Ropar Meeting
The Ropar Meeting in October 1831 was between Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Lord William Bentinck, Governor-General of the East India Company, on the banks of the river Satluj, in a town of the same name.
[2] The Ropar Meeting highlighted the camaraderie between Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire and the East India Company, which governed Hindustan.
The East India Company was preparing to court him, recognising him as essential to realising it's expanding aspirations for 'rightful influence' and lucrative commerce.
[4] In the first half of the nineteenth century, the historical land trade route from the plains of Hindustan to Afghanistan ran through the Sikh Empire.
The East India Company aimed to gain waterway access through Sikh territory to facilitate sea trade from Bombay to Attock via the Indus River.
[5] Claude Martin Wade, the British agent appointed by the East India Company to oversee Sikh affairs, was tasked by the Governor-General to organize the meeting.
Ropar, a small town situated on the banks of the river Satluj, was under the control of Bhup Singh, a Sikh chieftain loyal to the East India Company.
Invitations were extended, salutes fired, ceremonial exchanges and gift-giving took place, followed by displays of military prowess and feasting with entertainment.
[7] Alexander Burnes, an East India Company employee, remarked, "The English gentlemen appeared a sorry contrast to the gilded splendor of the Sikhs' elephants."
Ranjit Singh's failed attempt to obtain British ‘approval’ for his ambitions concerning Sindh made its conquest a distant dream.
The East India Company acknowledged that Ranjit Singh had ample justification to launch an attack on the amirs of Sindh (Talpur dynasty), who had incited the Balochis to raid into the Sikh territory.
[8] The Company checkmated Ranjit Singh by engaging in secret negotiations with the Mirs, employing diplomatic manoeuvres to prevent him from conquering the portion of Sindh that lay well within his sphere of influence.
During his travels, Reverend Joseph Wolff visited the Sikh Empire and astonished the Maharaja by mentioning that he had heard about the Ropar summit while in Bokhara.
"[1] The Sikh Sardars believed it beneath the Maharaja's dignity to meet with the Governor-General, as he represented the East India Company rather than the British Crown.
General Adams; Major-General Ramsay; Major Caldwell; Major Maclachlan; 4th Native Infantry: Dr Murray; Military secretary: Captain Benson; Persian secretary: Henry Prinsep; Political agents (Ludhiana): Captain Claude Martin Wade, (Sabathu): Charles Pratt Kennedy, (Ambala): George Russell Clerk; Henry Miers Elliot; Alexander Burnes; 1st regt.
The vakils representing the cis-Satluj Rajas and Sardars, eager to accompany Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s mission to Simla earlier this year, were barred from doing so and instructed to return to Ludhiana.
