Maharani Jindan Kaur, the last wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, is in news for the auction of some of her jewellery at Bonhams Islamic and Indian Art sale in London earlier this week.
Maharani Jindan Kaur is the only surviving widow of Ranjit Singh. She led a spirited resistance to the encroachment of the British into the Punjab, but was eventually forced to surrender. More than 600 pieces of her jewellery from the legendary treasury of Lahore were confiscated, and she was imprisoned before escaping to Nepal in 1848. She was the youngest wife of the Maharaja who was the founder of the Sikh empire. Lady with vigor stood by her young child Duleep Singh who was five years old when he was placed on the throne in 1843 after death of their two heirs.
As Duleep Singh was just a child, Maharani Jindan was made the governor. It wasn’t official but she took an active interest in running the kingdom and introduced changes in the revenue system.
As Britishes won the first Anlo-Sikh war, they retained Duleep Singh as the ruler but imprisoned Jindan Kaur. She was couregeuos and fierce she did not give in to the Britishers. Jindan believed that if united, Indian rulers could oust the British. She her dramatically escaped from prison on April 19, 1849, from Chunnar Fort in Uttar Pradesh.
It is believed that she dressed as a beggar in rags and she fled under cover of darkness, taunting her British captors.
Maharani found a safe space in Kathmandu, Nepal where she was given asylum by Jung Bahadur, the prime minister. While staying on banks of river Bhagmati, she kept reaching out to rebels in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir.
Her letters were detained in Allahabad fort were intercepted by the British government. The British caught some funds she was sending to rebels. Things reached such a pass that the British asked the Nepal PM to rein her in.
Maharani Jindan met Duleep Singh at Calcutta in April 1861. Britishers were suspicious of Maharani and ordered her to leave for London. It was due to her influence that Duleep Singh, who had converted to Christianity, returned to Sikhism.
She passed away just after two years of being in London in her sleep on August 1, 1863. Jindan was buried in west London as cremation was illegal in Britain during those days. A memorial to the Maharani was installed at the site in 2009 at Dissenters’ Chapel in Kensal Green
