The Anglo-Sikh Wars and the loss of sovereignty

A state under pressure after 1839

The decade after Ranjit Singh’s death brought violent succession struggles and changing relationships among rulers, ministers and the army. Military historian Amarpal Singh Sidhu’s account places the Anglo-Sikh Wars within this political crisis and the expansion of British power.

Avoid treating annexation as an automatic consequence of one man’s death. Decisions, rivalries, resistance and outside intervention shaped the years that followed.[1]

1845–46: the First Anglo-Sikh War

The first war included fighting at Mudki and Ferozeshah in December 1845, followed by Aliwal and Sobraon in early 1846. The National Army Museum’s account describes fierce resistance and substantial losses on both sides. Victory at Sobraon opened the way to the Treaty of Lahore.

The settlement cost the Lahore state territory and brought a British presence into its political life. It did not immediately abolish the monarchy. That distinction matters when following the child Duleep Singh’s reign.[2]

1846: rule under supervision

The December 1846 agreement at Bharowal placed administration under a British Resident working with a council. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism describes this as a decisive reduction of Lahore’s independence. Jind Kaur’s removal from power belonged to the same process.

Formal kingship and effective sovereignty had begun to separate. A portrait of a crowned child cannot, on its own, tell us who controlled the state.[3]

1848–49: rebellion and renewed war

Unrest at Multan in 1848 developed into wider conflict. The second war included Ramnagar, Chillianwala and Gujrat. Chillianwala in January 1849 produced severe British losses without destroying the Sikh army; the result at Gujrat the following month proved decisive.

Punjab was annexed on 29 March 1849, and Duleep Singh was deposed. This ended the sovereignty of the Lahore kingdom. It did not end the histories of Punjab’s communities or the memory of the state.[4]

Exile and the movement of objects

The loss of the kingdom and surrender of the Koh-i-Noor were imposed on Duleep Singh while he was a child. His later life in Britain belongs to the aftermath of conquest, as does the dispersal of possessions from the Lahore treasury.

Broken Seal of the Khalsa, The Departing Koh-i-Noor, Last Light of Lahore and Letter from Exile translate these themes into symbolic scenes. Read the historical accounts alongside the artwork: the scenes are imagined, while the loss of political power was real.[5][6]

Read more than one perspective

Museum narratives, military histories and Sikh reference works place different emphasis on battles, political responsibility and conquest. Compare them. Ask whose correspondence is quoted, whose casualties are counted and whose decisions receive explanation. The source list is a beginning for that comparison, not a claim that one short account settles every dispute.