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Maharaja Ranjit Singh ji,
Portrait painted by G T Vigne in 1837.
"On the 1st of Baisakh (April
12) 1801, Sahib Singh Bedi daubed Ranjit Singh’s forehead with saffron
paste and proclaimed him Maharajah of the Punjab. A royal salute was fired
from the fort. In the afternoon the young Maharajah rode on his elephant,
showering gold and silver coins on jubilant crowds of his subjects. In the
evening, all the homes of the city were illumined. Ranjit Singh’s
political acumen is well illustrated in the compromise that he made
between becoming a Maharajah and remaining a peasant leader. Although
crowned King of the Punjab, he refused to wear the emblem of royalty in
his simple turban. He refused to sit on a throne......
The most important consequence
of taking on the title of "Maharajah of the Punjab" was that thereby
Ranjit Singh assumed the rights of sovereignity not only over all Sikhs
(the government itself being Sarkar Khalsaji) but over all people who
lived within the ill-defined geographical limits of the
Punjab....."
— Extracted from A History of the Sikhs
by
Khushwant Singh.
The Glorious
Reign
Regrettably, scholars have neglected the use of
Persian source-material in their study of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. That is
why research work produced and published on him and his times has
generally relied on the British sources which are partial and one-sided. A
major portion of research studies on him has been brought out by
non-professional historians who are ignorant of the Persian language, says
V. N. Datta.
Extract of a letter
from the Hon. W. Osborne, with
an account of the Funeral Obsequies of Runjeet
Sing.
The Patron of the
Arts
The hallmark
of the art of Maharaja Ranjit Singh is thus its truthfulness. It is of the
earthly earth. And, in spite of the import of some of the painters from
the Pahari courts, the abundance of portraiture shows how almost everyone,
including the Maharaja, was in search of an identity in their new exalted
status, which they had acquired from modest origins in the villages of the
Punjab plains. Thus, every expression under the patronage of Ranjit Singh
and his nobles, shows a vitalist urge for freedom to open out to life, and
more life, in the midst of things of beauty which may please the eyes,
make the heart glow and intensify the emotions, says
Mulk Raj
Anand
Nature of Ranjit
Singh’s polity
A ruler much ahead
of his times
The most notable
trait of Ranjit Singh’s polity was the complete freedom of expression and
worship enjoyed by all his subjects. Though he was born and brought up in
the Sikh faith and listened to the recitation from Sikh scriptures every
day, he did not proclaim Sikhism as the religion of the state. He also did
not make any conscious effort to propagate it. His broad religious outlook
was reflected in his according due respect to all religions. The spirit of
forbearance displayed by him was in sharp contrast to the inhuman
practices of the Mughal rulers, their plunder, and forced conversions,
writes Gurdarshan Singh Dhillon.
How relevant are
Ranjit Singh’s ideas today
by Surjit Hans
According to
Budh Singh, the ruler is always right; the people wrong. A king lays the
people under obligation by ruling over them. If the king does not overlook
the fault of the people, the world would stop. In developing countries,
leaders coming to power through the modern institutions of electoral
democracy, soon revert to pre-modern mentality when faced with a
crisis.
Maharaja Ranjit
Singh — a visionary
by Prithipal Singh
Kapur
THE rise of Ranjit Singh in
the Punjab was a unique phenomenon. It can in no way be associated with
the decline of the Mughal Empire or consequential rise of the provincial
satraps in various regions of the Indian sub-continent. However,
some historians have attempted to make an odious comparison between Tipu
Sultan of Mysore and Ranjit Singh.
Modernisation of the
army
by Shiv Kumar Gupta
The Sikhs,
after passing through a series of vicissitudes, first established
themselves as a political power in the Punjab in 1765, when Jassa Singh
Ahluwalia captured the territory annexed by Ahmed Shah Abdali and struck a
coin in commemoration of this historic event. But the mode of fighting of
Sikhs then was desultory and hardly suited to the requirements of a
well-settled state. "The army of the Khalsa consisted of horsemen,
brave indeed, but ignorant of war as an art. Saddle was the home of the
Khalsa for several generations." According to Forster, "They were
armed with a matchlock and a sabre. Their method of fighting was queer
indeed."
Maharaja Ranjit
Singh’s Subjugation of
North Western Frontier
by Kirpal
Singh
Hari Singh Nalwa knew
how to match the Sikh hatred of Afghans. He set up a very strong
administration in the Peshawar valley. He levied a cess of Rs 4 per house
on the Yusafzais. This cess was to be collected in cash or in kind. For
its realisation, personal household property could be appropriated. There
was scarcely a village which was not burnt. In such an awe were his
visitations held that his name was used by mothers as a term of fright to
hush their unruly children.
Jewels and Relics
from Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Toshakhana
by Mohinder
Singh
AFTER consolidating his
victories and establishing an independent kingdom in Punjab, Maharaja
Ranjit Singh built a unique collection of jewels and relics. The world
famous Koh-i-Noor is the most precious in the category of jewels and the
Kalgee of Guru Gobind Singh in the category of
relics.
The king who refused
to sit on a throne
by Prabhjot
Singh
AFTER the tercentenary
celebrations of the Khalsa, it is now time for Punjab to plan the
festivities for the bicentenary celebrations of the coronation of Maharaja
Ranjit Singh, falling on April 12 this year. Against the lavish
celebrations of the Khalsa tercentenary, the fund-starved state
government has chalked out a plan to commemorate the occasion in a
befitting but economical manner.
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