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LIFE OF MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH-RAJ KRISHNA

INTRODUCTION:

Maharaja Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839) was the founder of the Sikh Empire,
which came to power in the Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. The empire,
based in the Punjab region, existed from 1799 to 1849. It was forged, on the foundations of the
Dal Khalsa, under the leadership of Ranjit Singh from a collection of autonomous Sikh Misls.
Ranjit Singh was succeeded by his son, Kharak Singh.

A Brief Bio- data of Maharaja Ranjit Singh

* Reign: 12 April 1801–27 June 1839

*Coronation: 12 April 1801

*Successor: Kharak Singh

*Born: 13 November 1780, Gujranwala, Sukerchakia Misl (present-day Pakistan)

*Died: 27 June 1839 (aged 58), Lahore, Punjab, Sikh Empire (present-day Pakistan)

*Burial: Cremated remains stored in the Samadhi of Ranjit Singh in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan

*Father: Maha Singh

*Mother: Raj Kaur

*Religion: Sikhism
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:

The aim of the researcher is to present a detailed study of Maharaja Ranjit Singh which includes
his biography i.e. his early life, invasions and conquests, administration etc… Further the
researcher has also highlighted the role of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the unification of the Sikh
Empire and his legacy aftermath.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

The four research questions are as follows:

Q1. What role did Maharaja Ranjit Singh play in unification of Sikh Empire?

Q2. What all civil and military reforms were made by Maharaja Ranjit Singh during his reign?

Q3. What was the pattern of administration in Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s reign?

Q4. What is the legacy of Maharaja Ranjit Singh?

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS:

Owing to the large number of topics that could be included in the project, the scope of this
research paper is exceedingly vast. However in the interest of brevity, this paper has been limited
to the topics which have some significant value in Sikh history. Therefore, more importance has
been given to the policies of the Maharaja than his personal life.

METHOD OF RESEARCH:

The researcher has used Doctrinal Method of research to complete the project.
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SOURCES OF DATA:

The researcher has relied on the secondary sources of data which are various websites and books
written on Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

MODE OF CITATION:

The researcher has followed a uniform mode of citation in this project.

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1. EARLY LIFE OF MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH

Ranjit Singh was born to Maha Singh and Raj Kaur on 13 November 1780, in Gujranwala,
Punjab. At first he was named Buddh Singh, but Maha Singh received the news of his son's birth
on his return from a victorious battle against the Chattha chief, Pir Muhammad, and renamed his
son Ranjit which means Victor in War.1 As a child he suffered from smallpox which resulted in
the loss of one eye. After his father's death in 1790, Ranjit Singh was raised under the protection
of his mother Raj Kaur, and his mother-in-law Sada Kaur.

His grandfather Charat Singh was the founder of the Sukerchakia Misl2. Historians have mixed
views as to his family origins; while some assert he was born into a Sansi Sikh family3, others
claim that he was born into a Jat Sikh family4. At the time, much of Punjab was ruled by the
Sikhs under a Confederate Sarbat Khalsa system, 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 the west Punjab based around his headquarters at Gujranwala.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh in his early days.

1
Kushwant Singh, Ranjit Singh (1780-1839), Encyclopedia of Sikhism. Punjabi University Patiala
2
Jean-Marie Lafont, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Lord of the Five Rivers, Oxford University Press (2002 edition)
3
Ibid.
4
O.P. Ralhan, The Great Gurus of the Sikhs, Volume 1, Anmol Publications Pvt Limited, p.1678 (1997 ).
 Page |5

In the autumn of 1796 Zaman Shah Durrani invaded India and occupied Lahore. He returned to
Kabul in January 1797, leaving his general Ahmad Shah Shahanchibashi, as his deputy, with an
army of 12,000. The general attacked the Sikhs, but his force was routed and the general was
killed in the battle. Ranjit Singh, then aged 17, distinguished him in the battle and began his rise
to prominence. Zaman Shah Durrani invaded again in the autumn of 1798, and once more
occupied Lahore. Ranjit Singh drove the Afghans into Lahore and then laid siege to the city. This
and news of fresh trouble in Afghanistan persuaded Zaman Shah to return home. In July the
following year, Ranjit Singh drove the chiefs of the Bhangi misl out of Lahore, with the willing
help of its inhabitants, and made it his capital. This was the first important step in his rise to
power. In the following years he brought the whole of the central Punjab from the Sutlej to the
Jhelum under his sway. After several campaigns, he conquered the other misls and created the
Sikh Empire.
 Page |6

2. INVASIONS AND CONQUESTS OF MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH

Maharaja Ranjit Singh's earliest invasions as a young misldar (baron) were effected by defeating
his coreligionists, the heads of other Sikh Sardaris (popularly known as the Misls). By the end of
his reign, however, he had conquered vast tracts of territory strategically juxtaposed between the
limits of British India to the East and the Durrani Empire to the West.

