Sikh Empire

Ranjit Singh, Maharaja (1780 - 1839 AD), native Indian ruler, was born on 2 November 1780, son of Sirdar Mahan Singh, who succeeded him in 1792 as leader of Sukarchakia branch of Sikh Confederation. At birth he was just one of many Sikh barons and owed his rapid rise to full power, character and commitment. At the age of seventeen he took reins of government. He is said to have poisoned his mother, although it is more likely that he merely imprisoned her to keep her out of his way. At the age of twenty he from Zaman Shah, King of Afghanistan, a grant of Lahore, which he took by force of arms in 1799. Then he attacked and annexed Amritsar in 1802, thus becoming master of the two Sikhs capitals. When Jaswant Rao Holkar sought refuge in the Punjab in 1805, Ranjit Singh made a treaty with the British, except Holkar from his territory. Shortly after the acute problems arose between him and the British as to the Cis-Satledschs part of Punjab. It was Ranjit Singh's ambition is to weld the whole Punjab in a single Sikh empire, while the British claimed the territory south of Satledsch by right-clicking on the conquest of Mahrattas. The difference was almost to the point of the war, but at the last minute Ranjit Singh gave way, and for the future of faith-fully fulfilled its commitments with the British, whose growing power he was clever enough to measure. In 1808 Charles Metcalfe was sent to resolve this issue with Ranjit Singh and a treaty was concluded in Amritsar on the 15th april 1809th At this time a band of Sikh fanatics called "akalis attack" Sir Charles Metcalfe's escort, and the tension that disciplined Sepoy beat them, so impressed the Maharaja that he decided to alter the strength of his army from cavalry to infantry.

He organized a strong force that was trained by French and Italian officers as generals Ventura, Allard and Avitabile, and thus created the formidable fighting instrument Khalsa Army, who later gave the British their toughest matches in India in the two Sikh wars. In 1810 he captured Multan after many beatings and a long siege, and in 182o was consolidated throughout the Punjab between the Indus Satledsch and during his reign. In 1823 the city and province of Peshawar became tributary to him. In 1833, when Shah Shuja, flying from Afghanistan, took refuge at his court, he took him from the Koh-i-or diamond, which subsequently came into possession of the British Crown. Although he disapproved of Lord Auckland's policy to replace Shah Shuja of Dost Mahomed, he loyally supported the British in their advance on Afghanistan. Known as "The Lion of Punjab," Ranjit Singh died of paralysis at 27 jun 1839th In his private Ranjit Singh was selfish, greedy, drunken and immoral, but he was a genius for command and was the only man Sikh ever produced strong enough to bind them together. His military genius showed itself not so much in the generalship which to pursue its plans, the selection of his generals and his ministers, the tenacity of his purpose and reason of his conviction. The British were the one power in India, which was too strong for him, and once he realized that he indeed was steadfast and loyal to its commitments with them. His power was military aristocracy based on the personal qualities of its founder, and after his death Sikh Confederation gradually crumbled and fell to pieces through sheer lack of leadership and rule of Sikhs in Punjab gone quite as quickly as it incurred the hostility of the British.