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Biography of Ranjit Singh, Maharaja of the Punjab, 1780-1839.
The definitive biography of Ranjit Singh, contemporary of Napoleon and one of the most powerful and charismatic Indian rulers of his ageRanjit Singh has been largely written out of accounts of the subcontinent's past by recent Western historians, yet he had an impact that lasts to this day. He unified the warring chiefdoms of the Punjab into an extraordinary northern Empire of the Sikhs, built up a formidable modern army, kept the British in check to the south of his realm, and closed the Khyber Pass through which plunderers had for centuries poured into India. Unique among empire builders, he was humane and just, gave employment to defeated foes, honored religious faiths other than his own, and included Hindus and Muslims among his ministers. In person he was a colorful character whose his court was renowned for its splendor; he had 20 wives, kept a regiment of "Amazons," and possessed a stable of thousands of horses. The authors make use of a variety of eyewitness accounts from Indian and European sources, from reports of Maratha spies at the Lahore Durbar to British parliamentary papers and travel accounts. The story includes the range of the maharaja's military achievements and ends with an account of the controversial period of the Anglo-Sikh Wars following his death, which saw the fall of his empire while in the hands of his successors.
Study on the political, military, and economic achievements of Ranjit Singh, Maharaja of Punjab, 1780-1839.
In 1801, at the age of just 20 years old, Ranjit Singh became the Maharaja of the Punjab Empire and subsequently became one of the greatest figures in the history of India. He was a fiercely brave leader, capturing the city of Lahore before becoming Maharaja and overcoming a variety of challenges during his 40-year rule, such as harsh terrain, an ethnically and religiously diverse population and strong aggressors including the British and the Afghans. Despite such challenges, Ranjit Singh was able to unite Punjab's various factions yet rule a nation that was strictly secular; the Maharaja was benevolent to his subjects no matter their ethnicity or religion and sought to promote interfaith unity through policies of equality and non-discrimination. Aside from building his own nation, Ranjit built solid strategic relations with his most challenging aggressor - the British. Through stamina and political will, he managed to establish a formal treaty between the two and secured from 1809 Britain's protection against third party attempts to conquer the Punjab. Following Ranjit Singh's death in 1839, the Empire fell into decline. Just six years later, the Punjabis attacked the British, and in 1845 they were beaten and forced to sign the Treaty of Lahore, essentially conceding control to the British.Ranjit Singh's personal characteristics and leadership skills were what held the Punjab nation together in a tumultuous period in history. Mohamed Sheikh's new account of Singh's life illustrates these characteristics and skills and illuminates the man who singlehandedly created and sustained the Empire.
The Classic Biography Of One Of India&Rsquo;S Greatest Rulers Ranjit Singh Was In Every Way As Remarkable A Man As His Contemporaries, Napoleon And Mohammed Ali. From The Status Of Petty Chieftain He Rose To Become The Most Powerful Indian Ruler Of His Time. His Empire Extended From Tibet To The Deserts Of Sindh And From The Khyber Pass To The Sutlej. His Army Was One Of The Most Powerful Of The Time In Asia And Was The First Indian Force In A Thousand Years To Stem The Tides Of Invasion From The North-West Frontiers Of Hindustan. This Is The First Detailed Biography Of The First And Only Sikh Ruler Of The Punjab By A Sikh Writer Who Has Devoted Many Years Of His Life To Research On Sikh History. In This Classic Work Khushwant Singh Presents Ranjit Singh As He Really Was. Based On Persian, Punjabi And English Sources And Drawing Upon The Diaries And Accounts Of European Travellers Like Moorcroft, Sir Alexander Burne, Masson, Fane And Emily Eden, This Is A Memorable Account Of The Pageantry And Brilliance Of The Sikh Kingdom At The Height Of Its Power, And A Lively Portrait Of One Of The Most Colourful Characters In Indian History. &Nbsp;
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Contributed articles.
Though the history of Sikh-Muslim relations is fraught with conflict, this book examines how the policies of Sikh rulers attempted to avoid religious bigotry and prejudice at a time when Muslims were treated as third-class citizens. Focusing on the socio-economic, political and religious condition of Muslims under Sikh rule in the Punjab during the 19th century, this book demonstrates that Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his successors took a secular approach towards their subjects. Using various archival sources, including the Fakir Khana Family archives and the Punjab Archives, the author argues citizens had freedom to practice their religion, with equal access to employment, education and justice.
Arguing that intellectual movements, such as deconstruction, postsecular theory, and political theology, have different implications for cultures and societies that live with the debilitating effects of past imperialisms, Arvind Mandair unsettles the politics of knowledge construction in which the category of "religion" continues to be central. Through a case study of Sikhism, he launches an extended critique of religion as a cultural universal. At the same time, he presents a portrait of how certain aspects of Sikh tradition were reinvented as "religion" during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. India's imperial elite subtly recast Sikh tradition as a sui generis religion, which robbed its teachings of their political force. In turn, Sikhs began to define themselves as a "nation" and a "world religion" that was separate from, but parallel to, the rise of the Indian state and global Hinduism. Rather than investigate these processes in isolation from Europe, Mandair shifts the focus closer to the political history of ideas, thereby recovering part of Europe's repressed colonial memory. Mandair rethinks the intersection of religion and the secular in discourses such as history of religions, postcolonial theory, and recent continental philosophy. Though seemingly unconnected, these discourses are shown to be linked to a philosophy of "generalized translation" that emerged as a key conceptual matrix in the colonial encounter between India and the West. In this riveting study, Mandair demonstrates how this philosophy of translation continues to influence the repetitions of religion and identity politics in the lives of South Asians, and the way the academy, state, and media have analyzed such phenomena.