Maharani Jind Kaur popularly known as Rani Jindan was the youngest wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh empire, whose boundaries stretched from Kabul to Kashmir and the borders of Delhi. She was also the mother of Maharaja Duleep Singh, the last ruler of the empire, who was raised by the British. From 1843 until 1846, Maharani Jind Kaur was regent of the Sikh Empire.
Rani Jindan was well known for her beauty, vigor, and resolve. However, her celebrity stems primarily from the fear she instilled in the British in India, who referred to her as "the Messalina of the Punjab."
After Ranjit Singh's first three successors were assassinated, Duleep Singh was five years old when he was placed on the throne in 1843. Since he was just a child, Maharani Jindan was made the regent (acting head of state because the ruler is a minor). After the Sikhs suffered defeat in the First Anglo-Sikh War, a Council of Regency headed by a British Resident replaced her in December 1846. However, her influence and authority persisted, and the British exiled and imprisoned her to counter this. She was not allowed to see her son again for over thirteen years.
In January 1861, Duleep Singh was allowed to meet his mother in Calcutta and took her back with him to England, where she remained until her death in Kensington, London, on 1 August 1863. The Maharani died at the age of 46. Her remains were temporarily buried in the Kensal Green Cemetery and cremated in Nashik, a suburb of Bombay during the next year. Princess Bamba Sofia Jindan Duleep Singh, her granddaughter, finally brought her ashes to the samadh (memorial) of her late husband, Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
Family
Jind Kaur Aulakh was born in Chachar, Gujranwala, the daughter of Manna Singh Aulakh. She had an elder brother, Jawahar Singh Aulakh, and her elder sister married Sardar Jawala Singh Padhania, the Chief of Padhana in the Lahore District.
In 1835, Maharaja Ranjit Singh summoned and married Jind Kaur after Manna Singh extolled her beauty and virtues. Her only child, Duleep Singh, was born on 6 September 1838.
Her son Duleep Singh married Bamba Müller, daughter of Ludwig and Sofia Müller, with whom he had four sons, one of whom died in infancy, and three daughters. Following the death of his first wife, he married Ada Wetherill, daughter of Charles and Sarah Wetherill, and had two more daughters. Princess Sophia Alexandra Duleep Singh, one of Duleep Singh's first wives, was an active member of the suffragette movement in the United Kingdom.
Rebel With a Cause
Following the death of Ranjit Singh, Jind Kaur and her son lived in relative obscurity under the care of Raja Dhian Singh at Jammu. During that period Jammu was ruled by Gulab Singh. After the assassination of Maharaja Sher Singh and his wazir (vizier), the army declared Duleep Singh sovereign on 16 September 1843. Both Hira Singh and the new wazir did not extend her the courtesy and consideration she was entitled to and took little notice of the young Maharaja. In fierce defense of her son, Jind Kaur pleaded with the regimental committees to protect his position by asking "Who is the real sovereign, Duleep Singh or Hira Singh? If the former, the Khalsa should be sure that he wasn't just a title-holder.” The council confirmed to the Rani that Duleep Singh was the Maharaja of Punjab. When addressing Jind Kaur, the army generals showed her respect and referred to her as Mai Sahib or the mother of the entire Khalsa Commonwealth.
She became the symbol of the sovereignty of the Khalsa, ruling Punjab in the name of her son She cast off her veil and assumed leadership of the government with the army's approval. As Regent, she reconstituted the Supreme Council of the Khalsa and balanced the relationship between the military and the civil administration. She presided over the court, conducted official business in front of the people, and addressed the troops.
Her Struggles
The Maharani faced many challenges. Pashaura Singh Kanvar, the half-brother of Duleep Singh was seeking to replace Duleep Singh as Maharaja. A reduction in Hira Singh's taxation and the restoration of their jagirs, land grants that provided them with income, were demanded by the feudal chiefs. A pay increase was requested by the army. A large portion of the Lahore Treasury had been taken up by Gulab Singh Dogra, the Raja of Jammu and uncle of Hira Singh. A power struggle between the various Sikh factions continued, and some secretly negotiated with British East India Company forces.
In dealing with these issues, the Maharani received the advice and assistance of the newly established council of elder statesmen and military leaders. Jind Kaur betrothed Duleep Singh to Chatar Singh Atarivala, the governor of Hazara province and a powerful member of the Sikh nobility. Army pay was raised. In Lahore, Gulab Singh was brought to face charges of treachery, and Jawahar Singh replaced Hira Singh as wazir. After paying a fine of 6,800,000 rupees (68 lakh) and promising good behavior, Gulab Singh was allowed to return to Jammu.
In January 1845, Pashaura Singh arrived in Lahore. He was greeted with honor but was persuaded to return to his lands by the soldiers and the promise of an increase in his jagir. However, in July, he captured the fort at Attock and declared himself ruler of Punjab. A force led by Chatar Singh assaulted the fort and forced him to surrender in exchange for safe conduct. However, Jawahar Singh determined that he was too great a risk to the young Maharaja, and he was secretly returned to Attock and strangled. In front of his sister, the agonized Maharani, Jawahar Singh was killed by a knife for his involvement in this.
The British Governor-General, Sir Henry Hardinge, declared war on the Sikhs on 13 December 1845. The Sikhs alleged their defeat in the war to their commander-in-chief, Lal Singh, and Raja Tej Singh, who failed to attack when the British were at his mercy during the fight of Ferozeshah and later sank the Sikh bridge of boats in the battle of Sobraon.
Despite the harsh conditions of the Treaty of Lahore, which was signed in March 1846, the seven-year-old Duleep Singh was allowed to continue serving as Maharaja, and Jind Kaur was to continue serving as regent. She was, however, removed in December by a Council of Regency, headed by a British Resident, and given an annual pension of 150,000 rupees.
In her role as a regent, she got confronted with many hurdles, testing her political and administrative acumen.
The Imprisonment
The British honored the leaders who had aided them after the war, notably Lal Singh and Tej Singh. But the Sikh commanders were furious at what they perceived as treason. When Duleep Singh refused to invest Tej Singh as Raja of Sialkot, Henry Lawrence imprisoned the Maharani in the Samman Tower of the Lahore Fort, and ten days later, moved her to Sheikhupura and reduced her pension to 48,000 rupees.
The Maharani's separation from her 9-year-old son was the most devastating blow. Writing to Lawrence, she urged him to give her Duleep back. "He has no sister, no brother. He has no uncle, senior or junior. His father he has lost. To whose care has he been entrusted?" She did not see her son again for thirteen and a half years.
Sir Frederick Currie, the new British Resident of Punjab, exiled her from Punjab the following year. Her jewelry was taken from her at Chunar Fort, about 45 km from Varanasi. The way the two Residents treated her infuriated Sikhs to the core. A Muslim ruler of neighboring Afghanistan, Dost Mohammad Khan, protested against such treatment.
She fled the Chunar Fort a year later disguised as a servant, traveling 800 miles through the forest to seek refuge in Nepal. In April 1849, she arrived in Kathmandu.
Exile in Nepal
With the expansion of British power, the Indian subcontinent experienced significant political upheaval in the middle of the 19th century. Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Nepal's Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa formed a secret alliance against the British. However, Maharaja Ranjit Singh died suddenly in 1839, which led to the disintegration of the Sikh Kingdom.
In 1845, Punjab went to war with the British under her leadership. In the aftermath of Punjab's annexation, the British imprisoned the Rani in Chunar fort near Varanasi. However, two years later in 1849, she managed to escape the fort disguised as a maid and traveled 800 km north to Kathmandu. When she first arrived, she stayed at the home of Amar Bikram Shah, who was the son of General Chautariya Pushkar Shah, who had also been Nepal's Prime Minister for three years from 1838-1839.
Amar Bikram Shah's residence in Narayanhiti provided her with the luxury and dignity of royalty. However, when outsiders came, she disguised herself and was introduced as a "maid from Hindusthan". “Rani Jind Kaur had chosen to stay at Amar Bikram Shah's residence because Chautariya Pushkar Shah was one of the key officials engaged in forging an alliance between Nepal and Punjab against the British when Maharaja Ranjit Singh was alive. After staying in Amar Bikram Shah's house for a few months, she decided to approach Jung Bahadur Rana.
