- A European traveller, Charles, Baron von Hügel, described Ranjit as ‘the most ugly and unprepossessing man I saw throughout the Punjab’
- By choosing confidants from different traditions, Akbar the Great and Ranjit Singh were able to prove to their subjects that they cared about relations between the various communities
- The Punjab’s rivers – ab means both water and river – make the rather beautiful shape of a leaf, with the rivers as the veins and stem. At its northern tip, the leaf curls up into the Himalayan foothills, outliers of several tangled mountain systems – the Hindu Kush, the Karakorums and many minor ranges. Up here, tiny hamlets perch on hillsides or nestle in valleys. But most of the Punjab is flat, sloping from about 1,600 feet above sea level in the north to some 230 feet in the south-west, a drop of a mere 3.5 feet per mile
- The Muslim Mughals, who ruled in north India for 300 years and gave the region its name. They made Lahore their capital, and turned the ancient highway across north India into the great 2,500km artery known as the Grand Trunk Road. Dotted with caravanserais and shaded by trees, it ran from the Northwest Frontier through Islamabad and Lahore to Amritsar and Delhi, and beyond all the way to Kolkata (Calcutta). Described by Rudyard Kipling in Kim as ‘a river of life such as exists nowhere else in the world’, it allowed the flow of people, trade and armies, and so played a major role in the events described in this book.
- Daddy issues - daddy actually warmed to him more when he lost his eye to smallpox as he resembled another sikh historical figure
- He had a lifelong love of horses and was also practised in swordsmanship, as one of the earliest of the stories told about him attests
- Zaman returned later in 1797, vowing vengeance. Many Sikhs fled into the hills. Even the sacred shrine at the Darbar Sahib in Amritsar was left with only a token guard. - something Ranjit is appreciative of not letting the place burn when he talks to Honigberger
- Having taken Lahore by invitation and with care and cunning, Ranjit could now give free rein to his instinct for magnanimity. He issued a proclamation6 assuring the people of peace and freedom while informing his own forces that looting was forbidden – one report had it that he backed this up with a warning that breaches of the order would be punishable by death. He worshipped at the Royal Mosque and then at the more frequently used mosque of Wazir Khan. He then allowed the hapless – and foodless – Chet Singh to leave the city, along with his family, with a grant. Such an act might have seemed weak coming from a lesser man, but all who knew Ranjit Singh appreciated that in his case it reflected boldness and strength
- His occupation of one of the Punjab’s oldest and greatest cities was a landmark event in Sikh history. Lahore, which was mostly Mughal-built, became a vital midway point between Delhi, where the Mughals occupied the throne, and the Afghan border. But its emotional importance to Sikhs was at least as strong. Guru Ram Das, who founded Amritsar, was born in Lahore, while another Guru, Arjan Dev, was martyred there. Ranjit’s occupation of Lahore also served to put firmly in the shade the once-powerful Bhangi misl. His conquest made him the strongest ruler in northern India and, despite the jealousy of other misldars, laid the foundations for a sovereign state. And all this happened while Ranjit was still scarcely more than a boy – an astonishing achievement for an 18 year old
- Ranjit Singh then enjoyed another stroke of good luck, to the delight of the city. His recent military adventures had come at a price and he thought he would have to raise money from the people, which would have been unpopular. However, a stash of 20,000 gold mohurs was found in the ruins of Budhu-da-Ava outside Lahore, a treasure which amply replenished the city’s coffers - a cool story for him to relay
- Prestige and success bring their own rewards, and Ranjit Singh’s fame now began to pay off in other ways: Lahore was inundated with people seeking work with the new regime. They included young men from the families of chastened chieftains, scholars, skilled craftsmen and, most important for Ranjit Singh’s career, doctors. Ranjit Singh was obsessed with his health and liked to seek remedies for all his ailments, real or supposed.
- Ranjit Singh coinage inscription: My largesse, my victories, my unalloyed fame, I owe to Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh.
- Sir Alexander Burnes character who brings the horses
- In the same year he arrived in Lahore with a present of horses from King William IV to Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The British claimed that the horses would not survive the overland journey, so they were allowed to transport the horses up the Indus and used the opportunity to secretly survey the river. Despite pressure from his superiors, Burnes declined a military escort on his journey up the Indus, fearing their presence would cause the native population to conclude the British intended to mount an invasion. Instead, Burnes travelled with only one other British officer, Ensign J.D. Leckie, and periodically enlisted members of native communities to man and navigate his convoy. In so doing, Burnes developed close bonds with local leaders and governors in cities along the Indus. His immense skills in diplomacy and knowledge of local customs and rites of flattery enabled him to travel through areas of the Indus previously closed to Europeans, including Thatta, Hyderabad, Bukkur, and Shujabad, among others.
In October 1831, Burnes coordinated the first meeting of Maharaja Ranjit Singh with a sitting commander of British forces in India, Governor General Lord William Bentinck. The assembly took place in the village of Rupur (present day Rupnagar) on the banks of the Sutlej from 22 to 26 October. The event was attended by numerous British political attachés and subalterns including Bentinck, General John Ramsay, and H.T. Prinsep. The event was also marked by the Maharajah’s open display of the celebrated Koh-i-Noor diamond, which he presented for free inspection by the British attendees (the jewel would eventually come into the possession of the British royal family, and set in the Crown of Queen Alexandra).
- Hindis handled the money. Muslims the law