One authoritative answer to those who insist that Ranjit Singh’s military victories were only made possible by European officers is given by J.D. Cunningham, himself a British army officer and assistant to the British political agent at the Sikh frontier in 1837: ‘It has been usual to attribute the superiority of the Sikh army to the labours of these two officers [Generals Allard and Ventura] and of their subsequent coadjutors, the Generals Court and Avitabile; but, in truth, the Sikh owes his excellence as a soldier to his own hardihood of character, to that spirit of adaptation which has distinguished every new people and to that feeling of a common interest and destiny implanted in him by his great teachers.’2
No one better understood the need for adaptation, commitment and practical wisdom for achieving military goals than Ranjit Singh. He not only displayed these qualities personally, motivating soldiers to battle determined to win or die in the attempt, but he chose generals who themselves became legends in their lifetime. His generals took pride in proving to the enemy that they were no ordinary men, that they belonged to the army of the Khalsa. And to set the example he would very often lead them into battle himself. He proved in more ways than one that a good leader of men must also be a good judge of men. While we have seen him as soldier, statesman, humanist and liberal, it is time to look at another side of him – as a leader who knew how to pick men who would help him achieve his aims in the many armed struggles he knew he would be involved in all his life and also men who would help him administer his expanding empire.
It should be noted at this point that while most of the men Ranjit Singh chose served him well during his lifetime, some betrayed his successors and the Sikh empire after his death, notoriously the two Dogras and two Brahmins Gulab Singh, Dhian Singh, Tej Singh and Lal Singh. For the British historian Lepel Griffin ‘there are, perhaps, no characters in Punjab history more repulsive than Rajas Dhian Singh and Gulab Singh’, and he writes of their ‘atrocious cruelty, their treachery, their avarice, and their unscrupulous ambition’.3 But, vile as they were, these men served Ranjit Singh well while he lived and showed their true colours only after his death. Their actions are described in the last chapter of this book; they are mentioned here in order to illustrate that while Ranjit Singh had no difficulty in getting the most perfidious men to do his bidding he did not provide for the possibility that some might ill-serve his legacy after his death, and in this lapse he has to share some of the responsibility for the fall of the Sikh empire.
Hari Singh Nalwa, Ranjit’s stalwart in Kashmir, is only one of some forty-seven generals acclaimed for ‘sealing his victories with their blood’. In stark contrast to the prevalent tendency in India to favour men of one’s own faith, caste or class, Ranjit Singh showed no such bias in the choice of these men. He looked for merit and rewarded it with high rank and respect. So it is no surprise that the Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and Christian generals who earned the empire distinction through their military victories also helped strengthen the secular traditions of the Sikh state. Many biographers have been unable or unwilling to acknowledge this quality of Ranjit Singh’s.
Ranjit Singh proceeded in exactly the same way in selecting his cabinet of ministers. There was no discrimination whatsoever, and in fact it was the Sikhs who held the least number of posts in his cabinet.
What stands out in the different stages of Ranjit Singh’s life is how he was able to interact with people of different religions and races. He used diplomacy and treaties to deal with the British but bargained and warred with the Afghans. He was at ease with both, just as he was at home either in the saddle riding fifty miles a day or at a grand Durbar held in honour of some dignitary. Military genius, empire-builder, ladies’ man – all this would have been of no account had he lacked the ability to consolidate his empire and keep it stable. This he managed to do for forty years through just administration – no mean feat for an uneducated school drop-out. ‘Governing’, writes Sir Lepel Griffin, ‘is an art which may no doubt be brilliantly practised without special training by some men of exceptional genius.’4
The young Ranjit Singh as a misldar had a small body of people to help him administer his misl. Its affairs were looked after by Diwan Lakpat Rai, who was in charge of a treasury-keeper or toshania, an accountant or munim and a few clerks or munshis. Ranjit Singh allocated the portfolios of civil and military affairs, revenue collection and expenditure to himself. After he became Maharaja he built up his administrative department, which at one time consisted of fifteen different offices of state.
