Bust
of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, on sale in London on Oct. 09
London, Sep 08, 2008
Satish Mehta
The writer Chirsty Campbell describes Maharaja
Ranjit Singh as “One of the greatest rulers of Northern
India, who built an empire which stretched almost from the Indian
Ocean to the Himalayas. He was also called the Lion of Punjab.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh's reign was also known for all round development,
secular values and patriotic fervour. Keeping all these aspects
in mind, the Amritsar has come up with many such things that reminds
one of Maharaja Ranjit Singh's rule.
The milk white sculpture, marble bust has been priced between
£50,000 and £70,000 and will be be auctioned at the
Bonhams Indian and Islamic sale on October 9 in London. Last year,
a bust of Ranjit Singh's son, Duleep Singh, was sold for £1.7m.
Ranjit Singh crowned himself as the ruler of Punjab and willed
the Koh-i-noor to Jagannath Temple in Orissa while on his deathbed
in 1839. But there was dispute about this last-minute testament,
and in any case it was not executed. On March 29, 1849, the British
flag was hoisted on the citadel of Lahore and the Punjab was formally
proclaimed to be part of the British Empire in India. One of the
terms of the Treaty of Lahore, the legal agreement formalising
this occupation.
The gem called the Koh-i-Noor which was taken from Shah Shuja-ul-Mulk
by Maharajah Ranjit Singh shall be surrendered by the Maharajah
of Lahore to the Queen of England.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh suddenly died of a paralytic stoke in June
1839. He was succeeded by his imbecile son, Kharak Singh. On November
5, 1840, Kharak Singh die and the reign of his capable son Nao
Nihal Singh also ended the same day while returning home from
the cemetery after performing funeral rites of his father by the
fall of an archway of the Lahore Fort. The following years witnessed
intrigue and murders. The English were closely watching the happenings
in the Punjab and they finally declared war is December, 1845
which ended in February 1846. Sikh army was defeated and Peace
Treaty was concluded between Maharaja Dalip Singh, a minor son
of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and the East Indian company. This peace
treaty did not last long and second Anglo-Sikh war was fought
in 1848-49. Finally the Sikh army was defeated and Punjab was
annexed. The Maharaja Dalip Singh was pensioned off, all state
property confiscated to the company, the celebrated diamond, the
Koh-i-Noor surrended to the Queen of England on 24th March, 1849.
This is how the Koh-i-Noor passing through many hands finally
reached England.
The Governor-General in charge for the ratification of this
treaty was Lord Dalhousie. More than anyone, Dalhousie was responsible
for the British acquiring the Koh-i-Noor, in which he continued
to show great interest for the rest of his life. Dalhousie's work
in India was sometimes controversial, and his acquisition of the
diamond, amongst many other things, was criticised by some contemporary
British commentators. Although some suggested that the diamond
should have been presented as a gift to the Queen, it is clear
that Dalhousie felt strongly that the stone was a spoil of war,
and treated it accordingly. Writing to his friend Sir George Cooper
in August of 1849, he stated this:
The Court [of the East India Company] you say, are ruffled by
my having caused the Maharajah to cede to the Queen the Koh-i-noor;
while the 'Daily News' and my Lord Ellenborough [Governor-General
of India, 1841-44] are indignant because I did not confiscate
everything to her Majesty... [My] motive was simply this: that
it was more for the honour of the Queen that the Koh-i-noor should
be surrendered directly from the hand of the conquered prince
into the hands of the sovereign who was his conqueror, than it
should be presented to her as a gift -- which is always a favour
-- by any joint-stock company among her subjects. So the Court
ought to feel.
Dalhousie arranged that the diamond should be presented by Maharaja
Ranjit Singh's successor, Duleep Singh, to Queen Victoria in 1851.
Duleep travelled to the United Kingdom to do this. The presentation
of the Koh-i-Noor to Queen Victoria was the latest in the long
history of transfers of the stone as a spoil of war.
