SikhiWiki:Today's featured article/September 14, 2009
Maharaja Sher Singh (4 December 1807 - 15 September 1843) was a Sikh sovereign of Punjab from January 1841 until his assassination in September 1843. He was the son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, born on 4 December 1807 to Mahitab Kaur, Maharaja's first wife.
Sher Singh grew up to be a handsome, broad-chested young man given to fashionable dress and lavish jewellery. His soldierly mien made him popular with the army. He loved hunting and hawking, and devoted attention to cultivating European interests and hobbies in the company of foreigners serving at the Sikh court.
In 1829, Maharaja Ranjit Singh conferred upon him civil and military honours and the privilege of being seated on a chair in his Darbar. Sher Singh took part in many of the campaigns undertaken by the Maharaja for the expansion of his kingdom.
In May 1831 he defeated, at Balakot in Hazara district, the turbulent Sayyid Ahmad Barelavi who had started a jihad against Sikh rule. From 1831 to 1834 he acted as governor of the province of Kashmir. In 1834 he was one of the army commanders who led forces in Peshawar and who finally seized the city from the Afghans.
In the political vacuum created by the successive deaths in November 1840 of Maharaja Kharak Singh and his son Kanvar Nau Nihal Singh, Sher Singh staked his claim to the throne of the Punjab. .....More
