Sikh Empire

Sikhism began during the conquest of North India by Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire. His grandson, Akbar, supported religious freedom and after visiting the langar of Guru Amar Das got a favourable impression of Sikhism. As a result of his visit, he donated land to the langar and the Mughals did not have any conflict with Sikh gurus until his death in 1605.[14]

His successor Jahangir, saw the Sikhs as a political threat. He ordered Guru Arjun Dev, who had been arrested for supporting the rebellious Khusrau Mirza,[15] to change the passage about Islam in the Adi Granth. When the Guru refused, Jahangir ordered him to be put to death by torture.[16] Guru Arjan Dev's martyrdom led to the sixth Guru, Guru Hargobind, declaring Sikh sovereignty in the creation of the Akal Takht and the establishment of a fort to defend Amritsar.[17]

Jahangir attempted to assert authority over the Sikhs by jailing Guru Hargobind at Gwalior Fort, but released him after a number of years when he no longer felt threatened. The Sikh community did not have any further issues with the Mughal empire until the death of Jahangir in 1627. The succeeding son of Jahangir, Shah Jahan, took offence at Guru Hargobind's "sovereignty" and after a series of assaults on Amritsar forced the Sikhs to retreat to the Sivalik Hills.[17]

The next guru, Guru Har Rai, maintained the guruship in these hills by defeating local attempts to seize Sikh land and playing a neutral role in the power struggle between two of the sons of Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb and Dara Shikoh, for control of the Mughal Empire. The ninth Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur, moved the Sikh community to Anandpur and travelled extensively to visit and preach in defiance of Aurangzeb, who attempted to install Ram Rai as new guru. Guru Tegh Bahadur aided Kashmiri Pandits in avoiding conversion to Islam and was arrested by Aurangzeb. When offered a choice between conversion to Islam and death, he chose to die rather than compromise his principles and was executed.[18]

Guru Gobind Singh assumed the guruship in 1675 and to avoid battles with Sivalik Hill rajas moved the guruship to Paunta. There he built a large fort to protect the city and garrisoned an army to protect it. The growing power of the Sikh community alarmed the Sivalik Hill rajas, who attempted to attack the city, but Guru Gobind Singh's forces routed them at the Battle of Bhangani. He moved on to Anandpur and established the Khalsa, a collective army of baptised Sikhs, on 30 March 1699.[19]

The establishment of the Khalsa united the Sikh community against various Mughal-backed claimants to the guruship.[20] In 1701, a combined army of the Sivalik Hill rajas and the Mughals under Wazir Khan attacked Anandpur. The Khalsa retreated but regrouped to defeat the Mughals at the Battle of Muktsar. In 1707, Guru Gobind Singh accepted an invitation by Aurangzeb's successor Bahadur Shah I to meet him. The meeting took place at Agra on 23 July 1707.[19]

In August 1708, Guru Gobind Singh visited Nanded. There he met a Bairāgī recluse, Madho Das, who converted to Sikhism, rechristened as Banda Singh Bahadur.[19][21] A short time before his death, Guru Gobind Singh ordered him to reconquer Punjab region and gave him a letter that commanded all Sikhs to join him. After two years of gaining supporters, Banda Singh Bahadur initiated an agrarian uprising by breaking up the large estates of Zamindar families and distributing the land to the poor peasants who farmed the land.[22]

Banda Singh Bahadur started his rebellion with the defeat of Mughal armies at Samana and Sadhaura and the rebellion culminated in the defeat of Sirhind. During the rebellion, Banda Singh Bahadur made a point of destroying the cities in which Mughals had been cruel to the supporters of Guru Gobind Singh. He executed Wazir Khan in revenge for the deaths of Guru Gobind Singh's sons and Pir Budhu Shah after the Sikh victory at Sirhind.[23]

He ruled the territory between the Sutlej river and the Yamuna river, established a capital in the Himalayas at Lohgarh and struck coinage in the names of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh.[22] In 1716, his army was defeated by the Mughals after he attempted to defend his fort at Gurdas Nangal. He was captured along with 700 of his men and sent to Delhi, where they were all tortured and executed after refusing to convert to Islam.[24]

