Prof Hardev Singh Virk
SPNer
Contributions of Professor Jean-Marie LAFONT to the History of the Sikh Kingdom of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1799-1849)
Hardev Singh Virk
Professor of Eminence (Honorary), SGGS World University,
Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjab, India
e-mail: hardevsingh.virk@gmail.com
I joined Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar on 10th July, 1979. The university allowed me to stay in the University Guest House till I find an accommodation on the University Campus. It was month of September when I met Prof. Lafont and his friends in the guest house. He was surprised that I could speak French. He introduced me to his friends who have come from Saint Tropez, the city made popular by the General Allard, who once served as the Commander-in-Chief of the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the King of Punjab. The delegation was visiting India and Dr Lafont was teaching French in Punjab University, Lahore. He had a long stint of 12 years at University of Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan (1972-1984).
During 1981, I was invited to attend a Summer School at Nathia Gali in Pakistan. This visit gave me opportunity to stay in the family of Dr. Lafont. I felt at home as his wife, Rehana Lafont, was a Christian from Lahore. After my visit, our friendship grew and Lafont family used to stay with us or in the University Guest House. When Prof. Lafont and family moved to India and he started teaching in the University of Delhi (1987-1994), our meetings became more frequent. He was promoted as Senior Research Fellow and Scientific Coordinator at the Centre de Sciences humaines, French Embassy, New Delhi (1994-1998).
Prof. Lafont’s stay in Lahore gave him an opportunity to study the remnants of Sikh Kingdom of Punjab. He was assisted by his wife, Rehana, in his investigations. Shahi Fort of Lahore was occupied by Ranjit Singh in 1799 after defeating Shah Zaman, the grandson of Ahmed Shah Durrani, and ruler of Punjab. Ranjit Singh was just 19 years old brave boy who rose to become the King of Punjab ruling over a large tract of territories including Kashmir, Ladakh, Multan, and Peshawar. He made Lahore his Capitol and Lahore Fort as his residence. During my visit to Pakistan in Dec. 2024, I found Lahore Fort a treasure trove of artefacts of Sikh Kingdom of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the form of Bamba Museum.
Dr Lafont wrote his D. Litt. thesis on the French Generals in the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. When Napolean was defeated at Waterloo, his French army was in disarray and Generals were hiding to avoid punishment. Most of them travelled to Persia via Constantinople and then to India to find lucrative jobs and security of life. Allard and Ventura, two veterans of Napolean army, reached Shadra, a suburb of Lahore, in 1822. They approached Maharaja Ranjit Singh to seek permission to visit and stay in Lahore for a few days. Maharaja got him satisfied that they are not British spies and asked them to stay put for training of his troops in European style of warfare. Maharaja knew his army is no match against the British army unless his troops match the tactics of British army.
Allard and Ventura were given high salaries and accommodation in the haveli vacated by Prince Kharak Singh in the Anarkali estate of Lahore. It took them 3 years to train the army of Ranjit Singh in modern warfare. This newly trained Sikh army was called “Fauj-i-khas”, or the Royal army, also called “Francese Campo” or French army. By 1826, Fauj-i-khas consisted of integrated forces of Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery. Infantry was further divided into Paltans: paltan-i-khas of Sheikh Basawan, paltan of Dewa Singh, paltan Gurkha, etc. Similar units were created in Cavalry and Artillery. It is interesting to note that Artillery units were commanded by Muslims mostly and Ilahi Bakhsh was a popular gunner commanding a unit of 40 guns.
C.M. Wade, a British Resident at Ludhiana, kept for spying on the French Generals, describes in his memoirs the grandeur of Sikh army: “General Allard commanded two Cavalry regiments consisting of Dragoons (composed of Sikhs) and Lancers (composed of Pathans). General Ventura commanded Infantry battalions consisting of four Sikh, and one of Gorkhas and Purbias”. Fauj-i-khas, in its maximum capacity, was having strength around 10,000 soldiers. In 1826, Court and Avitabile, two other French officers joined Sikh army of Maharaja. They raised their own brigades consisting of 3000 and 2700 men, respectively. General Allard was given the highest status in the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh as he commanded lot of respect in the Darbar-i-Khalsa.
After the death of General Hari Singh Nalwa, Allard was appointed Military Governor of Peshawar in 1837, Col. Court as his deputy, General Ventura, as commander of the army, and Col. Avitabile as civil administrator of Peshawar. They all subdued the ferocious Pathans of the area and brought peace to the Kingdom of Punjab. The Fort of Phillaur was repaired and modernised by Ventura and Allard, and it was made HQ of Fauj-i-khas in 1825. Court and Avitabile rebuilt the Fort Bala Hisar of Peshawar in 1834. General Allard died in Peshawar in 1839 and he was buried in Anarkali area of Lahore. In 2012, a statue of General Allard and a bust of Maharaja Ranjit Singh have been installed in a park of Saint Tropez, France.
Most of the French Officers of Maharaja’s army married into Indian families. Allard was married to Bannou Pan Deï, a very young princess of Chamba state in 1825. He went back to France with his family of five children to settle them in Saint Tropez, a famous sea beach town in Riveria of France, which was his birthplace. Other Officers like Ventura and Avitabile enjoyed glamourous life of harems like an Indian Maharaja. Ventura, for his part, had procured for himself one of the finest harems of the kingdom, almost rivalling with Ranjit Singh’s.
