Kharak Singh (22 February 1801 – 5 November 1840) was the second

maharaja Maharaja (also spelled Maharajah or Maharaj; ; feminine: Maharani) is a royal title in Indian subcontinent, Indian subcontinent of Sanskrit origin. In modern India and Medieval India, medieval northern India, the title was equivalent to a pri ...

of the

Sikh Empire The Sikh Empire was a regional power based in the Punjab, Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. It existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849, when it was defeated and conquered by the East India Company, Br ...

, ruling from June 1839 until his dethronement and imprisonment in October 1839. He was the eldest son of

Maharaja Ranjit Singh 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 ...

, founder of the

and his

consort __NOTOC__ Consort may refer to: Music * "The Consort" (Rufus Wainwright song), from the 2000 album ''Poses'' * Consort of instruments, term for instrumental ensembles * Consort song (musical), a characteristic English song form, late 16th–earl ...

, Maharani Datar Kaur. Kharak was succeeded by his only son Nau Nihal Singh.

Early life

He was born on 22 February 1801 in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

. He was the first son of

Ranjit Singh 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 M ...

and his second wife Datar Kaur Nakai.C. Grey, European Adventurers of Northern India, 1785 to 1849, Asian Educational Services, 1996, His mother was the daughter of Ran Singh Nakai, third ruler of the Nakai Misl. The prince was named by his father "Kharak" (ਖੜਕ) which means 'Wielder of the Sword' he was named after the unconquerable warrior mentioned in Dasam Granth. According to Gyani Sher Singh, Ranjit Singh knew the entire Dasam Granth by heart. It was his birth that persuaded his father to proclaim himself the Maharaja of Punjab. He married four times. In 1812, at the age of 11 he was married to Chand Kaur Kanhaiya, daughter of Sardar Jaimal Singh, chief of the Kanhaiya Misl. Their son Nau Nihal Singh was born in 1821. In 1816, the prince was married to Bibi Khem Kaur Dhillon, a Jat

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

daughter of Jodh Singh Kalalvala and granddaughter of Sahib Singh Dhillon. After the

Second Anglo-Sikh War The Second Anglo-Sikh War was a military conflict between the Sikh Empire and the East India Company which took place from 1848 to 1849. It resulted in the fall of the Sikh Empire, and the annexation of the Punjab region, Punjab and what sub ...

in 1849, Bibi Khem's

jagir A jagir (), ( Hindustani: जागीर/جاگیر, ''Jāgīr''), ( Marathi: जहागीर, ''Jahāgīrá'') also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar ( Zamindar ...

s were reduced by the

British raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

due to her anti-British role in the war. His third wife, Kishan Kaur Samra, was a daughter of Chaudhari Raja Singh of Amritsar of the Samra clan; they were married in 1818. She was the only queen to live after the fall of the Sikh Empire in 1849, had an annual pension paid by the British Raj of RS 2324 and died in Lahore in 1876 while living at the Lahore Fort. His last wife, Inder Kaur Bajwa was married by proxy in a "chadar dalna" ceremony, in 1815. She was a relative of Chet Singh Bajwa.

Early military campaigns and administration as the Crown Prince

Kharak Singh was brought up in his family's martial tradition and assigned to a variety of military expeditions. While barely six years old, he was given the command of the Sheikhupura expedition. In 1811, he was placed in charge of the Kanhaiya estates, and deputed in 1812 to punish the recalcitrant chiefs of Bhimbar and Rajauri. Kharak received the principality of

Jammu Jammu () is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute ...

as his

in 1812. Since his birth he was

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...

of his father. But Sada Kaur only viewed him as

heir presumptive An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of a person with a better claim to the position in question. This is in contrast to an heir app ...

as her daughter Mehtab Kaur was the first queen of Ranjit Singh. In 1816 to put an end to all intrigues Ranjit Singh officially announced Kharak Singh as his

heir apparent An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...

and anointed him "Tikka Kanwar Yuvraj" (

Crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

). The same year, his mother, Mai Nakain took over his training for 18 months and even accompanied him to his expedition to Multan. During the battle the queen herself oversaw the steady supply of grain, horses, and ammunition being sent to Kot Kamalia, a town equally distanced between Multan and Lahore. In 1818, together with Misr Diwan Chand he commanded an expedition against the Afghan ruler of

Multan Multan is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, fifth-most populous city in the Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab province of Pakistan. Located along the eastern bank of the Chenab River, it is the List of cities in Pakistan by populatio ...

Nawab Muzaffar Khan, achieving a decisive victory at the Battle of Multan. He was invested with the command of Siege of Multan (1818) as well as of Battle of Shopian in 1819, which resulted in Srinagar and Kashmir being annexed to the Sikh Empire. When the Sikh army entered the city of Srinagar after the battle, Prince Kharak Singh guaranteed the personal safety of every citizen and ensured the city was not plundered. The peaceful capture of Srinagar was important as Srinagar, besides having a large

Shawl A shawl (from ''shāl'') is a simple item of clothing, loosely worn over the shoulders, upper body and arms, and sometimes also over the head. It is usually a rectangular piece of Textile, cloth, but can also be Square (geometry), square or tr ...

