ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>DULEEP SI&#7748GH MAH&#256R&#256J&#256 (1838-1893)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="DULEEP,SIDGH,MAHRJ,Person,Person"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279DULEEP SI&#7748GH, MAH&#256R&#256J&#256 (1838-1893), the last Sikh sovereign of the Punjab, was born at Lahore on 6 September 1838, the youngest son of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh. On 18 September 1843, at the age of five, he was, after the murder of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Sher Si&#7749gh, proclaimed Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 of the Punjab with his mother, Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 Jind Kaur, as his Regent. The country was in a state of disorder and the army had become all-powerful. Though little Duleep Si&#7749gh attended all the council meetings seated on the royal throne, the real authority had passed from the palace to the cantonment and the military <i>pañch&#257yats</i>. The English, who had been watching the happenings in the Sikh State with more than a neighbour's interest, were looking for an opportunity to strike and penetrate into the Punjab. Matters were brought to such a pass that war between them and the Sikhs became inevitable. Hostilities in fact broke out in December 1845. The British who emerged victorious forbore to annex the State, but occupied a rich piece of the country between the rivers Be&#257s and Sutlej under the peace treaty concluded on 9 March 1846. More stringent terms were imposed under the Treaty of Bharov&#257l (16 December 1846), reducing the kingdom of the Punjab to a virtual British protectorate. The Regent was pensioned off; the British government assumed the guardianship of the young Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Duleep Si&#7749gh during his minority ; and a British Resident was to direct and control the entire civil and military administration of the State of Lahore with a council of ministers which was to be nominated by him. After the second Anglo-Sikh war (1848-49), the ten-year old Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 whom, under the Treaty of Bharov&#257l the government was committed to protect and maintain until he attained maturity, was deprived of his crown and kingdom and the Punjab was annexed to the British dominions.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; On 6 April 1849, soon after the annexation, the deposed Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Duleep Si&#7749gh was formally introduced to his new 'superintendent, ' Dr John Login, a native of Orkney, Scotland, who had started his Indian career as a medical officer in the Bengal army. Duleep Si&#7749gh was removed from the Punjab to Fatehga&#7771h, a small village in Farru<u>kh</u>&#257b&#257d district in the then North-West Province, where he arrived in February 1850. John Login took a great liking to the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 whom he treated like his own son. Walter Guise was named his tutor. On 8 March 1853, Duleep Si&#7749gh was quietly baptized a Christian at a private ceremony at Fatehga&#7771h. The conversion was hailed as "the first instance of the accession of an Indian prince to the communion of the Church. " On 19 April 1854, the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 and his party sailed for England where they reached in May 1854. In England Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Duleep Si&#7749gh lived in the first instance with the Login family and was presented to Queen Victoria who took very favourably to him. In January 1861, Duleep Si&#7749gh visited India, but was not permitted to come to the Punjab. He halted at Calcutta where his mother, Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 Jind Kaur, then living in exile at K&#257&#7789hma&#7751&#7693&#363 in Nepal, met him after 13 years. Duleep Si&#7749gh took her to England where she died after about two years later on 1 August 1863. In October the same year died the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257's most sincere and devoted guardian, Dr Sir John Login, on whom he had come to depend a great deal for negotiations with the British government for the settlement of his affairs.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Duleep Si&#7749gh made another trip to India in the spring of 1864, this time with his mother's ashes which, on being disallowed by the British to proceed to the Punjab, he consigned to the River God&#257var&#299. On his way back, the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 married at the British Consulate at Alexandria in Egypt, on 7 June 1864, Bamba Muller, daughter of a German merchant, Ludwig Muller, and Abysenian-Egyptian mother, Sofia. On his return to England, the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 and Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 Bamba lived for the first few years at Elveden, a sporting estate, of which the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 had got possession in September 1864. Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Duleep Si&#7749gh and Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 Bamba had six children, Victor Albert Jay Duleep Si&#7749gh, Fredrick Victor Duleep Si&#7749gh, Bamba Sofia Jind&#257&#7749 Duleep Si&#7749gh, Catherine Hilda Duleep Si&#7749gh, Sofia Alexandra Duleep Si&#7749gh and Albert Edward Alexander Duleep Si&#7749gh, born between the years 1866 and 1879.