Golden Rule

Ranjit Singh’s military genius and legendary reign make you reflect on the many what-ifs of Indian history.

This book is a detailed recounting of the life and times of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and the three Anglo-Sikh wars following his death. The remarkable aspect of Ranjit Singh’s reign was that he ruled a landmass bigger than present-day Pakistan, and he was the undisputed king of Kashmir. With Mughal atrocities against Sikhs a recent memory for Ranjit Singh, it was also astonishing that his rule was secular. It’s all the more creditworthy in the context of the racial and religious intolerance of the White supremacist attitudes that underlay British expansion and the orthodox Islam of Afghanistan.

Ranjit Singh was a colourful man with over 300 concubines and many wives. He was fond of his drink and given to worldly pleasures, but on the battlefield, he was a true soldier. It was really his military genius that kept at bay the British across the Satluj in the east and Afghans across the Suleiman range in the west. But battles could also be fought on a whim. Once, he waged war on Peshawar because the chieftain had reneged on a promise to give Ranjit Singh a horse he had loved called Laili. Ranjit Singh lost 12,000 soldiers in a war that cost him Rs 60 lakh. But he only relented once he got his horse.

Ranjit Singh organised his army on the lines of European forces, with American and French generals. Another feature was his army’s use of artillery. The army was organised around a core of heavy guns and often won battles by decisive placement of battery and cannonade, followed by cavalry charges. Finally, this army had three elements missing in other native armies—regimented solders, timely payment of salary, and organisation on the lines of a brigade structure found in today’s forces. The book paints a sad story of the intrigue and betrayal that led to the fall of the Sikh kingdom built over 50 years by Ranjit Singh. Within 10 years of his demise in 1839, it was all over.

Amarinder Singh’s book is most remarkable in recounting the three Anglo-Sikh wars. While each battle was different, the three common elements were Sikh courage, artillery deployment and British generalship. It leaves you reflecting on two ‘what-ifs’ of Indian history. First, what if Ranjit Singh’s successor had been a capable leader? Would the British have persisted with expansion in the Punjab? And, what if the Indian mutiny had broken out not in 1857, but 1847? Amidst the Sikh wars, a mutinous native force would have made it perilous for the British to hold India. The book is guaranteed to make you a little wistful.

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