Lahore was the headquarters of the Sarkar Khalsa or central government. Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s system of governance reflected his own strong personality and secular beliefs. He was the supreme head of the government, and his orders were obeyed implicitly. All matters and decisions were referred to him – military, civil or judicial. Everyone, including the army, diwans, generals, governors, foreign travellers, princes, treasurers, down to messengers, reported directly to him. The power and authority of the Sikh empire rested solely with Ranjit Singh.
The administration, in its developed form, was divided into different daftars or offices of state, such as: Daftari-i-Toshakhana, Treasury; Daftari-i-Abwab-ul-Mal, Land Revenue; Daftari-i-Darogha, Excise and Octroi; Daftar-i-Roznamcha, Accounts and Audits; Daftari-i-Mohar Yani, Royal State Seals and Commissions; and so on. The names given to these departments were in Persian, and accounts, documents and records were also kept in Persian. Maharaja Ranjit Singh chose each office-bearer very carefully, focusing only on the man’s ability, character and loyalty. Religious beliefs, caste or station in life mattered little.
Ranjit Singh had a tremendous capacity for remembering financial facts and figures but he also appointed key people to look after them. Bhawani Das of Peshawar, who was earlier Diwan to Shah Shuja, joined Ranjit Singh’s administration in 1808. He looked after land revenues, incomes and expenditure and laid down the basis for their systemization. Ganga Ram, a Kashmiri Pandit, arrived at the Lahore Durbar in 1817 and further developed Bhawani Das’s system. His grandson Dina Nath had worked in the revenue section from 1811, so when Ganga Ram died in 1826 Dina Nath took over his post and that of the keeper of the Royal Seal. The seal Akal Sahai (‘With God’s help’) Ranjit Singh was affixed to all documents approved by the Maharaja; without the seal none was valid. For each seal affixed the Keeper of the Seal charged a sum which was deposited in the Treasury. Dina Nath was far-sighted, intelligent and well educated and proved to be hard-working and loyal. He was styled ‘the Talleyrand of the Punjab … He hated the English with a bitter hatred, for they were stronger than he or his country.’5
Dina Nath became finance minister in 1834, following which the department was divided into sections with separate officers dealing with revenue from customs, transit duties, tributes, gifts, forfeitures, registration fees and so on. There was a special cash keeper who looked after government funds. These included the central treasury funds, army funding and building expenses. Another section maintained records on the Durbar’s daily purchases, robes of honour, rewards, charity, grants of land (jagirs), entertainment and the royal kitchen.
Having gained Ranjit Singh’s trust and confidence over the years as his chamberlain, Dhian Singh Dogra was made Wazir or prime minister. In 1828 he was given the title of Raja Kalan (most senior Raja). Osborne describes him in 1838 as ‘a noble specimen of the human race’ and a ‘deserving candidate for the throne of the Punjab on Runjeet’s decease’6 – and yet the extent of the treachery of this man then, who advised Ranjit Singh on all matters of state and through whom all important papers went to the Maharaja, was to be breathtaking.
Jamadar Khushal Singh held the post of royal chamberlain or Deorhiwala from 1811 to roughly 1826. A Brahmin from Meerut, he came to Lahore in 1807 to seek his fortune. Through friends at court he was put on guard duty at the palace. The story goes that Ranjit Singh, out in disguise one night, returned to find himself stopped at the gates and kept in the watch house till the morning. The Ma
haraja, pleased with Khushal Singh’s sense of duty and soldierly bearing, promoted him to his personal attendant. Khushal Singh grew rich and powerful, and in 1831 he was sent to help Kanwar Sher Singh govern Kashmir. In 1833, despite a severe famine, he brought back large sums of money as revenue. Ranjit Singh was not pleased and ordered thousands of sacks of wheat and provisions to be sent to Kashmir for the starving people, to be distributed from mosques and temples, and he had soldiers from four regiments give out flour, blankets and money.
