Maharaja Ranjit Singh (Punjabi: ਮਹਾਰਾਜਾ ਰਣਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ) (born 13 November 1780) ruled 1799-20 June 1839; Capital city Lahore; was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.



Early life



Maharaja Ranjit Singh's family genealogy
Ranjit Singh was born in Gujranwala, modern-day Pakistan, into a Sikh family (according to some historians of Jatt Sikh[1] origin and others Sansi Sikh caste [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]) who were Sukerchakia misldars[11].The name of his mother was Mai Raj Kaur. Mai Raj Kaur was the daughter of the Sidhu Jat king of Jind and as such was definitely a Jat. She was also known by the name of ‘Mai Malwain’.Definitely, he belonged to Sikh clan of Northern India.[12][13] As a child he suffered from smallpox which resulted in the loss of one eye. 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 west Punjab based around his headquarters at Gujranwala. After his father's death he was raised under the protection of Sada Kaur of the Kanheya Misl.[14] Ranjit Singh succeeded his father at the age of 18.[15] After several campaigns, he conquered the other misls and created the Sikh Empire.
The Maharaja



Ranjit Singh's Empire
Ranjit Singh was crowned on 12 April 1801 (to coincide with Baisakhi). Sahib Singh Bedi, a descendant of Guru Nanak Dev, conducted the coronation [16]. Gujranwala served as his capital from 1799. In 1802 he shifted his capital to Lahore. Ranjit Singh rose to power in a very short period, from a leader of a single Sikh misl to finally becoming the Maharaja (Emperor) of Punjab.
He then spent the following years fighting the Afghans, driving them out of the Punjab. He also captured Pashtun territory including Peshawar (now referred to as North West Frontier Province and the Tribal Areas). This was the first time that Peshawari Pashtuns were ruled by Punjabis. He captured the province of Multan which encompassed the southern parts of Punjab, Peshawar (1818), Jammu and Kashmir (1819). Thus Ranjit Singh put an end to more than a thousand years of Muslim rule. He also conquered the hill states north of Anandpur Sahib, the largest of which was Kangra.
When the Foreign Minister of the Ranjit Singh's court , Fakir Azizuddin, met the British Governor-General of India, Lord Auckland, in Simla, Lord Auckland asked Fakir Azizuddin which of the Maharaja's eyes was missing, Azizuddin replied: "The Maharaja is like the sun and sun has only one eye. The splendor and luminosity of his single eye is so much that I have never dared to look at his other eye." The Governor General was so pleased with this reply that he gave his gold watch to Azizuddin.
Ranjit Singh's Empire was secular, none of the subjects were discriminated against on account of their religions.[17] The Maharaja never forced Sikhism on his subjects.
[edit]