Maharaja Ranjit Singh Who Ruled His People's Hearts
By K. K. Khullar
During my visit to Pakistan in 1983 I was pleasantly surprised to find that the people there regarded Ranjit Singh as "their" king in whose reign Punjab regained its lost glory. The guide at Lahore Fort described Ranjit Singh as the bravest and the most benevolent king of the 19th century. He said that the Punjab peasantry still remembered the king in whose rule the strong were just and the weak secure. A book entitled "The Real Ranjit Singh" by a Pakistani historian, Syed Fakeer Waheeduddin, the great grandson of Fakeer Azizuddin, Maharaja's Foreign Minister, brings out the secular character of the Maharaja giving very intimate facts based on family records and archives. According to the book the Maharaja is fondly remembered by one and all, not only by people who once lived there but also by those who still reside there. Even during his conquests he was regarded more as a liberator than a conqueror as at Peshawar, Multan or Kashmir. Wherever the soldiers of Ranjit Singh went they were treated as friends, not foes. Maharaja's standing orders to his armies were that during their movement, no religious place, no religious book, no place of learning, no standing crop was to be destroyed and no woman dishonoured.
Capital punishment was abolished. "Never was so large an empire built with so little criminality", says Princep. The Maharaja is not known to have taken anybody's life although his own life was attempted at more than once. His special care for the 'Kisan' (farmer) and the 'Jawan' (soldier) made Punjab a very livable place. The result was that people from Delhi, UP and Rajasthan came and settled in Punjab. George Keene, a very keen observer of the Punjab scene, states: "In hundreds and in thousands the orderly crowds stream on. Not a bough is broken of a wayside tree, not a rude remark to a woman". Writing sixty years after the Maharaja's death, Griffin said: " His name is a household word in the province. His portrait is preserved in the castle and in the cottage alike." Jacquemont, the French botanist who came from Paris to Punjab in search of roses and who met the Maharaja, said, "His conversation is a nightmare. He passes from one subject to another with the speed of a tornado. He remembers by heart the names of all the villages of his empire, the village heads, the cash crops, the flora and the fauna." He was a modern mind unfettered by nationalities, religion and faiths, an internationalist who looked much beyond his frontiers.
The French visitor called Ranjit Singh "the first inquisitive Indian" who completely identified himself with the joys and sorrows of his people. Magnanimous to the fallen foe and generous to the injured and the insulted, Ranjit Singh was the last Indian king in whose reign the common man felt real freedom. The repartee and the freedom of speech that existed in the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh could be the envy of any parliamentary forum.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh was one of those rare rulers who remained humane even on the battlefield. He possessed an informal yet a disciplined mind, with a hilarious yet an equable temperament, humorous yet not given to levity. A man of unusual presence of mind and exceptional balance, he could surprise even the wittiest Westerner. When Dr. Joseph Wolffe asked the Punjab ruler
 Ranjit Singh with his sons. Collection: Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh
what was the easiest way to reach God, the shrewd king replied: "By immediately concluding an alliance with the East India Company!" His retorts were gentle, his humour pungent. A son of the soil, his humour was an integral part of the Punjabi character. Like all Punjabis he loved the banter and burlesque, yet suffered no fools.
When his Muslim wife formerly a courtesan, asked him where he was when the God Almighty was distributing beauty, the Maharaja twinkled his only eye and said: "I had gone in search of a kingdom." And what a great kingdom he established. During his 40-year rule there was not a single communal riot in his kingdom, no forced conversion, no second-class citizenry, no disrespect to a shrine or a mosque. On the other hand he donated several mounds of gold for the Vishwanath Temple at Benares and Saraswati Mandir at Kurukshetra. He gave liberal grants to mosques and the Madarsas (Muslim schools). He was a far-sighted man who made many Punjabis learn English. He established the first printing press in Gurmukhi (Punjabi language script) at Lahore. He respected talent and asked the Punjabi traders to go abroad and trade with other nations. He thus freed Punjab from the slavery of eight centuries, brought peace and prosperity to the land of five rivers. The ravaged fields smiled once again, Punjab once again became the cherished "golden sparrow".
Maharaja Ranjit Singh had a tender heart. He released the young cub, which he had caged with care. Asked why he said: "The lioness, the cub's mother, had been crying and wailing throughout the night. I could not bear the cries of a mother." Nobody could shoot a sailing swan or hurt a singing nightingale. With the onset of Monsoon he would order a 102-gun salute to the rising moon. No king anywhere had done it before or ever since.
The Indian Prince of Hyderabad, the Nizam, extended his hand of friendship to him and sent enormous gifts. The Kings of Nepal, Burma, the Czar of Russia and the Emperor of France wanted their embassies to be established at Lahore. When Fakeer Azizuddin, Maharaja's emissary, was asked by Lord Auckland at Simla which of the Maharaja's eyes was missing", he replied: "The Maharaja is like the Sun. Sun has only one eye. The splendour and the luminosity of his single eye is so much that I have never dared to look at the other eye!" Lord Auckland was so pleased with the reply that he gave his wristwatch to Maharaja's emissary as a present.
No wonder that when he fell seriously ill in the summer of 1839 there were continuous prayers, non-stop recitations in the temples, the mosques and the Gurudwaras for the recovery of their own 'Badshah' (King).
On 27th June, 1839, he breathed his last. He died 159 years ago. But he is still the ruler of the mind of Punjab, nay the whole of India.
The author, a historian, is a freelance writer.
Source: India Perspective
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.
Destined by nature...
Runjeet Singh
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.
|
|
|
