The establishment of the Sikh empire dates back to the foundations of the religion of Sikhism. After the development of Sikhism, the territory of Punjab had been distributed among 12 Sikh misls, or militia groups. When united, the 12 misls were a massive army of warriors who could not be overthrown by any kind of central authority. However, there being no distinct boundary between each misl, the misls often found themselves in conflict with each other. With such a relationship among the different misls, the future of Punjab was often questioned, which brings us to the question: To what extent did the Sikh Misls influence the development of the Sikh empire.
The people of India had always been slaves to the foreign Muslim invaders. The Muslims, …show more content…
Ranjit Singh himself married Mehtab Kaur, the daughter of the leader of the Kanhaiya Misl, which created an alliance that elevated Ranjit Singh’s status as he would now be stronger than the other misls considering that he essentially had two armies. Additionally he married the daughter of the leader of the Nakai Misl, which allowed Ranjit Singh to consolidate even more power as he had three times the horsepower compared to the other misls and become one step closer to uniting the Misls. In 1799, Ranjit Singh was able to take the land of one of the most powerful misls, the Bhangi Misl, which marked a turning point in created a united Sikh empire. Once all the Misls surrendered to Ranjit Singh’s rule, in 1801, Ranjit Singh was coronated as the King of the Sikh empire. The land that had been ruled by 11 of the 12 Misls (eventually the Phulkian Misl sided with the Mughals and British) became different states within Punjab, some of which today are known as Lahore and …show more content…
Ranjit Singh also recruited soldiers from foreign countries like France and Italy to strengthen the alliances and defense against invaders. The Sikhs themselves only occupied a very small percentage of the population, and because Muslims and Hindus also occupied the region, there were internal division that would serve as a strong factor in the decline of the empire after Ranjit Singh’s death in 1832. Because of this weakened state, the British saw their chance of gaining control of India and the Sikhs were the first to encounter the British. Ultimately, the power and divisions within the Sikh misls led to the formation of a powerful and strong empire that would at the same time result in the British colonization of India, only to once again make the Indian populations slaves to the