Maharaja Ranjit Singh ruled the first Sikh Kingdom from what is now known as Afghanistan all across to Pakistan, North India and over to just before China. He was the biggest thorn to the expanding British Empire. The British had to wait until he died before they could take over the whole of India. Such was his aura that the British did not dare to battle with the North West Province of India until his death.
Much feared was his blood line that it was separated and exiled from India. Maharaja Daleep Singh was brought to England to stop any uprisings.
Wherever he went there was freedom of Religion. He restored and built many Churches, Mosques, Mandirs and Gurdwaras. Ranjit Singh was the first Indian in a millennium to turn the tide of invasion back into the homelands of the traditional conquerors of India, the Pashtuns (Afghans), and he thus became known as the Lion of the Punjab.