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 now lived in the extravagant style of Victorian English nobility. He loved art; he was an accomplished musician, was fond of the theatre, of hunting and of hawking. He came to be known as one of the best shots in Britain and entertained the greatest in the land, including the Prince of Wales. Living beyond his means, the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 incurred heavy debts. He sought from the India Office enhancement of his allowances. At the instance of his mother Mah&#257r&#257&#7751&#299 Jind Kaur, Malik&#257 Muqaddis&#257 (the holy queen mother) of the regency days, he claimed from the British lands which belonged to the family prior to the installation of his father as king of Lahore. Under her influence, Duleep Si&#7749gh was also gradually estranged from what had become his natural English style. The question of his private properties he pursued to the breaking-point. To prepare a detailed list of his ancestral estates, Duleep Si&#7749gh sent his solicitor, Mr Talbot of Farrer and Co. , to India. He also invited his collateral &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh Sandh&#257&#7749v&#257l&#299&#257 to visit him in England. Reaching London in 1884, &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh stayed with the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257, then putting up at Holland Park. He daily read out from the holy Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib to the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 and instructed him in the tenets of the Sikh faith. &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh had brought with him a document signed by the custodians of the Sikh Ta<u>kh</u>ts (the highest ecclesiastical seats) in India confirming the prophecies about Duleep Si&#7749gh's restoration to the throne of the Punjab. These prophecies, attributed to Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh himself, announced in crisp, aphoristic Punjabi : "He [Duleep Si&#7749gh] will drive his elephant throughout the world. . . Dissensions will arise at Calcutta and quarrels will be in every home. Nothing will be known for 12 years. Then will rise the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 whom the people of four castes will like. . . . Fighting will take place near Delhi. . . . When Delhi remains 15 <i>kos</i> away, the king will cease. Duleep Si&#7749gh will sit on the throne and all people will pay him homage. "</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; When in August 1885, &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh Sandh&#257&#7749v&#257l&#299&#257 returned to the Punjab, Duleep Si&#7749gh gave him Rs 1, 000 for distribution of <i>ka&#7771&#257hpras&#257d</i>, the Sikh ritual food, at the Golden Temple, Amritsar. The Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 himself decided to return to his motherland and left England on 31 March 1886 to settle down quietly in Delhi. He invited &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh to meet him at Bombay and arrange for his reinitiation into Sikhism. As the government was reluctant to permit &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh to receive him, Duleep Si&#7749gh wrote to the Secretary of State :</p> <blockquote class="C1"><p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As my cousin, Sard&#257r &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh Sandha&#7749walia, informs me that he fears permission will not be accorded him to go to Bombay by the Liutenant-Governor of Punjab, and as I particularly desire to be rebaptized into the faith of my ancestors by some relative of my own, may I therefore beg your Lordship kindly to request His Excellency by telegraph on my behalf or permit me to do so, that the Sardar be allowed to meet me on reaching India.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</blockquote></p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The news of Duleep Si&#7749gh's likely return sent a thrill of expectation across the Punjab. The government warily stopped him at Aden. This was the advice it had from one of its leading Sikh supporters Mah&#257mahop&#257dhy&#257ya Sard&#257r Sir Attar Si&#7749gh of Bhadau&#7771. Stung by this insult, Duleep Si&#7749gh resigned his allowance and forswore fealty to the British crown. One favour he sought was that the government continues payment of pound 500 each annually to the widows, respectively, of his superintendent, Login, and Comptroller, Oliphant. On 3 June 1886, he left for Paris. But before from Aden, he had, on 25 May 1886, received the rites of Sikh baptism from the Five Beloved (Pañj Pi&#257re) - &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh of W&#257g&#257h, another cousin of his (son of his mother's sister), B&#363&#7771 Si&#7749gh of village Koh&#257l&#299 in Amritsar district, Javand Si&#7749gh of Bark&#299 in Lahore district, and two Sikhs brought for the ceremony from a transport ship which happened to touch at Aden.