Maharaja Ranjit Singh History | Biography, Secularism
Early Life
Maharaja Ranjit Singh was born in the year 1780 on 13 November in Gujarat and that place is now located in Pakistan. His family was nomadic, At that time many Sikhs were ruling Punjab and they later split into a faction called Misle.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s father was also a military commander, he was posted in Gujranwala, Pakistan. And after some time he had also captured a small part of West Punjab.
He had a disease called smallpox since childhood, due to which he could not even see properly. Ranjit Singh’s mother’s name was Raj Kaur and she also belonged to a royal family, she was affectionately called Malwan.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh lost his father at the age of 12 and was later brought up by his mother. When he was 18 years old, he was appointed Misaldar of Sukarchakia Michel.
Courageous Warrior
Due to the bravery of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, he was also called the Lion of Punjab. Because he was a ruler as well as a brave soldier.
At that time the Sikhs were divided into different groups, after which Maharaja Ranjit Singh conducted many campaigns and united all the Sikhs. And because of his campaigns, the people and the rivals of Ranjit Singh accepted him as their ruler. His name was Ranjit Singh but in the year 1801, he assumed the title of Maharaja. And at that time his capital used to be Lahore which is now in Pakistan.
Amritsar was taken over by Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the year 1802, and after that, he stopped the practice of non-secular style in Amritsar. It’s said that he was a secular ruler who looked at all Sikhs as well as Hindus and Muslims with the same respect and honor.
He removed many such laws on Muslims parrot Hindus which were imposed by some Hindu and Muslim rulers. And apart from this he also implemented the law system in Amritsar.
Secularism
Perhaps you do not know that Maharaja Ranjit Singh was the first Asian ruler to modernize his army. He was a true Sikh, yet he respected Muslims and Hindus a lot and never stopped them from celebrating their festivals. He respected other religions as well as his own religion.
Like Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar, Maharaja Ranjit Singh had appointed people of many other religions to high positions in his time. And this was also one of the reasons that his respect had increased more in the minds of the people.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s foreign minister’s name was Fakir Azizuddin and he was a Muslim. It was Fakir Azizuddin who spoke to Oakland doctors about Ranjit Singh’s eyes. Besides that, he was also a physician.
Azizuddin told Oakland’s doctors that Maharaja Ranjit Singh had been suffering from smallpox since childhood due to which he could not see. Ranjit Singh could not see completely with one eye.
Although there was a time when he was suffering from smallpox but he was able to see very accurately.
The governor of Shimla was so pleased with him that he once gifted a gold watch to Ranjit Singh. And the reason for his happiness was Ranjit Singh’s secularism because he looked at all the people from the same point of view. He never discriminated against anyone in the name of caste or religion.
He was an open-minded person, he respected almost every tradition. And the people of Khalsa were also happy with him.
As many times the Muslim rulers used to pay attention to the conversion of religion, Ranjit Singh never tried to convert anyone’s religion unlike them. If he wanted so he could get people to convert to Sikhism. Although he used to celebrate Punjabi customs together with people of other religions.
At that time, there used to be two Muslim poets who lived in Punjab, they mentioned in their book that Maharaja Ranjit Singh was a brave soldier and spread his empire to the border of China including Ladakh, Multan, and Kashmir
The name of that poet was Shah Mohammad and he wrote in his book that Ranjit Singh had ruled peacefully for 50 years. Although Shah Muhammad was also a person in the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. And Saha Muhammad’s ancestors belonged to Afghanistan and Turkey.
Army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh
Ranjit Singh had formed a powerful army that contributed a lot to the development of the Sikh Empire. He did not inherit this empire, but based on his mighty army, he had formed a peaceful empire. He had many modern weapons which he used to exchange with horses.
He was the first ruler of Asia to use modern European weapons in his army. Those weapons were so modern that they were able to stop the Japanese army. And all these weapons were with his army, but the soldiers of the army could not use these weapons of their own free will.
His army also had a guerrilla warfare system which was in a good condition in the 18th century. Although it’s said that she could not protect the state in changing times. Because when the British were attacking Indians at that time, they were easily defeating the Indians. While the number of Indian Army was also more than the British army
At that time, the infantry also had artillery which was very important from the point of view of war. He had borrowed some cannon from the East India Company to conduct the examination.
He had sent some of his men to Ludhiana to get information about the British army.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh Death
Maharaja Ranjit Singh died in the year eighteen ninety-nine, after which the learned empire was over. However, after that his son was declared successor, His tomb is in Lahore city of Pakistan.
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