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Wives of Ranjit Singh
Maharaja's wives and concubines From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Maharaja Ranjit Singh had many wives, possibly around thirty.[1] Furthermore, he kept a company of around twenty-three concubines and a 150 dancing-girls, mostly from Kashmir and the Punjab Hills.[2][3] The numerous wives were of various ethnic backgrounds, such as Punjabi, Pashtun, and Pahari, and also various caste-backgrounds, such as Jatt, Rajput, and Gujjar. The marriages initially helped strengthen the Sukerchakia Misl and later the Sikh Empire, due to marital-alliances to various groups.[1][4] After Ranjit Singh provided help to Sansar Chand of Kangra against the invading Gurkhas, he married two of the Kangra ruler's daughters.[2] At-least five of his wives were Muslim.[5]
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Of his marriages, at-least ten of these marriages were by the traditional ceremony and included five Sikhs, three Hindus, and two Muslim ladies.[2][3] At-least a further ten of his marriages had taken place by the chaddar ceremony, which included seven Sikh and three Hindu ladies.[2][3] At the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh's death, four of his wives (two Rajputs) and seven of his slave-girls (concubines) committed sati on his funerary-pyre.[6][7]
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History
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In 1789, Ranjit Singh married his first wife Mehtab Kaur,[8] the muklawa happened in 1796.[9] She was the only daughter of Gurbaksh Singh Kanhaiya and his wife Sada Kaur. She was the granddaughter of Jai Singh Kanhaiya, the founder of the Kanhaiya Misl.[10] This marriage was pre-arranged in an attempt to reconcile warring Sikh misls, Mehtab Kaur was betrothed to Ranjit Singh in 1786. The marriage, however, failed, with Mehtab Kaur never forgiving the fact that her father had been killed in battle with Ranjit Singh's father, and she mainly resided with her mother after marriage. The separation became complete when Ranjit Singh married Datar Kaur of the Nakai Misl in 1797 and she turned into Ranjit's most beloved wife.[11] Mehtab Kaur had three sons, Ishar Singh who was born in 1804 and died in infancy. In 1807 she had Sher Singh and Tara Singh. According to historian Jean-Marie Lafont, she was the only one to bear the title of Maharani. She died in 1813, after suffering from failing health.[12]
His second marriage was to, Datar Kaur (Born Raj Kaur) the youngest child and only daughter of Ran Singh Nakai, the third ruler of the Nakai Misl and his wife Karman Kaur. They were betrothed in childhood by Datar Kaur's eldest brother, Sardar Bhagwan Singh, who briefly became the chief of the Nakai Misl, and Ranjit Singh's father Maha Singh. They were married in 1797;[13] this marriage was a happy one and Ranjit Singh always treated Raj Kaur with love and respect.[14] Since Raj Kaur was also the name of Ranjit Singh's mother, his wife was renamed Datar Kaur. In 1801, she gave birth to their son and heir apparent, Kharak Singh.[15] Datar Kaur bore Ranjit Singh two other sons, Rattan Singh and Fateh Singh.[16][17][18] Like his first marriage, the second marriage also brought him a strategic military alliance.[15] Along with wisdom and all the chaste virtues of a noblewoman, Datar Kaur was exceptionally intelligent and assisted Ranjit Singh in affairs of the State.[19] During the expedition to Multan in 1818, she was given command alongside her son, Kharak Singh.[20][21][22]
It is widely recognized that Datar Kaur had a great amount of influence on Ranjit Singh. [23]Throughout his life she remained Ranjit Singh's favorite wife for no other did he have greater respect for than Datar Kaur,who he affectionately called Mai Nakain.[24][25][26][27][28]
Even though she was his second wife she became his principal wife and chief consort.[29][30] During a hunting trip with Ranjit Singh, she fell ill and died on 20 June 1838.[31][32] On her death The Missionary reported,[33]
"The Maharajah was never the same person again. He was no longer able to mount his horse himself and had to be lifted into the saddle. His recovery was retarded by the death of Mai Nakain, his favourite wife and companion of over forty years . He took the Nakain's death to heart and brooded over it a long time"
Ratan Kaur and Daya Kaur were wives of Sahib Singh Bhangi of Gujrat (a misl north of Lahore, not to be confused with the state of Gujarat).[34] After Sahib Singh's death, Ranjit Singh took them under his protection in 1811 by marrying them via the rite of chādar andāzī, in which a cloth sheet was unfurled over each of their heads. The same with Roop Kaur, Gulab Kaur, Saman Kaur, and Lakshmi Kaur who looked after Duleep Singh when his mother Jind Kaur was exiled. Ratan Kaur had a son Multana Singh in 1819, and Daya Kaur had two sons Kashmira Singh and Pashaura Singh in 1821.[35][36]