The period from 1716 to 1799 was a highly turbulent time politically and militarily in the Punjab region. This was caused by the overall decline of the Mughal empire[25] that left a power vacuum in the region that was eventually filled by the Sikhs of the Dal Khalsa, meaning "Khalsa army" or "Khalsa party". In the late 18th century, after defeating several invasions by the Afghan rulers of the Durrani Empire and their allies,[26] remnants of the Mughals and their administrators, the Mughal-allied Hindu hill-rajas of the Sivalik Hills,[27][28] and hostile local Muslims siding with other Muslim forces.[26] The Sikhs of the Dal Khalsa eventually formed their own independent Sikh administrative regions, Misls, derived from a Perso-Arabic term meaning 'similar', headed by Misldars. These Misls were united in large part by Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

The Cis-Sutlej states were a group of Sikh[29] states in the Punjab region lying between the Sutlej River to the north, the Himalayas to the east, the Yamuna River and Delhi district to the south, and Sirsa District to the west. The Cis-Sutlej states included Kalsia, Kaithal, Patiala State, Nabha State, Jind State, Thanesar, Maler Kotla, Ludhiana, Kapurthala State, Ambala, Ferozpur and Faridkot State, among others. These states fell under the suzerainty of the Scindhia, appointed by Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II as viceregent (Vakil-i-Mutlaq) of the Mughal empire,[30][31] after a brief Sikh-Maratha treaty in 1785 where according to the treaty, Scindhia would recognize the political supremacy of the Sikhs in the Punjab whereas the Sikhs would forbear from attacking the adjoining territories of Delhi.[32] Before the Second Anglo-Maratha War of 1803–1805, the Marathas lost all influence on the territory to the British East India Company.[33][34]

The Cis-Sutlej state was ruled by many chiefs though the region was under the Mughal Empire.[31] Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II's viceregent Afrasiyab was killed by Zain-ul-Abidin Khan on 2 November 1784, thus leaving no one to appoint as the next viceregent.[35] Thus Mughal Emperor appointed Mahadji Sindhia as viceregent (Vakil-i-Mutlaq) of the Mughal empire as Shah Alam II knew that Sindhia is the only one who would remain acquiescent to him and would be able to maintain peace and order in his kingdom.[36] The Maratha-Sikh treaty on 10 May 1785 made an establishment of the small Cis-Sutlej states, protected states of Scindia Dynasty,[37] on behalf of Mughals with Mahadji Scindia deputed the Vakil-i-Mutlaq (Regent of the Mughal empire) of Mughal affairs in 1784.[30][31] Therefore, Mahadji as newly appointed viceregent of the Mughal Emperor, tried to come to an agreement with the Cis-Sutlej chiefs and concluded a treaty on 10 May 1785.[38] According to the treaty, Mahadji would recognize the political supremacy of the Sikhs in the Punjab whereas the Sikhs would forbear from attacking the adjoining territories of Delhi.[32] Additionally, the chiefs would join Sindhia's army with at least 5,000 horses and in return would receive a land grant worth million rupees and the chiefs would not meddle in the affairs outside of their territory.[39][31] Additionally, it was agreed that any territories conquered through the joint alliance of Sikhs and the Marathas, the Sikhs would keep one-third of the territories and the enemies of both the parties would be considered mutual.[40] However the treaty fell apart as the chiefs did not observe the terms of the treaty.[38][41] In 1789, again a peaceful agreement was set in place where Sindhia legitamized the chiefs to collect tributes from the villages as the purpose behind Mahadji's policy was to win over the chiefs by friendship, but this policy too failed.[38]

After Mahadji's death in 1794, Daulat Rao was made his replacement, under whom the unstable conditions continued against the chiefs till the Second Anglo-Maratha War from 1803–1805, losing any influence over Cis-Sutlej state and parts of Uttar Pradesh, which he administered on behalf of the Mughal Emperor.[42][43]

Following the Second Anglo-Maratha War, in 1806, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington drafted a treaty granting independence to the Sikh clans east of the Sutlej River in exchange for their allegiance to the British General Gerard Lake acting on his dispatch.[44][45]

