page_title: Ranjit Singh
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Ranjit Singh / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Lithograph showing one of the favourite horses of Maharaja Ranjit Singh with the head officer of his stables and his collection of fabulous jewels including the Kohinoor diamond marked as number 1
context_page_description: Maharaja Ranjit Singh, popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the leader of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He survived smallpox in infancy but lost sight in his left eye. He fought his first battle alongside his father at age 10. After his father died, he fought several wars to expel the Afghans in his teenage years and was proclaimed as the "Maharaja of Punjab" at age 21. His empire grew in the Punjab region under his leadership through 1839.
  Prior to his rise, the Punjab region had numerous warring misls, twelve of which were under Sikh rulers and one Muslim. Ranjit Singh successfully absorbed and united the Sikh misls and took over other local kingdoms to create the Sikh Empire. He repeatedly defeated invasions by outside armies, particularly those arriving from Afghanistan, and established friendly relations with the British.
  Ranjit Singh's reign introduced reforms, modernisation, investment into infrastructure and general prosperity. His Khalsa army and government included Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims and Europeans.
context_section_description: Singh is remembered for uniting Sikhs and founding the prosperous Sikh Empire. He is also remembered for his conquests and building a well-trained, self-sufficient Khalsa army to protect the empire. He amassed considerable wealth, including gaining the possession of the Koh-i-Noor diamond from Shuja Shah Durrani of Afghanistan, which he left to Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha in 1839.
caption: A lithograph by Emily Eden showing one of the favourite horses of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his collection of jewels, including the Koh-i-Noor
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