page_title: Jind Kaur
section_title: Regency
hierarchical_section_title: Jind Kaur / Regency
caption_attribution_description: English: Maharaja Duleep Singh (1838 - 1893).
context_page_description: Maharani Jind Kaur was regent of the Sikh Empire from 1843 until 1846. She was the youngest wife of the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, Ranjit Singh, and the mother of the last Maharaja, Duleep Singh. She was renowned for her beauty, energy and strength of purpose and was popularly known as Rani Jindan, but her fame is derived chiefly from the fear she engendered in the British in India, who described her as "the Messalina of the Punjab", a seductress too rebellious to be controlled.
  After the assassinations of Ranjit Singh's first three successors, Duleep Singh came to power in September 1843 at the age of 5 and Jind Kaur became Regent on her son's behalf.
  After the Sikhs lost the First Anglo-Sikh War she was replaced in December 1846 by a Council of Regency, under the control of a British Resident. However, her power and influence continued and, to counter this, the British imprisoned and exiled her. Over thirteen years passed before she was again permitted to see her son, who was taken to England.
context_section_description: After the death of Ranjit Singh, Jind Kaur and her son lived in relative obscurity under the care of Raja Dhian Siṅgh at Jammu. On 16 September 1843, after the assassination of Maharaja Sher Singh and his wazir (vizier), the army proclaimed the 5-year-old Duleep Singh as sovereign. At first the new wazir, Hira Singh, took little notice of the young Maharaja and his mother. Jind Kaur became fiercely defensive of the rights of her son and pleaded with the regimental committees to protect his position asking 'who is the real sovereign, Duleep Singh or Hira Singh? If the former, then the Khālsā should ensure that he was not a king with an empty title.' The council supported her and she gradually became the symbol of sovereignty. She took control of the government with the approval of the army and cast off her veil.  As Regent, she reconstituted the Supreme Council of the Khalsa and restored a balance between the army and the civil administration. She held court, transacted State business in public and reviewed and addressed the troops.
  The young Maharani was faced with many problems.  Pashaura Singh Kanvar, half brother of Duleep Singh, was seeking to replace Duleep Singh as Maharaja. The feudal chiefs wanted a reduction in the taxation imposed on them by Hira Singh and the restoration of their jagirs, land grants from which they received income.  The army wanted an increase in pay.  The cost of the civil and military administration had increased and Gulab Singh Dogra, Raja of Jammu and uncle of Hira Singh, had taken most of the Lahore Treasury.  The power struggle between the various Sikh factions was continuing and some were secretly negotiating with the British East India Company forces amassing on the border.
  In tackling these problems, the Maharani had the advice and support of the newly appointed council of elder statesmen and military leaders.  To strengthen her power base, Jind Kaur betrothed Duleep Singh to the daughter of Chatar Singh Atarivala, the Governor of Hazara province and a powerful and influential member of the Sikh nobility. Army pay was increased. Gulab Singh was brought to Lahore to face charges of treachery and his nephew, Hira Singh, was replaced as wazir by Jawahar Singh. Gulab Singh was allowed to return to Jammu after paying a fine of 6,800,000 rupees (68 lakh) and promising future good behaviour.
  Pashaura Singh arrived in Lahore in January 1845.  He was received with honour but was persuaded to return to his estates by the army and a promise of an increase in his jagir. However, in July he took the fort at Attock and declared himself to be the ruler of the Punjab.  A force commanded by Chatar Singh besieged the fort and forced him to surrender on the promise of a safe conduct.  However Jawahar Singh had decided that he posed too great a risk to the young Maharaja and he was secretly taken back to Attock and strangled. For his involvement in this, Jawahar Singh was stabbed to death in front of his sister, the agonised Maharani.
  On 13 December 1845 the British Governor-General, Sir Henry Hardinge, issued a proclamation declaring war on the Sikhs. The causes and conduct of the First Anglo-Sikh War are described fully elsewhere.  The Sikhs lost the war, due, they claimed, to the treachery of their commander-in-chief, Raja Tej Singh, who failed to attack when the British were at his mercy during the battle of Ferozeshah and later sank the Sikh bridge of boats in the battle of Sobraon.  The terms of the Treaty of Lahore, signed in March 1846, were punitive but the seven-year-old Duleep Singh remained as Maharaja and Jind Kaur was to remain as regent.  However, in December, she was replaced by a Council of Regency, controlled by a British Resident, and awarded an annual pension of 150,000 rupees.
caption: The young Maharaja Duleep Singh.
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