The Rani was given asylum by the Prime Minister of Nepal and Jung Bahadur Rana with full dignity as a Queen consort of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. A residence, Charburja Durbar, built in the Thapathali durbar complex, was assigned to her at Thapathall, and the Nepalese government settled upon her an allowance for her maintenance. The British Residency in Kathmandu kept a vigilant eye on her throughout, believing that she was engaged in political intrigue to secure the revival of the Sikh dynasty in Punjab. She lived in Nepal for 11 years.
The Reunion
A letter that Jung Bahadur Rana had intercepted from Duleep Singh to Jind Kaur in November 1856 suggesting she visit England, was forwarded to the Governor-General of India. It was dismissed as a forgery. Then Duleep Singh commissioned Pundit Nehemiah Gore to visit Kathmandu on his behalf to check on his mother. This attempt was also doomed to failure and the Pundit was forbidden to contact the Maharani.
Around the end of 1860, the Maharani learned that her son, Maharaja Duleep Singh, was returning to India and she could pay him a visit in Calcutta. The Maharaja was allowed to live with his mother upon his arrival in India. In April 1861, Maharani Jind Kaur met Maharaja Duleep Singh in Calcutta. Soon after, the British realized the presence of the mother and son in India to be hazardous, and they ordered both to return to England within weeks of the Maharaja's arrival. Both sailed for England in the first week of May.
While traveling to England, Duleep Singh wrote to Sir John Login, who had been his guardian throughout his adolescence in British hands, to find a house near Lancaster Gate for his mother. She had heard of the Maharani's beauty, influence, and strength of will, and was curious to meet her. Lady Login arrived shortly after, accompanied by her three youngest children. She was intrigued to meet the woman who had possessed such influence because she had heard tales of the Maharani's beauty, influence, and willpower Her compassion was sparked by the sight of a worn-out, partially blind woman who had health problems and lost her beauty, her heart was touched.
While in India, Duleep Singh negotiated the return of the Maharani's jewelry from Benares' treasury. These arrived just as the Maharani returned Lady Login's visit, and her excitement was so great that "she instantly decked herself, and her attendants, with a variety of the most exquisite necklaces and earrings, strings of lovely pearls and emeralds," to wear during the visit. According to the portrait of the Maharani by George Richmond, she wears some of the jewels, including the emerald and pearl necklace that was sold at Bonhams for £55,200 on 8 October 2009.
In Yorkshire, Duleep Singh and his mother moved to Mulgrave Castle for a while. She refused to be separated from her son, despite attempts to arrange a separate establishment on the estate. Maharaja Duleep Singh learned about the Sikh stance on the British invasion of Panjab while he was with his mother. Additionally, he learned about the conspiracy that caused him to be separated from his mother and the treatment Maharani Jind Kaur received from the British during this period. His attitude towards his history, culture, and faith improved as a result of Maharani's guidance. She is thought to have played an instrumental role in Duleep Singh's return to Sikhi. In the last two years of her life, she reminded the Maharaja of his Sikh heritage and told him of the empire that had once been his, sowing the seeds that would lead him to spend weeks researching in the British Library and petitioning Queen Victoria, hoping naively to right the wrong he had suffered.
Her Last Years
Maharani Jind Kaur passed away peacefully in her sleep at Abingdon House, Kensington, on 1 August 1863. Cremation was illegal in Great Britain before 1885 and Duleep Singh was refused permission to take his mother's body to Punjab, so it was kept for a while in the Dissenters' Chapel in Kensal Green Cemetery. The Maharaja erected a small samadh on the Panchavati side of the Godavari River in memory of his mother after obtaining permission to take her body to Bombay in India. British authorities denied Jind Kaur's request to be cremated in Lahore. Princess Bamba Sutherland moved her remains and the memorial to the Samadhi of Ranjit Singh to Lahore in 1924 from Bombay. During restorations at the Dissenters' Chapel in Kensal Green in 1997, a marble headstone with her name was uncovered, and in 2009 a memorial was installed to honor her.
Media on the life of Maharani Jind Kaur
In 2010, Michael Singh released ‘The Rebel Queen’, a docudrama short starring Indian actress Diana Pinto as the Maharani. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni released ‘The Last Queen’ in January 2020. In the comic historical novel ‘Flashman and the Mountain of Light’, she is a major character.
The story of Maharani Jind Kaur is one of a brave woman who against all odds, proved her mettle as a regent to the young Maharaja Duleep Singh while also navigating the British government's diplomatic ruses to the point that they feared her.