Mehtab Kaur

Mehtab Kaur
Maharani Sahiba
Maharani Mehtab Kaur by Rattan Singh c.1810
Maharani consort of the Sikh Empire
Tenurec. 1801 – 1813
Sardarni of Sukerchakia Misl
TenureApril 1792 – 11 April 1801
PredecessorRaj Kaur
SuccessorPosition abolished
Born1782
Batala, Kanhaiya Misl, Sikh Confederacy (present-day Punjab, India
Died1813 (aged 30–31)
Amritsar, Sikh Empire (present-day Punjab, India)
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1789; sep. 1797)​
[1][2]
IssueIshar Singh
Maharaja Sher Singh
Tara Singh
HouseKanhaiya (by birth)
Sukerchakia (by marriage)
FatherGurbaksh Singh Kanhaiya
MotherSada Kaur
ReligionSikhism

Maharani Mehtab Kaur (c. 1782 – 1813)[3][4][5] was the first wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh,[5][6] the founder of the Sikh Empire. She was the mother of Maharaja Sher Singh,[7][8] who briefly became the ruler of the Sikh Empire from 1841 until his death in 1843.[9]

Mehtab Kaur was the only daughter of Sada Kaur and Gurbaksh Singh Kanhaiya. Her father was the first commander or sardar of Khalsa army to protect Punjab. She was betrothed to a six-year-old Ranjit Singh at the age of four.

According to historian Jean-Marie Lafont, the only one to bear the title of Maharani (Great Queen)..[10][11]

  1. ^ Atwal, Priya (2020-11-01). "Royals and Rebels". doi:10.1093/oso/9780197548318.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-754831-8. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ^ Atwal, Priya (2020). Royals and Rebels:The Rise and Fall of the Sikh Empire. London: C. Hurst Limited. ISBN 9781787383081.
  3. ^ "The Panjab Past and Present". 20. Department of Punjab Historical Studies, Punjabi University. 1 January 1986: 122. Retrieved 3 May 2017. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ Noor, Harbans Singh (2004). Connecting the dots in Sikh history. Chandigarh: Institute of Sikh Studies. p. 67. ISBN 9788185815237.
  5. ^ a b "The Sikh Courier International". 38–42. Sikh Cultural Society of Great Britain. 1 January 1998: 9. Retrieved 27 April 2017. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ^ "The Sikh Review". 53. Sikh Cultural Centre. 1 January 2005: 45, 86. Retrieved 29 April 2017. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. ^ "Punjab District Gazetteers". Compiled and published under the authority of the Punjab government. 1 January 1905: 226. mehtab kaur ranjit singh. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ "Calcutta Review". University of Calcutta. 1 January 1944: 74. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. ^ Grewal, J.S. (1998). The new Cambridge history of India : II. 3 The sikhs of the Punjab (Rev. ed., 1st pbk. ed.). Cambridge[England]: Cambridge University Press. p. 249. ISBN 9780521637640.
  10. ^ Lafont 2002, p. 251
  11. ^ Lafont 2002, p. 252