Ranjit Singh's eccentric empire

Sarbpreet Singh’s book on Maharaja Ranjit Singh could well have been named “The Dancing Girl of Lahore, From Waterloo to Lahore” or “A Woman of Substance”. These are chapters in Mr Singh’s book that chronicle unusual and unheard stories from the court of Ranjit Singh. Instead, the book bears the title of its first chapter — The Camel Merchant of Philadelphia — which also happens to be one of the most eccentric and outlandish stories in the book. The title of book and the chapter describes the adventures of an American named Josiah Harlan and his tryst with the first Sikh king. 

It has comical details of how a heart broken Quaker (Harlan) sets sails to Calcutta (now Kolkata) to start a new life after his lady love deserts him for another man. Lured by the handsome salaries paid to European officers in Punjab, Harlan on his quest for the good life, lands in Lahore and gains the trust of Ranjit Singh by attending to his hypochondria. Sent on a mission by the king, the self-taught doctor and lobbyist successfully stages a coup among the Afghans that allows Ranjit Singh to continue his occupation of Peshawar. Rewarded with a governorship for his efforts, only to be expelled from the empire next year by Ranjit Singh in a fit of rage, Harlan embarks on a mission to seek revenge. 

Harlan finds his way back to Kabul where he convinces the Emir to wage jihad against the Sikhs. On Harlan’s advice, Emir Dost Mohammad galvanises his army to breach the Khyber Pass and take Peshawar from the Sikhs — a battle the Afghans would lose and retreat back to Kabul. During his Afghan expeditions, Harlan stumbles on a tribe whose chief makes him a prince. Harlan’s dream of being a sovereign is smashed with the start of the Anglo-Afghan War the very next year. The British supported by Ranjit Singh’s army overthrow Dost Mohammad and install their proxy. Harlan is forced to return to America where he lobbies to supply camels to the US Army by leveraging his Indian connections. He fails at that too. 

A few years later in 1861, he answers Abraham Lincoln’s call to raise an army against the Confederate rebellion. But Harlan’s military experience in the Sikh Empire would come to naught. As Mr Singh notes in his book, “Used to commanding soldiers in Punjab and Afghanistan where being a white ‘sahib’ conferred upon one a fair amount of authority, Harlan must have come across abrasive, authoritarian and condescending to his regiment. His men mutinied and levelled several charges against him.” 

Harlan died in San Francisco in 1871. Mr Singh writes his obituary as follows; “Thus ended the career of General Josiah Harlan, Adventurer, Surgeon, Governor of Gujrat, Prince of Ghor, Mukarrib-ul-Khakan, Uness ud-Dowlah Bahadur of Shah Shuja and Sir-I-Lushker and Musahib of Amir Dost Mohammad, putative camel merchant and Colonel of Pensylvania 11th. Josiah Harlan had rubbed shoulders with giants who are remembered to this day, but he himself has been mostly forgotten.” 

Harlan’s story is the highlight of the book, but Mr Singh’s book is replete with unusual tales from the empire of Ranjit Singh. Mr Singh’s account is largely told through his military exploits with numerous references to Sikh military strategy. The book, though not always gripping, manages to give the reader a vivid picture of how the different clans of horse riding Sikhs consolidated themselves as a kingdom under Ranjit Singh. Mr Singh depicts Ranjit Singh’s Punjab as a land of plenty where debauchery coexisted with religiosity; diplomacy complemented territorial aggression and cosmopolitans thrived alongside barbarians. The Sikh empire and Ranjit Singh’s own life are presented as pinnacles of secularism and multi-culturalism which none of the other Indian kingdoms were known for. From a plethora of European officers in Ranjit Singh’s service, the king’s own fascination for a Muslim courtesan (the dancing girl of Lahore named Moran) over his other wives, the role of the Gorkhas of Nepal in the Sikh army — the book is an academic account of all these and lot more. 

Shoddy copy editing and mixed-up chronology, however, mar the book. For instance, the book mentions WL McGregor, the doctor sent by the British to treat Ranjit Singh, visiting Lahore in 1936, a hundred years after the event. But such minor irritants don’t detract from Singh’s research and penchant for weaving a narrative of Sikh militarism while chronicling the times of Ranjit Singh. The book might not impress those well versed with Khushwant Singh’s A History of Sikhs or for that matter William Dalrymple’s works. But Mr Singh has written a readable book for those who wish to understand in 200 pages how the Sikh empire germinated, blossomed and disappeared within 50 years.  

The Camel Merchant of Philadelphia 

Sarbpreet Singh

Tranquebar, Rs 699, 242 pages