Ranjit Singh led three expeditions into Cis-Sutlej states in 1806, 1807 and 1808, seizing many territories, particularly 45 district subdivisions or administrative units (parganas) and then distributed them among different chiefs who would pay annual tributes of certain amount as recognition of Ranjit Singh's supremacy.[46] Ranjit Singh gave some territories of Cis-Sutlej to his mother in law Rani Sada Kaur and granted a good deal of villages to his general Dewan Mokham Chand.[46] In all 45 paraganas, Ranjit Singh assigned salaried agents to different territories who sustained some soldiers for internal administration to retrieve revenues from lands.[46] Some of the important vassal territories of Sikh empire were, Anandpur, Rupar, Himmatpur, Wadni, Harikepatan, Firozpur and Mamdot.[47]

On 9 February, 1809, David Ochterlony of the British East India company issued a proclamation declaring the Cis-Sutlej states to be under British protection which concluded with a treaty of friendship on 25 April 1809 between the British East India company and Ranjit Singh, emperor of the Sikh Empire, recognised the territories of 45 paraganas, north of the river Sutlej under the aegis of Ranjit Singh's Sikh Empire and in return Ranjit Singh recognised British protection to the Cis-Sutlej states. The river Sutlej became the boundary between Ranjit Singh's dominion and the British territory.[48]

Ranjit Singh possessed 45 Taluqas in the Cis-Sutlej states, wholly or in share with others on the British side of the river Sutlej.[46] On 29 July 1809, David Ochterlony recognized large territory along river Sutlej from Chamkaur to Harikepatan and Kot Kapura as directly under Ranjit Singh's control.[49] Dewan Mokham Chand, Ranjit Singh's commander was granted 102 villages in the tehsil of Dharamkot, Zira and Kot Kapura, which also belonged to Ranjit Singh.[49] Raja of Jind, maternal uncle of Ranjit Singh, was granted 90 villages in the paraganah of Ludhiana-Sirhind[49] Raja of Kapurthala, brother of Ranjit Singh, was awarded 106 villages in the tehsil of Talwandi and Naraingarh.[49] Other rewards as part of the treaty were, 38 villages secured to Raja Jaswant Singh of Nabha State, 32 villages in the tehsil of Baddowal secured to Gurdit Singh of Ladwa, 36 villages in the tehsil of Ghungrana secured to Karam Singh Nagia, 62 villages in the tehsil of Dharamkot granted to Garbha Singh of Bharatgarh, many number of villages granted to Jodh Singh of Kalsia, Basant Singh, Atar Singh, Jodh Singh of Bassia and Ranjit Singh's mother in law Sada Kaur was granted with Himmatpur-Wadni.[49] The recipients were granted the territories under the condition of submission to Ranjit Singh's supremacy.[50]

On 17 March 1828, Captain W. Murray prepared a list of 45 Taluqas in south of Satluj that belonged and were claimed by Ranjit Singh.[50] They were: Anandpur, Makhowal, Mattewala, Bajr, Goewal, Howab, Karesh, Sujarwala, Sohera, Sailbah, Khai, Muedkoh, Wazirpur, Kunki, Saholi, Basi, Bharog, Jagraon, Kot Isa Khan, Mahani, Khaspura, Molanwala, Naraingarh, Sadar Khan, Tohra, Mari, Machhiwara, Kotari, Puwa, Want, part of Kotlah, Kot Guru Har Sahe, Dharamkot, Rajwana, Fatahgarh, Kala Majri, Chuhar Chak, Dhilwan, Talwandi Sayyidan, Jhandianah, Buthor, Ranian, Baholpur, Bharatgarh, Chanelgarh, Lohangarh, Phillaur district, Firozpur, Nurpur, Khaira, Sohala, Todarpur, Tughal, part of Kotlah, Ghungrana, Rumanwala, Mamdot, Sanehwal, Rasulpur, Aitiana, Himmatpur, Pattoki, Wadni, Moga, Mohlan, Zira, Behekbodia, Bhagra, Hitawat, Jinwar, Kot Kapura, Muktsar, Kenoan, Singhanwala, Suhewaron, Chamkaur and Molwal.[50]

After the reign of Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, the Sikh Misls became divided and fought each other. A sort of 'Cold War' broke out with the Bhangi, Nakkai, Dalelwala and Ramgharia Misls verses Sukerchakia, Ahluwalia, Karor Singhia and Kaniyeha. The Shaheedan, Nishania and Singhpuria also allied but did not engage in warfare with the others and continued the Dal Khalsa.

