Editing Ranjit Singh (section)

{{Short description|Maharaja of the Sikh Empire from 1801 to 1839}}
{{Other uses}}
{{for|the Indian television series|Maharaja Ranjit Singh (TV series)}}
{{Redirect|Sher-e-Punjab|the Indian hockey team|Sher-e-Punjab (field hockey team)|the radio station|KRPI|other uses|The Lion of Punjab (disambiguation)}}
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{{Cleanup rewrite|date=December 2024}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Ranjit Singh
| title        = Maharaja of Punjab<br />Maharaja of Lahore<br /> Sarkar-i-Wallah (Head of Government)<ref>[https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/hindi-english/%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B0#:~:text=%2Fsarak%C4%81ra%2F,are%20responsible%20for%20governing%20it. सरकार]. ''collinsdictionary.com''.</ref><br />[[Sarkar (surname)|Sarkar]] [[Khalsa]]ji<br />[[Singh]] [[Sahib]]<ref>A history of the Sikhs by Kushwant Singh, Volume I (p. 195)</ref>
| image        = Oval-shaped tondo portrait painting of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Lucknow, Awadh, ca.1810–20 (detail).jpg
| caption      = [[Company style|Company School]] portrait painting of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Lucknow, Awadh, ca.1810–20
| succession   = 1st [[List of monarchs of Punjab|Maharaja of Sikh Empire]]
| reign        = 12 April 1801 – 27 June 1839
| predecessor  = ''Position established''
| successor    = [[Kharak Singh]]
| cor-type     = Investiture
| coronation   = 12 April 1801 at [[Lahore Fort]]
| regent       = [[Khushal Singh Jamadar]] {{small|(1801 – 1818)}}<br>[[Dhian Singh|Dhian Singh Dogra]] {{small|(1818 – 1839)}}
| reg-type     = [[Vizier|Wazir]]
| succession1  = [[List of monarchs of Kashmir|Maharaja of Kashmir]]
| reign1       = 3 July 1819 – 27 June 1839
| regent1      = {{Collapsible list
| [[Moti Ram|Diwan Moti Ram]] {{small|(1819 – 1820; 1821 – 1826)}}
| [[Hari Singh Nalwa]] {{small|(1820 – 1821)}}
| Chuni Lal {{small|(1826 – 1827)}}
| [[Diwan Kirpa Ram]] {{small|(1827 – 1831)}}
| Bhama Singh Ardali {{small|(1831 – 1832)}}
| [[Sher Singh]] {{small|(1832 – 1834)}}
| Mihan Singh Kumedan {{small|(1834 – 1841)}}
| Shaikh Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din {{small|(1841 – 1846)}}
| [[Shaikh Imam-ud-Din]] {{small|(1846)}}}}
| reg-type1    = [[Governor]]
| predecessor1 = ''Position established''<br>([[Ali Shah Durrani|Ali Shah]] as the [[List of monarchs of Kashmir|Emir of Kashmir]])
| successor1   = Kharak Singh
| succession2  = [[Sukerchakia Misl#Leaders|Sardar of Sukerchakia Misl]]
| reign2       = 15 April 1792 – 11 April 1801
| predecessor2 = [[Maha Singh]]
| successor2   = ''Position abolished''
| dynasty      = [[Sikh empire]]
| birth_name   = Buddh Singh
| birth_date   = 13 November 1780<ref name="pta1">{{cite book|title=Studies in Contemporary Indian History&nbsp;– Punjab Through the Ages Volume 2|year=2007|publisher=Sarup & Sons, New Delhi|isbn=978-81-7625-738-1|page=2|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kxtEFA5qqR8C&q=ranjith%20singh&pg=PA2|author=S.R. Bakshi, Rashmi Pathak|editor=S.R. Bakshi, Rashmi Pathak<!--|access-date=2010-->|chapter=1-Political Condition}}</ref>
| birth_place  = [[Gujranwala]], [[Sukerchakia Misl]], [[Sikh Confederacy]] (present-day [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]], [[Pakistan]])
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1839|6|27|1780|11|13|df=y}}
| death_place  = [[Lahore]], [[Sikh Empire]] (present-day Punjab, Pakistan)
| burial_place = Cremated remains stored in the [[Samadhi of Ranjit Singh]], Lahore
| spouse       = [[Mehtab Kaur]]<br /> [[Datar Kaur]]  <br />
[[Jind Kaur]]<br />''[[#Wives|See list for others]]''
| issue        = [[Kharak Singh]]<br />[[Sher Singh]]<br />[[Duleep Singh]]
| issue-link   = #Personal life#Issues
| issue-pipe   = among others...
| house        = [[Sukerchakia]]
| father       = [[Maha Singh]]
| mother       = [[Raj Kaur]]
| signature    = Handprint signature and Gurmukhi script seal of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who was illiterate in the official Perso-Arabic script of his empire.jpg
| signature_type = Signature (handprint)
| religion     = [[Sikhism]]
}}

'''Ranjit Singh''' (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839) was the founder and first [[maharaja]] of the [[Sikh Empire]], in the northwest [[Indian subcontinent]], ruling from 1801 until his death in 1839.

