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Maharaja

Ranjit Singh
Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the founder of the Sikh empire in Punjab, was a pragmatic statesman. He had
a great quality to distinguish between right and wrong. He neither fought a war with the British nor let
their army enter into his territory owing to his skilful statesmanship. Maharaja Ranjit Singh is
reckoned amongst the great figures of the 19th century despite the fact that he faced opposition from
the Afghans, the British and some of the Sikh generals.
Ranjit Singh was born in November 13,1780. His father, Sardar Maha Singh, was the chief of a
small principality. Maha Singh spent all his life fighting against the neighbouring generals and kings.
Ranjit Singh used to participate in those wars as a child, along with his father. That is how he became
a valiant warrior right since his childhood days.
When Ranjit Singh was about 10 years old, he along with his father waged a war against Sardar
Ghulam Mohammad. He was saddled on an elephant as a warrior. Having found the right opportunity,
Ghulam Mohammads uncle, Hashmad Khan tried to attack Ranjit Singh. But one of his attendants
saved him.
Ranjit Singhs father died when he was still a child of about 12 years. According to the rule, the
kingdom should have devolved upon him after the death of his father, but this did not happen. His
mother and mother-in-law had conspired to keep the state under their control. Ranjit Singh was forced
to obey the directions of these two ladies. Slowly and gradually, Ranjit Singh adopted great tact and
diplomacy to free himself from their clutches.
Initially, Ranjit Singh was the chief of a small group of the Sikh clan. His armed strength was
also limited. Anarchy was prevailed in the state of Punjab due to constant attacks of the Afghan ruler,
Zaman Shah.
In July 1799, Ranjit Singh faced a conflict with Zaman Shah, in which he captured 12 cannons of
Zaman Shah. Zaman Shah suggested that if Ranjit Singh returned the captured cannons to him, he
would get Lahore in exchange.
Ranjit Singh accepted Zamans proposal and returned the cannons in exchange of Lahore. Zaman
accepted him as the deputy-ruler of Lahore and conferred on him the title of Raja.
The other Sikh chiefs envied Ranjit Singh and began to conspire against him so as to chase him
out of Lahore. The conspirators invited Ranjit Singh to a conference. They had planned to kill Ranjit
Singh on his arrival to the conference.

Ranjit Singhs spies had warned him against the conspiracy. Therefore, Ranjit Singh went to the
conference at the head of a huge army. The conspirators could not succeed in their plan. Ranjit Singh
attacked Amristar, the fort of conspirators, and captured it. His opponents fled from the scene.

Thats how Ranjit Singh came to occupy and head the two famous cities of the Sikhs, Lahore and
Amritsar. By the year 1826, Ranjit Singh won the entire regions of Jalandhar and Gurdaspur. His
influence spread far and wide.
His mother-in-law, Sadakaur, stood in his way. She was the landlady of Batala and its
surrounding regions. Ranjit Singh tried to reason many times with his mother-in-law, but she was not
willing at all to give up her supremacy.
Then, Ranjit Singh got her detained. Somehow, she managed to escape. She reached Batala and
requested the British to help her. Ranjit Singh got her arrested again. Some time later, she died.
After the death of Sadakaur, her estate came into Ranjit Singhs hands, which he handed over to
Sher Singh, son of Sadakaur.
In 1805, having been defeated by the British, Yashwant Rao Holkar sought shelter in Ranjit
Singh. On January 1, 1806, the British entered into an agreement with both Ranjit Singh and Holkar.

Ranjit Singh, having been reassured from the side of the British, began to expand his empire in
the west. On the advice of his uncle, Bhagat Singh, the King of Jind, Ranjit Singh captured Ludhiana
and its surrounding regions, and later handed over them to his friends as a reward. Next, he won
Narayangarh, Vadni, Morinda, Jeera etc. and gave them away to his friends.
Ranjit Singh wanted to conquer all the estates beyond the Sutlej. They were Ambala, Faridkot,
Patiala etc. He wanted to become the master of the Sikh estates. His aim was to establish a wellorganised Sikh estate, which would be capable of resisting the British forces.
In 1806, Ranjit Singh tried to attack Multan, but the Sultan of Multan, Nawab Muzaffar, did not
want a war. He offered Rs. 70,000 to Ranjit Singh to avoid the war. Next year, Ranjit Singh again
attacked Multan. After a minor skirmish, Nawab once again successfully avoided the war by offering
Ranjit Singh a substantial amount of money. In 1818, Ranjit Singh was finally successful in gaining
victory over Multan. He got a huge amount of monetary wealth after this victory.
The British were worried by the growing strength of Ranjit Singh. They sent a delegation to
Ranjit Singh under the leadership of Charles Metcalfe. The delegation was followed by the British
army under the command of David Ochterlony. Ranjit Singh had a premonition of the step that the
British took. Having understood the symbolic significance of the British ways, Ranjit Singh showed
considerable political maturity in signing a permanent treaty with the British in 1809. This treaty is
known in the history of India as the Treaty of Amritsar . According to this treaty, Ranjit Singh
withdrew his control over Ludhiana. At the same time, he promised not to interfere in the regions
south of the Sutlej.

