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Maharani Mehtab Kaur ( 1782 – 1813) (2025). 9788185815237, Institute of Sikh Studies. ISBN 9788185815237 was the first wife of Ranjit Singh, the founder of the Sikh Empire. She was the mother of Sher Singh, who briefly became the ruler of the Sikh Empire from 1841 until his death in 1843.
Mehtab Kaur was the only daughter of Sada Kaur and Gurbaksh Singh Kanhaiya. Her father was the first commander or sardar of Khalsa army to protect Punjab. She was betrothed to a six-year-old Ranjit Singh at the age of four.
According to historian Jean-Marie Lafont, the only one to bear the title of Maharani (Great Queen)..
The Kanhaiya Misl, who had replaced the Bhangi Misl as the most powerful misl, disputed the right of Ranjit Singh's father's (Maha Singh) 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. (1994). 9788120609501, Asian Educational Services. ISBN 9788120609501
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.
As a teenager, Ranjit Singh took hardly any interest in the affairs of the state, making his mother, Raj Kaur, anxious for his future. She felt that marriage might bring him around to the responsibilities of life. She approached Sada Kaur to fix the muklawa (tradition where the wife goes back to her maternal home) date. Ranjit was fifteen years old when he left Gujranwala for Batala, the chief town of the Kanhaiyas, to perform the after marriage rituals with Mehtab Kaur in 1796. This alliance between the two important Sikh families was a major event for Punjab. All the leading Sikh chiefs were present at the wedding. Mehtab Kaur was very beautiful and her looks made her seem mismatched for the rugged Ranjit Singh. Even if Mehtab Kaur could reconcile herself to her husband's looks, it must have been difficult for her to forget that her father was killed in battle with Ranjit Singh's father. Plus she was haughty and self-willed, a proud woman born to rich parentsSarbpreet Singh (2025). 9789388689472, Tranquebar by Westland Publications Private Limited. . ISBN 9789388689472 while Ranjit Singh was a typically simple Punjabi man, rustic in his habits. It was a marriage of convenience for both and they rarely stayed together.
After entering into a matrimonial alliance with the Kanhaiya Misl, Ranjit Singh wanted to consolidate his position further which could only be done by drawing some other misl to his side. He made suggestions to head of the Nakai Misl and early in 1797 took a second wife, who was the sister of the Nakai Sardar Gyan Singh Sandhu- with whom he was betrothed for some time. (2025). 9788120619180, Asian Educational Services. ISBN 9788120619180 The second marriage not only provided Ranjit Singh more political power but a more successful marriage as Datar Kaur become Ranjit Singh's most favorite and mother of his heir, Kharak Singh.
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