Ali Usman Baig : Kharak singh

Date of Visit:- 16TH MAY 2016 & 02ND FEBRUARY 2020

Relevance: Sikh Maharaja Samadhi's

(All pictures are taken by me, and writeup taken from different sources

Samadhi of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (Tomb of King Ranjit Singh), located adjacent to famous Lahore’s landmark Badshahi Mosque, is a mausoleum containing funerary urns of short time Sikh ruler of Punjab. Two small monuments to the west of the main building commemorate Maharaja Ranjit Singh's son Maharaja Kharak Singh and grandson Nau Nihal Singh, along with their wives. The building is located adjacent to Gurdwara Dera Sahib, the place where the martyrdom of Guru Arjun took place.

Construction of the building was started by his son, Kharak Singh on the spot where he was cremated and was completed by his youngest son, Duleep Singh in 1848.

The building combines elements of Sikh, Hindu, and Islamic architecture. Portions of the building are believed to have been plundered from the adjacent Lahore Fort. The building has gilded fluted domes and cupolas, and an ornate balustrade around the upper portion of the building. The front of the doorway has images of Ganesh, Devi, and Brahma that are cut from red sandstone. The dome is decorated with Naga (serpent) hood designs - the product of Hindu craftsmen that worked on the project. The wooden panels on the ceiling are decorated with stained glass work, while the walls are richly decorated with floral designs. The ceilings are decorated with glass mosaic work

In the 1830s, Ranjit Singh suffered from numerous health complications as well as a stroke, which some historical records attribute to alcoholism and a failing liver. He died in his sleep on 27 June 1839. The alliance between British missions and Ranjit Singh provided lasting stability to Punjab. The death of Ranjit Singh heralded a period of intense warfare among the successors and paved the way for the annexation of Punjab by the British.

According to the customs Ranjit Singh's body was placed on a pyre and along with him were burnt alive his 4 wives and 7 concubines who committed Sati were of the Hindu faith and they continued to live their life as Hindus without converting to Sikhism. That is the reason they committed Sati as per their custom to perform such a supreme act.

They were:

Mehtab Devi, daughter of Raja Sansad Chand of Kangr.

Rani Har Devi, the daughter of Chaudhri Ram, a Saleria Rajput from Atalgarh.

Rani Raj Devi, daughter of Padma Rajput.

Rani Rajno Devi, daughter of Sand Bhari, a Bhari Chib of Deva-Vatala from Jammu Territory.

At Ranjit Singh's funeral, prayers and rituals from Sikh Priests, Muslim Imams, and Brahmins took place. Then four wives of Ranjit Singh took turns to seat themselves on the funeral pyre, around the head of Ranjit Singh while the seven concubines sat around their feet. And then the funeral pyre was set on fire from all four corners.

His other wives were Sikhs and Muslim concubines. They didn't commit Sati due to different religious faith and belief.

Eyewitness account of the funeral by Dr. Martin Honigberger, a Transylvanian physician at the court of Maharajah Ranjit Singh

In the large yard, we observed one of the four Ranees (queens) coming out of the harem on foot and unveiled, for the first time in her life.

It is curious, indeed, that this was the very ranee whom Runjeet Sing married in the first year of my residence in that country, ten years having passed since I witnessed the nuptials at Nadoun. She was, as I mentioned before, a daughter of Sunsarchund, and she had a younger sister, whom the maharajah at the same time took also for a wife, and conveyed them both to Lahore; the latter, I am told, had died of consumption during my absence. As for the former, although I was present at her wedding, I nevertheless had never seen her before, and it was only on her last fatal walk, which she took to her funeral pile, that I could behold her.

The costly ornaments of the richly decorated bier were given to the mob; the Brahmins performed their prayers from the Shaater, a book written in the Indian or Sanscrit language; the Gooroos, or priests of the Sikhs, did the same, from their holy scripture called Grunthsaheb, and the Muslim accompanied them with their “Ya, Allah! Ya, Allah!”

