Life at the Lahore Darbār: 1799-1839

Abstract

Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780-1839) occupied Lahore in 1799 and ruled the Punjab from that city for forty years. He chose to live at the Lahore fort built by the Mughal emperors and to some extent, brought back the grandeur and magnificence it knew in Mughal times. This article is an attempt to describe the glamorous life at the Lahore darbār (Sikh court) based on contemporary sources, majesty that was lost forever after annexation by the British in 1849. Ranjit Singh selected the Musamman Burj in the Lahore fort for both his private and official use and chose the sheesh mahal chambers or mirror pavilions within the Musamman Burj, built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628- 1658), as his residence1 . Alexander Burnes visited the Maharaja’s private quarters in the fort in 1831, and noted that the passages were decorated with “waxen tapers” and that “bottles filled with different coloured water were placed near the lights, and increased the splendor” (Burnes, 1992: 29). He sat with some of his companions in silver chairs in Ranjit Singh’s bedroom in the Musamman Burj and describes it in the following words: In one end of the room stood a camp bedstead, which merits a description. Its frame-work, posts, and legs were entirely covered with gold, and the canopy was one massy sheet of the same precious metal. It stood on footstools raised about ten inches from the ground, and which were also of gold. The curtains were of Cashmeer shawls. Near it stood a round chair of gold; and in one of the upper rooms of the palace we saw the counterpart of these costly ornaments.