The 200 anniversary, this year, of the coronation of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, being enthusiastically celebrated throughout India and abroad under the auspices of the state-level coronation bicentenary concept committee headed by Hon’ble Sardar Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, Punjab, provided an occasion and inspiration for a fresh overview of the life and policies of Ranjit Singh and of his times; certain significant aspects that have remained, mostly, unattended have been addressed in this work, particularly, the modernization impulses of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the last great sovereign of the country before the whole of sub-continental India came under the British colonial rule. The role and place of Maharaja Ranjit Singh on world canvas is another dimension that has been, so forcefully for the first time, highlighted in this work. Maharaja Ranjit Singh has been hailed, both by old and modern historians, as an interpid conqueror, a great consolidator, a ‘secular Sikh Maharaja, etc.’ The fresh approach, reflected in these essays, sees the Sikh tradition and Punjabi nationalism as complementary to each other, and, as such, a great achievement of Maharaja Ranjit Singh on ideological level. Going beyond the traditional perspectives on Maharaja Ranjit Singh, his policies have also been studied in relation to the Sikh civilization (qualitatively different from the earlier civilizations), the potential of which, according to Arnold Toynbee, was inherent in the Sikh doctrine – the potential that would, hopeably, influence the emerging third millennium global civilization.
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