CHAPTER VII.
SARDAR RANJIT SINGH.
Ranjit Singh's family history is much the same as that of other sardars who rose in the eighteenth century from the ranks of the Jats. His ancestors with their village occupations alternated freebooting, which the oppressed peasantry had to practise to supplement the precarious subsistence they got from the soil, the long-continued exactions of the Mahomedan conquerors having reduced all to a dead level of poverty. The saying among them was that nothing was left for them except what was actually in their mouths. About the middle of the seventeenth century one of his forefathers, a quiet industrious man, took to preaching the religion of Nanak in his village and neighbourhood north of Lahore. His dying injunction to his young son was to study the holy book and become a Sikh. This he did towards the end of the century at Amritsar, on attaining the age of discretion, the time when the baptism of the pahal is administered. He was not of the peaceful disposition of his father, for on returning home he associated himself with a band of cattle-lifters, and on Guru Govind Singh's appeal to the Sikhs he went south to the scene of action, became the leader of his band, and won the reputation of being the boldest and most resolute of the fraternity in capturing the enemy's herds and bringing them away north. Becoming thereby a man of importance and some wealth, he was elected headman of his village. When he died in 1716 his eldest son promoted himself in the profession and became a gentleman of the highway, which, compared with cattle-lifting, was considered more honourable and lucrative. He was notorious for boldness, and amassed what in those times was looked on as riches. He joined a misl at the time of the first Afghan invasion in 1748, which by plundering the baggage and stragglers of the army secured much booty for its members. A wound in action led to his death in 1752, when his son Charat Singh, grandfather of Ranjit Singh, succeeded to his patrimony of three ploughs and a well, representing about thirty acres of land. He separated himself from the misl his father had joined, formed an independent band of 150 horsemen, and became a noted freebooter and guerilla leader during the stormy times of the repeated Afghan invasions. He took forcible possession of some villages, united with another successful leader like himself, and formed a misl, of which he became the active chief, calling it after the name of his native village. He next captured a town held by the Government troops, killed the commander, and carried away much plunder and munitions of war, then built a fort as his stronghold, which was attacked by the Mahomedan Governor of Lahore, whom he defeated. His misl now became powerful, and its prestige attracted many recruits to his banner. On Ahmad Shah of Kabul retiring in 1767 after his final invasion, he followed him up, captured the fort of Rhotas and several Mahomedan towns, and occupied the country north of the Jhelum. He contributed much to the success of the Sikhs at this final struggle for ascendancy. When the dreaded Afghan king had gone the sardars took to fighting among themselves for power. His successes involved him in conflicts with rival misls, and he died in the field in 1774 while engaged in one of these contests. He left a large territory to his young son Maha Singh, then ten years old, whose mother assumed charge for him during his minority. Sikh ladies played an important part in the history of these warlike times. She ruled with vigour and diplomacy until her son, at the age of fifteen, cut his leading-strings and took the field at the head of his misl, to follow in his father's victorious steps. He extended his influence and possessions by invading a powerful Mahomedan tribe on the Chenab, then defeated another confederacy, and routed and humbled many rival sardars, showing himself brave, enterprising, and prudent beyond his years. Many influential independent chiefs joined him, attracted by his courage in action and military ability, qualities which were inherited by his son Ranjit Singh, who as a boy of twelve succeeded him at his death in 1792.
Ranjit Singh, the national hero of the Sikhs, was born in 1780, and at an early age was afflicted by virulent smallpox, which left him disfigured and with the loss of an eye. The one-eyed boy grew up short of stature, and as chief of a misl he seemed what might be called a "sport" among the stalwart Jats who surrounded him; but he early showed commanding spirit, ability, and military genius, which marked him as their superior in action, in intellect, diplomacy, and all the qualities which ensure success. When he first, as a boy of twelve, stood in his father's place everything was against him. He was beset by enemies, by doubtful friends, false allies, and open foes. No care had been bestowed on his education; the little he had was that of the camp, as he often accompanied his father in his expeditions. A regency composed of his mother and his father's minister ruled the confederacy in his name, but the guiding spirit in his interest was a Sikh lady to whose daughter he was affianced. She was one of the most artful and ambitious of her sex who ever figured in Sikh history, and became the ladder by which Ranjit Singh ascended to power: a masterful woman, the widow of a sardar—heir to a rival misl—killed while fighting against Maha Singh, she aimed, by bringing about a marriage alliance between her daughter and Ranjit Singh, to secure his support to her claims to the sardarship of the misl to which her husband would have succeeded. This she effected in a short time, and proved a valuable ally to her son-in-law. Under her counsel Ranjit Singh looked to alliances before he went to war. At the age of seventeen heredity asserted itself: he freed himself from the control of his guardians, and engaged in operations against the Mahomedan tribes and in defence of his mother-in-law's possessions, showing the marked ability of his bold father which had so impressed the sardars.
When the Shah of Kabul invaded the Punjab for the last time in 1798 he, to show his power, formed a coalition and proceeded to subdue distant tribes and exact tribute. He subsequently came in to pay his respects to the Shah, with the result, as has been related, of attracting his attention and gaining by diplomacy what he desired, the royal grant of the governorship of Lahore, which place he occupied in 1799, loyally aided by his astute mother-in-law. Firmly established there, he consolidated his possessions and made arrangements to secure his authority as governor of the capital. His success alarmed other misls, and a powerful coalition was formed in 1800 to wrest Lahore from him. He went out to meet the confederates, broke them up, seized the possessions of the most powerful, and defeated in detail his declared enemies in other parts of the country. A king had now appeared among the lions. Lahore was ever after left in his undisturbed possession. In the following year, 1801, he formally assumed the title of Maharaja, going through the Hindu equivalent of a coronation ceremony, proclaimed that he was now to be styled "Sarkar," signifying power and state, established a mint, and issued in token of sovereignty a coin in his name bearing the inscription, "Hospitality, the Sword, Victory, and Conquest unfailing from Guru Govind Singh to Nanak."
The Sikhs had now reached nationhood under an able king fully equipped with confidence and energy, who, by transforming the Khalsa into a territorial power, decided once and for all whether the Sikh or the Afghan was to rule the Punjab. Thus, after a hundred years of unflinching struggle, was fulfilled the prophecy of the martial Guru Govind Singh.