Sohan Lal Suri A British Spy In M. Ranjit Singh's Kingdom?

[dalsingh101]

I was flicking through an old book by Kapur Singh called 'Parasaraprasna' (first published in 1959) and came across the following on page 33 of the eversion on the sikhbookclub website.

One Sohan Lal Suri was an official in the secretariat of Maharaja
RanjIt Singh, employed as the royal historiographer. He has left a
comprehensive history of the Sikhs, called the Umdat-ut- Ta warlkh. It
was subsequently published in five volumes by the British rulers of the
Punjab in the nineties of the last century. Incidentally, as it now
appears, this Sohan Lal Surl was, throughout, a secret paid agent of the
Hon'ble East India Company, with their headquarters at Calcutta,
receiving a high regular salarium of Rupees one hundred and twenty
five per mensem, which at the annexation of the Punjab, was commuted
into a pension, "eternal, to continue generation after generation",
but which eventually terminated when Punjab was partitioned
in 1947.

Maybe it shouldn't be such a surprise that the British had spies right at the heart of the Sikh court?

[jaikaara]

spies are just the icing on the cake ..the entire cake were stooges like the Maharajah of Patiala who fought for the the british against Baba Hanuman singh ji

Edited July 16, 2013 by jaikaara

[chatanga1]

Umdat ut twarikh is available on panjab digital library to read.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh also had his spies as well. According to Latif, Maharaja had many of his own soldiers enlist in the EIC. Whether it was fruitful, I don't know.

and still available to buy:

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/Umdat-Ut-Tawarikh-Daftar-III-Parts-IV-V-Suri/9797962027/bd

Edited July 17, 2013 by chatanga1

[dalsingh101]

Umdat ut twarikh is available on panjab digital library to read.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh also had his spies as well. According to Latif, Maharaja had many of his own soldiers enlist in the EIC. Whether it was fruitful, I don't know.

and still available to buy:

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/Umdat-Ut-Tawarikh-Daftar-III-Parts-IV-V-Suri/9797962027/bd

Yeah, Niddar and Singh mention a network of spies operating throughout India disguised as wondering sadhu types.

If what you mention above is true (and I've read as much elsewhere), then he may have been probing training techniques? I'm pretty sure the Lahore darbar soldier wages where actually higher than the clearly unhonourable EIC.

I read in Bobby Bansal's book that at least one of the gora generals of the Lahore fauj was also a British spy, given his treatment subsequent to the annexation. Can't recall the name, it was the one who was a closet Jew apparently?

Edited July 17, 2013 by dalsingh101

[GtLoc]

His doctor was a jew who ultimately killed him.

[dalsingh101]

His doctor was a jew who ultimately killed him.

I think you're mistaken.

Is the guy you are talking about this one?

http://www.sikhawareness.com/index.php/topic/12872-john-martin-honigberger-maharajah-ranjit-singhs-doctor/

[dalsingh101]

Here are Honiberger's thoughts on Ranjit's death:

His disease was brought on by a severe cold, and by indulging somewhat too much in strong spirits. The
latter I am told was specifically the case during the winter in which the Governor-General of India, Lord Auckland, came to
Lahore to pay him a visit. In the transport of his joy, he drank more than ordinarily. Probably, if an emetic had been given at
the commencement of the disease, it would have produced a good effect; but as the native physicians did not know of any good
and effective emetic, and are fearful, also, of the effects of vomiting, they prefer using purgatives by which sometimes
the disease grows worse, as the case above related sufficiently proves.

It made a very deep impression on my feelings to have been prevented from making myself useful to the maharajah, and
restoring to health the man on whose life was depending the happiness, peace and prosperity of that country. Every one
whose forethought enabled him to throw a glance on the future must have seen with pain and sorrow that a violent crisis menaced
that country, by which a nation scarcely risen from barbarity might sink back into its former condition.

[GtLoc]

http://ajitvadakayil.blogspot.ca/2013/02/maharaja-ranjit-singh-rise-and-fall-of.html

I just seen this Idk how accurate still..

