHarmandir Sahib, and used to celebrate his victories by offering thanks at the Harmandir. He also joined the Hindus in their temples out of respect for their sentiments.[31] The veneration of cows was promoted and cow slaughter was punishable by death under his rule.[60][61] He ordered his soldiers to neither loot nor molest civilians.[62]
He built several gurdwaras, Hindu temples and even mosques, and one in particular was Mai Moran Masjid, built at the behest of his beloved Muslim wife,Moran Sarkar.[63] The Sikhs led by Singh never razed places of worship to the ground belonging to the enemy.[64] However, he did convert Muslim mosques into other uses. For example, Ranjit Singh's army desecrated Lahore'sBadshahi Mosque and converted it into an ammunition store,[65] and horse stables.[66] Lahore'sMoti Masjid (Pearl Mosque) was converted into "Moti Mandir" (Pearl Temple) by the Sikh army,[66][67] andSonehri Mosque was converted into a SikhGurdwara, but upon the request of Sufi Fakir (Satar Shah Bukhari), Ranjit Singh restored the latter to a mosque.[68] Lahore'sBegum Shahi Mosque was also used as a gunpowder factory, earning it thenicknameBarudkhana Wali Masjid, or "Gunpowder Mosque."[69]
Singh's sovereignty was accepted by Afghan and Punjabi Muslims, who fought under his banner against the Afghan forces of Nadir Shah and later Azim Khan. His court was ecumenical in composition: his prime minister,Dhian Singh, was a Hindu (Dogra); his foreign minister,Fakir Azizuddin, was a Muslim; and his finance minister, Dina Nath, was also a Hindu (Brahmin). Artillery commanders such as Mian Ghausa were also Muslims. There were no forced conversions in his time. His wives Bibi Mohran,Gilbahar Begum retained their faith and so did his Hindu wives. He also employed and surrounded himself with astrologers and soothsayers in his court.[70]
Ranjit Singh had also abolished thegurmata and provided significant patronage to theUdasi andNirmala sect, leading to their prominence and control of Sikh religious affairs.[75]
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The army under Ranjit Singh was not limited to the Sikh community. The soldiers and troop officers included Sikhs, but also included Hindus, Muslims and Europeans.[76] HinduBrahmins and people of all creeds and castes served his army,[77][78] while the composition in his government also reflected a religious diversity.[76][79] His army included Polish, Russian, Spanish, Prussian and French officers.[13] In 1835, as his relationship with the British warmed up, he hired a British officer named Foulkes.[13]
However, the Khalsa army of Ranjit Singh reflected the regional population, and as he grew his army, he dramatically increased the Rajputs and the Sikhs who became the predominant members of his army.[12] In the Doaba region his army was composed of the Jat Sikhs, in Jammu and northern Indian hills it was Hindu Rajputs, while relatively more Muslims served his army in the Jhelum river area closer to Afghanistan than other major Panjab rivers.[80]
Ranjit Singh changed and improved the training and organisation of his army. He reorganised responsibility and set performance standards in logistical efficiency in troop deployment,manoeuvre, andmarksmanship.[79] He reformed the staffing to emphasise steady fire over cavalry and guerrilla warfare, and improved the equipment and methods of war. The military system of Ranjit Singh combined the best of both old and new ideas. He strengthened the infantry and the artillery.[12] He paid the members of the standing army from treasury, instead of the Mughal method of paying an army with local feudal levies.[12]
While Ranjit Singh introduced reforms in terms of training and equipment of his military, he failed to reform the oldJagirs (Ijra) system of Mughal middlemen.[81][82] TheJagirs system of state revenue collection involved certain individuals with political connections or inheritance promising a tribute (nazarana) to the ruler and thereby gaining administrative control over certain villages, with the right to force collect customs, excise and land tax at inconsistent and subjective rates from the peasants and merchants; they would keep a part of collected revenue and deliver the promised tribute value to the state.[81][83][84] TheseJagirs maintained independent armed militia to extort taxes from the peasants and merchants, and the militia was prone to violence.[81] This system of inconsistent taxation with arbitrary extortion by militia, continued the Mughal tradition of ill treatment of peasants and merchants throughout the Sikh Empire, and is evidenced by the complaints filed to Ranjit Singh by East India Company officials attempting to trade within different parts of the Sikh Empire.[81][82]
According to historical records, Sunit Singh, Ranjit Singh's reforms focused on the military that would allow new conquests, but not towards the taxation system to end abuse, nor on introducing uniform laws in his state or improving internal trade and empowering the peasants and merchants.[81][82][83] This failure to reform theJagirs-based taxation system and economy, in part led to a succession power struggle and a series of threats, internal divisions among Sikhs, major assassinations and coups in the Sikh Empire in the years immediately after the death of Ranjit Singh;[85] an easy annexation of the remains of the Sikh Empire into British India followed, with the colonial officials offering theJagirs better terms and the right to keep the system intact.[86][87][88]