After this, the ranees ascended the fatal ladder, one by one, according to their rank, the slaves followed, and the minister showed himself very officious in affording them assistance. The ranees placed themselves at the head of the royal body, and the slaves close at its feet. There they cowered, remaining in silent expectation for the fatal moment, when a strong thick mat of reeds being brought, with which the whole was covered, oil was then poured over the mat, the minister and sirdars descended, and the pile was lighted at each corner. In a few moments, the deplorable victims of an abominable and fanatic ceremony had ceased to exist.

Also, after the murder of Ranjit Singh's son Kharak Singh, Dogra Dhyan Singh cruelly killed Kharak Singh's wife by forcefully setting her on fire.

Nau Nihal's two Rajput wives committed Sati, Bhadauran, Daughter of Sirdar of Bhadaur, and Katochan, daughter of Rai Singh.

Sham Singh Attariwala's wife Mai Dasi who was a Hindu and used to be the Principal Slave girl of Ranjit Singh's wife Sada Kaur, also committed Sati.

KHARAK SINGH, MAHARAJA (1801-1840), the eldest son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was born on 9 February 1801. He was married to Chand Kaur, daughter of Jaimal Singh Kanhaiya, in 1812. The Maharaja brought him up in his family`s martial tradition and assigned him to a variety of military expeditions. While barely six years old, he was given the nominal command of the Sheikhupura expedition (1807); was placed in charge of the Kanhaiya estates in 1811, and deputed in 1812 to punish the recalcitrant chiefs of Bhimbar and Rajauri. He was invested with the command of the Multan expedition (1818) as well as of Kashmir (1819).

Maharaja took the reins of the government into his own hands, but he was helpless against the machinations of his minister, who continued to keep father and son separated from each other. Dhian Singh subjected Kharak Singh to strict restraint upon the pretext that he might not escape to the British territory. Doses of slow poison were administered to the Maharaja, who was at last delivered by death on 5 November 1840 from a lonely and disgraceful existence.

Kunwar Nau Nihal Singh (9 March 1821 – 5 November 1840) was the third Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. He was the only son of Maharaja Kharak Singh and his consort, Maharani Chand Kaur. He was known as Yuvraj Kunwar Nau Nihal Singh. He was also known as Bhanwar Singh or Bhanwar Sa or Kunwar Sa means Respected Young Prince. Bhawar means Son of Kunwar or Son of Thakur His reign began with the dethronement of his father Maharaja Kharak Singh and ended with his death at the age of 19 on the day of his father's funeral.

Nau Nihal was popular with the royal courtiers and the general public and was seen as a worthy successor to his father during the latter's sickness. After Kharak Singh died on 5 November 1840, Nau Nihal performed his last rites beside the Ravi River in Lahore. After the ceremony, he started returning to the palace via the Hazuri Bagh, where a massive block of stone from a gate fell upon him and two of his companions. One of the companions - Udham Singh (nephew of Dhian Singh)- broke his neck and died on the spot.

According to Alexander Gardner, who just stepped behind Nau Nihal when the incident took place, the prince had sustained only minor injuries during this episode: he was well enough to walk on his own, and agreed to be taken on a stretcher only because of Gardner's insistence. However, when the court physician Johann Martin Honigberger came to attend Nau Nihal in a tent, he observed that the prince's skull had been crushed, and the bedsheet was covered with blood and brain tissue. Dhian Singh insisted that the prince had suffered these injuries during the alleged accident in Hazuri Bagh. Nau Nihal died hours later, although the courtiers did not make this news public until three days later in an attempt to avoid panic. According to Gardner, five artillery men had carried Nau Nihal from Hazuri Bagh to the tent: two of these men died under mysterious circumstances, two went on leave and never re-joined the service, and one disappeared without explanation.1L.H. Griffin in The Punjab Chiefs says,"The only reason for the mystery which shrouded the death-bed of the Prince, was the necessity which Dhyan Singh felt for keeping the fatal news from being generally known until the arrival of Sher Singh. If there had been an organized plot, the Raja would have taken care that Sher Singh should have been present in Lahore at the time of the catastrophe. The absence of Sher Singh proves the innocence of the Raja (Dhian Singh)".