more than doubtful reputation from his own zenána; one of these being the beautiful Isar Kour, who was so cruelly forced to become Satí on the death of Mahárájá Kharak Singh.
Ranjít Singh married eighteen wives; nine by the orthodox ceremonial and nine by the simpler rite of throwing the sheet, which has been already described. Only a few of these require any special notice[1].
Mahtab Kour was the first in order, married in 1786, a match which gave Ranjít Singh his commanding position, she being the granddaughter and heiress of the powerful Kanheya baron Jai Singh. Her mother, the widow Sada Kour, a truly remarkable woman, who realized that if her daughter was to retain her influence she must present her husband with an heir, procured a boy during one of the Mahárájá's expeditions and passed him off as her daughter's. The child, named Ishar Singh, only lived a year and a half; and Sada Kour determined to try the effect of twins. When Ranjít Singh had started on his Cis-Sutlej expedition of 1807, it was given out that Mahtab Kour was pregnant, and on his return twin sons were presented to him, one purchased from a chintz-weaver, and the other the offspring of a slave-girl in Mai Sada Kour's house. Ranjít Singh at first refused to have anything to say to the children, but the following year, when he was almost at war
- ↑ The full details of all the wives and children, real and reputed, of Mahárájá Ranjít Singh, his son, grandson, and successors, will be found in The Punjab Chiefs.