The Phulkian Misl was excommunicated from the confederacy. Rani Sada Kaur of the Kanhaiya Misl rose in the vacuum and destroyed the power of the Bhangis. She later gave her throne to Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

The expanding Sikh Empire in 1809. The Cis-Sutlej states are visible south of the Sutlej River

The formal start of the Sikh Empire began with the unification of the Misls by 1801, creating a unified political state. All the Misl leaders, who were affiliated with the army, were the nobility with usually long and prestigious family backgrounds in Sikh history.[1]

The main geographical footprint of the empire was from the Punjab region to Khyber Pass in the west, to Kashmir in the north, Sindh in the south, and Tibet in the east.[51]

In 1799 Ranjit Singh moved the capital to Lahore from Gujranwala, where it had been established in 1763 by his grandfather, Charat Singh.[52]

Ranjit Singh annexed the Sial State, a local Muslim-ruled chieftaincy, after invading Jhang in 1807.[53] The basis for this annexation was that the local ruler of Jhang, Ahmad Khan Sial, was conspiring with Nawab Muzaffar Khan of Multan and had signed a secret treaty with the latter.[53]

Ranjit Singh holding court in 1838

Hari Singh Nalwa was Commander-in-Chief of the Sikh Khalsa Army from 1825 to 1837.[54] He is known for his role in the conquests of Kasur, Sialkot, Multan, Kashmir, Attock and Peshawar. Nalwa led the Sikh army in freeing Shah Shuja from Kashmir and secured the Koh-i-Nor diamond for Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He served as governor of Kashmir and Hazara and established a mint on behalf of the Sikh empire to facilitate revenue collection. His frontier policy of holding the Khyber Pass was later used by the British Raj. Nalwa was responsible for expanding the frontier of Sikh empire to the Indus River. At the time of his death, the western boundary of the Sikh Empire was the Khyber Pass.

The Namgyal dynasty of Ladakh paid regular annual tribute to the Sikh Empire starting 1819 until 1834.[55] The tribute was paid to the local Sikh governors of Kashmir.[55] The Namgyal kingdom would later be conquered by the Dogras, under the leadership of Zorawar Singh.[56]

The domain of the Maqpon kingdom of Baltistan, based in Skardu, under the rule of Ahmad Shah Maqpon, was conquered in 1839–40 and its local ruler was deposed.[56][57][58][59] The Dogras at this time were under the suzerainty of the Sikh Empire.[56]

During the Sino-Sikh War of 1841, the forces of the empire invaded the Tibetan Plateau, which was then under the control of the Qing dynasty.[60] However, this control was short-lived and the military of the empire was forced to retreat to Ladakh due to a counterattack by the Chinese and Tibetans.[60]

The Indian subcontinent in 1805.

The Sikh Empire spanned a total of over 200,000 sq mi (520,000 km²) at its zenith.[61][62][63] Another more conservative estimate puts its total surface area during its zenith at 100,436 sq mi (260,124 km sq).[64]

The following modern-day political divisions made up the historical Sikh Empire:

• Punjab region, to Mithankot in the south
  • Punjab, Pakistan, excluding Bahawalpur State
  • Punjab, India, excluding the Cis-Sutlej states
  • Himachal Pradesh, India, only the territories northwest of Sutlej river.
  • Jammu Division, Jammu and Kashmir, India and Pakistan (1808–1846)
• Kashmir, from 5 July 1819 to 15 March 1846, India/Pakistan/China[65][66]
  • Kashmir Valley, India from 1819 to 1846
  • Baltistan, from 1840 onwards[57][58][59]
  • Gilgit, Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, from 1842 to 1846
  • Ladakh, India 1834–1846[67][68][56]
• Khyber Pass, Afghanistan/Pakistan[69]
  • Peshawar, Pakistan[70] (taken in 1818, retaken in 1834)
  • Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan (documented from Hazara (taken in 1818, again in 1836) to Bannu)[71]
• Parts of Western Tibet,[72] China (briefly in 1841, to Taklakot),[73]