On 7 July 1799, Ranjit Singh became master of Lahore. He then rapidly annexed the rest of the
Punjab, the land of the five rivers. Having accomplished this, he extended his empire further
north and west to include the Kashmir Mountains and other Himalayan kingdoms, the Sind Sagar
Doab, the Pothohar Plateau and trans-Indus regions right up to the foothills of the Sulaiman
Mountains5.

In 1802 Ranjit Singh took Amritsar from the Bhangi Sardari and followed this in 1807, after a
month of fierce fighting, with the conquest of Kasur from the Afghan chief Qutb ud-Din. With
the capture of Multan in 1818 the whole Bari Doab came under his sway and in 1819 Ranjit
Singh successfully annexed Kashmir. This was followed by subduing the Kashmir Mountains,
west of the river Jhelum6.

5
Supra 1.
6
Ibid.
 Page |7

Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his Suwarree.

The most significant encounters between the Sarkar Khalsaji and the Afghans were fought in
1813, 1823, 1834 and in 1837. In 1813, Maharaja Ranjit Singh's General Dewan Mokham Chand
led the Sikh forces against the Afghan forces of Shah Mahmud who were led by Dost
Mohammad Khan. Following this encounter, the Afghans lost their stronghold at Attock.
Subsequently, the Pothohar plateau, the Sindh Sagar Doab and Kashmir came under Sikh rule. In
1823, Ranjit Singh defeated a large army of Yusufzai tribesmen north of the Kabul River in what
is now Pakistan, while the presence of his Sikh General, Hari Singh Nalwa prevented the entire
Afghan army from crossing this river and going to the aid of the Yusafzais at Nowshera. This
defeat led to the gradual loss of Afghan power in present-day Pakistan. In 1834, when the forces
of the Sarkar Khalsaji marched into Peshawar, the ruling Barakzais retreated without offering a
fight7.

In April 1837, the real power of Maharaja Ranjit Singh came to the fore when his Commander-
in-Chief, Hari Singh Nalwa, kept the entire army of Amir Dost Mohammad Khan at bay, with a
handful of forces till reinforcements arrived from Lahore over a month after they were
requisitioned. The Battle of Jamrud in 1837 became the last confrontation between the Sikhs and
the Afghans. Hari Singh Nalwa was killed while the Afghans retreated to Kabul to deal with the
Persian invasion on its western border in Herat and internal fighting between various princes.
Khalsa Sarkar Wazir Jawahar Singh nominated Sardar Gurmukh Singh Lamba as political-
military adviser to safeguard the gains of Khalsa Sarkar. In 1838, Ranjit Singh with his troops
marched into Kabul to take part in the victory parade along with the British after restoring Shah
Shoja to the Afghan throne at Kabul8.

7
Autar Singh Sandhu, General Hari Singh Nalwa 1791—1837, Academy of the Punjab in North America, page 51.
8
Khushwant Singh, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Britannica (April 16, 2016, 9:30 p.m.),
http://www.britannica.com/biography/Ranjit-Singh-Sikh-maharaja
 Page |8

3. ROLE OF MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH IN SIKH HISTORY

3.1. PROCESS OF UNIFICATION

In 1799, a process of unification was started by Maharaja Ranjit Singh to establish an empire.
The occupation of Lahore from Bhangi Misl in the summer of 1799 marked a watershed in his
career. With the conquest of Lahore Ranjit Singh was fairly launched on a career of systematic
aggrandizement which made him master of a vast empire in less than quarter of a century9. He
reduced many neighbouring states to tributary status and gradually established his control over
all the Sikh Misl's west of the Satluj. Ranjit Singh was coroneted on 12 April 1801 as the
Maharaja of Punjab. He was 20 years old at the time. Sahib Singh Bedi, a descendant of Guru
Nanak, conducted the investiture10.

He spent the following years fighting the Durrani rulers of Afghanistan. After driving them out
of Punjab, Ranjit Singh and his Sikh army then invaded ethnic Pashtun territories in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. He captured Multan which encompassed the southern parts of Punjab, Peshawar
(1818), Jammu (1812–13) and Kashmir (1819)11.