Born to [[Maha Singh]], the leader of the [[Sukerchakia Misl|Sukerchakia]] [[Misl]], Ranjit Singh survived [[smallpox]] in infancy but lost [[Monocular vision#In human species|sight in his left eye]]. He fought his first battle alongside his father at the age of 10. After his father died around Ranjit's early teenage years, he became leader of the Misl. Ranjit was the most prominent of the Sikh leaders who opposed [[Zaman Shah Durrani|Zaman Shah]], the ruler of [[Durrani Empire]], during his third invasion. After Zaman Shah's retreat in 1799, he captured [[Lahore]] from the Sikh [[triumvirate]] which had been ruling it [[Sikh period in Lahore#Sikh triumvirate|since 1765]]. At the age of 21, he was formally crowned at Lahore.<ref name="eos-rs" /><ref name="Singh2008p9" />{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}<ref name="Grewal6">{{cite book|last=Grewal|first=J. S.|title=The Sikh empire (1799–1849)|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1990|series=The New Cambridge History of India|volume=The Sikhs of the Punjab|chapter=Chapter 6: The Sikh empire (1799–1849)|chapter-url=http://histories.cambridge.org/extract?id=chol9780521268844_CHOL9780521268844A008|access-date=11 August 2012|archive-date=16 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216043951/http://histories.cambridge.org/extract?id=chol9780521268844_CHOL9780521268844A008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Before his rise, the Punjab had been fragmented into a number of warring Sikh (known as [[misls|misl]]s), Muslim and Hindu states.{{sfn|Gupta|1991|loc= p. 22: "In 1799 between the Indus and the Satluj there were 68 territories quite independent of one another. They consisted of 25 Muslim states, 27 Hindu states and 16 Sikh states"}} A large part of Punjab was under the direct Durrani control.<ref>{{cite book |first=Hari Ram |last= Gupta|author-link=Hari Ram Gupta|url=https://archive.org/details/HistoryOfTheSikhsVol.VTheSikhLionOfLahoremaharajaRanjitSingh/page/n22/mode/2up?q=Sansar |title=The Sikh Lion of Lahore (Maharaja Ranjit Singh, 1799–1839) |date=1991 |publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal |isbn=978-8-121-50515-4 |series=History Of The Sikhs |volume=V |pages=22–23}}</ref><ref name="Singh2008p9"/> By 1813, Ranjit Singh had successfully annexed the Sikh misls and taken over the local kingdoms;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sarkar |first=Sir Jadunath |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qoRDAAAAYAAJ |title=Military History of India |date=1960 |publisher=Orient Longmans |isbn=978-0-86125-155-1 |pages=8 |language=en}}</ref> following decades saw the conquest of Durrani Afghan-ruled territories of [[siege of Multan (1818)|Multan]], [[Battle of Shopian|Kashmir]] and [[Capture of Peshawar (1834)|Peshawar]] into his expanding Sikh Empire. Ranjit Singh established friendly relations with the [[British East India Company|British]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Patwant Singh|title=Empire of the Sikhs: The Life and Times of Maharaja Ranjit Singh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vr4VAQAAIAAJ |year=2008|publisher=Peter Owen|isbn=978-0-7206-1323-0|pages=113–124}}</ref>

Ranjit Singh's reign introduced reforms, modernisation, investment in infrastructure and general prosperity.<ref name=tejasingh65/><ref name=kaushikroyp143/> His [[Sikh Khalsa Army|Khalsa army]] and government included [[Sikhs]], [[Hindus]], [[Muslims]] and [[Ethnic groups in Europe|Europeans]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Kaushik Roy|title=War, Culture and Society in Early Modern South Asia, 1740–1849|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zp0FbTniNaYC&pg=PA147 |year=2011|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-79087-4 |pages=143–147 }}</ref> His legacy includes a period of Sikh cultural and artistic renaissance, including the rebuilding of the [[Harmandir Sahib]] in [[Amritsar]] as well as other major [[gurudwaras|gurdwaras]], including [[Takht Sri Patna Sahib]], [[Bihar]] and [[Hazur Sahib Nanded]], [[Maharashtra]] under his sponsorship.<ref name=lafontp95/><ref>{{cite book|author=Kerry Brown|title=Sikh Art and Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ddgO-DldmSwC |year=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-63136-0 |page=35}}</ref> He also founded the [[Order of the Propitious Star of Punjab]] in [[1837]]. Ranjit Singh was succeeded by his son [[Kharak Singh]] after his death in 1839.