Ranjit Singh

Through exquisite artworks, glittering jewellery and weaponry discover how Ranjit Singh, one of the greatest figures in the history of India, established a hugely influential Sikh Empire at the beginning of the 19th century. Gifted with an indomitable sense of destiny and backed by the tactical support of a guileful mother-in-law and a holy man with a penchant for warfare, Ranjit Singh would emerge as the region's undisputed 'Maharaja' or Great King at the beginning of the 19th century. His meteoric rise to power ushered in a short-lived but hugely influential Sikh Empire that would inextricably impact on the fortunes of the British Empire in the Indian subcontinent. Through a stunning array of over 100 exquisite photographs of artworks, glittering jewellery and weaponry from the Sikh Empire drawn from major private and public collections including the Wallace Collection, explore how Ranjit Singh brought about a golden age where trade boomed, the arts flourished and a formidable army was developed along European lines to keep any British, Afghan, Persian or Russian threat at bay. The book features important historic objects from Ranjit Singh's court, courtiers and family members, including those personally owned by the maharaja and the most famous of his thirty 'official' wives, Maharani Jind Kaur. Also highlighted are objects intimately connected with their son, Maharaja Duleep Singh – the deposed boy-king turned country squire who was a favourite of Queen Victoria and the father of the prominent suffragette, Princess Sophia Duleep Singh. Perhaps most surprisingly, discover the achievements of Ranjit Singh's European officials in the fields of Punjab's military industry, artistic patronage, the shawl trade and diplomatic relations with Europe.