NAM.1961-10-9-3

Raja Hira Singh (1816-1844), 1844 (c). Miniature portrait in watercolour on ivory, by a Company artist, Lahore, India, 1845 (c). Unframed. From a frame of seventeen Indian miniatures painted on ivory, one of which is missing. Hira Singh was the son of Raja Dhian (or Dhyan) Singh and was the favourite of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Following the assassination of Maharaja Shere Singh, the infant Duleep Singh succeeded and Raja Hira Singh was appointed his Prime Minister. Raja Hira Singh’s association with his mentor, Pandit Jhilla, was very unpopular. When the Raja used excessive methods to secure his position, the resentment against him grew. In 1844 the Sikh Army turned against Raja Hira Singh and Pandit Jhilla. They attempted to flee Lahore but the army overtook them. Both men were slain and their heads cut off; these were then paraded through the streets of the city. Previously catalogued as a portrait of Hurah Singh, recatalogued as a portrait of Raja Hira Singh by the experts in the Brothers in Arms Project in 2015. Inscribed in pencil verso, ‘HURAH SINGH’. The original captions says, ‘7. Hira Singh. Son of Dhian Singh. Became Wazir or Chief Minister of the Sikhs on the death of his father and Sher Singh. Assassinated by soldiers whose pay was in arrears.’