Jamrud District (Khyber Agency, Pakistan) was the westernmost limit of the Sikh Empire. The westward expansion was stopped in the Battle of Jamrud, in which the Afghans managed to kill the prominent Sikh general Hari Singh Nalwa in an offensive, though the Sikhs successfully held their position at their Jamrud fort. Ranjit Singh sent his General Sirdar Bahadur Gulab Singh Powind thereafter as reinforcement and he crushed the Pashtun rebellion harshly.[74] In 1838, Ranjit Singh with his troops marched into Kabul to take part in the victory parade along with the British after restoring Shah Shoja to the Afghan throne at Kabul.[75]

The Sikh Empire was idiosyncratic in that it allowed men from religions other than their own to rise to commanding positions of authority.[76]

The Fakir brothers were trusted personal advisors and assistants as well as close friends to Ranjit Singh,[77] particularly Fakir Azizuddin, who would serve in the positions of foreign minister of the empire and translator for the maharaja, and played important roles in such important events as the negotiations with the British, during which he convinced Ranjit Singh to maintain diplomatic ties with the British and not to go to war with them in 1808, as British troops were moved along the Sutlej in pursuance of the British policy of confining Ranjit Singh to the north of the river, and setting the Sutlej as the dividing boundary between the Sikh and British empires;[78] negotiating with Dost Muhammad Khan during his unsuccessful attempt to retake Peshawar,[78] and ensuring the succession of the throne during the Maharaja's last days in addition to caretaking after a stroke, as well as occasional military assignments throughout his career.[79] The Fakir brothers were introduced to the Maharaja when their father, Ghulam Muhiuddin, a physician, was summoned by him to treat an eye ailment soon after his capture of Lahore.[80]

The other Fakir brothers were Imamuddin, one of his principal administration officers, and Nuruddin, who served as home minister and personal physician, were also granted jagirs by the Maharaja.[81]

Every year, while at Amritsar, Ranjit Singh visited shrines of holy people of other faiths, including several Muslim saints, which did not offend even the most religious Sikhs of his administration.[82] As relayed by Fakir Nuruddin, orders were issued to treat people of all faith groups, occupations,[83] and social levels equally and in accordance with the doctrines of their faith, per the Shastras and the Quran, as well as local authorities like judges and panches (local elder councils),[84] as well as banning forcible possession of others' land or of inhabited houses to be demolished.[85] There were special courts for Muslims which ruled in accordance to Muslim law in personal matters,[86] and common courts preceded over by judicial officers which administered justice under the customary law of the districts and socio-ethnic groups, and were open to all who wanted to be governed by customary religious law, whether Hindu, Sikh, or Muslim.[86]

One of Ranjit Singh's first acts after the 1799 capture of Lahore was to revive the offices of the hereditary Qazis and Muftis which had been prevalent in Mughal times.[86] Kazi Nizamuddin was appointed to decide marital issues among Muslims, while Muftis Mohammad Shahpuri and Sadulla Chishti were entrusted with powers to draw up title-deeds relating to transfers of immovable property.[86] The old mohalladari system was reintroduced with each mahallah, or neighborhood subdivision, placed under the charge of one of its members. The office of Kotwal, or prefect of police, was conferred upon a Muslim, Imam Bakhsh.[86]

Generals were also drawn from a variety of communities, along with prominent Sikh generals like Hari Singh Nalwa, Fateh Singh Dullewalia, Nihal Singh Atariwala, Chattar Singh Attariwalla, and Fateh Singh Kalianwala; Hindu generals included Misr Diwan Chand and Dewan Mokham Chand Nayyar, his son, and his grandson; and Muslim generals included Ilahi Bakhsh and Mian Ghaus Khan; one general, Balbhadra Kunwar, was a Nepalese Gurkha, and European generals included Jean-Francois Allard, Jean-Baptiste Ventura, and Paolo Avitabile.[87] other notable generals of the Sikh Khalsa Army were Veer Singh Dhillon, Sham Singh Attariwala, Mahan Singh Mirpuri, and Zorawar Singh Kahluria, among others.

