Sikh Empire

Not to be confused with Kingdom of Sikkim.

Sikh Empire
Sarkār-i-Khālsa
Khālasā Rāj
1799–1849
Motto: ਅਕਾਲ ਸਹਾਇ
Akāl Sahāi
"With God's Grace"
Anthem: ਦੇਗ ਤੇਗ ਫ਼ਤਿਹ
Dēg Tēg Fateh
"Victory to Charity and Arms"
The Sikh Empire at its greatest extent c. 1839, under Ranjit Singh
The Sikh Empire at its greatest extent c. 1839, under Ranjit Singh
StatusEmpire
Capital
Official languages
Common languages
Religion
GovernmentFederal monarchy
Maharaja 
• 1801–1839
Ranjit Singh (first)
• 1843–1849
Duleep Singh (last)
Regent 
• 1840–1841
Chand Kaur
• 1843–1846
Jind Kaur
Vizier 
• 1799–1818
Khushal Singh Jamadar (first)
• 1846
Gulab Singh (last)
Historical eraEarly modern period
• Capture of Lahore by Ranjit Singh
7 July 1799
29 March 1849
Area
1839[5]520,000 km2 (200,000 sq mi)
Population
• 1800s
12,000,000[6]
CurrencyNanak Shahi Sikke
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Sikh Confederacy
Durrani Empire
Kangra State
Sial dynasty
Maqpon dynasty
Namgyal dynasty
Punjab Province (British India)
Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)
Today part of
Part of a series on the
History of India
Timeline
Prehistoric
Ancient
Classical
Early medieval
Late medieval
Early modern
Modern
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The Sikh Empire was a regional power based in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent.[7] It existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849, when it was defeated and conquered by the British East India Company in the Second Anglo-Sikh War. It was forged on the foundations of the Khalsa from a collection of autonomous misls.[1][8] At its peak in the 19th century, the empire extended from Gilgit and Tibet in the north to the deserts of Sindh in the south and from the Khyber Pass in the west to the Sutlej in the east as far as Oudh.[9][10] It was divided into four provinces: Lahore, which became the Sikh capital; Multan; Peshawar; and Kashmir from 1799 to 1849. Religiously diverse, with an estimated population of 4.5 million in 1831 (making it the 19th most populous country at the time),[11] it was the last major region of the Indian subcontinent to be annexed by the British Empire.

The formation of the empire began with the capture of Lahore from its Durrani ruler, Zaman Shah Durrani. Ranjit Singh was proclaimed as Maharaja of the Punjab on 12 April 1801 (to coincide with Vaisakhi), creating a unified political state. Sahib Singh Bedi, a descendant of Guru Nanak, conducted the coronation.[12] The formation of the empire was followed by the progressive expulsion of Afghans from Punjab by capitalizing off Afghan decline in the Afghan-Sikh Wars, and the unification of the separate Sikh misls. Ranjit Singh rose to power in a very short period, from a leader of a single misl to finally becoming the Maharaja of Punjab. He began to modernise his army, using the latest training as well as weapons and artillery. After the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the empire was weakened by the British East India Company stoking internal divisions and political mismanagement. Finally, in 1849, the state was dissolved after the defeat in the Second Anglo-Sikh War.

  1. ^ a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ranjit Singh" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 892.
  2. ^ Grewal, J. S. (1990). The Sikhs of the Punjab, Chapter 6: The Sikh empire (1799–1849). The New Cambridge History of India. Cambridge University Press. p. 112. ISBN 0-521-63764-3. Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved 25 October 2015. The continuance of Persian as the language of administration.
  3. ^ Fenech, Louis E. (2013). The Sikh Zafar-namah of Guru Gobind Singh: A Discursive Blade in the Heart of the Mughal Empire. Oxford University Press (US). p. 239. ISBN 978-0199931453. Archived from the original on 14 August 2024. Retrieved 2 July 2020. We see such acquaintance clearly within the Sikh court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, for example, the principal language of which was Persian.
  4. ^ K.S. Duggal (1 February 2009). Ranjit Singh: A Secular Sikh Sovereign. Exoticindiaart.com. ISBN 978-8170172444. Archived from the original on 17 June 2008. Retrieved 9 August 2009.
  5. ^ Singh, Amarpal (2010). The First Anglo-Sikh War. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-4456-2038-1. Archived from the original on 14 August 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2021. By 1839, the year of his death, the Sikh kingdom extended from Tibet and Kashmir to Sind and from the Khyber Pass to the Himalayas in the east. It spanned 600 miles from east to west and 350 miles from north to south, comprising an area of just over 200,000 square miles.
  6. ^ Singh, Pashaura (2016). "Sikh Empire". The Encyclopedia of Empire. pp. 1–6. doi:10.1002/9781118455074.wbeoe314. ISBN 978-1118455074. Archived from the original on 16 June 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  7. ^ K.S. Duggal (2015) [1989]. Ranjit Singh: A Secular Sikh Sovereign. Exoticindiaart.com. ISBN 978-8170172444. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2009.
  8. ^ Grewal, J. S. (1990). The Sikhs of the Punjab, Chapter 6: The Sikh empire (1799–1849). The New Cambridge History of India. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-63764-3. Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  9. ^ Gupta, Hari Ram (1991). History of the Sikhs. Munshiram Manoharlal. p. 201. ISBN 978-8121505154. Archived from the original on 28 June 2024. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  10. ^ Singh, Khushwant (2004). History of the Sikhs. Oxford University Press. p. viii. ISBN 978-0195673081.
  11. ^ Amarinder Singh's The Last Sunset: The Rise and Fall of the Lahore Durbar
  12. ^ The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism Archived 8 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine, section Sāhib Siṅgh Bedī, Bābā (1756–1834).


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