By Col. Satwant Singh Gill
History has many great leaders who fell through the cracks and never recognized. Maharaj Sher Singh was one of them. He was a leader whose talent was not recognized during his times and not in times after him.
It was his extra-ordinary display and recommendation of Hari Singh Nalwa, that obligated Maharaja to make him Governor of Kashmir from 1831 to 1834. He did not let anyone down as he displayed extra-ordinary display of leadership and managed the province with great acumen.
Diplomatically, Sher Singh continued to impress. He was known to have the finest Buggy in Khalsa Raj which was always preferred by the British to travel around during their visits to Khalsa Durbar as mentioned in accounts of various Britishers.
The only Prince who was as capable as Sher Singh during Ranjit Singh's life was Kunwar Nau Nihal Singh son of Kharak Singh (The declared successor of Ranjit Singh who as per many was one of the most incapable leader).
After death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Kharak Singh was declared the successor. Sher Singh during that time stationed himself at Batala. He waited and closely watched the treacheries and intrigues of the Lahore Durbar.
The opportune time came when Kharak Singh passed away and Nau Nihal Singh was murdered. Chand Kaur on behalf of unborn child of Nau Nihal Singh declared herself as the regent. Sher Singh reached with his army at Budhu ka Awwa near Lahore to take over. The Khalsa Raj was now divided with Chand Kaur at one end and Sher Singh at other. Not known to them, the Dogra brothers were playing a master game with Gulab Singh aligning himself with Chand Kaur and Dhian Singh supporting Sher Singh were playing them around and playing both camps against one another. In this grand chess the Sandhwalia brothers were also instigated by Gulab Singh to support Chand Kaur.
A temporary truce was agreed. However it quickly fell through and finally Sher Singh managed to capture Lahore and declare himself as Maharaja. Chand Kaur was put under house arrest and the Sandhawalia brothers crossed Sutlej and went under British protection staying in Calcutta for two years. It can also be induced that when Chand Kaur was killed by Dogra brothers, they had tactic approval of Sher Singh.
Sher Singh ruled capably during the short rule. He wanted to get over the fissures and re-integrate all stakeholders. In the process he forgave the Sandhawalia Sardars Ajit Singh & his uncle Lehna Singh. However they seeing this as a right oppurtunity planned to eradicate Sher Singh and the willy Dogras.
They got their chance on 15th September, 1843. Sher Singh after watching a wrestling match at Shah Behlol, went to a raised platform to review a parade. He called Ajit Singh near him to show him the new gun which had been recently purchased from the British. Ajit Singh used this opportunity to get near Sher Singh and shot him. He then chopped his head and put it on a spear and started to move towards Lahore fort. Meanwhile Lehna Singh killed Kunwar Tikka Pratap Singh, the son of Sher Singh and joined Ajit Singh. This was the end of the rule of a capable but unfortunate king of Khalsa Raj. Who knows if he could have been more shrewd like his grandmother Sada Kaur, he could have passed over this phase.
When the British finally annexed Punjab, they only recognized Sher Singh's rule as the last legitimate rule and all properties acquired after his rule were confiscated.
In hindsight Sher Singh was a talented capable leader. He however failed to understand the conspiracies and instead of being careful, started to trust people too soon. This resulted in a tragic end.
He & his son's samadhis are located at Shah Behlol (Where he was killed). Shah Behlol, was ironically the place from where his father (Maharaja Ranjit Singh) & his grandmother (Sada Kaur) with their forces had launched an attack to capture Lahore from the Bhangi Sardars (Gujar & Jhanda Singh) in 1779 to start the Khalsa Raj. Sadly it became the spot where it also practically ended (Although Britishers finally captured it after Anglo Sikh wars in 1846 & 1848).
History has many what if moments (Like if Dara Shikoh has succeeded instead of Aurangzeb). What if instead of incapable Kharak Singh, Sher Singh was recognized as legal successor. He was capable, intelligent, sophisticated & intellectual. However History is not "what ifs". It is what has happened and what we can do is learn from it. Instead of blindly declaring Maharaja Ranjit Singh as great and blaming failures on others (especially the Dogras), we should develop appetite to critically examine certain things that Maharaja Ranjit Singh should have done better in his later half of rule especially building a robust line of succession. The failure of the same lead to the crash in Khalsa Raj after he passed away. Part of the blame surely lies within. We should perhaps learn and implement these leanings in the present times too- the fault of failure is both external & internal. The challenge is to recognize internal shortcoming by not being narcissistic about it.
History has many great leaders who fell through the cracks and never recognized. Maharaj Sher Singh was one of them. He was a leader whose talent was not recognized during his times and not in times after him.
