Maharaja Ranjit Singh, The Smallpox Survivor Who Built The Sikh Empire
\n\nIn March 1831, the French naturalist Victor Jacquemont sat before the ruler of the Punjab and found himself on the receiving end of a relentless interrogation. The Maharaja, he wrote, had “asked a hundred thousand questions” and was “almost the first inquisitive Indian I have seen”. The man asking them was short, pockmarked, and blind in one eye. He was also the master of one of the most formidable kingdoms in Asia.
\n\nMaharaja Ranjit Singh was born 246 years ago today, on 13 November 1780, in Gujranwala, in present-day Pakistan. His life is often told as a story of conquest, but it begins with a childhood illness that marked him for the rest of his days.
\n\nSmallpox struck him in infancy. He survived, but the disease took the sight of his left eye and left his face deeply scarred. He grew up short in stature and with little formal schooling, hardly the image of a future emperor.
\n\nHow Maharaja Ranjit Singh Turned A Childhood Scar Into An Empire
\n\nNone of it held him back. When his father, Maha Singh, died in 1792, the boy became head of the Sukerchakia…
Original source: https://www.timesnownews.com/lifestyle
