Maharaja Ranjeet Singh ruled over Punjab between 1798 and 1839. Rising from the position of the ruler of the small fiefdom of Gujranwala, at the age of 19 he got control of Lahore in 1798 from his co-religionists, the three jathaidars who had misruled the city for 30 years.
First, he overcame the strong Sindianwala rulers of Amritsar, and then the Bhangi rulers of Gujrat. By coercion, arm-twisting and diplomacy, he overcame small and big rulers of the lands between the rivers of Beas and Indus, from whom he would draw the heavy booty and annual tribute that filled the coffers of his treasury. Through diplomacy, he kept on the right side of the East-India Company whose territories extended eastwards from River Sutlej. He had entered into a treaty of friendship with the East-India Company, under which both the sides had pledged to honour each other’s territory. Such was the level of mutual respect that both Ranjeet Singh and Lord Auckland, the Governor-General, paid each other state visits.
At the time of his death in 1839, Ranjeet Singh’s territory stretched from the outer fringes of Tibet to the Sulaiman Range. He left behind a standing army of 80,000 soldiers, 300 field guns and huge stocks of ammunition stored in the mosques of Lahore. His treasury contained tremendous wealth, including the priceless Kohinoor diamond. But within six years of his death, the state collapsed due to infighting amongst his successors, and indiscipline in his once-mighty army. In quick successions, he was followed by two years of poor rule by Khharak Singh, then one day’s rule by his son, Naunihal Singh. Another son of Ranjeet Singh, by the name of Sher Singh, was made the new ruler.
But Khharak Singh’s widow, Chandar Kaur, declared herself the regent of the yet-to-be-born son of Naunihal Singh whose widow was not even in the family way. How cunning of Chandar Kaur! In September 1843, Sher Singh was killed along with his vizier, Raja Dhayyan Singh, whose son, Lehna Singh, attacked Lahore to avenge these murders. But Hira Singh was killed in a battle with Chandar Kaur’s troops near Shalamar. Another son of Ranjeet Singh, Kashmira Singh, was killed in a battle near Ferozepur. Complete chaos and anarchy persisted and the Sikh high lords were engaged in full-time killing and self-destruction. Under these events, another infant son of Ranjeet Singh, by the name of Daleep Singh, was made the new ruler.
Ranjeet Singh’s army had been a looting machine, which was kept restrained by prize money and awards by the Raja. To keep the army from excesses against the state, the rulers planned to divert its attention towards the superior power across the River Sutlej. So, an assembly of army commanders and rulers was arranged at which the army was made to believe that the East-India Company had taken over Khalsaji’s territories across the rivers of Sutlej and Beas, in complete disregard to the treaties with Ranjeet Singh. It took no time to infuriate the army, which made itself ready to avenge this “highhandedness.” The army commanders were persuaded to lead the campaign against the British and without thought, the strong Sikh army crossed the Sutlej on December 11, 1845.
Between December 1845 and February 1846, five severe battles took place between the Company forces and Sikh armies at Mudki, Bhero, Ludhiana, Aliwal and Sobro. Both sides fought ferociously. At the battle of Ludhiana, the Sikh army forced a retreat on General Smith. But he regrouped his units and clashed at Aliwal. At all the battles, the Khalsa Bahadur had to retreat, losing half their men in river crossings. A tragic and common pattern of these battles was the withdrawal of Sikh commanders from the fields at the height of battles, demoralizing their armies.
After the five battles, not much was left for the Sikh forces to fight for, against the Company troops. On February 15, 1846, the Governor-General, Lord Auckland, crossed the Sutlej at Gundhha Singh Wala, and camped at Qasur, where he was met by the Sikh courtiers who agreed to cede all Sikh territories along the Sutlej and the Beas, and also agreed to pay a ransom of Rs150 million. The British, however, let Daleep Singh rule Lahore under the eyes of a British Resident. These conditions were personally ceded to by the young Raja, who met Lord Auckland at his Kahna Kachha camp.
On February 20, 1846, the British forces, under Lord Harding, entered Lahore through the Delhi Gate. All the other gates of the Lahore Fort were manned by British soldiers. The Company set up a Regency Council at Lahore Darbar, consisting of four nobles (three Sikhs and one Muslim), and appointed a colonel as Resident to oversee the affairs of Daleep Singh’s court.
Chandar Kaur was banished to Naunihal Singh’s haveli inside the Lahori Gate where the Victoria School for Girls is now housed. When the British prepared to leave, they were approached to stay on till December 1846, as all the nobles and high-ups could not live under the terror of the remnants of the Sikh army. The British happily ceded to this request. A sum of Rs2.2 million was to be paid to the Company for the services of the British troops to maintain law and order in Lahore till December 1846. This arrangement, in fact, continued even after December 1846.
The closing chapter of Ranjeet Singh’s era was the defeat and destruction of the remnants of the Sikh armies at Jalianwala and Gujrat. Annoyed at the mutinous Sikh armies, and at the behest of the high lords of Daleep Singh’s darbar, the governor-general announced at a gathering of nobles at the Lahore Fort on March 29, 1849, the annexation of Sikh territories and the dethronement of Daleep Singh.
A British administration was set up at Lahore, and Daleep Singh was made a ward of the Calcutta government, with an annual pension of Rs4.5 lacs. Later, he was exiled to England where he was converted to Christianity.
What is left of Ranjeet Singh’s house now are the remains of his grand daughter, Lady Sunderland, who lies buried at the Christian graveyard at Jail Road, Lahore.
