The Real Ranjit Singh by Fakir Syed Waheeduddin Book Review
This is a biography of Maharaja Ranjit Singh written from the inside. Not from the perspective of a British officer, nor from a Sikh hagiographic tradition but from the private records and family recollections of three Muslim brothers who served at the very heart of his court.
Fakir Azizuddin was Ranjit Singh's Foreign Minister and trusted negotiator. Fakir Imamuddin held the keys to the treasury at Govindgarh Fort. Fakir Nuruddin was the Home Minister and the Maharaja's personal physician. Between them, they had access to every dimension of his rule: the political, the financial, the personal and the medical.
The original version of this book was compiled in 1965 by Fakir Syed Waheeduddin, a lineal descendant of Fakir Nuruddin. It was approximately 166 pages long and drew primarily upon the private records of the three Fakir brothers, including Azizuddin's Roznamcha, a notebook of some 637 pages, completed in 1840, just five years before Azizuddin's death in 1845.
The Roznamcha contained a mixture of musings and reminiscences, and it is this kind of first-hand material that gives the book its distinctive texture.
The version under review here is the 2021 updated edition, revised and expanded by Fakir Syed Aijazuddin, the youngest son of Waheeduddin.
Aijazuddin is a historian of considerable standing in his own right. His reputation as an art historian was established with his catalogue raisonné of Pahari paintings and Sikh portraits in the Lahore Museum in 1977, followed by Sikh Portraits by European Artists in 1979, which examined the 19th century paintings in the Princess Bamba Collection at the Lahore Fort.
His most relevant prior work on this period is The Resourceful Fakirs: Three Muslim Brothers at the Sikh Court of Lahore, published in 2014 with a foreword by William Dalrymple.
This updated edition of The Real Maharaja runs to 296 pages plus 16 pages of colour inserts, embellished with vignettes from 19th century engravings contemporary to the Sikh kingdom of Lahore.
It is, in many ways, a companion volume to Khushwant Singh's biography of Ranjit Singh, with the essential difference that Khushwant Singh's was the equivalent of an official biography, whereas this book is a more intimate collage of family recollections woven into a historical narrative.
Breakdown
The book is structured across five chapters, and it moves between the political, the administrative, the personal and the anecdotal in a way that gives Ranjit Singh a dimensionality that purely political histories often lack.
Chapter one introduces the aim of the book and recounts Maharaja Ranjit Singh's entry into Lahore Fort in 1799, marking the effective start of his reign. What I found particularly interesting in this opening chapter is the attention given to the Maharaja's daily routine, his religious practices and his approach to governance.
One of the most valuable aspects of this chapter is the inclusion of translations of orders issued by Maharaja Ranjit Singh himself. These orders reveal a ruler who was acutely aware of his own fallibility and who tried to provide against any possible adverse effects of that fallibility upon the rights and well-being of his people. The chapter concludes with an exploration of the Dogra brothers and the Fakir family, establishing the key players at court who will recur throughout the book.
Chapter two provides the broader historical and geographical context, tracing the history of the Punjab from the Babur era through to the Misl period. It details Ranjit Singh's lineage back to Budh Singh and his rise amidst the political turbulence of the Misl period. The chapter also covers his dealings with the British, including the Treaty of Lahore in 1806, disputes within his court, and his conquests of Multan, Kashmir and Peshawar. For readers who are less familiar with the political geography of the Punjab before and during Ranjit Singh's reign, this chapter provides essential context.
Amongst other things, a key figure explored in this chapter is Fakir Azizuddin in his diplomatic capacity. Azizuddin was central to the relationship between Maharaja Ranjit Singh and British officials such as William Bentinck and Lord Auckland. His reputation extended well beyond the Punjab. In fact, when Tsarevich Nicholas of Russia, the future Czar Nicholas II, visited Lahore in 1891, Azizuddin was specifically mentioned in the account of the Prince's travels.
Chapter three shifts focus to the administrative and societal dimensions of Ranjit Singh's kingdom. This is a chapter packed with useful detail, it covers the population, the cost of living, and the daily life of citizens under Sikh rule. The second half of the chapter is dedicated to the structure, composition and evolution of Ranjit Singh's army, which is a subject of enduring interest.
Ranjit Singh modernised his forces significantly, hiring European officers. including the Frenchmen Jean-François Allard and Claude Auguste Court, and the Italians Jean-Baptiste Ventura and Paolo Di Avitabile, to train new soldiers. For anyone interested in the military apparatus of the Sikh Empire, this chapter provides a solid foundation.
Chapter four is where the book becomes most personal, and I think this is where its real strength lies. It outlines the influential figures in Ranjit Singh's life, beginning with his formidable mother-in-law, Sada Kaur, who was a significant political figure in her own right. I found it particularly interesting due to the information pertaining to Sada Kaur, she is a figure who deserves far more attention than she typically receives in accounts of this period.
The chapter also explores Ranjit Singh's friendship with Fateh Singh Ahluwalia and his interactions with the Akalis, providing detail on relationships that shaped his governance. Furthermore, it covers his principles of justice, his beloved horse Laili, his architectural accomplishments and his personal life. What comes through is a picture of a ruler who was shrewd and at times cunning, but also minimalist in his personal habits and deeply attentive to the people around him.
Chapter five, the final chapter, is divided into two parts. The first covers the grandeur of Prince Nau Nihal Singh's wedding, which serves as a window into the ceremony and spectacle of the Lahore Darbar at its height. The second half is more sombre, dealing with the final years and death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The Maharaja suffered three strokes of paralysis in four years, and the book describes a man who refused to rest even as his body deteriorated. It took, as the family sources put it, a great deal to bring down the old lion. This closing section is genuinely moving, and it is the kind of intimate, first-hand detail that no official biography could provide.
Conclusion and Rating
This is a book I would recommend to anyone interested in Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and particularly to those who have already read more conventional political and military histories of the Sikh Empire. What makes it distinctive is its source material — it draws upon the private records and oral traditions of a family that served at the very centre of the Lahore Darbar, and that perspective gives it an intimacy that academic histories, however rigorous, cannot replicate.
If I have a criticism, it is that the book is heavily skewed towards a favourable portrayal of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, with minimal critique. This is understandable given the source, the Fakir family owed their position and prosperity to the Maharaja's patronage, and the book reflects the gratitude and admiration that has been passed down through the generations. However, this is a really small criticism of the book, and I think most readers will recognise it for what it is: a family memoir, not a dispassionate academic assessment. The value lies precisely in the closeness of the perspective, not in spite of it.
The 2021 updated edition by Fakir Syed Aijazuddin adds considerable value to the original 1965 text. The colour inserts and 19th century engravings bring the period to life visually, and Aijazuddin's own scholarship, particularly his work on Sikh portraits and the Princess Bamba Collection, ensures that the updated material is grounded in serious historical research.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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