and a British Resident at Lahore were appointed. On the annexation of the Panjab, the Maharaja, by a Treaty, dated March 29, 1849, made over his dominions to the E. I. Co., receiving an annuity. Dr. Sir John Login was his Superintendent : he lived at Fatehghar, 1850–4, where he became a Christian in 1853 : he went to England in 1854, was made a K.C.S.L, 1861; G.C.S.L, 1866 : lived at various places like an English gentleman, finally at Elvedon in Suffolk, which cost £283,000. His extravagance necessitated an inquiry into his debts in 1880. After this he turned against the British Government, wrote letters to the Times, etc, In 1886 he was allowed to revisit India, but, on his issuing a political proclamation to the Sikhs, claiming the Panjab, was stopped at Aden, in April, 1886 : stayed there till June : abjured Christianity and re-embraced Sikhism : returned to England, a dissatisfied political refugee : Queen Victoria forgave his misconduct : he died in Paris Oct. 22, 1893.
SINGH, PANDIT NAIN (1826?–1882)
A hillman, of the Kshatriya caste : was serving under Schlagintweit, the traveller, while the latter was murdered in Kashgar : became, in 1863, a trained explorer of the Indian Survey Dept. in the Trans-Himalayan regions under Montgomerie (q.v.) : was the first to fix the position of Lhasa, which he reached in Jan. 1866, by way of Mansarowar Lake and the Sanpo river : he reached it again in 1874 by the Ladak-Tegrinor route : in 1867 visited the gold mines of Thok Talong, crossing tibet from W. to E. : in 1877, he was awarded a Gold Medal by the Royal Geographical Society : for his services he received a special pension and grant of land : died Jan. 1882.
SINGH, MAHARAJA SIR PARTAB NARAYAN (1855–)
Born July 13, 1855 : grandson of Sir Man Singh, K.C.S.L : belongs to Sankil-deep sect of Brahmans : one of the largest landowners in Oudh : Member of Legislative Council, U.P. and Oudh : K.C.I.E., 1895 : Life President of the British Indian Association : M.R.A.S.
SINGH, MAHARAJA RANJIT (1780–1839)
Maharaja : ruler of the Panjab : born Nov. 2, 1780 : son of Sirdar Mahan Singh, whom he succeeded, in 1792, as head of the Sukarchakia branch of the Sikh confederacy : early in life he lost an eye from smallpox : at 17 he seized the government, and poisoned his mother : he allied with Shah Zaman, the Afghan ruler, when the latter invaded the Panjab : was given Lahore, 1799 : in 1802 he attacked and annexed Umritsar. When Jaswant Rao Holkar took refuge with Ranjit in 1805, the latter made a treaty with the E.I. Co. to exclude Holkar from the Panjab : Ranjit seized Ludiana, and other States : (Sir C.) Metcalfe was sent on a Mission to negotiate with Ranjit in 1808, to frustrate his extending his dominions across the Satlaj, when the latter was making further annexations : a treaty was concluded at Umritsar on April 25, 1809, by which the E. I. Co. and Ranjit recognized the Satlaj as the boundary of his territories : he marched against Multan from 1806 until 1810, when he levied a ransom, and made it eventually a dependency : in 1810 he subdued the Nakkai and Kanheya Sikh confederacies : in 1812, having established his authority, he proclaimed himself Raja of the Panjab, and Maharaja in 1819 : annexed Kashmir in 1819 : by 1820 his power was consolidated between the Satlaj and the Indus : he made the city and province of Peshawar tributary in 1823. He received Shah Shuja when a fugitive from Afghanistan, and obtained the Kohinur diamond from him, as well as the Derajat and Peshawar in 1833 : in 1835 the Amir Dost Muhammad attacked the Sikhs at Peshawar, but was compelled to retire. Ranjit employed European officers to train his troops : he kept at peace with the British Government and met Lord W. Bentinck at Roopur on Oct. 26, 1831. In 1838 he made a tripartite treaty with Shah Shuja and the British Government and helped Sir W. H. Macnaghten and the British force on their way to Afghanistan : he visited Lord Auckland, the Governor-General at Lahore, in 1838 : he died June 27, 1839, of paralysis. Though uneducated, selfish and sensual, he, by natural ability and indefatigable labour, by his genius for military affairs and civil administration, built up the kingdom of the Panjab and created a large and trained army of Sikhs : he never failed in his alliance with the British Government.
