Mehtab Kaur
Maharani Mehtab Kaur (c. 1782 – 1813)[3][4][5] was the first wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh,[5][6] the founder of the Sikh Empire. She was the mother of Ranjit's reputed son, Maharaja Sher Singh,[7][8] who briefly became the ruler of the Sikh Empire from 1841 until his death in 1843.[9]
Mehtab Kaur was the only daughter of Sada Kaur and Gurbaksh Singh Kanhaiya. She was betrothed to a six-year-old Ranjit Singh at the age of four.
Mehtab Kaur was the senior-most[10] of Ranjit Singh's wives and according to historian Jean-Marie Lafont, the only one to bear the title of Maharani (high queen) while his other wives bore the lesser title of Rani (queen).[11][12] After her death, the title was held by Ranjit's second wife and mother of his heir apparent Maharaja Kharak Singh, Datar Kaur.[13][14] After her death the title was passed down to Ranjit's youngest widow Jind Kaur, who served as regent of the Sikh Empire (after Sher Singh's death) from 1843 till 1846 and was the mother of Maharaja Duleep Singh.[15]
Mehtab Kaur, the only child of Gurbaksh Singh Kanhaiya (Sandhu) and his wife Sada Kaur Dhaliwal, was born in 1782.[4] Upon her birth she was named "Mehtab" (مهتاب) which means 'moonlight' or 'splendor of the moon' in Persian due to her fair and clear complexion.[16][17] Her father, Gurbaksh Singh, was the heir of Jai Singh Kanhaiya (a Sandhu Jat), the founder and chief of the Kanhaiya Misl.[18]
The Kanhaiya Misl, who had replaced the Bhangis as the most powerful misl, disputed Ranjit Singh's father's (Maha Singh) right to plunder Jammu, and in one of the many skirmishes between the two misls, Gurbaksh Singh was killed in battle against Maha Singh in February 1785.[19][20]
Mehtab Kaur's mother, Rani Sada Kaur, an intelligent, high spirited and ambitious woman, used to lend support of the Kanhaiya misl to Ranjit Singh till 1821, when she developed differences with him and as a consequence lost her territory to him.[18]
