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India's maharajahs or rulers of princely states are commonly viewed through stereotypes of elephants, dancing girls, and grand palaces. Historian Manu Pillai revisits their legacy.
Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839) was the founder and first maharaja of the Sikh Empire, ruling from 1801 until his death in 1839. He ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He survived smallpox in infancy but lost sight in his left eye.
Aug 9, 2024 · maharaja, (from mahat, “great,” and rājan, “king”), an administrative rank in India; generally speaking, a Hindu prince ranking above a raja. Used historically, maharaja refers specifically to a ruler of one of the principal native states of India. The feminine form is maharani (maharanee).
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Ranjit Singh, founder and maharaja (1801–39) of the Sikh kingdom of the Punjab. After becoming preeminent among the clans of the Sikh confederacy, he captured Lahore in 1799 and expanded his dominion across the Punjab. The first Indian in a millennium to push back the Pashtuns, he was known as the Lion of the Punjab.
Jan 21, 2016 · Five years earlier, India had become independent through the transfer of power from the British crown to the successor states of India and Pakistan. Singh’s mother, Maharani Krishna Kumari ...
Indian subcontinent. Raja as a ruler's title. On the eve of independence in 1947, the Indian Empire contained more than 600 princely states, each with its own native ruler, often styled Raja or Rana or Thakur (if the ruler were Hindu) or Nawab (if he were Muslim), with a host of less current titles as well.
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On the eve of Indian independence in 1947, India's 562 princes ruled over a third of its population.
