An Approach To Indian History -Prof. Kittu Reddy

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Ranjit Singh

Ranjit Singh was born on the 13th November, 1780. Unlike Shivaji, he spent his early life amidst uninspiring surroundings. He was but a boy of ten when his father died in 1790; he was then the head of only a small confederacy with a little territory and very limited military resources.

The invasions of India by Zaman Shah of Kabul, during 1793-1798 exercised a decisive influence on his career. He was appointed governor of Lahore in 1798 and that marked the beginning of an astonishingly successful military career. Ranjit Singh threw off the Afghan yoke soon and taking advantage of the differences among the chiefs of the Sutlej area, he gradually absorbed them into his kingdom. The rapid successes of Ranjit Singh made his intervention in the affairs of states of Punjab inevitable. Quarrels among the local Sikh chiefs, and an appeal for his help by some of them, gave him the pretext for undertaking expeditions and occupying Ludhiana. In 1813 he captured Attock after defeating the Afghans and a few years later he captured Multan, Kashmir and Peshawar. By 1824 the largest part of the Indus valley was included within Ranjit's dominions.  In 1834 the city of Peshawar came firmly under the control of  Ranjit Singh. But the English restrained his further ambitions with regard to the Afghans. The kingdom of Sindh also felt the impact of Ranjit Singh; but here too the English checked him. However, Ranjit Singh succeeded in establishing a kingdom large in extent and rich in fame, before he died on the 27th of June 1839, at the age of fifty-nine. 

Ranjit Singh is one of the most important personalities in the history of modern India. Though his physical appearance was not particularly handsome and an attack of smallpox deprived him of sight in the left eye, he had delightful manners and address and inspiring features. He attributed every success in his life to the favour of God, and he styled himself and his people collectively the 'Khalsa or Commonwealth of Govind.'  He was a born ruler of men, and he effected the marvelous transformation of the warring Sikh states into a compact national monarchy.

Ranjit Singh fully realized the need of a strong army for the task, which he had set before himself, and so radically, changed the feudal armies of the Sikh chiefs into a strong and efficient national army. The initiative for army reform came from Ranjit Singh himself and the bulk of his army was formed by the Sikhs. He was assisted in this work by European officers of various nationalities, some of whom had experience of Napoleonic wars; his army was a national army and he maintained a strict control over it. It is said that his artillery was very efficient.

In the history of the Punjab, no man has excited the imagination of the people as much as Ranjit Singh. He was of medium stature and dark-brown complexion. Despite his unprepossessing appearance, his face was animated and full of expression. Though of slight stature and spare frame, Ranjit Singh was wiry, as if made of whipcord. He was a superb horseman and, since horses were the ruling passion of his life he often spent as much as ten hours of the day in the saddle. He was a man of courage who led his men in battle and faced danger without concern for his own life. This quality earned for him the title, "Lion of the Punjab."

Ranjit Singh did not receive any education, and remained unlettered to the last. But he respected men of learning and, like the illiterate Akbar, made up the deficiency by seeking the company of scholars and satisfied his craving for knowledge by badgering them with questions. In this way Ranjit Singh became acquainted with the affairs of the world, and acquired a speaking knowledge of Persian, in which language Durbar records were kept. He had the same capacity for work as he had for enjoying life. When the feasts were over and the dancers' bells silent, he retired to his bedchamber and spent many hours dictating his correspondence to relays of scribes who were always in attendance.

Ranjit Singh had the virtues of the Punjabi character. He was simple in his habits, utterly warm and generous towards people he liked. Although he became a king, he did not lose the common touch or sympathy with the peasant folk from whom he had sprung.
He also had the peasant's shrewdness and cunning, and once his suspicion was aroused he considered no trick unfair to outwit his adversary. But he never held a grudge for long. He forgave people who had wronged him and rehabilitated enemies he had vanquished. He hated inflicting punishment: never in his entire life did he sentence a man to death - not even a fanatic who tried to assassinate him.

The factor, which contributed most to Ranjit Singh’s success, was his respect for other faiths. He was a devout Sikh and spent an hour or more every afternoon listening to the reading of the Adi Granth. But his devotion to Sikhism did not prevent him from being open to Brahmanical thought and from worshipping at Hindu temples. He equally respected the Islamic faith and strongly resented the anti-Muslim prejudices of some groups. 

Ranjit Singh summed up his own achievements in the following words: "My kingdom is a great kingdom; it was small, it is now large; it was scattered, broken and divided; it is now consolidated: it must increase in prosperity, and descend undivided to my posterity.  By counsel and providence, combined with valour, I have conquered; and by generosity, discipline and policy, I have regulated and consolidated my government. I have rewarded the bold, and encouraged merit wherever it was to be found: on the field of battle, I exalted the valiant; with my troops I have shared all dangers, all fatigues. Both in the field and in the cabinet I shut partiality from my soul, and closed my eyes to personal comfort; with the robe of empire, I put on the mantle of care; I fed faquirs and holy men, and gained their prayers; the guilty as the innocent I spared; and those whose hands were raised against myself have met with clemency; Sri Purakhji has therefore been merciful to his servant, and increased his power, so that his territory now extends to the borders of China and the limits of the Afghans, with all Multan, and the rich possessions beyond the Sutlej.

 

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