Prof. Lafont has published 20 books and 127 research papers covering diverse fields. We have short-listed his books and papers concerning French Generals in Kingdom of Punjab as given in Appendix. His forthcoming book, new edition of “French & Lahore”, considerably enlarged (from 22,000 words to 120,000 words with more than 250 colour illustrations), will be published in Lahore. He is a prolific writer in French and English. He has written and published eight entries for Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, Punjabi University, Patiala (1993).
Prof. Lafont has delivered more than one hundred lectures in French and English in Europe, India and Pakistan. Most of them were illustrated with colour slides from his personal collection. He has organised several exhibitions as a Curator in India and France, for example, the exhibition “Life and Times of Maharaja Ranjit Singh” at the request of the Punjab Government for the bicentenary coronation of the Maharaja, on 11 November 2001 in the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Museum, Ram Bagh Palace, Amritsar, India. I must also mention his exhibition organised in Saint Tropez in 2012: ‘Le Général Allard et le royaume sikh du Pendjab sous le Maharaja Ranjit Singh, 1822-1839’.
Prof. Lafont has won many awards for his contribution to history of Sikh Kingdom of Punjab. A list of his Awards is given as under:
1. Giles Award 1995 from Institut de France, for his book La Présence française dans le royaume sikh du Penjab 1822-1849, EFEO, Paris, 1992.
2. Saropa given by the Sikh Community in the Gurudwara Rakaab Ganj, New Delhi, 1996.
3. Saropa given by the Gurdwara Parbanadak Committee, Golden Temple, Amritsar, 1997.
4. Karam Singh Histori Award, Punjab, 10 February 2001.
5. Maharaja Ranjit Singh Bicentenary Coronation Award, University of Patiala, 13 April 2001.
6. Roll of Honour by the World Punjabi Organisation and the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Trust, New Delhi, 2003.
1. Prof. Lafont presented a copy of his D.Litt. Thesis in Golden Temple
2. Prof. Lafont honoured in Golden Temple, Amritsar, 1997
3. Prof. Lafont honoured in Gurdwara Rakaab Ganj, New Delhi, 1996
4. Bust of Maharaja Ranjit Singh installed in Saint Tropez during the exhibition, 2012.
(General Allard appears in the Catalogue of the exhibition prepared by Prof. Lafont)
5. General Allard’s medal of Commander of the Order of Guru Govind Singh
6. General Allard and his family at Lahore
APPENDIX: Publications of Professor LAFONT
Monographs
1. French Administrators of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Delhi, 1986. 2nd edition, 1988, 170 pp., 19 illustrations. Several reprints of the second edition.
2. La présence française dans le royaume sikh du Penjab. 1822-1849, Paris, PEFEO, 1992, 557 pages, colour frontispiece, 19 maps and plans. [Giles Awards 1995 of the French Academy]
3. INDIKA. Essays on Indo-French Relations. 1630-1976, CSH-Manohar, Delhi, 2000. 524 pages, plus 32 pages of colour and B&W illustrations, 6 maps.
4. Reminiscences. The French in India, J.-M. Lafont (ed.), INTACH, New Delhi, 1998. 144 pages, 132 colour illustrations, many drawings and plans.
5. Maharaja Ranjit Singh Lord of the Five Rivers, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2002.
6. Fauj-i-khas. Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his French Generals, Guru Nanak Dev University Press, Amritsar, 2002. 240 pages, 4 colour illustrations.
Relevant Research Publications
1). "Colonel François-Henri Mouton: his unpublished Letter to the Minister of War, France, 1844", Journal of Sikh Studies, IV-1, 1977, GND University of Amritsar, India, pp. 55-72, 1 illustration.
2). "Bannou Pan Deï Allard and the Family of General Allard", Journal of Sikh Studies, V-2, 1978, GND University of Amritsar, pp. 104-134, plates I -V.
3). [Precedent article reprinted in Punjab Past and Present, XV-1, 1981, Punjabi University, Patiala, India, pp. 28-63, without illustrations].
4). "Maharaja Duleep Singh and France", Journal of Sikh Studies, VIII-1, 1981, GND University of Amritsar, pp. 88-101.
5). "Military Activities of the French Officers of Maharaja Ranjit Singh", Journal of Sikh Studies, IX-1, 1982, GND University of Amritsar, pp. 118-150.
6). "Political and Administrative Activities of the French Officers of Maharaja Ranjit Singh", Journal of Sikh Studies, IX-2, 1982, GND University of Amritsar, pp. 29-73.
7). "Private Business and Cultural Activities of the French Officers of Maharaja Ranjit Singh", Journal of Sikh Studies, X-1, 1983, GND University of Amritsar, pp. 74-104.
8). “Arts and Culture in the Punjab Kingdom and the Sikh States, Trans-Sutlej and Cis-Sutlej”, in P. M. Taylor and S. Dhami (edd.), Sikh Art from the Kapany Collection, The Sikh Foundation and the Smithonian Institution, Palo Alto (California), USA, 2017, pp. 135-186, 33 illustrations.
9). « Farenghi Paintings. Cultural Exchanges between France and India 1550-1850 », in MARG. A Magazine for the Arts. India-France: Artistic Exchanges, September-December 2017, Mumbai, pp. 22-32, 6 illustrations.
10). “The French in the Service of the Indian States, 1550-1849”, in Nicolas Morelle (ed.), Forts of the Deccan, Aryan Book International, New Delhi, 2020, pp. 31-58, 19 illustrations.
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