Maharaja Sher Singh was the 2nd son of the great Maharaja Ranjit Singh & his first wife Maharani Mehtab Kaur. Maharani was herself the daughter of Sada Kaur & Gurbaksh Singh of the famous Kanahya Misl with capital at Batala. Ironically the eldest son of Ranjit Singh, Kharak Singh was born to Dataar Kaur (the 2nd wife) who was daughter of younger sister of Sada Kaur married into the Nakai Misl
Sher Singh had a twin brother Tara Singh, who unlike him was a very simple godly man who did not get involved in the politics of the time. Sher Singh besides being the son of Ranjit Singh and 2nd in line to succession of Khalsa Raj was also the legitimate successor of Kanhaya Misl too, as Sada Kaur did not have any sons and Sher Singh was the son of the eldest daughter. Her husband had been killed long ago fighting Maha Singh (Father of Ranjit Singh). As one could guess these equations made the whole situation a really complex one
Sada Kaur was a very acute & capable leader and a visionary in her own right. The way in which she managed the Kanhaiya Misl after turbulent times when Gurbaksh Singh was killed demonstrates all those qualities. Many of those qualities were inherited by Sher Singh over whom Sada Kaur had a deep imprint.
These strong qualities in Sada Kaur always made Maharaja Ranjit singh wary of her for her entire life and never had good relations with her. Rather there was a grudging acceptance due to realistic factors of the day. As Mehtab Kaur (Sher Singh's mother) was close to her mother contributed to distancing between her & Ranjit Singh and in future over his relationship with Sher Singh too.
Sher Singh was an extremely handsome, well built, well mannered prince. His upbringing was in Batala away from Khalsa capital of Lahore & Ranjit Singh and under Sada Kaur.
As per Britishers, Ranjit Singh believed that Sher Singh was not his son. However this is most likely to be propaganda as they were aware of the strained relationship between Ranjit Singh & Sada Kaur. The British on the other hand were also very impressed with the intellect & sophisticated habits of Sher Singh (& even his son Tikka Pratap Singh). As per them he could easily adapt to the ways of living & diplomacy and was quite popular with them. Infact the culture of tying one's beard was started by Sher Singh himself. Before him the culture in Sikhs was to leave the beard open & flowing. This trend started by him has infact now become a norm but rarely people know he was the creator of the sytle
As Sher Singh rose over time he started to prove his mettle. Away from the courts of Lahore, he proved his worth in battles and really impressed the famous general, Hari Singh Nalwa. It was perhaps due to these qualities that he was offered a chair in the Durbar in 1829 despite a strained relationship with Ranjit Singh.
He continued this display of character & further participated in various famous battles including Battle of Balakot (Now known for Air Strikes by India post Pulwama), Haripur & Hazara in 1831 against Sayeed Ahmed Shah Barelvi who had started a Jihad against the Khalsa Raj with masked support of the British (It is due to the same reason of concept of Jihad that Jaish e Mohammad has chosen Balakot as site of their training camp but that is a story for another day). Further Sher Singh was in the thick of action when Hari Singh Nalwa captured Peshawar from the Afghans in 1834 and once for all put the invasions of Afghans to a halt.
 |
| Maharaja Sher Singh |
 |
| Sada Kaur, the capable ruler of Kanhaiya Misl. Mother in law of Ranjit Singh, maternal grandmother of Sher Singh |
Sada Kaur was a very acute & capable leader and a visionary in her own right. The way in which she managed the Kanhaiya Misl after turbulent times when Gurbaksh Singh was killed demonstrates all those qualities. Many of those qualities were inherited by Sher Singh over whom Sada Kaur had a deep imprint.
These strong qualities in Sada Kaur always made Maharaja Ranjit singh wary of her for her entire life and never had good relations with her. Rather there was a grudging acceptance due to realistic factors of the day. As Mehtab Kaur (Sher Singh's mother) was close to her mother contributed to distancing between her & Ranjit Singh and in future over his relationship with Sher Singh too.
 |
| Mehtab Kaur, eldest queen of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, daughter of Sada Kaur and mother of Maharaja Sher Singh & Kunwar Tara Singh |
Sher Singh was an extremely handsome, well built, well mannered prince. His upbringing was in Batala away from Khalsa capital of Lahore & Ranjit Singh and under Sada Kaur.
 |
| Baradari of Sher Singh at Batala |
As per Britishers, Ranjit Singh believed that Sher Singh was not his son. However this is most likely to be propaganda as they were aware of the strained relationship between Ranjit Singh & Sada Kaur. The British on the other hand were also very impressed with the intellect & sophisticated habits of Sher Singh (& even his son Tikka Pratap Singh). As per them he could easily adapt to the ways of living & diplomacy and was quite popular with them. Infact the culture of tying one's beard was started by Sher Singh himself. Before him the culture in Sikhs was to leave the beard open & flowing. This trend started by him has infact now become a norm but rarely people know he was the creator of the sytle
 |
| Hari Singh Nalwa, the famous general of Maharaja Ranjit Singh who extended his boundary much beyond the traditional borders of Punjab |
As Sher Singh rose over time he started to prove his mettle. Away from the courts of Lahore, he proved his worth in battles and really impressed the famous general, Hari Singh Nalwa. It was perhaps due to these qualities that he was offered a chair in the Durbar in 1829 despite a strained relationship with Ranjit Singh.