3.2. GEOGRAPHY OF THE SIKH EMPIRE

The Sikh Empire, also known as Punjab, the Sikh Raj and Sarkar-i-Khalsa, was a region
straddling the border into modern-day People's Republic of China and Islamic Republic of
Afghanistan then popularly referred to as the Kingdom of Kabul12. The name of the region
"Punjab" or "Panjab", comprises two words "Punj/Panj" and "Ab", translating to "five" and

9
J.S. Grewal, The New Cambridge History of India. The Sikhs of the Punjab (Chapter 6: The Sikh Empire (1799–
1849), Cambridge University Press (1990).
10
Khushwant Singh, Ranjit Singh- Maharaja of the Punjab, Penguin India, New Delhi.
11
Kirpal Singh, “Maharaja Ranjit Singh's Subjugation of North Western Frontier”, The Tribune.
12
M. Elphinstone, An Account of the Kingdom of Caubul, 3rd Edition, Karachi: Oxford University Press.
 Page |9

"water" in Persian. When put together this gives a name meaning "the land of the five rivers",
coined due to the five rivers that run through the Punjab. Those "Five Rivers" are Beas, Ravi,
Sutlej, Chenab and Jhelum, all tributaries of the river Indus, home to the Indus Valley
Civilization that perished 3000 years ago. Punjab has a long history and rich cultural heritage.
The people of the Punjab are called Punjabis and they speak a language called Punjabi.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh Empire

At the time of the Maharaja's death, the area of his vast kingdom that he created has been
estimated to be more than one hundred and forty thousand square miles. On one side it extended
up to Ladakh and Iskardu towards Tibet, on the other side it extended from Khaibar Pass along
the hills of Sulaiman mountain ranges to Shikarpur (Sindh), in the South. Towards the east, river
Sutlej had been accepted as boundary line between the British possessions in India and the
kingdom of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The Sarkar-i-Khalsa, as the Maharajas’ kingdom was known,
was divided into four provinces and the names mentioned in the Khalsa Darbar records are :

i. Suba-i- Lahore',

ii. Suba-i-Dar-ul-aman, Multan',

iii. Suba-i-Jannat nazir Kashmir,

 P a g e | 10

iv. Aulka (Region)-i-Peshawar.

3.3. SECULAR SIKH RULE

The Sikh Empire was secular in that it allowed men from religions other than their own to rise to
commanding positions of authority. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Mazhabis (untouchables) all
formed part of the militia of the Sikhs. Hakim Aziz-ud-din was a prominent Muslim courtier in
Ranjit Singh's reign, while Hari Singh Nalwa was a prominent Sikh general in Maharaja Ranjit
Singh's army. His army even included a few Europeans like Jean-François Allard; however the
British were not allowed to join it due to their fickle nature. In 1831, Ranjit Singh deputed his
mission to Simla to confer with the British Governor General, Lord William Bentinck. Sardar
Hari Singh Nalwa, Fakir Aziz-ud-din and Diwan Moti Ram ― a Sikh, a Muslim and a Hindu
representative ― were nominated at its head13.

Externally, everyone in the Sikh empire looked alike; they sported a beard and covered their
head, predominantly with a turban. This left visitors to the Punjab region quite confused. Most
foreigners arrived there after a passage through Hindustan, where religious and caste distinctions
were very carefully observed. It was difficult for them to believe that though everyone in the
Sarkar Khalsaji looked similar, they were not all Sikhs. The Sikhs were generally not known to
force either those in their employ or the inhabitants of the country they ruled to convert to
Sikhism. In fact, men of piety from all religions were equally respected by the Sikhs and their
ruler. Hindu sadhus, yogis, saints and bairagis; Muslim faqirs and pirs; and Christian priests were
all the recipients of Sikh largess. There was only one exception – the Sikhs viewed the Muslim
clergy with suspicion14.

13
Kartar Singh Duggal, Maharaja Ranjit Singh: The Last to Lay Arms, Abhinav Publications, p. 125–126 (2001
edition).
14
K.S. Duggal, Ranjit Singh: A Secular Sikh Sovereign, Abhinav Publications (1989)
 P a g e | 11

The Sikhs made attempt not to offend the prejudices of Muslims, noted Baron von Hügel, the
famous German traveller, yet the Sikhs were referred to as being harsh. In this regard, Masson's
explanation is perhaps the most pertinent:

"Though compared to the Afghans, the Sikhs were mild and exerted a protecting influence, yet
no advantages could compensate to their Mohammedan subjects, the idea of subjection to
infidels, and the prohibition to slay kine, and to repeat the azan, or "summons to prayer".