[HSD1]

I read in Bobby Bansal's book that at least one of the gora generals of the Lahore fauj was also a British spy, given his treatment subsequent to the annexation. Can't recall the name, it was the one who was a closet Jew apparently?

What does his religion have to do with it?

I was flicking through an old book by Kapur Singh called 'Parasaraprasna' (first published in 1959) and came across the following on page 33 of the eversion on the sikhbookclub website.

Maybe it shouldn't be such a surprise that the British had spies right at the heart of the Sikh court?

I'm surprised he was paid so little by the British. Considering how other sources talk about how Maharaja Ranjit Singh liked to throw his money around his court it seems this guy was a politically motivated spy rather than an economic one. The fact that he got so close to the centre and there were no reprisals after the wars show how rubbish Sikh counter-intellgence/spying was back then.

[dalsingh101]

What does his religion have to do with it?

Nothing in this case, I was just trying to identify him whilst simultaneously supplying a tit-bit of information. It is interesting that he hid his Jewish ancestry though. I think it was Ventura.

-- just checked it was Ventura, though this wiki account portrays him as loyal to M. Ranjit Singh:

Jean-Baptiste Ventura (b. Giovanni Battista Reuben (also Rubino) Ventura in Finale Emilia near Modena, Italy 25 May 1794 - Lardenne (Toulouse, France) 3 April 1858) was an Italian soldier, mercenary and adventurer who ended up in the Sikh Empire in Punjab.

Of Italian Jewish origin from Modena, Ventura, at the age of seventeen enrolled as a volunteer in the militia of the Kingdom of Italy, served with Napoleon's imperial army where he reached the rank of colonel of infantry. After the Waterloo and the final downfall of Napoleon he returned to his home; but in 1817, yet known by the local authorities for his revolutionaries and Napoleonic sympathies owing to a dispute between him and a local member of the reactionary Ducal police, he was obliged to leave the country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Ventura

The fact that he got so close to the centre and there were no reprisals after the wars show how rubbish Sikh counter-intellgence/spying was back then.

Hmmmmm......

Edited October 10, 2013 by dalsingh101

[chatanga1]

the sikh counter intellignence of the Sikh rule, seemed to be more active in places where Maharaja RAnjit Singh actually wanted to take over, rather than those he knew he didnt.

[HSD1]

Hmmmmm......

Eh?

Anyone know of the story of the Sikh spy who tricked a British regiment before the Battle of Chillianwallah? The story goes that a British regiment was marching down the road near Chillianwallah as part of the main British force when a Sikh officer started riding alongside them. Thinking he was from one of the Eastern Sikh States the regiment stopped and saluted. The Sikh officer inspected them, asked some a few questions and then ordered them on their way. The regiment saw him canter off in front of them before bolting across a field towards the Punjabi lines. It dawned on them what was going on but their shots missed as he was out of range and had gone into the woods where the Khalsa had set up positions. I cant remember where this was from but all this talk of spies brought it back.

Edited October 15, 2013 by HSD1

[amardeep]

What is the evidence that he was a spy and from what year onwards was he a spy ? Was it post maharaja ranjit singh?

[Guest Hardeep Singh]

As per Sohan Lal Suri himself, the EIC, Col Wade, requested the Maharaja to see the Book Suri was writing about the Maharaja Ranjit Singh's life. Suri says, Maharaja didn't know about it. Suri was a frequent visitor to the Court.

Now, it's very difficult to write so monumental a book and not to disclose it to the Maharaja. The patronage or economic benefits would arise only if was known to the Maharaja.

Secondly, what if such a detail about the Darbar was suddenly discovered by the Maharaja ? It would amount to spying or treason for sure !

So, I think the matured, seasoned Maharaja was only feingning to the EIC. He fed them whatever information he desired. On many instances when his Ministers, including Azizuddin, were reported to be misleading him, he laughed and said that he knows it. He was too cool and factored in such behaviour.

 

[dalsingh101]

bump

 

Here's a translation of one of his works:

 

https://www.scribd.com/document/511576373/Umdat-Ut-Twarikh-by-Sohan-Lal-Suri-Translated-From-Persian-to-English-by-V-S-Suri