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Punjab at this time was astir with rumour. Anticipation filled the air. Reports were studiously kept in circulation that Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Duleep Si&#7749gh would lead a Russian invasion into India and overthrow the British. A network of secret communication was established; Duleep Si&#7749gh's emissaries kept filtering into India in spite of government vigilance. The most important of them were <u>Gh</u>ul&#257m Ras&#363l, a wool merchant of Amritsar, who had lived for many years in Sudan and Egypt, and Ar&#363&#7771 Si&#7749gh of village Koh&#257l&#299 (Amritsar), a Europeanized Sikh. The Mah&#257r&#257j&#257's statements and proclamations - as from "the Sovereign of the Sikh nation and Implacable Foe of the British Government" - were smuggled into the country for distribution. The K&#363k&#257 Sikhs who had come into clash with the government in 1872 were the most enthusiastic in pro-Duleep Si&#7749gh activity.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The brain behind this entire movement for furthering the cause of Duleep Si&#7749gh was &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh Sandh&#257&#7749v&#257l&#299&#257 who had implanted the seeds of rebellion in the mind of the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 and who had finally persuaded him to renounce Christianity and rejoin the faith of his forefathers. From Pondicherry, where he had taken asylum to escape British authority, he masterminded the operations in behalf of Duleep Si&#7749gh. To win support for him, he visited secretly the Indian princely states and the Sikh shrines. He maintained an active liaison with people in distant places through a chain of servants, dependents and relations. Major Evans Bell's book <i>The Annexation of the Punjab and the Maharaja Duleep Singh</i>, exhibiting the illegality and immorality of British occupation of the Punjab, was widely circulated. Pondicherry had become the seat of Duleep Si&#7749gh's peripatetic government with &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh as his prime minister. &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh hoped that his sovereign master would one day land in Pondicherry. The latter had in fact written to <i>The Tribune</i> (3 July 1886) the following letter :</p> <blockquote class="C1"><p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Although the Indian Government suceeded in preventing me from reaching Bombay, yet they are not able to close all the roads that there are in India; for when I return I can either land at Goa or at Pondicherry. . .</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</blockquote></p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Duleep Si&#7749gh left Paris on 21 March 1887 for St. Petersburg (Russia) where he tried to seek the help of the Czar. Ar&#363&#7771 Si&#7749gh who had been with Duleep Si&#7749gh in Russia brought from him secret missives including a circular letter for the ex-king of Oudh, Holkar, Scindia and the rulers of Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257, N&#257bh&#257, Far&#299dko&#7789, J&#299nd and Kap&#363rthal&#257. The princes generally implicated in the cause of Duleep Si&#7749gh were R&#257j&#257 Bikram Si&#7749gh of Far&#299dko&#7789, R&#257j&#257 H&#299r&#257 Si&#7749gh of N&#257bh&#257, the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 of Kashm&#299r and R&#257j&#257 Mot&#299 Si&#7749gh of Pu&#7751chh. From Russia Duleep Si&#7749gh sent to &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh a seal and letter in token of his appointment to the office of prime minister.</p> <blockquote class="C1"><p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I appoint you my Prime Minister should Sri Satguru Ji one day replace me on the throne of the Punjab.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</blockquote></p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;After &#7788h&#257kur Si&#7749gh's sudden death on 18 August 1887, his son Gurbachan Si&#7749gh was invested by Duleep Si&#7749gh with the title of prime minister. But returning from Russia to Paris, Duleep Si&#7749gh had a stroke and remained bedridden for three years, the passion and grand designs of former day pathetically congealed in his heart. Drained financially and destitute of friends, he died in his humble hotel room in Paris on 22 October 1893. His body was taken to Elveden, England, by his son Prince Victor, where it was interred beside the graves of Prince Fredrick and Prince Edward. Thus was completed a life cycle drawn, as it were, to stated requirements of the tragedian, the poet, the philosopher.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Alexander, Michael and Sushila Anand, <i>Queen Victoria's Maharaja Duleep Singh 1838-93 </i>. Delhi, 1979<BR> <li class="C1"> Login, Lady, <i>Sir John Login and Duleep Singh</i>. Patiala, 1970<BR> <li class="C1"> Bell, Evans, <i>The Annexation of the Punjab and the Maharaja Duleep Singh</i>. London, 1882<BR> <li class="C1"> Cunningham, Joseph Davey, <i>A History of the Sikhs</i>. London, 1849<BR> <li class="C1"> Ganda Singh, <i>Private Correspondence Relating to the Anglo-Sikh Wars</i>. Amritsar, 1955<BR> <li class="C1"> Ganda Singh, ed. , <i>History of the Freedom Movement in the Panjab (Maharaja Duleep Singh Correspondence) </i>. Patiala, 1972<BR> <li class="C1"> Khushwant Singh, <i>A History of the Sikhs</i>. vol. II. Princeton, 1966<BR> <li class="C1"> S&#363r&#299, Sohan L&#257l, '<i>Umd&#257t-ut &#8211Tw&#257r&#299<u>kh</u>'</i>. Lahore, 1885-89<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">P. M. Wylam<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>