She rose to be a heroine
J.S. Bedi

MAHARANI Jind Kaur, popularly addressed as Rani Jindan, was the youngest wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Wielding much authority in Punjab, she was known for her beauty as well as strength of will and art of diplomacy.

Mulk Raj Anand, a scholar of eminence, has very aptly remarked: "Rani Jindan, a woman of beauty from a modest household, whom Maharaja Ranjit Singh married late in his life, rose to be a heroine. She resisted the efforts of the British to annexe Punjab for sometime. She came out of the purdah, held durbar with the chiefs of the army, daily took counsel with the nobles, and conducted the State with uncommon commonsense, in some of the most difficult situations facing the kingdom of the Punjab."

On the death of Maharaja Sher Singh in September, 1845, Rani Jindan became Regent for her young son Dalip Singh. She decided on a policy of aggression with the motto, "Throw the snake into your enemy’s bosom." The snake was the powerful Sikh army. It was to be flung upon the British. Thus Rani Jindan planned to avenge the murder of her brother Jawahir Singh. The army entered the war with enthusiasm and fought bravely. It crossed the Sutlej on the December 8, 1845.

Unfortunately, Rani Jindan was distrusted by her men whom she trusted the most. When the treaty of Bharowal was signed in 1846, Rani Jindan was deposed as ‘Regent’ and banished to Sheikhupura near Lahore. Henry Lawrence, a treacherous British Resident at Lahore, not only imprisoned her in the Sheikhupura jail but also dethroned Maharaja Dalip Singh. He first expelled the prince to Fatehgarh fort in Uttar Pradesh, and then to London under the supervision of Dr Login.

From Sheikhupura jail, Rani Jindan was exiled to Benares and then transferred to the old red-stone fort of Chunar in the district of Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh. Her escape from the Chunar fort astonished the British who found a letter, written by the Rani, at the gate of the fort on April 19, 1849. She had written: "You put me in the cage and locked me up. For all your locks and your sentries, I got out by my magic... I had told you plainly not to push me too hard — but don’t think I ran away, understand well, that I escape by myself unaided... When I quitted the Fort of Chunar I threw down two papers on my gaddi and one I threw on the European charpoy, now don’t imagine, I got out like a thief".

After an arduous journey to Nepal, Prime Minister Jung Bahadur granted her asylum in spite of the objections raised by the British Resident there. She patiently bore her exile and built a Sikh shrine in Kathmandu.

Still longing to see her son, she sent messages to Dalip Singh, who ultimately came to Calcutta to meet her. Both of them sailed to England. When Lady Login came to know of the arrival of Rani Jindan, she became very curious to meet the woman who had faced the British with courage and bravery in Punjab. She expressed her feelings in the following words:

"It was, therefore, with a sense of disillusionment and compassion that, when, accompanied by my three youngest children, after being received with all honour and deference by her attendants, her women ushering me ceremoniously into the large, heavily-curtained room, I found myself in semi-darkness, confronting an aged, half-blind woman, sitting huddled on a heap of cushions on the floor. With health broken and eyesight dimmed, her beauty vanished, and an air of lassitude, it was hard to believe in her former charms of person and of conversation. Yet the moment she grew interested and excited in a subject, unexpected gleams and glimpses, through the haze of indifference, and the torpor of advancing years, revealed the shrewd and plotting brain, of her who had once been known as ‘the Messalina of the Punjab’."

Since a large number of critics raise their eyebrows over the marriage of Rani Jindan with Maharaja Ranjit Singh who was then much older in age, it would be most appropriate here to mention the circumstances in which the wedding took place. It has been confirmed from various sources, including books and the British settlement reports, that Rani Jindan was the daughter of Manna, in charge of the royal kennels of Ranjit Singh. She was endowed with extraordinary beauty and great talent. Her father was a man of much humour and fun who even took liberties with the Maharaja, often rallying him jocularly on the state of his harem, and asking him to make a queen of his little daughter.

Manna used to perch the pretty child on his shoulder, and running alongside the Maharaja’s palki, he would declare the girl was getting burdensome and heavy. At last the Maharaja was persuaded, and said: "Very well, bring her."

The real wives however, became so jealous of her that Ranjit Singh had to send her to Amritsar when 13 years old . He gave her an allowance of Rs 5,000 per month. She was under the charge of Raja Dhyan Singh. He later took her back to Lahore, treated her with great dignity, and ultimately effected the Karewa ceremony between her and Ranjit Singh.

Maharani Jind Kaur died in 1863 with a hope that the kingdom of Punjab would be restored to her son. Paying a tribute to the Maharani, Colonel Alexander Gardener, who was a close associate of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, said: "Maharani Jind Kaur was the most brave queen of Punjab who did the kingdom of Punjab proud."