Maharaja Ranjit Singh as Patron of the Arts by J. J. Bhabha (1982)

J. J. Bhabha’s Maharaja Ranjit Singh as Patron of the Arts offers the first in-depth study of the Sikh ruler’s transformative impact on visual culture and craftsmanship in early-19th-century Punjab. Drawing on archival documents, court records and contemporary European accounts, Bhabha reconstructs how Maharaja Ranjit Singh commissioned workshops at Lahore and Amritsar to produce illuminated manuscripts, enamelled jewelry, battlefield paintings and architectural embellishments that blended Mughal, Rajput and European styles into a uniquely Sikh aesthetic.

Throughout 128 richly illustrated pages, the author examines key commissions, from the gold-inlaid canopy presented to the Calcutta government to the celebrated “Coronation Album” and profiles the master craftsmen whose work survives in museum collections worldwide. Bhabha’s narrative explains how these artistic ventures were not mere display but an expression of statecraft, projecting the Khalsa Empire’s prosperity, religious identity and diplomatic ambitions.

Produced in a sturdy cloth binding with a printed dust jacket, this hard-to-find 1982 monograph remains essential for scholars of Sikh history, South Asian art historians and collectors. Its combination of rigorous scholarship, rare archival imagery and insightful analysis secures its place as the definitive reference on the Golden Temple’s sovereign patron.

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ENG- English

• Hardcover