of Punjab.
The Sikh period is historically notable for the fair treatment meted out to all non-Sikhs in the Kingdom. Ranjit Singh had both Hindu and Muslim ministers, as well as Europeans, such as Generals Ventura, Avitabile and Court, who served in the Sikh Army. Muslim mosques and Hindu places of worship were equal recipients of Ranjit Singh’s bounty, Sikhs, Muslims, and Hindus were loyal subjects of the Sikh sovereign of the Punjab. The Punjabi army had Sikh and Muslim generals of great note, some of whom died in battle when the Sikh Kingdom fell to the British. Select Sikh artillery was in the charge of Ilahi Bakhash (‘“‘Ilahi Bakhsh Ka Tope – Khana’’).
“Politically he ruled the Punjab till the Khalsa ‘ yielded to our arms.”
In 1849 the Sikh Kingdom of Punjab was annexed to British- India, under Governor General Dalhousie, at the close of the second Anglo-Sikh war, ten years after Ranjit Singh’s death. The Sikh royal heir, Duleep Singh, at the age of 15, was exiled to England where he died on 22nd October, 1893, at the age of fifty-five years.
“The subsequent destiny of the Sikh dynasty
and Sikh nation will be pronounced upon when
the objects above mentioned (of defeating,
disarming and crushing all forces of Sikhs)
are accomplished.” 3.
Subsequent to the loss of their sovereign Kingdom, some 150 years ago, the Sikhs were prominent allies of the British in the two World Wars.
The illustrious author of a History of the Sikhs, in contemporary times, confirms that:
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- Meaning the collective “Sikh Commonwealth”: from the Persian word “Khalis,” meaning pure or rarified.
- Sir Denzil Ibbetson, Report on the Census of India, 1916 reprint, from the chapter, “Races, Castes, and Tribes of the People.”
- Lord Dalhousie to the British Resident of the Sikh capital, Lahore, in a note dated the 3rd of November, 1848
