<Tr> <Th> Mother </Th> <Td> Raj Kaur </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Religion </Th> <Td> Sikhism </Td> </Tr> <P> Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780--1839), was the leader 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, he fought several wars to expel the Afghans in his teenage years, and was proclaimed as the "Maharaja of Punjab" at age 21 . His empire grew in the Punjab region under his leadership through 1839 . </P> <P> Prior to his rise, the Punjab region had numerous warring misls (confederacies), twelve of which were under Sikh rulers and one Muslim . Ranjit Singh successfully absorbed and united the Sikh misls and took over other local kingdoms to create the Sikh Empire . He repeatedly defeated invasions by Muslim armies, particularly those arriving from Afghanistan, and established friendly relations with the British . </P>

Leader of sikh empire who became maharajah of punjab