Tempo:
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
152 1821.
chap, vi
ambition, and tends to produce independence of character. It suited the mass of the Sikh population; they had ample employment, they loved contention, and they were pleased that city after city admitted the supremacy of the Khalsa and enabled them to enrich their families. But Ranjit Singh never arrogated to himself the title or the powers of
scope to individual
despot or tyrant.
He was assiduous in his devotions;
he honoured men of reputed sanctity, and enabled them to practise an enlarged charity; he attributed every success to the favour of God, and he styled himself and people collectively the 'Khalsa', or commonwealth of Gobind. Whether in walking barefooted to make his obeisance to a collateral representative of his prophets, or in rewarding a soldier distinguished by that symbol of his faith, a long and ample beard, or in restraining the excesses of the fanatical Akalis, or in beating an army and acquiring a province, his own name and his own motives were kept carefully concealed, and everything was done for the sake of the Guru, for the advantage of the Khalsa, and in the name of the Lord.^ 1 Ranjit Singh, in writing or in talking of his government, always used the term 'Khalsa'. On his seal he wrote, as any Sikh usually writes, his name, with the prefix 'Akal Sahai', that is, for instance, 'God the helper, Ranjit Sihgh' an inscription strongly resembling the 'God with us' of the Commonwealth of England. Professor Wilson (Journal Royal Asiatic Society. No. xvii, p. 51) thus seems scarcely justified in saying that Ranjit Singh deposed Nanak and Gobind, and the supreme ruler of the universe, and held himself to be the impersonation of the Khalsa With respect to the abstract excellence or moderation, or the practical efficiency or suitableness of the Sikh government, opinions will always differ, as they will about all other governments. It is not simply an unmeaning truism to say that the Sikh government suited the Sikhs well, for such a degree of fitness is one of the ends of all governments of ruling classes, and the adaptation has thus a degree of positive merit. In judging of individuals, moreover, the extent and the peculiarities of the civilization of their times should be remembered, and the present condition of the Punjab shows a combination of the characteristics of rising mediaeval Europe and of the decaying Byzantine empire semi-barbarous in either light, but possessed at once of a native youthful vigour, and of an extraneous knowledge of many of the arts which adorn life in the most advanced stages of society. The fact, again, that a city like Amritsar is the creation of the Sikhs at once refutes many charges of oppression or misgovernment, and Col. Francklin only repeats the general opinion of the time when he says (Life of Shah Alam, p. 77) that the lands under Sikh rule were cultivated with great assiduity. Mr. Masson could hear of no complaints in Multan (Journeys, i. 30, 398), and although Moorcroft notices the depressed condition of the Kashmiris (Travels, i. 123) he does
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!
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152 1821.
chap, vi
ambition, and tends to produce independence of character. It suited the mass of the Sikh population; they had ample employment, they loved contention, and they were pleased that city after city admitted the supremacy of the Khalsa and enabled them to enrich their families. But Ranjit Singh never arrogated to himself the title or the powers of
scope to individual
despot or tyrant.
He was assiduous in his devotions;
he honoured men of reputed sanctity, and enabled them to practise an enlarged charity; he attributed every success to the favour of God, and he styled himself and people collectively the 'Khalsa', or commonwealth of Gobind. Whether in walking barefooted to make his obeisance to a collateral representative of his prophets, or in rewarding a soldier distinguished by that symbol of his faith, a long and ample beard, or in restraining the excesses of the fanatical Akalis, or in beating an army and acquiring a province, his own name and his own motives were kept carefully concealed, and everything was done for the sake of the Guru, for the advantage of the Khalsa, and in the name of the Lord.^ 1 Ranjit Singh, in writing or in talking of his government, always used the term 'Khalsa'. On his seal he wrote, as any Sikh usually writes, his name, with the prefix 'Akal Sahai', that is, for instance, 'God the helper, Ranjit Sihgh' an inscription strongly resembling the 'God with us' of the Commonwealth of England. Professor Wilson (Journal Royal Asiatic Society. No. xvii, p. 51) thus seems scarcely justified in saying that Ranjit Singh deposed Nanak and Gobind, and the supreme ruler of the universe, and held himself to be the impersonation of the Khalsa With respect to the abstract excellence or moderation, or the practical efficiency or suitableness of the Sikh government, opinions will always differ, as they will about all other governments. It is not simply an unmeaning truism to say that the Sikh government suited the Sikhs well, for such a degree of fitness is one of the ends of all governments of ruling classes, and the adaptation has thus a degree of positive merit. In judging of individuals, moreover, the extent and the peculiarities of the civilization of their times should be remembered, and the present condition of the Punjab shows a combination of the characteristics of rising mediaeval Europe and of the decaying Byzantine empire semi-barbarous in either light, but possessed at once of a native youthful vigour, and of an extraneous knowledge of many of the arts which adorn life in the most advanced stages of society. The fact, again, that a city like Amritsar is the creation of the Sikhs at once refutes many charges of oppression or misgovernment, and Col. Francklin only repeats the general opinion of the time when he says (Life of Shah Alam, p. 77) that the lands under Sikh rule were cultivated with great assiduity. Mr. Masson could hear of no complaints in Multan (Journeys, i. 30, 398), and although Moorcroft notices the depressed condition of the Kashmiris (Travels, i. 123) he does
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