Fakir Aziz-ud-din, the eldest of the Fakir brothers, entered Ranjit Singh’s service as early as 1799. Starting off as physician to the young ruler and then serving in the army, he was over time rewarded with jagirs by a grateful Maharaja as he went from victory to victory. Ranjit Singh trusted him implicitly, sending him on various important expeditions and campaigns: Gujrat in 1810, Attock in 1831, as envoy to the Bahawalpur Court in 1819, Phillaur in 1826, Peshawar in 1835. A fine-looking, pleasant, well-mannered, good-humoured and unassuming figure, a skilful negotiator and diplomat – he played a major part in the signing of the Sutlej Treaty in 1809 – who spoke Persian beautifully, he became foreign minister. He was personally in charge of all dealings with the Afghans, British and other Europeans, as well as the cis-Sutlej states. In April 1831 he accompanied Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa and Diwan Moti Ram to Simla for a meeting with Governor-General Lord Bentinck. During this mission an English officer asked Fakir Aziz-ud-din in which eye the Maharaja was blind. He replied: ‘The splendour of his face is such that I have never been able to look close enough to discover.’7 No wonder he was a popular figure not only with foreigners but with the Lahore Durbar as well.
The first treasurer was a Brahmin, Basti Ram; when he died in 1816 his grand-nephew Beli Ram, who had been his assistant, succeeded him at the age of nineteen. The treasurer was also a keeper of records; all treaties, royal firmans or orders, documents and important correspondence were under his supervision. He was in charge of the royal wardrobe and regalia as well.
The Toshakhana or treasury housed, apart from silver and gold bullion, the rarest of jewels, pearls, gold and silver, carved and chased saddles, howdahs, dishes and plate. All the rarities collected by Ranjit Singh were kept here, including the Koh-i-noor and Guru Gobind Singh’s kalgi. His personal treasury in Lahore Fort, the Moti Masjid, had three keys to its gate, one of which was held by the treasurer, one by the commander of the fort and one by the thanedar or keeper. Captain William Murray, political agent at Ambala, reported in the 1830s that the wealth of Ranjit Singh stored at the Gobind-Gurh Fort Treasury at Amritsar was valued at around 10 crore rupees or £10 million.
Ranjit Singh divided Punjab into eight major provinces, each under its own nizam or governor: Lahore, Jalandhar, Kangra, Multan, Jammu, Kashmir, Gujrat and Peshawar. These were subdivided into districts under a kardar or district administrator, whose appointment was sanctioned by the nizam with Ranjit Singh’s approval. The Mughal administrative system had been similar. There were 51 kardars in all in Punjab; their duties were to collect revenues, customs and excise duties and taxes and remit them in time. They also administered justice and settled disputes, developed cultivation and generally kept in touch with people and reported back. From 1826 to 1838 Charles Masson, an American, went around Punjab disguised as a beggar; he reported that the state under Ranjit Singh’s rule was better run and more prosperous than those parts of India under British administration.
Land revenue was the Lahore Durbar’s main source of income. The state took one-tenth to one-half of the produce in kind, not coin. The assessment depended on various factors: the condition of the soil, irrigation and nearness to the market-place. In the case of famines, floods or any other natural disasters, the state gave up its share of the crop. At such times free seed, cattle and money were also distributed to the affected areas.
Estimates of the amount of revenue generated in Punjab under Ranjit Singh vary between 25,000,000 and 32,500,000 rupees yearly. Captain William Murray in 1832 gave the annual revenue figure as 25,809,500 rupees, the break-up being land revenue and tributes 12,403,900 rupees, customs duties 1,900,600 rupees, jagirs 10,928,000 rupees and stamp duties and the sealing of papers 577,000 rupees. One report on the annual revenue generated from provinces under individual governors gave Multan under Diwan Sawan Mal 3,898,550 rupees, Kashmir under Colonel Mian Singh 3,675,000 rupees, Jullundur under Missr Rup Lal 1,872,902 rupees and Peshawar under M. Avitabile 1,834,738 rupees. There were eight salt mines in Punjab, which brought in an annual revenue of 463,675 rupees.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s system of justice worked efficiently and swiftly. The panchayat or local village body dealt with crimes, thefts, murders, disputes and in fact all civil or criminal misdemeanours. The victim or accused could appeal to the kardar if unsatisfied with the verdict or even file a written appeal to the Maharaja himself. Ranjit Singh would sometimes ask for reports on certain judgements. There was no capital punishment in the land. The criminal was either fined, gaoled or in some hard cases there was a loss of limbs, nose or ears.