Ranjit Singh ensured that Panjab manufactured and was self-sufficient in all weapons, equipment and munitions his army needed.[13] His government invested in infrastructure in the 1800s and thereafter, established raw materials mines, cannon foundries, gunpowder and arms factories.[13] Some of these operations were owned by the state, and others were operated by private Sikh operatives.[13]
However, Ranjit Singh did not make major investments in other infrastructure such as irrigation canals to improve the productivity of land and roads. The prosperity in his Empire, in contrast to the Mughal-Sikh wars era, largely came from the improvement in the security situation, reduction in violence, reopened trade routes and greater freedom to conduct commerce.[89]
19th century Muslim historians and scholars such as Shahamat Ali, who experienced the Sikh Empire first hand, presented a different view on Ranjit Singh's Empire and governance.[90][91] According to Ali, Ranjit Singh's government was despotic, and he was a mean monarch in contrast to the Mughals.[90] The initial momentum for the Empire building in these accounts is stated to be Ranjit Singh led Khalsa army's "insatiable appetite for plunder", their desire for "fresh cities to pillage", and eliminating the Mughal era "revenue intercepting intermediaries between the peasant-cultivator and the treasury".[85]
According to Ishtiaq Ahmed, Ranjit Singh's rule led to further persecution of Muslims in Kashmir, expanding[clarification needed] the previously selective persecution of Shia Muslims and Hindus by Afghan Sunni Muslim rulers between 1752 and 1819 before Kashmir became part of his Sikh Empire.[38] Bikramjit Hasrat describes Ranjit Singh as a "benevolent despot".[92]The Muslim accounts of Ranjit Singh's rule were questioned by Sikh historians of the same era. For example, Ratan Singh Bhangu in 1841 wrote that these accounts were not accurate, and according to Anne Murphy, he remarked, "when would a Musalman praise the Sikhs?"[93] In contrast, the colonial era British military officer Hugh Pearse in 1898 criticised Ranjit Singh's rule, as one founded on "violence, treachery and blood".[94] Sohan Seetal disagrees with this account and states that Ranjit Singh had encouraged his army to respond with a "tit for tat" against the enemy, violence for violence, blood for blood, plunder for plunder.[95]
Singh made his empire and the Sikhs a strong political force, for which he is deeply admired and revered in Sikhism. After his death, the empire failed to establish a lasting structure for Sikh government or stable succession, and the Sikh Empire began to decline. The British and Sikh Empire fought twoAnglo-Sikh wars with thesecond ending the reign of the Sikh Empire.[96] Sikhism itself did not decline.[97]
Clive Dewey has argued that the decline of the empire after Singh's death owes much to thejagir-based economic and taxation system which he inherited from the Mughals and retained. After his death, a fight to control the tax spoils emerged, leading to a power struggle among the nobles and his family from different wives. This struggle ended with a rapid series of palace coups and assassinations of his descendants, and eventually the annexation of the Sikh Empire by the British.[85]
In 1789, Ranjit Singh married his first wifeMehtab Kaur,[98] the muklawa happened in 1796.[24] She was the only daughter ofGurbaksh Singh Kanhaiya and his wifeSada Kaur. She was the granddaughter ofJai Singh Kanhaiya, the founder of theKanhaiya Misl.[4] This marriage was pre-arranged in an attempt to reconcile warring Sikhmisls, Mehtab Kaur was betrothed to Ranjit Singh in 1786. The marriage, however, failed, with Mehtab Kaur never forgiving the fact that her father had been killed in battle with Ranjit Singh's father, and she mainly resided with her mother after marriage. The separation became complete when Ranjit Singh marriedDatar Kaur of theNakai Misl in 1797 and she turned into Ranjit's most beloved wife.[99] Mehtab Kaur had three sons,Ishar Singh who was born in 1804 and died in infancy. In 1807 she hadSher Singh andTara Singh. According to historian Jean-Marie Lafont, she was the only one to bear the title ofMaharani. She died in 1813, after suffering from failing health.[100]
His second marriage was to,Datar Kaur (BornRaj Kaur) the youngest child ofRan Singh Nakai, the third ruler of theNakai Misl and his wifeKarman Kaur. They were betrothed in childhood by Datar Kaur's eldest brother,Sardar Bhagwan Singh, who briefly became the chief of the Nakai Misl, and Ranjit Singh's father Maha Singh. They were married in 1797;[101] this marriage was a happy one and Ranjit Singh always treated Raj Kaur with love and respect.[102] Fakir Waheeduddin in his family's memoir writes that Raj Kaur brought sweetness and light into Ranjit Singh's life. Since Raj Kaur was also the name of Ranjit Singh's mother, his wife was renamed to Datar Kaur. The name Datar means 'Giver' it was chosen for her due to her charitable and gentle nature.