Jind Kaur, the final spouse of Ranjit Singh. Her father, Manna Singh Aulakh, extolled her virtues to Ranjit Singh, who was concerned about the frail health of his only heir Kharak Singh. The Maharaja married her in 1835 by 'sending his arrow and sword to her village'. On 6 September 1838 she gave birth to Duleep Singh, who became the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.[37]
In the 1830s toward the end of Ranjit Singh's life, his number of marriages increased substantially as many new women were wedded to him.[38] His other wives included, Mehtab Devi of Kangra, also called Guddan or Katochan, and Raj Banso, daughters of Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra.[39] He was also married to Rani Har Devi of Atalgarh, Rani Aso Sircar, and Rani Jag Deo. According to the diaries, that Duleep Singh kept towards the end of his life, these women presented the Maharaja with four daughters. Dr. Priya Atwal notes that the daughters could be adopted.[8] Ranjit Singh was also married to Jind Bani or Jind Kulan, daughter of Muhammad Pathan from Mankera, presented to him in 1824, and Gul Bano, daughter of Malik Akhtar from Amritsar. Another Pashtun woman, named Zebo, was also married to him, who was originally sent as a concubine from Kashmir in 1832 after being given by her father.[39] The marriages to Pashtun women happened as the Sikh Empire conquered Kashmir and former Afghan territory on its western-border.[39]
Ranjit Singh married many times, in various ceremonies, and had twenty wives.[40][41] Sir Lepel Griffin, however, provides a list of just sixteen wives and their pension list. Most of his marriages were performed through chādar andāz.[42] Some scholars note that the information on Ranjit Singh's marriages is unclear, and there is evidence that he had many concubines. Dr. Priya Atwal presents an official list of Ranjit Singh's thirty wives.[21] The women married through chādar andāzī were noted as concubines and were known as the lesser title of Rani (queen).[22] While Mehtab Kaur and Datar Kaur officially bore the title of Maharani (high queen), Datar Kaur officially became the Maharani after the death of Mehtab Kaur in 1813. Throughout her life was referred to as Sarkar Rani.[43] After her death, the title was held by Ranjit's youngest widow Jind Kaur.[44] According to Khushwant Singh in an 1889 interview with the French journal Le Voltaire, his son Dalip (Duleep) Singh remarked, "I am the son of one of my father's forty-six wives."[12] Dr. Priya Atwal notes that Ranjit Singh and his heirs entered a total of 46 marriages.[45] But Ranjit Singh was known not to be a "rash sensualist" and commanded unusual respect in the eyes of others.[46] Faqir Sayyid Vaḥiduddin states: "If there was one thing in which Ranjit Singh failed to excel or even equal the average monarch of oriental history, it was the size of his harem."[47][46] George Keene noted, "In hundreds and in thousands the orderly crowds stream on. Not a bough is broken off a wayside tree, not a rude remark to a woman".[46]
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Titles
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There were various khitab (titles) given to the women depending on their status.[38] In the period of the Sikh Misls, high-status women, such as Sada Kaur and Raj Kaur, were given the title sardarni and the more-general term musammat.[38] However, by the time of the 1830s when many new women were wed to Ranjit Singh, the wives were given the more prestigious title of sarkarat, a plural term referring to the multiple women who took-on the sarkar title after their marriage to Ranjit Singh.[38] As per the writings of the court-historians, there were different terms used to differentiate between royal-women, such as wives, versus concubines and other women of the court (servants, dancers, courtesans, slaves, etc.), with royal-women being known through the titles of maharani, rani sahiba, sarkar, and were described as purdahnashin, for their practice of purdah.[38] However, there were cases where non-royal women, such as dancing-girls, managed to elevate themselves to the position of being wives, such as the case of Gul Begum.[38] Maharaja Ranjit Singh would go-on to bestow Gul Begum with the maharani title.[38] The wives' families would often benefit from these marriages, with their brothers and other members of their family often being gifted jagirs and prestigious titles/positions.[39] Most significant and powerful of Maharaja Ranjit Singh's wives was Maharani Datar Kaur who he affectionately called Mai Nakain.[49] Though he went on to marry many women Mai Nakain remained his favorite and most respected wife.[50]
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A list prepared by Priya Atwal of the known wives of Ranjit Singh, using contemporary documents and other sources, is as follows:[51]
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References
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