Urban development flourished under Ranjit Singh’s rule, as did commerce, industry, arts and crafts (see Chapter 6). The major cities were quite well populated for those times. Lahore had a population of 75,000, Amritsar 60,000, Peshawar 55,000 and Multan 45,000. Even with the poor sanitation in these cities, outbreaks of cholera, typhus or plague were rare. Free dispensaries were set up in some towns, and at Lahore free medicine was available under Fakir Nur-ud-din’s supervision.
Ranjit Singh received weekly reports from every province of the kingdom. He often went on surprise visits to places where he thought things were not going as they should. Every day he would be available either at Lahore Fort or at his camp to listen to requests or complaints from the public. Through his long rule he managed to give his people a sense of security, prosperity, growth and, more than anything else, a sense of pride.
Ranjit Singh’s true stature becomes apparent in the game which was played out by Bentinck on London’s instructions on the banks of the Sutlej at the end of October 1831. While the governor-general’s brief was to gauge the extent to which Ranjit Singh would go along with Britain’s plans for the Indus, Ranjit Singh was far from ignorant about what they had in mind. His own intelligence network kept him informed through daily reports brought by special messengers about what went on every day in places as far away as Kabul, Sind, Kashmir and the cis-Sutlej territories under British protection. These reports, both of immediate and long-term interest, helped him further understand the significance of Britain’s increased activity in the Sind region and on the River Indus.
The first serious strain in Anglo-Sikh relations came more than twenty years after the signing of the Sutlej Treaty; the bone of contention was the vast landscape of Sind. The land derives its name from the River Sinde or Indus which flows through it. This region of nearly 58,000 square miles lies south-east of Baluchistan and south of Punjab. Bordered by the River Indus and the Thar Desert, it also has strategic importance since it overlooks the Arabian sea. The site of the Harappan city of Mohenjo Daro, dating from the third millennium BC, was discovered here about 180 miles northeast of Karachi soon after the First World War. Alexander the Great passed through Sind on his expedition to India in 325 BC. After the Macedonian period the region came under various Buddhist, Brahmin and Muslim kings before becoming part of the Mughal Empire when Emperor Akbar annexed it in 1583. As the Mughal dynasty weakened, Sind’s rulers changed, and finally it fell to the Amirs (Muslim chieftains) of Talpur.
THE TERRITORIES IN THE KINGDOM OF MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH
The Amirs invited the British to trade in woollen and other goods, and in 1758 the East India Company established a small settlement in Sind. Although trading ceased in 1775 owing to various problems, the Company’s efforts to renew the agreement continued and eventually succeeded in 1799, although at first the Amirs would not give permission for the building of a factory and the creation of a settlement. Eventually
, however, a factory was set up at Tatta and did well in trade with Multan and Lahore. On 22 August 1808 a formal treaty was signed between the Amirs of Sind and the British and renewed on 19 November 1820; one of its clauses stipulated that no Americans or continental Europeans would be allowed to trade in Sind. With trading rights and other settlements of theirs in the region very much on their minds, the British finally decided to prescribe limits to Ranjit Singh’s power.
At the same time Sikh appetites, too, had been whetted, for reasons of revenue and commerce, by the prospects of Sind’s conquest. To Ranjit Singh the logic of Sikh control of the region was clear: he had divested the Afghans of all the territories they had conquered in India, and so it was right that whatever tributaries they had left in it, like Sind, should also be under the Lahore Durbar.
The British saw otherwise. They had already sent Alexander Burnes to study the entire lie of the land, as also the potential for commercial navigation on the Indus. In his report Geographical and Military Memoirs Burnes, who was considered an ardent expansionist, was compellingly persuasive and is believed to have influenced the alliance between the British and the Amirs. One of the principal aims of this alliance, besides opening up Sind to the British and the Indus to British ships, was to check Sikh moves in the region.
Since the time he had signed the Sutlej Treaty in October 1809, the treaty had worked to Ranjit Singh’s advantage on a number of significant occasions, some of them noted in the previous chapter, and even though the British were now itching to prevent the extension of Sikh power along the Indus Ranjit Singh was well ahead of them and still calling the shots.
Empire of the Sikhs Page 13
