We all know about Maharajah Ranjit Singh, his son Maharajah Kharak Singh and his grandson Maharajah Nau Nihal Singh and their three grand ‘samadhis’ together just opposite the Lahore Fort. The question is what about the ‘samadhis’ of their maharanis?

There was a time, just 200 years ago, when the Ravi flowed around the walled city and at Mori Darwaza turned south and flowed past the mound that later was to house the District Courts. It headed along Sanda Road and joined the main river, where a boat bridge joined the two banks. No bridge existed then. Our interest is to the south of the mound where a beautiful huge Royal Garden once existed. Within this garden were placed the three ‘Samadhis’ of the three Maharanis of the Punjab. In Lahore’s history they have a special place.

Much later during British rule the district courts came about, followed in the Royal Garden by the Dayanand Anglo Vedic (DAV) College, in June 1886, which was renamed in 1947 as Islamia College Civil Lines. Within this college exist these three Royal Samadhis. Just who were these three Maharanis? The first to die was Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s second and youngest wife, Datar Kaur of the Nakai Misl. Ranjit Singh lovingly called her ‘Mai Nakain’. The word Nakai comes from the Punjabi word ‘nakka’ meaning border or edge or even a check post.

The territory over which the Nakai Misl ruled was between the Ravi and Chenab south-west of Lahore. The Nakai were primarily Sandhu Jats and their famed warriors were instrumental in defeating the invading Afghans. The former Punjab Chief Minister Arif Nakai was also of royal lineage, as is his son.

The marriage of Ranjit Singh and Datar Kaur was the first political alliance of the Sukarchakia Misl and the Nakai Misl. It was his second marriage, with the first being to Mehtab Kaur of the Kanhaiya Misl. On her marriage Mai Nikain was a mere 11 years old and Ranjit Singh was 17 years of age when they married in 1798. Sadly, his first wife Mehtab bore her husband a grudge as Ranjit Singh’s father had killed her father in battle, leading to her not talking to him. But his second marriage was a lovely love affair that he cherished.

The name Datar Kaur was changed because Ranjit’s mother had a similar name. Hence he lovingly called her Mai Nakain. She was exceptionally intelligent and assisted him in affairs of State, and bore him his first son, who was to take over from his father as Maharajah Kharak Singh. How she died remains a mystery, but in ‘Umdat-e-Tawarikh’ by Sohan Lal Suri (Daftar II) it is stated that both the Maharajah and Mai Nakain returned from a hunting trip to Sheikhupura and both fell ill. She died on the 20thof June, 1838 while Ranjit recovered.

The Samadhi site was chosen by the maharajah himself and so Suri claims for the first time he cried and wanted the finest for his love and wife. Hence in this Royal Garden the ashes of the beautiful Mai Nakain were placed, with the Maharajah wanting the Sikh ruling Maharanis to have their samadhis there too. So it was that the first Sikh ruling Maharani had a beautiful resting place built in the reign of Maharajah Ranjit Singh.

The second Maharani to find a resting place in this royal garden was Sahib Kaur, the wife of Maharajah Nau Nehal Singh, the firebrand grandson of Ranjit Singh. The story of Sahib Kaur is filled with treachery and needs a brief narration. Maharajah Ranjit Singh died on 27thof June 1839, and his son Kharak Singh became the Maharajah of the Punjab. In the first week of October 1839 Maharajah Kharak Singh was overthrown by his son Nau Nihal Singh assisted by the Prime Minister Dhian Singh Dogra. Hence Nau Nihal Singh was proclaimed the serving maharajah.

The duo then managed to kill Kharak Singh on the 5thof November 1840 by slow poisoning. After his cremation outside the Lahore Fort, as the young Nau Nihal Singh walked towards the Lahore Fort he passed under Hazuri Bagh Gateway when it suddenly collapsed on him. The mystery of the Hazuri Bagh Gateway collapse still remains a mystery. Many think the English engineered it for they saw a formidable military leader in the young Nau Nihal. The mystery further deepens for according to Dr Honigberger in his book ‘30 Years in the East’ he was alive but bleeding when dragged inside the fort by Dhian Singh. Dr Honigberger claims that it was Dhian Singh who killed him. Events proved that it was a conspiracy of Sher Singh and Dhian Singh to claim the throne of the Punjab.

But the wife of Kharak Singh, the Maharani Chand Kaur, was one fiery maharani who on the mysterious death of her son Nau Nihal Singh refused to hand over the reins of power outside the direct royal family. She claimed that her daughter-in-law Sahib Kaur was expecting a son, hence the direct lineage of Maharajah Ranjit Singh was very much there.

Again a new mystery followed. Though most narratives do not deal with this mystery, Dr Honigberger claims that as a doctor he was always suspicious of the manner of the miscarriage of the baby boy of Sahib Kaur. We know that Kharak Singh had been slow-poisoned by the staff appointed by Dhian Singh, all of them from Jammu. The maids looking after the expecting mother reported that the maharani was slowly losing her ‘colour’ as he wrote. In 1841 suddenly Sahib Kaur died. Hence the second maharani to reach the Royal Garden was Maharajah Nau Nihal Singh’s lovely wife. Honigberger’s analysis was that “this was a strange mysterious development”.

With the direct male lineage of Maharajah Ranjit Singh eliminated, we see Kharak Singh’s wife Maharani Chand Kaur claim her role as a maharani. She was always suspicious of Sher Singh and his secret alliance with Dhian Singh Dogra. She lived alone now in the famous Haveli of Nau Nihal Singh, which is located inside Mori Gate and today houses the Victoria School for Girls. The battle for power then saw a twist as the lonely Sahib Kaur was forced into virtual imprisonment.

Then one day Maharani Chand Kaur, the wife of Maharajah Kharak Singh and mother of Maharajah Nau Nihal Singh, was thrown off the second floor balcony on the 11thof June, 1842. Dr Honigberger and Sohan Suri both claimed that she was dead before being thrown over. One maid was quickly killed while two others rushed away to Jammu, never to be seen again. As she was a direct lineage maharani she was cremated and her ashes placed in the third ‘samadhi’ next to that of Maharani Nakain and Maharani Sahib Kaur.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2021