RANJIT-SINGH, rim-jet' single (1780 1839). Maharaja of the Punjab, horn at Gujran wait:. the son of Maha-Singh, Sirdar of Sukur Chukeah, who died when Ranjit-Singh was about twelve years old. His widow took charge of the administration, and attempted by every means in her power to render her son effeminate. but without success. When he was about seventeen years old she died suddenly and under somewhat suspicious circumstances. and he immediately as sumed the government. In 1799, having rendered important service as an ally to Zeman Shah of Afghanistan, who had invaded the Punjab, he re ceived Lahore, which he held despite the efforts of the neighboring sirdars. 'To them he next turned his attention, and succeeded in subduing some and rendering others tributary. His successes alarmed the Sikh chiefs, allies of the British, sit uated between the Sutlej and the Jumna, who be sought the interference of Lord Minto, the Gov ernor-General. Aecording to a treaty made with Ranjit-Singh in 1808 by Charles :Metcalfe, the English gave up all interference north of the Sutlej, on condition that that boundary should be respected. Ranjit-Singh, thus freed from the only danger he feared, by 1812 had compelled a]] hut three of the Punjab sirdars to resign their authority, and proclaimed himself Raja. In 1813
he obtained possession of Attock, took Multan by storm in 1817, and in 1819 annexed Kashmir, assuming after these exploits the title of maha raja. In 1822 he took into his service Allard and Ventura, two French officers who had served under Napoleon, and by their aid he finished the reconstruction of his army, with the view of ex tending his dominion to the west of the Indus. In pursuance of this scheme, he wrested the Prov ince of Peshawar from the Afghans in 1829. After several years of desultory war with the Afghans, his army was routed by them in 1836, but this reverse does not seem to have affected the stability of his rule, even in the most recently acquired districts, and his reign was not dis turbed by a single revolt. He died June 27, 1839. He was totally uneducated and could neither read nor write, but his administration was energetic, and, for an Oriental despotism, equitable. Consult Griffin, Ranjit-Singh (Oxford, 1892).