INTRODUCTION
'Sher E Punjab' or maharaja Ranjit Singh was founder of Sikh rule in Punjab, was born on 13 November 1780 AD at Gujranwala. Parents of Ranjit Singh, Mahan Singh Sukerchakia and Raj Kaur belong toSukerchakia misl estates and his father was chief of misls. Birth name of Ranjit Singh was Buddh singh. At the age of 12 he became the ruler of Sukerchakia misls upon his father's death. Ranjit Singh died on 27 June 1839 at the age of 58 in Lahore. His Samadhi is in Lahore, Pakistan.
CONQUEST OF RANJIT SINGH
- CONQUEST OF LAHORE : The first biggest achievement of Ranjit was the conquest of Lahore. After Zaman Shah went back to Kabul, Bhangi chief captured Lahor and imposed tyrannical rule, opposing to which the people of Lahore sent a secret invitation to Ranjit Singh to conquer Lahore. In 1799 Ranjit Singh with Rani Sada Kaur attacked the city and occupied Lahore. It enhanced the prestige of Ranjit Singh and it became the provincial capital of his empire. A coalition was set against Ranjit Singh, but he won the battle without fighting and became undisputed ruler of Lahore.
- OCCUPATION OF OTHER MISLS'S TERRITORIES : Ranjit Singh adopted a two fold policy against rival misls, he fought war with weak and made strong ones friends either by alliance or by marital relations. He made an alliance with Sada Kaur, his mother in law. He conquered the territory of Jalandhar from Budh Singh. He invaded jammu and kashmir where hevwas gifted Kohinoor diamond.
In 1815 he occupied territories of Ramgarhia misls and in 1821 he occupied territories of Sada Kaur.
- CIS SUTLEJ AREA : Ranjit Singh established a powerful empire in Trans sutlej area and wanted to conquer the cis sutlej area but due to the treaty of Amritsar he had to crush his dream of annexation of this area.
- OTHER CONQUEST :
- He conquered territories from Rajput chiefs. He conquered Multan in 1818 from Nawab Muzzafar khan.
- From Jahandad khan he conquered Attock in 1814.
- In 1819 he conquered Kashmir and in 1833 Ladakh was added to his kingdom.
- Peshawar and Jamrud were conquered in 1834.
Ranjit Singh's military conquests were not only territorial but also economic, he took control of all the trade routes and also consolidated his power by annexing the territories of other Punjab chieftains who opposed him.
In 1839, he died and his empire was inherited by his son, Maharaja Duleep Singh, who was not able to maintain the empire and it was eventually annexed by the British in 1849.
CONCLUSION :
Sher E Punjab or Ranjit Singh built the first powerfully independent sikh empire. Above conquest added prestige to Ranjit Singh and entitled him as Maharajah. For the first Indian marched up to khyber pass and established full fledged rule.
BOOK REFERENCE ( CLICK TO BUY )
The Sikhs of the Punjab: 03 (The New Cambridge History of India)