Podbit · Empire: World History
When a courtier asked Maharaja Ranjit Singh about his sightless eye, he replied that God had taken the light so he could look upon all religions equally. The story reveals the extraordinary religious tolerance at the heart of the Sikh Empire — a tolerance that made it uniquely powerful.
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At 7:10 · chapter starts 6:40
William Dalrymple provides the historical backdrop: the Sikh Empire at its zenith controlled not only the Indian and Pakistani Punjab but Kashmir, the Himalayas, and territory stretching to the borders of China and the Wakhan Corridor — 'an enormous chunk of territory' that the British East India Company dared not challenge. Anita Anand introduces Sophia's grandfather Maharaja Ranjit Singh, known as Sher-e-Punjab, the Lion of Punjab. Dalrymple notes the divided memory of his reign: in India he is celebrated as a tolerant, enlightened ruler who freed the Sikhs from Marathas, Afghans, and Mughals; in Pakistan he is remembered for the brutality of his ex-Napoleonic generals hanging people from the gates of Peshawar. Anand adds the famous anecdote of Ranjit Singh's reply about his sightless eye — that God had given him one eye so he could look upon all religions equally — and notes his most famous possession: the Koh-i-Noor diamond on his arm.
Maharaja Duleep Singh was painted by Winterhalter, loved by Queen Victoria, and spent summers at Osborne House — then had to beg the India Office for every fiver. Humiliated and financially strangled, he tried to reconquer his kingdom and was stopped at Aden, abandoning his six children in the process.
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