-making industry, was also the center of trade between Panjab,

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

, Skardu, and

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and India an ...

. He was also sent on similar campaigns undertaken by Ranjit Singh for the conquest of Peshawar and against the Mazaris of Shikarpur. In 1839, Ranjit Singh awarded

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

to Kharak Singh, which was seen as a check on the ambitions of Gulab Singh Dogra. On the advice of Fakir Azizuddin, before his death his father proclaimed him the Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.

Maharaja of the Sikh Empire

On the death of his father he was proclaimed the Maharajah and installed on the throne at Lahore Fort on 1 September 1839. Kharak Singh was a patron of arts and had commissioned a Sanskrit astronomy manuscript – the Sarvasiddhantattvacudamani. Though courageous and good in battle, Kharak was regarded as simple mindedBobby Singh Bansal, Remnants of the Sikh Empire: Historical Sikh Monuments in India & Pakistan, Hay House, Inc, 1 Dec 2015, and believed to lack his father's shrewdness and diplomatic skills. He developed a close relationship with his tutor Chet Singh Bajwa after the death of his mother, who gained such an ascendancy over him as to render him a puppet. This relationship with Chet Singh created tensions with Prime Minister Raja Dhian Singh. The Austrian physician, Johann Martin Honigberger who was present at court, described his coronation as a dark day for the Punjab, and referred to the Maharaja as a blockhead who twice a day deprived himself of his senses and spent his whole time in a state of stupefaction.William Dalrymple, Anita Anand, Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond, Bloomsbury Publishing, 15 June 2017 Historians challenge the popular oriental notion of Kharak Singh being considered "imbecile", as said by Alexander Burnes and Henry Montgomery Lawrence -who had never met Kharak Singh. Burns was the first to refer to Kharak Singh as imbecile but also mentions that Kharak was extremely kind hearted and noted that the prince was the master of an impressive military and good at the administrating and handling important strategic and governing duties assigned to him. Claude Martin Wade, who was at the Lahore Durbar for 16 years disagreed as well, stating that Kharak Singh was a man with a "mild and humane disposition, who was "loved by his dependants". Wade suggests that Kharak Singh seemed to have a dismal reputation as he maintained a low profile. Dr. Priya Atwal and Sarbpreet Singh note that Kharak Singh was politically intelligent and well versed in multiple languages, the most educated prince of Maharaja Ranjit Singh who not only led military expeditions but also diplomatic events. Sarbjeet Singh states Kharak Singh along with his brothers was a victim of circumstance, something he labeled "A Shakespearean tragedy".

Death

Raja Dhian Singh is known to resent the influence of Chet Singh Bajwa, tutor of Kharak Singh on the emperor, as well as the court. It was rumored that both the Maharaja and Chet Singh were secretly planning to sell out the Punjab to the British, pay them six annas in every rupee of state revenue and, worse of all, disband the Sikh army. Misled by these fictitious tales, the court and Nau Nihal Singh became estranged from Kharak Singh. Chet Singh was assassinated on 9 October 1839. Early that morning the conspirators entered the Maharaja's residence in the Fort and assassinated Chet Singh in the presence of their royal master, who vainly implored them to spare the life of his friend. Kharak Singh was poisoned with white lead and mercury. Within six months he was bedridden, and eleven months after the poisoning he died on 5 November 1840 in Lahore.G. S. Chhabra, Advance Study in the History of Modern India (Volume-2: 1803-1920), Lotus Press, 2005, p.176 The official announcement blamed a sudden mysterious illness. Though never proven, most contemporaries believed

Dhian Singh Raja Dhian Singh (22 August 1796 – 15 September 1843) was the longest serving wazir of the Sikh Empire, during the reign of Maharajah Ranjit Singh, and the brief rule of four of his successors over four years. He held the office for twenty fiv ...

to be behind the poisoning. Dhian Singh also murdered one of Kharak Singh's wives, Rani Inder Kaur, by setting her on fire. Dhian Singh had previously resisted attempts to allow Kharak training in statecraft, and on 8 October 1839 he instigated his removal from the throne with Nau Nihal Singh becoming de facto ruler.

Legacy

A '' haveli'' known as Kharak Singh's Haveli, located in Shahi Qila,

, is associated with him. In 2023, a treasure-trove of historical documents was discovered at the haveli.

References

*Singh, Harbans "The encyclopedia of Sikhism. Vol III." pages 494–495
"Bibi Khem Kaur Dhillon", URL accessed 11/16/06

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kharak Singh Sikh emperors 1801 births 1840 deaths Ranjit Singh People from Lahore