In 1801, she gave birth to their son and heir apparent,Kharak Singh.[26] Like his first marriage, the second marriage also brought him a strategic military alliance.[26] Along with wisdom and all the chaste virtues of a royal woman, Datar Kaur was exceptionally intelligent and assisted Ranjit Singh in affairs of the State.[103] During theexpedition to Multan in 1818, she was given command alongside her son,Kharak Singh.[104][105][106]
It is widely recognized that Datar Kaur had a great amount of influence on Ranjit Singh.[107] Throughout his life she remained Ranjit Singh's favorite wife and for no one did he have greater respect than for Datar Kaur, who he affectionately calledMai Nakain.[108][109][110][111][112][113][114]
Even though she was his second wife she became his principal wife and chief consort.[115][116] During a hunting trip with Ranjit Singh, she fell ill and died on 20 June 1838.[117][118] The missionary reported on her death,[119][120]
"The Maharajah was never the same person again. He was no longer able to mount his horse himself and had to be lifted into the saddle. His recovery was retarded by the death of Mai Nakain, his favourite wife and companion of over forty years . He took the Nakain's death to heart and brooded over it a long time"
Ratan Kaur and Daya Kaur were wives of Sahib Singh Bhangi ofGujrat (amisl north of Lahore, not to be confused with the state of Gujarat).[28] After Sahib Singh's death, Ranjit Singh took them under his protection in 1811 by marrying them via the rite ofchādar andāzī, in which a cloth sheet was unfurled over each of their heads. The same with Roop Kaur, Gulab Kaur, Saman Kaur, and Lakshmi Kaur who looked after Duleep Singh when his mother Jind Kaur was exiled. Ratan Kaur had a sonMultana Singh in 1819, and Daya Kaur had two sonsKashmira Singh andPashaura Singh in 1821.[121][122]
Jind Kaur, the final spouse of Ranjit Singh. Her father, Manna Singh Aulakh, extolled her virtues to Ranjit Singh, who was concerned about the frail health of his onlyheir Kharak Singh. The Maharaja married her in 1835 by 'sending his arrow and sword to her village'. On 6 September 1838 she gave birth toDuleep Singh, who became the last Maharaja of theSikh Empire.[123]
His other wives included, Mehtab Devi of Kangara also called Guddan or Katochan and Raj Banso, daughters of Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra.
He was also married to Rani Har Devi of Atalgarh, Rani Aso Sircar and Rani Jag Deo According to the diaries, thatDuleep Singh kept towards the end of his life, these women presented the Maharaja with four daughters. Dr. Priya Atwal notes that the daughters could be adopted.[98] Ranjit Singh was also married to Jind Bani or Jind Kulan, daughter of Muhammad Pathan from Mankera and Gul Bano, daughter of Malik Akhtar from Amritsar.
