Ranjit Singh’s Many Lives

Ranjit Singh: Maharaja of the Punjab By Khushwant Singh Penguin India Price: Rs 200

Somewhat conservatively Khushwant Singh titles him “Maharaja of Punjab” in his biography, but quite undoubtedly he remains the most charismatic and powerful Indian ruler of his time. A kingdom extending from the Sutlej to the Khyber Pass, and from Tibet to deepdown south Sindh, with a sphere of influence right up to Herat on the border with Iran. In foreign relations the grand-master of astute diplomacy, holding the British, the Marathas and the Gurkhas at bay, when he found that singlehanded he could not match their combined armed might. A king without equals, the first and the only one of the Indians to ever put a stop to the frequent invasions of a divided country ravaged by the hordes sweeping through the windswept passes of northwest Hindustan.

It is amply clear that Khushwant Singh has read and researched his Sikhs to some perfection, and produced an unbiased, truthful and ruthlessly frank history of the times when Ranjit ruled. He has ably profiled the mystique and style of the 5 feet 3 inches tall, smallpox-pitted, one-eyed Maharaja of the Sikhs who lost his kingdom to the British only because his successors and kin were nowhere near his mark in statesmanship or in rising above petty quibbles.

Ranjit is seen differently by different people. Emily Eden, the gifted painter and writer of her times, describes him as being ‘‘exactly like an old mouse, with grey whiskers and one eye’’. Alexander Burnes, on one of his visits to his court, recounts, ‘‘The most creditable trait in Ranjit’s character is his humanity; he has never been known to punish a criminal with death since his accession to power. Cunning and conciliation have been the two great weapons of his diplomacy.’’ Dr Joseph Wolff, the ‘‘English Fakeer’’, was highly impressed with ‘‘Randjud’s’’ liberal views on religion and the senselessness of making forcible conversions. Others speak of the Maharaja’s cynicism towards all religious systems.

Khushwant Singh succeeds in painting Ranjit as the man he really was. A full-blooded sardar with a lust for power, possession of horses and women, hard liquor and precious stones (his acquisition in the last category being the priceless Kohinoor). Interestingly, Khushwant Singh writes that as death approached Ranjit, he desired that the Kohinoor be presented to the temple of Jagganath at Puri, but his courtiers dissuaded him from doing so. Ranjit had many wives (Prince Dalip Singh in an interview in January 1889 had said, ‘‘I am the son of one of my father’s forty-six wives’’) and four of these ‘‘ranees’’ committed ‘‘sati’’.

This biography places centrestage the magnificence and might of the Punjab Raj, all engineered by a mission-oriented Maharaja who was able to knit the Sikhs, Hindus and Mussalmans into a cohesive and truly secular team, and thereby give sleepless nights to the British who had fully neutralised all the other opposition worth the name.

Khushwant Singh has retained the flavour and taste of those heady times when the Sikh cavalry galloped to victory on every battlefield they happened to traverse. With this classic work, he has brought alive yet another colourful chapter in Indian history.

—Himmat Singh Gill