The appointment of key posts in public offices was based on merit and loyalty, regardless of the social group or religion of the appointees, both in and around the court, and in higher as well as lower posts. Key posts in the civil and military administration were held by members of communities from all over the empire and beyond, including Sikhs, Muslims, Khatris, Brahmins, Dogras, Rajputs, Pashtuns, Europeans, and Americans, among others,[88] and worked their way up the hierarchy to attain merit. Dhian Singh, the prime minister, was a Dogra, whose brothers Gulab Singh and Suchet Singh served in the high-ranking administrative and military posts, respectively.[88] Brahmins like finance minister Raja Dina Nath, Sahib Dyal, and others also served in financial capacities.[87]

Muslims in prominent positions included the Fakir brothers, Kazi Nizamuddin, and Mufti Muhammad Shah, among others. Among the top-ranking Muslim officers there were two ministers, one governor and several district officers; there were 41 high-ranking Muslim officers in the army, including two generals and several colonels,[87] and 92 Muslims were senior officers in the police, judiciary, legal department and supply and store departments.[87] In artillery, Muslims represented over 50% of the numbers while the cavalry had some 10% Muslims from among the troopers.[89]

Thus, the government was run by an elite corps drawn from many communities, giving the empire the character of a secular system of government, even when built on theocratic foundations.[90]

A ban on cow slaughter, which can be related to Hindu sentiments, was universally imposed in the Sarkar Khalsaji.[91][92] Ranjit Singh also donated large amounts of gold for the plating of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple's dome.[93][94]

The Sikhs attempted not to offend the prejudices of Muslims, noted Baron von Hügel, the Austrian botanist and explorer,[95] yet the Sikhs were described as harsh. In this regard, Masson's explanation is perhaps the most pertinent: "Though compared to the Afghans, the Sikhs were mild and exerted a protecting influence, yet no advantages could compensate to their Mohammedan subjects, the idea of subjection to infidels, and the prohibition to slay kine, and to repeat the azan, or 'summons to prayer'."[96] According to Chitralekha Zutshi and William Roe Polk, Sikh governors adopted policies that alienated the Muslim population such as the ban on cow slaughter and the azan (the Islamic call to prayer), the seizure of mosques as property of the state, and imposed ruinous taxes on Kashmiri Muslims causing a famine in 1832. In addition, begar (forced labour) was imposed by the Sikh administration to facilitate the supply of materials to the imperial army, a policy that was augmented by the successive Dogra rulers.[97][98][99] These policies led the Kashmiri Muslim population to emirgate en masse to more lenient neighboring countries, particularly Ladakh.[100] As a symbolic assertion of power, the Sikhs regularly desecrated Muslim places of worship, including closing of the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar and the conversion of the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore to an ammunition store and horse stable, but the empire still maintained Persian administrative institutions and court etiquette; the Sikh silver rupees were minted on the Mughal standard with Persian legends.[101][102]

In 1839, a major pogrom, called the Allahdad, targeting the local Jews of Mashhad in Qajar Persia had occurred.[103] A group of Persian Jewish refugees from Mashhad, escaping persecution back home in Qajar Persia, settled in the Sikh Empire around the year 1839.[103] Most of the Jewish families settled in Rawalpindi (specifically in the Babu Mohallah neighbourhood) and Peshawar.[104][105][106][107][103] Most of these Jews would leave for India during the partition of 1947.[108][103]

Christian missionaries had been active in the Punjab even prior to the dissolution of the empire in 1849.[109]

Detail from ‘Darbar (royal court) of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’, gouache, ca.1850

The empire was divided into various provinces (known as Subas), them namely being:[64]

Land revenue was the main source of income, accounting for about 70% of the state's income. Besides this, the other sources of income were customs, excises and monopolies.[116]

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