Ranjit Singh married many times, in various ceremonies, and had twenty wives.[124][125]Sir Lepel Griffin, however, provides a list of just sixteen wives and their pension list. Most of his marriages were performed through chādar andāz.[126] Some scholars note that the information on Ranjit Singh's marriages is unclear, and there is evidence that he had many concubines. Dr. Priya Atwal presents an official list of Ranjit Singh's thirty wives.[105] The women married through chādar andāzī were noted as concubines and were known as the lesser title ofRani (queen).[106] While Mehtab Kaur and Datar Kaur officially bore the title ofMaharani (high queen), Datar Kaur officially became the Maharani after the death of Mehtab Kaur in 1813. Throughout her life was referred to asSarkar Rani.[127] After her death, the title was held by Ranjit's youngest widow Jind Kaur.[128] According to Khushwant Singh in an 1889 interview with the French journalLe Voltaire, his son Dalip (Duleep) Singh remarked, "I am the son of one of my father's forty-six wives."[100] Dr. Priya Atwal notes that Ranjit Singh and his heirs entered a total of 46 marriages.[129] But Ranjit Singh was known not to be a "rash sensualist" and commanded unusual respect in the eyes of others.[130] Faqir Sayyid Vaḥiduddin states: "If there was one thing in which Ranjit Singh failed to excel or even equal the average monarch of oriental history, it was the size of his harem."[131][130] George Keene noted, "In hundreds and in thousands the orderly crowds stream on. Not a bough is broken off a wayside tree, not a rude remark to a woman".[130]
According to the pedigree table andDuleep Singh's diaries that he kept towards the end of his life another son Fateh Singh was born to Mai Nakain, who died in infancy.[133] According to Henry Edward Fane only Datar Kaur and Jind Kaur's sons are Ranjit Singh's biological sons.[134][135]
It is said thatIshar Singh was not the biological son of Mehtab Kaur and Ranjit Singh, but only procured by Mehtab Kaur and presented to Ranjit Singh who accepted him as his son.[136]Tara Singh andSher Singh had similar rumours, it is said that Sher Singh was the son of a chintz weaver, Nahala and Tara Singh was the son of Manki, a servant in the household ofSada Kaur. Henry Edward Fane, the nephew and aide-de-camp to the Commander-in-Chief, India, General Sir Henry Fane, who spent several days in Ranjit Singh's company, reported, "Though reported to be the Maharaja's son, Sher Singh's father has never thoroughly acknowledged him, though his mother always insisted on his being so. A brother of Sher, Tara Singh by the same mother, has been even worse treated than himself, not being permitted to appear at court, and no office given him, either of profit or honour."Five Years in India, Volume 1, Henry Edward Fane, London, 1842[full citation needed][page needed]
Multana Singh,Kashmira Singh andPashaura Singh were sons of the two widows of Sahib Singh, Daya Kaur and Ratan Kaur, whom Ranjit Singh took under his protection and married. These sons, are said to be, not biologically born to the queens and only procured and later presented to and accepted by Ranjit Singh as his sons.[137]
It is unknown how many daughters were fathered by Ranjit Singh.[138] The only known reference to Ranjit Singh fathering daughters is a handwritten note by Duleep Singh which records that four daughters were born to his father.[138] The names of these four daughters was not written but the names of their mothers were, namely Jagdeo and Aso Sircar, who bore one daughter each, and Hurdsir, who bore two daughters.[138] Dr. Priya Atwal notes that the daughters could have been adopted as it was common for nobility to adopt children.[139]
In 1802, Ranjit Singh marriedMoran Sarkar, a Muslimnautch girl. This action, and other non-Sikh activities of the Maharaja, upset orthodox Sikhs, including theNihangs, whose leaderAkali Phula Singh was theJathedar of theAkal Takht.[140] When Ranjit Singh visitedAmritsar, he was called outside the Akal Takht, where he was made to apologise for his mistakes. Akali Phula Singh took Ranjit Singh to a tamarind tree in front of the Akal Takht and prepared to punish him by flogging him.[140] Then Akali Phula Singh asked the nearby Sikh pilgrims whether they approved of Ranjit Singh's apology. The pilgrims responded withSat Sri Akal and Ranjit Singh was released and forgiven. An alternative holds that Ranjit went to visit Moran on his arrival inAmritsar before paying his respects atHarmandir Sahib Gurdwara, which upset orthodox Sikhs and hence was punished by Akali Phula Singh.Iqbal Qaiser andManveen Sandhu make alternative accounts of the relationship between Moran and the Maharaja; the former states they never married, while the latter states that they married. Court chronicler, Sohan Lal Suri makes no mention of Moran's marriage to the Maharaja or coins being struck in her name. Bibi Moran spent the rest of life in Pathankot.[141] Duleep Singh makes a list of his father's queens which also does not mention Bibi Moran.
In the 1830s, Ranjit Singh suffered from numerous health complications as well as a stroke, which some historical records attribute to alcoholism and a failing liver.[28][142] According to the chronicles of Ranjit Singh's court historians and the Europeans who visited him, Ranjit Singh took to alcohol andopium, habits that intensified in the later decades of his life.[143][144][145] He died in his sleep on 27 June 1839.[124][47] According to William Dalrymple, Ranjit Singh had been washed with water from the Ganges, paid homage to the Guru Granth Sahib, and was fixated on an image of Vishnu and Lakshmi just before his death.[146]
Four of his Hindu wives- Mehtab Devi (Guddan Sahiba), daughter of Raja Sansar Chand, Rani Har Devi, the daughter of Chaudhri Ram, a Saleria Rajput, Rani Raj Devi, daughter of Padma Rajput and Rani Rajno Kanwar, daughter of Sand Bhari along with seven Hindu concubines with royal titles committedsati by voluntarily placing themselves onto his funeral pyre as an act of devotion.[124][147]
Singh is remembered for uniting Sikhs and founding the prosperous Sikh Empire. He is also remembered for his conquests and building a well-trained, self-sufficient Khalsa army to protect the empire.[148] He amassed considerable wealth, including gaining the possession of theKoh-i-Noor diamond fromShuja Shah Durrani of Afghanistan, which he left toJagannath Temple inPuri,Odisha in 1839.[149][150]
Perhaps Singh's most lasting legacy was the restoration and expansion of the Harmandir Sahib, the most revered Gurudwara of the Sikhs, which is now known popularly as the "Golden Temple".[151] Much of the present decoration at the Harmandir Sahib, in the form of gilding and marblework, was introduced under the patronage of Singh, who also sponsored protective walls and a water supply system to strengthen security and operations related to the temple.[15] He also directed the construction of two of the most sacred Sikh temples, being the birthplace and place of assassination of Guru Gobind Singh –Takht Sri Patna Sahib andTakht Sri Hazur Sahib, respectively – whom he much admired.[citation needed] The nine-storey tower ofGurdwara Baba Atal was constructed during his reign.[152]
In 1783, Ranjit Singh established a crafts colony of Thatheras nearAmritsar and encouraged skilled metal crafters fromKashmir to settle inJandiala Guru.[161] In the year 2014, this traditional craft of making brass and copper products was enlisted on theList of Intangible Cultural Heritage byUNESCO.[162] TheGovernment of Punjab is now working under Project Virasat to revive this craft.[163]
In 2020, Ranjit Singh was named as "Greatest Leader of All Time" in a poll conducted by 'BBC World Histories Magazine'.[164][165][166]
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)Even before the birth of Ranjit Singh, cordial relations had been established between the Sukarchakia Misal and the Phulkian House of Jind. ... the two Sikh Jat chiefships had cultivated intimate relationship with each other by means of a matrimonial alliance. Maha Singh, the son of the founder of Sukarchakia Misal, Charat Singh, was married to Raj Kaur, the daughter of the founder of the Jind State, Gajpat Singh. The marriage was celebrated in 1774 at Badrukhan, then capital of Jind1, with pomp and grandeur worthy of the two chiefships. ... Ranjit Singh was the offspring of this wedlock.
Sikhs remember Maharaja Ranjit Singh with respect and affection as their greatest ruler. Ranjit Singh was a Sansi and this identity has led some to claim that his caste affiliation was with the low-caste Sansi tribe of the same name. A much more likely theory is that he belonged to the Jatgot that used the same name. The Sandhanvalias belonged to the samegot.
Ibbetson and Rose and later, Bedi, had clarified that the Sansis should not be confused with a Jat (Jutt) clan named Sansi to which perhaps Maharaja Ranjit Singh also belonged.
When Ranjit Singh realised that Ahmad Khan Sial of Jhang had concluded a secret treaty with Nawab Muzaffar Khan of Multan, he annexed Jhang in 1807 and gave Ahmad Khan a jagir at Mirowal near Amritsar.
In Lahore, just as he had grasped its historic citadel and put it to his own hardy use or desecrated the Badshahi Mosque and converted it into a functional ammuniation store...
As Khalsa Sikhs became more settled and as Ranjit Singh's rule became more autocratic, the Gurumata was effectively abolished, thereby ensuring that the doctrine of the Guru Panth would lose its efficacy. At the same time, however, Ranjit Singh continued to patronize Udasi and Nirmala ashrams. The single most important result of this was the more pronounced diffusion of Vedic and Puranic concepts into the existing Sikh interpretive frameworks
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)The number of daughters fathered by Ranjit Singh has remained a mystery to this day in the absence of any conclusive evidence. The closest the authors of this book have come to finding an answer was the discovery of a page in a handwritten diary kept by the Maharajas youngest son, Dalip Singh. In this diary, which we chanced upon in Britain, Dalip Singh had entered the names of three women (whether wives or concubines was unclear) who had borne the Maharaja four daughters. Only the mothers are named, as Jagdeo (one daughter), Hurdsir (two) and Aso Sircar (one).
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help){{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
Quotations related toRanjit Singh at Wikiquote
Media related toMaharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab at Wikimedia Commons
Runjeet-Singh, and his Suwarree of Seiks., painted by W Harvey and engraved by G Presbury for Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1838, with a poetical illustration byLetitia Elizabeth Landon.[1]| Preceded by | Leader of theSukerchakia Misl 1792–1839 | Succeeded by None |
| Preceded by None | Maharaja of theSikh Empire 1801–1839 | Succeeded by |
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