He continued this display of character & further participated in various famous battles including Battle of Balakot (Now known for Air Strikes by India post Pulwama), Haripur & Hazara in 1831 against Sayeed Ahmed Shah Barelvi who had started a Jihad against the Khalsa Raj with masked support of the British (It is due to the same reason of concept of Jihad that Jaish e Mohammad has chosen Balakot as site of their training camp but that is a story for another day). Further Sher Singh was in the thick of action when Hari Singh Nalwa captured Peshawar from the Afghans in 1834 and once for all put the invasions of Afghans to a halt.
 |
| Battle of Balakot |
It was his extra-ordinary display and recommendation of Hari Singh Nalwa, that obligated Maharaja to make him Governor of Kashmir from 1831 to 1834. He did not let anyone down as he displayed extra-ordinary display of leadership and managed the province with great acumen.
Diplomatically, Sher Singh continued to impress. He was known to have the finest Buggy in Khalsa Raj which was always preferred by the British to travel around during their visits to Khalsa Durbar as mentioned in accounts of various Britishers.
The only Prince who was as capable as Sher Singh during Ranjit Singh's life was Kunwar Nau Nihal Singh son of Kharak Singh (The declared successor of Ranjit Singh who as per many was one of the most incapable leader).
 |
| Maharaja Kharak Singh & his capable son Kunwar Nau Nihal Singh |
The opportune time came when Kharak Singh passed away and Nau Nihal Singh was murdered. Chand Kaur on behalf of unborn child of Nau Nihal Singh declared herself as the regent. Sher Singh reached with his army at Budhu ka Awwa near Lahore to take over. The Khalsa Raj was now divided with Chand Kaur at one end and Sher Singh at other. Not known to them, the Dogra brothers were playing a master game with Gulab Singh aligning himself with Chand Kaur and Dhian Singh supporting Sher Singh were playing them around and playing both camps against one another. In this grand chess the Sandhwalia brothers were also instigated by Gulab Singh to support Chand Kaur.
 |
| Dogra brothers with Maharaja Ranjit Singh |
A temporary truce was agreed. However it quickly fell through and finally Sher Singh managed to capture Lahore and declare himself as Maharaja. Chand Kaur was put under house arrest and the Sandhawalia brothers crossed Sutlej and went under British protection staying in Calcutta for two years. It can also be induced that when Chand Kaur was killed by Dogra brothers, they had tactic approval of Sher Singh.
 |
| Ajit Singh Sandhawalia |
Sher Singh ruled capably during the short rule. He wanted to get over the fissures and re-integrate all stakeholders. In the process he forgave the Sandhawalia Sardars Ajit Singh & his uncle Lehna Singh. However they seeing this as a right oppurtunity planned to eradicate Sher Singh and the willy Dogras.
They got their chance on 15th September, 1843. Sher Singh after watching a wrestling match at Shah Behlol, went to a raised platform to review a parade. He called Ajit Singh near him to show him the new gun which had been recently purchased from the British. Ajit Singh used this opportunity to get near Sher Singh and shot him. He then chopped his head and put it on a spear and started to move towards Lahore fort. Meanwhile Lehna Singh killed Kunwar Tikka Pratap Singh, the son of Sher Singh and joined Ajit Singh. This was the end of the rule of a capable but unfortunate king of Khalsa Raj. Who knows if he could have been more shrewd like his grandmother Sada Kaur, he could have passed over this phase.
When the British finally annexed Punjab, they only recognized Sher Singh's rule as the last legitimate rule and all properties acquired after his rule were confiscated.
In hindsight Sher Singh was a talented capable leader. He however failed to understand the conspiracies and instead of being careful, started to trust people too soon. This resulted in a tragic end.
He & his son's samadhis are located at Shah Behlol (Where he was killed). Shah Behlol, was ironically the place from where his father (Maharaja Ranjit Singh) & his grandmother (Sada Kaur) with their forces had launched an attack to capture Lahore from the Bhangi Sardars (Gujar & Jhanda Singh) in 1779 to start the Khalsa Raj. Sadly it became the spot where it also practically ended (Although Britishers finally captured it after Anglo Sikh wars in 1846 & 1848).
 |
| Maharaja Sher Singh |
History has many what if moments (Like if Dara Shikoh has succeeded instead of Aurangzeb). What if instead of incapable Kharak Singh, Sher Singh was recognized as legal successor. He was capable, intelligent, sophisticated & intellectual. However History is not "what ifs". It is what has happened and what we can do is learn from it. Instead of blindly declaring Maharaja Ranjit Singh as great and blaming failures on others (especially the Dogras), we should develop appetite to critically examine certain things that Maharaja Ranjit Singh should have done better in his later half of rule especially building a robust line of succession. The failure of the same lead to the crash in Khalsa Raj after he passed away. Part of the blame surely lies within. We should perhaps learn and implement these leanings in the present times too- the fault of failure is both external & internal. The challenge is to recognize internal shortcoming by not being narcissistic about it.
