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 M ...

's throne is an octagonal ceremonial throne crafted by the goldsmith Hafiz Muhammad Multani, likely between 1805 and 1810 in Lahore, for the eponymous ruler 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 ...

, Ranjit Singh (r. 1801-1839) following the Sikh conquest of Multan in 1818. It is made of a wood and resin core, covered with sheets of repoussé, chased and engraved gold and is richly ornamented with floral and scroll motifs. It measures 94 cm in height, 90 cm in width, and 77 cm in depth, and weighs approximately 33 kg (excluding modern additions such as cushions). The current cushion fabric was added in the 1980s.Maharaja Ranjit Singh's throne
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V&A Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

''. Although Maharaja Ranjit Singh was attested to be personally modest in appearance, the sumptuous decor of his throne likely aimed to reflect the grandeur of his court. Unlike European royal furniture, which was often merely gilded, this throne was covered in solid sheet gold, underlining its visual of opulence. Its distinctive cusped base, composed of two tiers of lotus petals, references both Hindu iconography and Sikh symbolism, where the lotus signifies purity and divine authority.

History

It shows the splendour of Ranjit Singh's court and is decorated with richly worked sheets of gold. The distinctive cusped base of this throne is composed of two tiers of lotus petals. The lotus is a symbol of purity and creation and a

Lotus throne The lotus throne, sometimes called lotus platform, is a stylized lotus flower used as the seat or base for a figure in art associated with Indian religions. It is the normal pedestal for divine figures in Buddhist art and Hindu art, and often see ...

has traditionally been used as a seat or throne for Hindu gods. It is thought that as the Maharaja was renowned for the simplicity of his appearance and dislike of ceremony he rarely sat on this throne, preferring to sit cross-legged on carpets. The throne was part of the empire's State Property seized from the Sikh treasury by the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

in 1849 after their annexation of the Punjab in 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 ...

. Many of those items were then auctioned in Lahore though the throne was taken to London and displayed with the other spoils of the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

at the Great Exhibition in 1851. It then went on be displayed in the East India Company's India Museum at Leadenhall Street. An Indian student, Rakhal das Haldar wrote of visiting it there and recorded that "it was painful to see the state chair of gold of the late Lion of Punjab

with a mere picture upon it". After the museum’s closure in 1879, it was transferred to the South Kensington Museum (now the

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

), where it is currently housed under inventory number 2518(IS). During the later half of the twentieth century, it was the subject of a

repatriation Repatriation is the return of a thing or person to its or their country of origin, respectively. The term may refer to non-human entities, such as converting a foreign currency into the currency of one's own country, as well as the return of mi ...

by a Sikh regional organisation supported by the Indian government, but the claim was rejected by the museum.

Bibliography

References

{{Reflist

External links

The Court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh
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''. Asian objects in the Victoria and Albert Museum Individual thrones Sikh Empire Ranjit Singh Indian royalty 19th century in India 1820s establishments in India 1830s establishments in India 1849 disestablishments in India India–United Kingdom relations Indian artifacts held abroad