Ajit Weekly, The

Description

MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH: A HOMAGE BY DR. UPINDER FOTADAR One of the Indians whose impact on the history of the Indian sub-continent has been significantly marginilized is Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Clearly the British historians were partially censurable for this. While many Indians do have admiration for the spirit of adventure and intellect of some of the Britishers during their rule in parts of India , nevertheless, one must remember that the British were there in India mainly to further their interests. It is thus likely that the British may have made an effort to vitiate the achievements of this great Indian as any appreciation of Maharaja Ranjit Singh could have proven to be disastrous for the British during their colonial period in India . Hence, it is long over due that we Indians recognize and appreciate the contributions of this extraordinary Indian. Like many other things associated with the life of Maharaja Ranjit Singh the date and place of his birth are still a great controversy. Most historians, however, entertain the view that he was born on November 13, 1780 A.D. in Gujaranwala. His father Mahan Singh (a Jat-Sikh) was the chief of the Sukkarchakkia Misl (a Sikh confederacy) with headquarters in Gujranawala. Furthermore, Ranjit Singh was baptized into battle at an extremely young age of 12 years. It so happened that Mahan Singh had laid seize to the fort of Sodrun where Sahib Singh Bhangi of Gujrat had taken refuge after refusing to pay tribute to the Sukkarchakkias. During this seize Mahan Singh was taken ill with chronic dysentery so he handed over the command to his son and he (Mahan Singh) returned to Gujranawala. Subsequently the Bhangi Sardars of Lahore taking advantage of the situation rushed to the relief of Sodrun. Amazingly this boy (Ranjit Singh) cleverly ambushed and defeated the Bhangis. Unfortunately on his return to Gujranwala Ranjit Singh heard that his father Mahan Singh had already passed away. Consequently this lad who spent most of his time hunting was forced to take over the responsibilities of his Misl. Moreover, marriage in 1796 A.D. to Mahatab Kaur who was the daughter of Sada Kaur the leader of the powerful Kanhaya Misl and subsequent marriage to Raj Kaur of the Nakkai Misl enabled Ranjit Singh to gain the loyalty of other powerful Misls. Ranjit Singh who was an extremely ambitious person was now equipped to fulfill his dream of expanding his kingdom. While Ranjit Singh still faced challenges from other Sikh Misls, however, the greatest challenge to his expansionist ambitions were the Afghans. It must be mentioned that during that period and the period prior to that period dynasties originating from Afghanistan had started making inroads into parts of India . As is well documented that a Buddhist influenced Afghanistan was not able to survive the onslaught of Arab armies for long. Moreover, gradually by the the 10th century A.D. the religion, culture and even to some degree the ethnicity of Afghanistan had started to change as colonies of Arabs settled in Afghanistan. After the Islamization of Afghanistan invaders from Afghanistan frequently pillaged India .

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