The Sikhs of Punjab

The Mughal force supressed the Sikhs under Banda Bahadur. But this did not put an end to Sikh resistance to Mughal authority. In the 1720s and 1730s, Amritsar emerged as a centre of Sikh activity, mainly because of its preeminence as a pilgrimage centre.

Kapur Singh, the most important of the Sikh leaders of the time, operated from its vicinity. He gradually set about consolidating a revenue-cum military system. Some Sikh groups also started consolidating themselves as political force. These activities discouraged the attempts by the Mughal governors of Lahore Suba to set up an independent power base for themselves in the region.

First Abdus Samad Khan and then his son Zakariya Khan attempted to control sovereign power. After the latter’s demise in 1745, the balance shifted still further in favour of the Sikh warrior- leaders, such as Jassa Singh Ahluwalia. He later on founded the kingdom of Kapurthala.

The mushrooming of pockets under the authority of Sikh leaders was a feature of the two decades preceding Ahmed Shah Abdali’s invasion of the Punjab. This process was evident in the eastern Punjab and Bari Doab. Though the principal opposition faced by Abdali in his campaigns of the 1750s and 1760s in the Punjab came from the Sikhs, Marathas also played a role of significance on this occasion.

Eventually, by the mid-1760s, Sikh authority over Lahore was established, and the Afghans were not able to consolidate their early gains. Under Ahmad Shah’s successor, Timur Shah (ruled 1772–93), some of the territories and towns that had been taken by the Sikhs (such as Multan) were recovered, and the descendants of Ahmad Shah continued to harbour ambitions in this direction until the end of the century. But by the 1770s, they were dealing with a confederation of about 60 Sikh chieftains, some of these were to emerge as princely states under the British - such as Nabha and Patiala.

The Sikh chiefdoms continued many of the administrative practices initiated by the Mughals. The main subordinates of the chiefs were given jagir assignments. The Persianized culture of the Mughal bureaucracy continued to hold sway. It was one such chief, Ranjit Singh, grandson of Charhat Singh Sukerchakia, who eventually welded these principalities for a brief time into a larger entity.

Ranjit Singh’s effective rule lasted four decades, from 1799 to 1839. The power of the English East India Company was growing in all parts of the country during this period. Within ten years of his death, the British had annexed Punjab. His rise to power was based on superior military force, partly serviced by European mercenaries and by the strategic location of the territories that he had inherited from his father.

Ranjit Singh’s kingdom represented the culmination of nearly a century of Sikh rebellions against Mughal rule. It was based on the intelligent application of principles of statecraft. He used as his capital the great trading city of Lahore, which he captured in 1799. Having gained control of the trade routes, he imposed monopolies on the trade in salt, grain, and textiles from Kashmir to enhance his revenues. Using these earnings, he built up an army of 40,000 cavalry and infantry. By the year 1809 he was undisputed master of the most of Punjab.