How did Maharaja Ranjit Singh get the Kohinoor diamond?

Hello readers, how are you all? I hope everyone is having fun and being healthy. Today, in the series of Ancient Indian Kings from Indian History, we are going to talk about a very clever king known as Maharaja Ranjit Singh:

• who took over the throne at the age of 12,
• first king of Sikh empire,
• who built an army so well, which was admired by the British too,
• who cleverly acquired the Kohinoor diamond.

So let us begin the article of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh

Who was Maharaja Ranjit Singh?

Maharaja Ranjit Singh was born in Gujranwala on 13 November 1780 to Sardar Mahan Singh. Gujranwala is now in Punjab, Pakistan, when Punjab was with India and Pakistan. When India and Pakistan were partitioned, a small part of Punjab went to Pakistan. So there are two Punjab one is located in India and the other is in Pakistan.

When Ranjit Singh was young, he contracted smallpox. H also had to lose an eye due to the terrible disease of smallpox. When Ranjit Singh was 12 years old, his father Mahan Singh died. So Ranjit Singh had to take over the throne at a very young age.

The enemy sent Hasmat Khan to kill Maharaja Ranjit Singh. But Maharaja Ranjit Singh himself killed Hasmat Khan when he was just 13 years old.

How many kingdoms did Maharaja Ranjit Singh ruled?

At the age of 12, Sukarchakiya became the president of the Missal due to the death of his father. Defeated the Afghans in Lahore and became the king of Lahore. Bhangi defeated Misal and took control of Amritsar.

Entire Kashmir was in the hands of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Peshawar was also included in the Sikh state. He made the political capital at Lahore and the religious capital at Amritsar.

How was Maharaja Ranjit Singh to the people?

Maharaja Ranjit Singh made several laws during his reign. Regarding religion, he did not do injustice to anyone. He did not force anyone to accept Sikhism and respected all religions. He stopped collecting taxes (zakat) from Hindus and Sikhs. He also helped many kings like Yashvantrao Holkar in war.

What nicknames did people give to Maharaja Ranjit Singh?

Following are the nicknames people gave to Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

1. Sher-a-Punjab
2. Maharaja of Punjab
3. Sarkar-a-Walah
4. Maharaja of Lahore
5. Sarkar Khalsaji
6. Napoleon of the East
7. Lord of five rivers
8. Singh Saheb

Mostly people used to address Maharaja Ranjit Singh by nicknames only.

Why did Maharaja Ranjit Singh help the Afghan ruler?

Ata Mohammad, the ruler of Kashmir, imprisoned Shah Suja, the ruler of Afghanistan. Shah Suja's wife Begum Wafa went to Maharaja Ranjit Singh to free her husband Shahsuja Namak. She went to him and said, that if he will help her to release her husband from the captivity of Ata Mohammad, the ruler of Kashmir, then she promised to give him the precious Kohinoor diamond she had.

deal to free king

Maharaja Ranjit Singh knew that Kohinoor Diamond had no value, Kohinoor was priceless. So he invaded Kashmir to get Kohinoor and after defeating the ruler of Kashmir, Shahsuja Namak, the ruler of Afghanistan, was freed from imprisonment.

How did Maharaja Ranjit Singh get the Kohinoor diamond?

Maharaja Ranjit Singh freed Shah Suja from the imprisonment of Ata Mohammad. But as promised, Begam Shahsuja did not gave Kohinoor to Maharaja Ranjit Singh. She was reluctant to give the Kohinoor hero to him.

So many days were passed as Wafa Begum informed Maharaja Ranjit Singh that Kohinoor would be given today and tomorrow. After a long time she gave Kohinoor diamond to him. When Maharaja Ranjit Singh saw Kohinoor, he realized that is was a fake Kohinoor diamond.

He realized that he had been tricked. He decided in his mind that he will trap her the way Wafa Begum has trapped him. He came to know that the real Kohinoor was hidden in the turban of the ruler named Shah Suja. So he went to Shah Suja's court.

Kohinoor is turban

There he started telling him that they are now both friends. So, both of them put turbans on each other, saying that they should keep friendship by wearing turbans on each other. At that time, Maharaja Ranjit Singh removed the Kohinoor from Shah Suja's turban so cleverly that no one noticed and the Kohinoor Diamond had come to Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

Conclusion:

Even though Maharaja Ranjit Singh could not see one eye, he managed the state well. The Afghani ruler had trapped him but he captured the Kohinoor by trapping the ruler in his idea. The Kohinoor diamond was to be donated to the Jagannath temple in Puri by him. But he died in Lahore on 27 June 1839 due to paralyze.

People still remember his works like:

1. Harin Mandir Saheb Gurudwara in Amritsar was covered with marble and gold and the Gurdwara was named the Golden Temple after him.
2. He also donated one ton of gold and 47 lakh rupees to the Vishwanath temple in Kashi.
3. British General Auckland also called the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh the most beautiful army in the world.

Here I would like to conclude my article. So how did you like this article? What is your favorite paragraph in this article? What are the points pending to add in this article? If you like to share something do mention it in the comment section below.

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We will meet you in another article with another such Ancient Indian Kings from Indian History, till then take care and keep on reading Gaurav Sangrah.