Hinduism emphasizes the sanctity of cows. The ban on cow slaughter was universally imposed
in the Sarkar Khalsaji15. The Sikhs never razed places of worship to the ground belonging to the
enemy. The Sikhs were utilitarian in their approach. Marble plaques removed from Jahangir's
tomb at Shahdera were used to embellish the Baradari inside the Fort of Lahore, while the
mosques were left intact. Forts were destroyed, however these too were often rebuilt ― the best
example being the Bala Hissar in Peshawar, which was destroyed by the Sikhs in 1823 and
rebuilt by them in 1834.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh's Empire was secular empire; none of the subjects were discriminated
against on account of their religions. He did not force Sikhism on non-Sikhs and respected all
religions16.

15
D.O. Lodrick, Sacred Cows, Sacred Places, Berkeley: University of California Press, p. 145 (1981).
16
Supra 10.
 P a g e | 12

Darbar of Maharaja Ranjit Singh showing people of all religions.

3.4. ARMY OF THE SIKH EMPIRE:

The army of the Sikh Empire was a formidable military machine that helped Ranjit Singh carve
out an extensive kingdom and maintain it amid hostile and ambitious neighbours. All of Ranjit
Singh's conquests were achieved by Punjabi armies composed of mostly Sikhs, Muslims, and
Hindus. His commanders were also drawn from different religious communities, as were his
cabinet ministers.17

Ranjit Singh decided to improve the training and organisation of his army. The reorganisation
carried out at Amritsar gave a clearer picture of the forces available and fixed the responsibility
for putting them into the field. Once the responsibility had been fixed, Ranjit Singh set most
exacting standards of efficiency in march, manoeuvre, and marksmanship.[40] He was keen on
adopting European methods, but wanted never to discard completely the system which he had

17
Supra 10.
 P a g e | 13

inherited from his forefathers. The military system of Ranjit Singh, as it finally evolved, was a
blend of the best of both old and new ideas. The Fauj-i-Khas was commanded by his
distinguished generals, including Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa Sardar Gurmukh Singh Lamba and
Sardar Sham Singh Attariwala and two non-Sikhs the Mulraj Derah and Dogra Derah18.

18
Shiv Kumar Gupta, Modernization of the army, The Tribune.
 P a g e | 14

4. ADMINISTRATION DURING THE REIGN MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH

Maharaja Ranjit Singh could not pay much attention towards financial and civil administration
of his kingdom. The reasons are quite evident. Ranjit Singh was not a literate person. The burden
of state had fallen on his shoulders at an early age because of the death of his father. Therefore
he could not give attention to his education. Even during the life-time of his father, Sardar
Mahan Singh, he did not get any chance to receive education because Sardar Mahan Singh
remained busy in strengthening his tiny state. Ranjit Singh had not inherited a big kingdom to
administer by which he could have acquired practical experience in the art of administration.
Besides this, Sikh Sardars had known only the ways of conquest of territories since generations.
For financial and civil administration they neither showed any inclination, nor did they get time
enough in an age of anarchy and constant warfare to understand its necessity and importance.
This job they usually left to their Hindu accountants and managers. These were the practices
which Ranjit Singh had known since his adolescence. Ever since his boyhood; he had to struggle
hard to save his small state from the enemies. He was not yet twenty years old when he occupied
Lahore. Thereafter he yearned to consolidate the scattered might of the Sikhs and cast it in a steel
mould. Therefore, from the very beginning, this task received his full attention and he remained
continuously busy with accomplishing conquests one after the other for a period of twenty five
years19.

