June 11th, 2001
Ranjit Singh, Maharaja of the Punjab (only the area across the Sutlej river) died in the afternoon of 27th June 1839. A stroke he suffered on the night of 17th August 1835 left him with a substantially diminished frame and half his face paralysed.
His mental strength and courage may be judged from the method he worked out to get astride his horse.
A groom was made to kneel near his seat. Attendants lifted the crippled Maharaja onto the groom’s shoulders. Once he was safely mounted piggy back the groom would stand up carrying his master to the horse.
The Maharaja engaged his right foot in the stirrup and grasped the horse by the mane. He then flung the left leg across the steed and felt with his foot until he could find the left stirrup.
As can be seen the horses were exceptionally well trained and the Maharaja continued to be intrepid and resolute despite the stroke.
Fresh attacks in the beginning of 1837 and the end of 1838 finally sapped his strength and deprived him of speech. He lingered on for more than six months before his death.
When the last moments of the Maharaja arrived, twenty two lakhs of rupees in cash and twenty five lakhs of rupees worth property was distributed as charity amongst the poor Muhammadans and Hindus in mosques dharamshalas and other religious institutions. Two hundred and fifty maunds of clarified butter (ghee) was despatched to the shrine of Devi Jwaalaa Mukhee in Kangra.
The prime minister, Raja Dhian Singh prepared a raised platform costing ten lakhs (one million) rupees and spread on it shawls worth ten thousand rupees. On this platform or terrace Ranjit Singh breathed his last.
The body was bathed with rose water and dressed in rich clothes and ornaments as in his lifetime.. Four of his Ranis, including a daughter of the Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra and seven of his slave girls sat with him for immolation. The sacred Gita was placed on his chest and the minister, Dhian Singh touched the holy book and his master’s body and swore fealty to the new Maharaja Kharak Singh and solemnly promised to ensure friendliness between Kharak Singh and Naunihal Singh. The latter, a grandson of the Maharaja was disaffected towards Kharak Singh.
The Maharaja’s body was next placed in a boat like structure wrought in silk and gold with sails made of most valuable silk decorated with gold embroidery. This ship was placed on a board which was carried aloft on the shoulders of the mourning men.
The funeral pile had been raised in a beautiful garden where the bier was carried accompanied by a multitude.
The Ranis and slave girls came out of the palace without veils for the first time in their lives. They were bare of ornaments as all wealth had been given away before they left the palace. One Rani had some ornaments left and she was seen taking handfuls out of the chest carried by her attendant and distributing them to the beggars lining the route.
In front of each lady walked a man holding a mirror so that the sati-to-be could see that her features were unaltered by the prospect of the ordeal ahead.
The slave girls hardly fourteen or fifteen followed the Ranis.
The funeral pile was six-foot high sandalwood logs strewn with inflammable matter such as cotton seeds. As the bier came nearer all the valuable clothes on the pyre were given away in charity.
The Brahmins and the Gurus recited passages and prayers from the holy books for an hour or so. Then the sirdars and the Rajas ascended the ladder with the body and laid it respectfully down on the pile along with the board on which it lay.
Then the four Ranis climbed up the ladder in accordance with their rank and took position near the head.
The seven slave-girls followed and took hold of the feet of the body. The whole lot were covered with reed mats soaked in oil
Raja Dhian Singh approached the Ranis with folded hands and asked them to pray for the prosperity of the new Maharaja, Kharak Singh. There was no response from them and they went on looking at the form of their late lord and master.
Dhian Singh climbed down and was overtaken by emotion. He also wanted to die by being burnt alongside the Maharaja. He attemped to climb up again and was restrained.
A very strong and thick reed mat soaked in oil was next used to cover up the bier and Kharak Singh set fire to all four corners of the pile in turn. In a very short while the whole mass was reduced to ashes.
Ranjit Singh’s death was followed by ever increasing chaos aided and abetted by the British and within a decade his kingdom was swallowed up by the East India Company.