CHAPTER V
The Mahárájá
No traveller can have visited the Punjab without becoming familiar with the features of the great Mahárájá. Although half a century has passed since his death, his name is still a household word in the province; his portrait is still preserved in castle and in cottage. It is a favourite subject with the ivory painters of Amritsar and Delhi, by whom the Mahárájá is ordinarily represented in middle or old age, and it is rare to find one of him in youth or in the prime of life. The fine arts were not much patronized in early days at the Court of Lahore. Late in life Ranjít Singh did not make a pleasing picture, though his appearance was sticking and memorable. Hard work, the exposure of numerous campaigns, drunkenness and debauchery aged him before his time, and left him at fifty a worn-out, broken-down, old man.
There are many contemporary descriptions of him. This by Baron Hügel is as vivid as any: —
'In person he is short and mean-looking, and had he not distinguished himself by his great talents he would be passed by without being thought worthy of observation. Without