There were yet other difficulties in the Maharaja's way. This aspect of administration could be
attended to with the help and active support of only such people who possessed complete
knowledge and practical experience of the principles of financial and civil affairs of the state.
But in the Punjab the system of regular government had fully broken down during the past sixty
or seventy years of turmoil. It was therefore difficult to find competent people to organize
administration of the emerging state. Despite this, the Maharaja tried his best to organize the
departments of his government. He was always on the look-out for such people who were
acquainted with the art of government. Therefore, when in 1809 A.D., Diwan Bhiwani Das of the

19
Shri Ram Bakshi, History of the Punjab: Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Anmol Publications, 1991.
 P a g e | 15

government of Kabul presented himself before the Maharaja; he was immediately taken into
service. Diwan Bhiwani Das laid the foundations of a systematic government organization. He
opened departmental offices and treasuries and started maintaining accounts of income and
expenditure. After that, the Maharaja employed Diwan Ganga Ram, and then Diwan Dina Nath
who came from Delhi also joined. They performed admirable service in organising the financial
administration of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. All the papers pertaining to these departments since the
date these offices were established up to the annexation of the Khalsa kingdom are available in
the Records Office of the Punjab Government. From their study it transpires that civil
administration of Maharaja Ranjit Singh functioned in an efficient manner.

CIVIL ADMINISTRATION:

Civil Administration Nazims or governors were appointed for administering the provinces of
Multan, Kashmir and Peshawar. In Lahore province kardars (sub- divisional administrators) were
appointed parganah wise. Later on several parganahs were merged to form bigger units and
senior officers were appointed above the kardars for their administration. For example, the status
of districts like Jalandhar, Kangra, Wazirabad and Gujarat was deemed to be equal to that of a
division in the modern sense. Nazim (Governor) of a province was responsible for the entire
administration. These officials' functioned under the fear of the Maharaja’s sternness and they
could not dare create maladministration. The Maharaja often toured the length and breadth of his
entire kingdom and enquired from headmen of villages and other notables about the affairs of
administration and conduct of his officials. The Maharaja's aim was the well-being of his
subjects in every respect. The people of the kingdom also loved him from the core of their hearts.

LAND REVENUE:

Land Revenue Maharaja Ranjit Singh did not make any significant change in the assessment of
land revenue. According to custom of the age, one third and a half of the produce was taken as
land rent or revenue. The tiller of land was provided several facilities. Many times money was
given from the royal treasury as agricultural loans. No creditor could attach peasants' produce,
cattle or plough for recovery of a loan. The cultivators were encouraged and given aid for
digging of new wells according to needs.

COURTS AND PUNISHMENT:

 P a g e | 16

The concept of justice in that age and court procedures were simple and straight forward. Civil
cases were decided by village panchayats (councils). Until the beginning of British rule,
Panchayat System was effective in the Punjab. Cases of recovery of loans were decided by the
kardar, of a taluqah (a unit of a group of villages), with the help of local panches, or members of
a panchayat. After the implementation of a court-decree, the government recovered twenty five
per cent of the decreed amounts from the decree-holder as court-fee. Criminal cases were
decided in the courts of the kardars and the accused were awarded punishments. During
investigation of theft cases, help was taken from foot-print experts (Khojis). When the foot-print
track led to and reached a certain village, it became the collective responsibility of the village, as
a whole, to produce the thief. The village panchayat made efforts and got the accused arrested.
There used to be no regular prisons like the present times, nor was there a penal code listing
different kinds of offences. Usually punishment was in the form of fine. Caning or lashes were
also inflicted. Sometimes, for serious offences, limbs of the body such as hand, nose, ear, etc.
were severed as punishment. During our-study, there is no mention of the Maharaja having
awarded death sentence by hanging. Contrary to this, there have been one or two instances where
he reprimanded his governors for having awarded death sentence to one or two convicts. In the
same sequence another British historian writes that when he expressed surprise at the punishment
of cutting of hand which the Maharaja had suggested in his presence for someone, the Maharaja
had said addressing him, “we do award punishment but we do not take any one's life.”
Sometimes strange kinds of punishments were given; for instance the culprit was branded with
hot iron on the forehead, or his face was blackened and mounted on a donkey, was taken around
the town through lanes and streets. Among papers concerning the army, a mention has been
found at one place that when, in 1841 A.D., the sepoys of Lafont Ferringhee's battalion mutinied,
some of them were dismissed from service and some were fined. One ear of Sepoy Kahn Singh
was chopped off and his forehead was branded. Jami'at Singh proved his innocence by dipping
his hand in a cauldron of boiling oil. Therefore, he was not only pardoned but was promoted
from Sepoy to Nayak20.

20
http://www.searchsikhism.com/maharaja-ranjit-singh/financial-civil-and-military-administration-of-the-maharaja ,
visited on 18th April, 2016.
 P a g e | 17

5. SIKH EMPIRE AFTER MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH

After Ranjit Singh's death in 1839, the empire was severely weakened by internal divisions and
political mismanagement. This opportunity was used by the British East India Company to
launch the Anglo-Sikh Wars.

