Remembering MahaRaja Ranjit Singh
Today is the 231st birth anniversary of Ranjit Singh, first MahaRaja of the Sikh Empire in north India. He was born on 13th November in 1780 at Gujranwala (now in Pakistan) and had his first taste of battle when he was barely ten! At the time of his birth, much of the land in the region of five rivers was split amongst various Sikh confederates (misl). There was no central authority, no dominant misl and little coordination amongst the various confederates.  By the time he was in his late teens,  the foundations of the Sikh Empire were laid.
On his 21st birthday, Ranjit Singh was crowned a MahaRaja of the Sarkar Khalsa. Yet, he had little respite from wars and campaigns through much of his life. In the ensuing years, he fought the Afghans, recaptured Peshawar, gained control of Multan and subsequently Jammu & Kashmir. By the time of his death, the region that had suffered the brunt of invading armies over centuries, finally found peace.
The expansion of his kingdom in the north & west (Kashmir, Sind Sagar Doab, Pothohar and trans-Indus regions right up to the foothills of the Sulaiman and Hindu Kush mountains) was followed by Multan and consolidated by making deep inroads into Pashtun territory, marked by numerous battles with the Afghan (including at least four major wars in 1813, 1823, 1834 and in 1837). By 1837,  the empire extended to the Khyber Pass in the west, to Kashmir in the north, to Sindh in the south, and Tibet in the east [link].
Amongst the most notable of his campaigns were the conquest of Lahore (read an account of it here) and his wars with the Afghan (chronicled here). The Afghan Wars were brutal and prolonged and it is during these years that MahaRaja Ranjit Singh proved himself to be not just an inspiring general but also a master strategist. Here is a map of the extent of the Empire at its peak.
Images: Map and Portrait, both via Wikipedia
Sadly, the Sarkar-i-Khalsa did not last very long. After his death, internal dissensions, political mismanagement and a series of wars led to its disintegration in a bare decade. By 1849, the region had been split into a few princely states and the province of Punjab. Over the next few decades, it was gradually drawn into the British Empire. The Sikh Empire unfortunately did not survive the death of Sher-e-Punjab.
Most of you would know that MahaRaja Ranjit Singh is also associated with the story of Koh-i-noor, the famed diamond (read the story here). It had come into Ranjit Singh’s possession via Shah Shuja (who had received it from Ahmed Shah Abdali who in turn had got it fro Nadir Shah). But how many of you knew that he had willed the Koh-i-noor to the Jagannath Temple in Orissa? Unfortunately, the will was never executed. In 1849, the British finally got control of Lahore and along with it the treasures of the Sarkar Khalsa.  Amongst them was the Koh-i-noor – which was surrendered to the Queen of England – in whose control, it remains till date.
Somewhat related post: Remembering Guru Tegh Bahadur-ji, Part I and Part II
In response to a question raised on the fb page re. the donation of Koh-i-noor by MahaRaja Ranajit Singh to Shri Jagannath Puri Dham, I dug up the following information.
The connections between Sikhism, Sikh Gurus and Shri Jagannath Puri Dham stretch back to centuries...(I was not aware of the extent & depth of these)…Here is more information and background (emphasis added):
and
P.S. I see this as one more example of the underlying cultural unity of India…It reminds me of the note I wrote on the occasion of Onam on the facebook page: I learnt today that Mahabali carried out his Ashwamedha Yagyam near the banks of river Narmada(!)…another pointer to the cultural unity and civilisational unity of India
Another point that had impressed me about Maharaja Ranjit Singh was this excerpt from the wikipedia article on him, that
“Guru Nanak undertook four Udasis i.e. long journeys, in four different directions. The first one was of longest duration and the destination was Jagan Nath Puri. This destination was carefully chosen. Puri was one of the four Dhams established by Shankracharya in 7th century, and later on it had become the prominent centre of Vampanthis.”
“P.S. I see this as one more example of the underlying cultural unity of India…It reminds me of the note I wrote on the occasion of Onam on the facebook page: ….…another pointer to the cultural unity and civilisational unity of India”
Guru Nanak visited Sree PadmanabhaSwami temple too.(http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/m.d.-nalapat-on-kerala-padmanabhaswamy-temple-treasure/1/144102.html)
“Bhagat Jaidev’s hymns, which he composed in his well known composition Gita Govinda at Puri, are also incorporated in the Guru Granth Sahib. Puri, therefore, has a place of pride in the mind of the Sikhs.”
Bhagat Jaidev must be Jayadeva (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayadeva)
It is interesting to note that in temples of Kerala, Gita Govindam compositions are sung as a part of daily rituals. ( see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sopana_Sangeetham ;
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=zB4n3MVozbUC&pg=PA1417&lpg=PA1417&dq=gita+govinda+in+kerala+temples&source=bl&ots=OB_UZ0Wt_Z&sig=slbxH3MCiyPt8MJv8gnKrtIZ3bY&hl=en&ei=U7_ATuHdBYmnrAfQkLCoBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false )
Amazing!…Thanks Sandeep for the links and for sharing this…
Somewhat related to this post is this thread by @MumukshuSavitri: https://twitter.com/MumukshuSavitri/status/1402601613928263686
It has some interesting nuggets such as
“…Did you know India was the source of all the world’s known diamonds, until the discovery of diamonds in Brazil in 1726.”
“…In Chanakya’s Arthashastra the Superintendent of treasury was an expert of “Ratna Pariksha” to test the quality of gems like diamonds. The fame of India’s invaluable diamonds lured greedy invaders from Central Asia, Arabia & Europe.”
“Ancient Indian knowledge of diamonds was so advanced that there was a separate class of professionals called “Mandalins”, or diamond experts. These artisans were the first to use diamond tipped tools to cut & polish diamonds as there is no other material as hard as diamond.”
“…Andhra Kakatiya king Prataparudra and queen Rudramadevi owned this massive diamond which was 793 carats when it was uncut . It adorned the Gyan Chakshu (Third eye) of their Kul Devi Goddess Bhadrakali in her temple….”
“…Aurangzeb was not happy with its shine & got a lapidary to shape it. But in the process the weight was reduced to 186 carats from 793 carats. Aurangzeb, who had heard of the misery of his predecessors possessing it, cleverly gave it to the Badshahi Mosque.”