Moran Sarkar was a Punjabi Muslim married to Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab in 1806. She was a nautch girl before she became a queen. Maharaja Ranjit Singh was supposedly punished by flogging by Akali Phula Singh for marrying her. Mai Moran was sent to live in Pathankot district, in 1811.
A miniature painting of Moran.
٘٘٘٘Mai Moran Masjid in Lahore
The dilapidated Baradari at Pul Moran on the India - Pakistan border
Image: Moran Sarkar play directed by Rajiv Kumar Sharma
Ranjit Singh, popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He survived smallpox in infancy but lost sight in his left eye. He fought his first battle alongside his father at age 10. After his father died around Ranjit's early teenage years, Ranjit subsequently fought several wars to expel the Afghans throughout his teenage years. At the age of 21, he was proclaimed the "Maharaja of Punjab". His empire grew in the Punjab region under his leadership through 1839.
Painting of Maharaja Ranjit Singh from the Tazkirat al-Umara, written for James Skinner, ca.1830
Image: Handprint signature and Gurmukhi script seal of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who was illiterate in the official Perso Arabic script of his empire
Birthplace of Ranjit Singh in Gujranwala, Punjab, Pakistan.
Ranjit Singh as a young boy, detail from a late 18th century painting of a diplomatic meeting between Sikh Misls