In 1811, Ranjit Singh reached Kullu, after defeating the Muslim kings of Bhimwar and Rajouri.
In the same year he won Kangra and its neighbouring states.
In 1813, Ranjit Singh occupied Attak. In 1814, he gave shelter to the displaced king of
Afghanistan, Shah Shuja, who was diplayed was displaced by his brother and was leading the life of a
refugee in Punjab. Ranjit Singh offered Shah, a shelter in Lahore so as to get the Kohinoor diamond.
Later, he snatched the diamond from him after harassing him. The Maharaja got this diamond for
free. It is said that when someone asked the Maharaja the price of the Kohinoor, he replied, Two
boots, that is, courage and strength.
In 1819, Maharaja Ranjit Singh conquered Kashmir. After this victory in March 1920, he
captured some of the small principalities between Kashmir and Peshawar, which were ruled by the
Muslim chiefs. In this manner, Maharaja Ranjit Singh came to rule over entire Punjab.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh had a brave general, Hari Singh Nalwa. In 1834, Maharaja Ranjit Singh
could conquer the fort of Peshawar only because of Nalwas valour. His bravery was a legend.
Ranjit Singh was addicted to wine. This caused problems in his nervous system. Despite being
treated by the best doctors there was no improvement in his condition. He died on June 27, 1839.
Before breathing his last, Ranjit Singh distributed Rs. 25 lakh amongst the poor and the priests at
Nankana. He appointed his son, Kharak Singh, as his successor and Dhyan Singh as his Prime
Minister.
The Punjab, for which Ranjit Singh struggled so hard and fought so many wars, could not
survive even for six years after his death, because the Sikh generals were blinded by mutual

jealousies and fought amongst themselves. They killed Ranjit Singhs son, grandson and his loyal
generals mercilessly.
The significant quality of Ranjit Singh was that he could accomplish any task he thought of
doing at any cost. Some of the examples which reflect his quality are the famous Kohinoor diamond,
the celebrated mare (Lali) and the capture of Multan.

The Afghan general, Yar Mohammad Khan, had a mare, Lali which was famed for her beauty.
The Maharaja, enamoured of it, asked Mohammad Khan, for the mare. Yar Mohammad Khann flatly
refused to hand over the mare to him.
The Maharaja ordered one of his able generals, Budh Singh, to snatch the mare from
Mohammad Khan and fetch her. When Budh Singh entered Peshawar after defeating the enemies, he
came to know that Lali had died. He was disappointed and returned to Lahore. Having reached there,
he learnt that the news of Lalis death was wrong. Then, Ranjit Singh sent a huge army headed by
prince Kharak Singh to Peshawar.
Yar Mohammad Khan took to his heels along with Lali and hid himself in the hills even before
the Sikh forces could arrive. Kharak Singh waited for eight months for him at Peshawar. Later, he
came back after appointing Sultan Mohammad Khan as ruler of Peshawar. As soon as the Sikh army
left, Yar Mohammad Khan defeated the Sultan and once again became the ruler of Peshawar.
Then, Ranjit Singh sent his Italian general, Benturra, to fight against Khan and fetch the mare.
Benturra could get hold of Lali after fighting several wars. He sent her to the Maharaja. He could
finally get Lali at a huge cost of Rs. 12 lakh and the sacrifice of twelve thousand soldiers. In the
history of the world, after the Trojan horse of Greece, it was Lali for whom so much destruction and
sacrifice took place.

Apart from the horses, the Maharaja had a keen interest in collecting the cannons. According to
general Metcalfe, Ranjit Singh never missed an opportunity to procure a cannon. Whenever he came
to know about any cannon in any district, he could never rest in peace till he procured it.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh was neither highly spiritual like Guru Nanak Dev nor a person of high
ideals and education like Guru Govind Singh. He had only one aimexpansion of the Sikh empire.
All his plans, intelligence and strength were geared to this end.
He was not biased in favour of his religion. There were many Brahmins and Muslims, who
occupied high posts in his court. He always gave priority to a person and his merit before his caste.
Before the Maharajas time, a Sikh soldier considered it below his dignity to join the infantry as
a foot-soldier. He would always join the cavalry. At the same time, he was strongly disinclined to
observe the army discipline. He would leave his general at the slightest of argument and switch over
to the other general. In order to improve the organisation of the Sikh forces, the Maharaja minutely
studied the British and the Afghan forces and appointed many foreign generals such as the Italian
general, Benturra; the French General, Allarid etc. so that he might to train the Sikh forces on modern
lines.

Owing to the training provided by these generals, the Sikh infantry became very powerful. Even
today, there are a few infantry divisions in other nations as brave and skilful as the Sikh infantries.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh died on June 27, 1839 after a reign of wavly forty years leaving seven
sons by different queens.His cremation ceremony was performed by both Sikh & Hindu priests, his
wife Maharani Mahtab Devi Sahiba.

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Maharaja Ranjit Singh

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