The child's name was changed to Ranjit (literally, "victor in battle") Singh ("lion") by his father to commemorate his army's victory over the Chattha chieftain Pir Muhammad.

[5] The Kasur region, ruled by Muslims, always supported the Afghan invasion forces and joined them in plundering Sikh misls during the war.

[5] Ranjit Singh's fame grew in 1797, at age 17, when the Durrani Shah Zaman attempted to bring Panjab into his control through his general Shahanchi Khan and 12,000 soldiers.

[4][5] The battle was fought in the territory that fell in Ranjit Singh's controlled misl, whose regional knowledge and warrior expertise helped resist the invading army.

[4][31][32] In 1802, Ranjit Singh, aged 22, took Amritsar from the Bhangi Sikh misl, paid homage at the Harmandir Sahib temple, which had previously been attacked and desecrated by the invading Afghan army, and announced that he would renovate and rebuild it with marble and gold.

[34] In 1807, Ranjit Singh's forces attacked the Muslim-ruled principality of Kasur and, after a month of fierce fighting, defeated the Afghan chief Qutb-ud-Din, thus expanding his empire northwest towards Afghanistan.

[36] In 1813–14, Ranjit Singh's first attempt to expand into Kashmir was foiled by Afghan forces led by Azim Khan, due to a heavy downpour, the spread of cholera, and poor food supply to his troops.

Yar Mohammad Khan was pardoned and was reinvested as governor of Peshawar with an annual revenue of Rs one lac ten thousand to Lahore Darbar.

In pursuance of this agreement, the British army of the Indus entered Afghanistan from the south, while Ranjit Singh's troops went through the Khyber Pass and took part in the victory parade in Kabul.

[49] The geographical reach of the Sikh Empire under Singh included all lands north of Sutlej River, and south of the high valleys of the northwestern Himalayas.

The major towns at the time included Srinagar, Attock, Peshawar, Bannu, Rawalpindi, Jammu, Gujrat, Sialkot, Kangra, Amritsar, Lahore and Multan.

[52] His army included a few Europeans, such as the Frenchman Jean-François Allard, and Italian Jewish Jean-Baptiste Ventura though Singh maintained a policy of refraining from recruiting Britons into his service, aware of British designs on the Indian subcontinent.

[69] Ranjit Singh had also abolished the gurmata and provided significant patronage to the Udasi and Nirmala sect, leading to their prominence and control of Sikh religious affairs.

The prosperity in his Empire, in contrast to the Mughal-Sikh wars era, largely came from the improvement in the security situation, reduction in violence, reopened trade routes and greater freedom to conduct commerce.

[89] The initial momentum for the Empire building in these accounts is stated to be Ranjit Singh led Khalsa army's "insatiable appetite for plunder", their desire for "fresh cities to pillage", and eliminating the Mughal era "revenue intercepting intermediaries between the peasant-cultivator and the treasury".

"[92] In contrast, the colonial era British military officer Hugh Pearse in 1898 criticised Ranjit Singh's rule, as one founded on "violence, treachery and blood".

[96] Clive Dewey has argued that the decline of the empire after Singh's death owes much to the jagir-based economic and taxation system which he inherited from the Mughals and retained.

This struggle ended with a rapid series of palace coups and assassinations of his descendants, and eventually the annexation of the Sikh Empire by the British.

[25] Along with wisdom and all the chaste virtues of a noblewoman, Datar Kaur was exceptionally intelligent and assisted Ranjit Singh in affairs of the State.

[106][107][108] Throughout his life she remained Ranjit Singh's favorite[109] and for no other did he have greater respect for than Datar Kaur, who he affectionately called Mai Nakain.

[119] His other wives included, Mehtab Devi of Kangara also called Guddan or Katochan and Raj Banso, daughters of Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra.

[126] Faqir Sayyid Vaḥiduddin states: "If there was one thing in which Ranjit Singh failed to excel or even equal the average monarch of oriental history, it was the size of his harem.

This action, and other non-Sikh activities of the Maharaja, upset orthodox Sikhs, including the Nihangs, whose leader Akali Phula Singh was the Jathedar of the Akal Takht.

An alternative holds that Ranjit went to visit Moran on his arrival in Amritsar before paying his respects at Harmandir Sahib Gurdwara, which upset orthodox Sikhs and hence was punished by Akali Phula Singh.

In the 1830s, Ranjit Singh suffered from numerous health complications as well as a stroke, which some historical records attribute to alcoholism and a failing liver.

[120][46] According to William Dalrymple, Ranjit Singh had been washed with water from the Ganges, paid homage to the Guru Granth Sahib, and was fixated on an image of Vishnu and Lakshmi just before his death.

[144] He amassed considerable wealth, including gaining the possession of the Koh-i-Noor diamond from Shuja Shah Durrani of Afghanistan, which he left to Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha in 1839.

[147] Much of the present decoration at the Harmandir Sahib, in the form of gilding and marblework, was introduced under the patronage of Singh, who also sponsored protective walls and a water supply system to strengthen security and operations related to the temple.

[148] In 1783, Ranjit Singh established a crafts colony of Thatheras near Amritsar and encouraged skilled metal crafters from Kashmir to settle in Jandiala Guru.

[157] In the year 2014, this traditional craft of making brass and copper products was enlisted on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO.