Celebrations of Festivals at the Sikh Court

Abstract

The present paper is about the celebration of festivals at Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s court. In the Kingdom of Lahore festivals like Lohri, Holi, Baisakhi, Dussehra, Basant, Diwali, and New Year Day and besides this the Muslim festival like Id was also a part of celebration and enthusiasm. These celebrations had a set of pattern. Ranjit Singh visited these religious places on every occasions. On such occasion the Maharaja accepted customary nazars and gave rewards to functionaries and celebrities. Sarwarna and the presentations of nazar were the chief mode of expressing goodwill and allegiance at the Sikh court by princes, nobles and foreign dignitaries on all these occasions. Ranjit Singh ordered all kind of arrangements for such occasions.

Sohan Lal Suri, Umdat-ut-Tawarikh contains information on social matters like participation in festivals, the different ways in which he received vakils from various potentates, politicians or administration.[1] The Umdat-ut-Tawarikh also gives us significant information on the social and cultural life in the early nineteenth century. Several important social customs also continued in the early nineteenth century. The present paper intends to look at celebration of different festivals at the Ranjit Singh’s court, on the basis of information given in the Umdat-ut-Tawarikh. The present paper is taken up in two sections, the first describing the celebration of festivals at the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The second section attempts a detail note on it.

[1]. J.S. Grewal “The Process of Consolidation”, in Maharaja Ranjit Singh: The State and Society, (eds.) Indu Banga and J.S. Grewal, Guru Nanak Dev University, 2001, 58.