Raja Ranjit Dev of Jammu

Raja Ranjit Dev ruled Jammu in the middle decades of the eighteenth century and was one of the hill rulers whose politics the Sikh misls reshaped. He is not a figure of the Panth. He appears here because his family quarrel pulled the misls into Jammu a generation before Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and it ended the lives of Charhat Singh Sukerchakia, the Maharaja's grandfather, and Jhanda Singh Bhangi.

Reign. The sources do not agree on his dates. Wikipedia says he succeeded his father Dhruv Dev in 1733, that he was held at Lahore from 1735 to 1747 with his brother Ghansar Dev as regent, and gives his death as 1781 in its text and 4 April 1782 in its infobox. Live History India gives his rule as 1733 to 1781. Wikipedia says he was a Mughal nazim over the Dogra hills, that Jammu's influence reached the other hill states between the Chenab and the Ravi, and that he welcomed Muslim and Hindu settlers. It says he worked against female infanticide and sati by example, not by outright bans, and that a 1780 East India Company despatch praised him as just and kind to his cultivators. Live History India judges him a weak ruler whose prime minister, Mian Mota, held the real power. Wikipedia adds that in 1779 he invaded Afghan-held Kashmir with about 20,000 men and was repelled.

The misls. Wikipedia says the Bhangi misl sacked Jammu and made it a tributary, and that in 1770 Jhanda Singh Bhangi threatened Ranjit Dev, who bought peace with tribute. After the 1773 expedition to Sialkot, Jhanda Singh and Ganda Singh turned to Jammu, where Ranjit Dev recognised their overlordship.

Ranjit Dev wanted his younger son Dalel Singh to succeed him. His elder son, Brij Raj Dev, rebelled with the backing of Charhat Singh Sukerchakia and Jai Singh Kanhaiya, while Ranjit Dev called on the Bhangis. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says Charhat Singh was fatally wounded when his own gun burst in the fighting. Its entry on Jhanda Singh says he was killed in the same quarrel at Jammu in 1774; Wikipedia says a bodyguard bribed on Jai Singh Kanhaiya's behalf shot him. The sources also differ on the year of the fighting: the Encyclopaedia's entry on Charhat Singh puts it in 1770, while its entry on Jhanda Singh and Wikipedia say 1774. After a stalemate of 23 days, Wikipedia says, Ganda Singh withdrew and Ranjit Dev agreed with Brij Raj Dev to pay an annual tribute of 125,000 rupees. Brij Raj Dev took the throne after his father's death with Sikh backing.

Key moments

• 1770 to 1773: pays tribute to, and recognises the overlordship of, Jhanda Singh Bhangi.
• 1770 or 1774: the Jammu fighting in which Charhat Singh and Jhanda Singh die.
• 1781 or 1782: dies; Brij Raj Dev succeeds.

What he is remembered for. In the Panth's record he is the raja whose succession quarrel drew in the misls and cost two of their leaders their lives.