The Battle of Ferozeshah in 1845 marked many turning points, the British encountered the
Punjab Army, opening with a gun-duel in which the Sikhs had the better of the British artillery.
As the British made advances, Europeans in their army were especially targeted, as the Sikhs
believed if the army became demoralized, the backbone of the enemy's position would be
broken. The fighting continued throughout the night. The British position "grew graver as the
night wore on, and suffered terrible casualties with every single member of the Governor
General's staff either killed or wounded. Nevertheless, the British army took and held
Ferozeshah. British General Sir James Hope Grant recorded: "Truly the night was one of gloom
and forbidding and perhaps never in the annals of warfare has a British Army on such a large
scale been nearer to a defeat which would have involved annihilation.

The reasons for the withdrawal of the Sikhs from Ferozeshah are contentious. Some believe that
it was treachery of the non-Sikh high command of their own army which led to them marching
away from a British force in a precarious and battered state. Others believe that a tactical
withdrawal was the best policy21.

21
G.M. Frasier, Flashman and the Mountain of Light, Harper-Collins, London (1990).
 P a g e | 18

The charge of the British 16th Lancers at Aliwal on 28th January 1846, during the Anglo-Sikh
War

The Sikh empire was finally dissolved at the end of the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849 into
separate princely states and the British province of Punjab. Eventually, a Lieutenant
Governorship was formed in Lahore as a direct representative of the British Crown.
 P a g e | 19

6. CONCLUSION

Maharaja Ranjit Singh is remembered for uniting the Punjab as a strong nation and his
possession of the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which was given to him by Shuja Shah Durrani of
Afghanistan. Ranjit Singh willed the Koh-i-Noor to Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha while on
his deathbed in 1839. His most lasting legacy was the golden beautification of the Harmandir
Sahib, most revered Gurudwara 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" which means the "Lion of Punjab" and is considered one
of the three lions of modern India, the most famous and revered heroes in Indian subcontinent's
history. The other lions are Rana Pratap Singh of Mewar and Chhatrapati Shivaji, the great
Maratha ruler. The title of "Sher-e-Punjab" is still widely used as a term of respect for a powerful
man.

Captain William Murray's memoirs on Maharaja Ranjit Singh's character:

"Ranjit Singh has been likened to Mehmet Ali and to Napoleon. There are some points in which
he resembles both; but estimating his character with reference to his circumstances and
positions, he is perhaps a more remarkable man than either. There was no ferocity in his
disposition and he never punished a criminal with death even under circumstances of aggravated
offence. Humanity indeed, or rather tenderness for life, was a trait in the character of Ranjit
Singh. There is no instance of his having wantonly infused his hand in blood.22"

On 20th August 2003, a 22-foot tall bronze statue of Singh was installed in the Parliament of
India23. This very much tells about the greatness and legacy of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

22
James Prinsep , History of the Punjab, Vol. II, London: W. H. Allen; p. 174 (Reprint, Patiala 1970)
23
Ranjit Singh, Parliament to get six more portraits, two statues, Times of India (20th August 2003).
 P a g e | 20

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The researcher has consulted following books and websites for making this draft.

BOOKS:

1. Lafont Jean Marie, Fauj-i-Khas Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his French Officers, Guru Nanak
Dev University Publications (First published in 2002).

2. Bakshi Shri Ram, History of Punjab: Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Anmol Publications (First
published in 1991).

3. Heath Ian, The Sikh Army 1799- 1849, Oxford: Osprey Publishing (UK).

4. Chopra R.M., Glory of Sikhism, Sanbun Publishers (First published in 2001).

5. Lafont Jean Marie, Maharaja Ranjit Singh: Lord of the Five Rivers, Oxford University Press
(First published in 2002).

6. Ralhan O.P., The Great Gurus of the Sikhs, Volume 1, Anmol Publications Pvt Limited.

7. Duggal Kartar Singh, Maharaja Ranjit Singh: The Last to Lay Arms, Abhinav Publications.

8. Singh Khushwant, Ranjit Singh- Maharaja of the Punjab, Penguin India, New Delhi.

WEBSITES:

1. www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Maharaja_Ranjit_Singh

2. www.britannica.com/biography/Ranjit-Singh-Sikh-maharaja

3. www.searchsikhism.com/maharaja-ranjit-singh/rise-of-maharaja-ranjit-singh

4. www.maharajaranjitsingh.com/