He succeeded his father as a minor Sikh leader in 1792. He was a remarkable leader who united the whole Punjab under one flag, creating a Sikh army which conquered Kashmir and Punjab. His rule stretched from the banks of the Jamuna to the Khyber and from Kashmir to Multan.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh was the most powerful of all the Sikh Rulers and ruled over for complete 40 years. In alliance with the British, he established himself as "Lion of the Punjab", ruler of the strongest of the native Indian states.

He had a harem of dancing boys and was particularly attached to Gulab Singh, a young man who later became the ruler of Kashmir.

After his death in 1840 the Sikh Empire was divided into small principalities looked after by several Sikh Jagirdars. This weak situation provided a good opportunity to the British of East India Company to put an end to the Sikh strong hold in the Punjab in 1849.

"Victor Jacquemont's Journal de voyage (1834), describes the pederasty of Ranjit Singh, the "Lion of Pounjab", and his pathic [= passive partner] Gulab Singh whom the English inflicted upon Cashmir by way of paying for his treason "

Source: Richard Francis Burton's The Sodatic Zone