I'm James Lewis, TV auctioneer and valuer.
And this is a story which began three years ago,
when I set out on an unexpected journey
into a little-known period of Indian history.
It all started with the auction of what
I believed to be an insignificant painting.
It was a sale which took me by complete surprise.
I was commissioned to undertake a house sale,
big Derbyshire estate,
and lurking behind this very large cupboard,
as we moved it out, were these Indian watercolours.
They were paintings that caught the eye of Davinder Toor,
one of the country's most prolific collectors of Sikh antiques.
I was just blown away, I mean, I'd never seen
a painting like this...for sale.
I'd only ever seen it in...museums.
30, 5, 40, 5...
I thought it might make a couple of thousand pounds, something like that.
The bidding began and I had it at 500 and it went to 6, 7...
..5, 60, 5...
But it soon started to gather momentum.
11,000 on the phone,
12,000 back in the marquee.
We had internet bidding from India, as well.
I mean, it was just crazy.
The other chap I was competing against,
he was wavering a bit from time to time...
And it was this great fight.
13,000, 14,000, 15,000.
Eventually...
£20,000.
It's yours.
He looked over and said to me, "Sold,
"sold to a man who clearly knows a bit more about this painting than I do."
It was a huge price for a very small watercolour.
And everybody in the room had a good old laugh and a good old clap.
It was something that I wasn't expecting
and something...
that made me think why?
It's not the sort of thing that happens every day.
Ever since that auction, I've been intrigued to learn more
about the painting and the history behind it.
It's a fascinating tale of a lost empire,
a Sikh kingdom which had at its heart
one of the greatest treasure collections the world has ever seen.
And in this film, I'm going to track down these forgotten wonders,
from secret vaults...
to some of the greatest museum collections in the world.
It's one of THE most famous objects in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
In the week when nearly 24 million Sikhs
celebrate the birth of their founder Guru Nanak,
I'll discover that not only are they objects of great value,
but works of art
which have the traditions and beliefs of the Sikh faith
woven into the very fabric of their design.
It's here in the British Library that my journey begins,
with a fascinating,
but little known, document dating from the 19th century.
What we have here is the original handwritten inventory
made by the secretary of the British Governor General of India
in 1849, Dr Logan.
And what it lists
is truly breathtaking...
There's jewellery set with priceless stones,
hand-crafted weapons
and even what WAS believed to be
the largest diamond in the world.
I've been an auctioneer for over 20 years,
cataloguing and valuing some amazing objects,
but nothing compares to this.
It is quite extraordinary.
This incredible list gives us a glimpse into one of the greatest
treasure collections in history.
It was made at a time when the British had just conquered the Punjab
in northern India.
And Dr Logan's task was to catalogue for sale
every item in the personal treasury
of the man who'd once been its ruler.
His name was Maharaja Ranjit Singh
and he was one of the most charismatic and successful leaders
in Sikh history and creator of the greatest kingdom they'd ever known.
His collection of treasures was not only vast,
but SO valuable that the money generated by its sale
had an impact on the future fortunes of the entire British Empire.
These enigmatic treasures are now scattered across Britain...
..and I want to see them for myself,
so I'm starting by heading to a secret location
to meet the collector who bought the intriguing painting
in that Derbyshire sale.
This is where I keep part of my collection.
I've been collecting for about 18 years now
and I started off just collecting arms and armour,
but I collect everything relating to the Sikhs and the Punjab.
Davinder is a British Sikh who passionately collects
incredible objects,
all from a very particular time in Sikh history.
I love beautiful things, I love beautiful objects
and those objects that contain some history.
For me, it's just like time travel, it's the nearest I can
get to visiting...
19th-century Punjab, so it's a bit like my little time capsule.
Hi, James. Hello, there. How are you doing? Nice to see you.
Nice to meet you, welcome. Thank you.
(My goodness!)
Gosh, I don't know where to look.
Well, um, I think I might know where to begin... Yeah, go.
Um, I've got a feeling you might like to see this...first.
(I recognise that!)
Do you recognise it(?) I thought you might.
Oh, how lovely.
Gosh, you fought so hard for that.
I did, I did, um...
There was tough competition... There was.
..but here it is, so I'm very glad, indeed.
Would you like me to tell you a bit more about it? Yes, please do.
Well, this is a middle of the 19th century watercolour
and would've been painted by a local Punjabi artist,
but commissioned by the British,
just after the British take Punjab in 1849.
And in this painting
we see this group of Sikh warriors called the Akali, the Immortals,
on their way,
travelling with all of their belongings.
They've got these repairs in the scabbards of their swords,
this emaciated horse...
Emaciated horse, yes.
..and this leader who's got gold quoits on his turban.
And now all he has left is this pathetic twig for a switch.
Um, and they go down to the south of India to safeguard the traditions,
because they know that they're going to be lost if they stay in Punjab.
They look defeated, don't they? That's right.
The artist has really got the atmosphere... Absolutely.
..of what's happening.
Absolutely.
Davinder's painting marks the end of a golden era in Sikh history...
..but he has another that reveals the beginning...
It's the single
most valuable item he owns
and it goes back to a period ten years before the poignant
image of the fleeing Akali,
to an age in which the Sikhs were
at the height of their political and military power.
A time when the court of Ranjit Singh
was the most splendid in the whole of India.
So, James, this is one of my prize possessions.
The quality of that work is absolutely fantastic.
So did you have to fight as hard for that one as you did for mine?
Er, a little bit harder in fact. Really?
It cost me...six figures in the end.
Golly!
It's a painting of Ranjit Singh in his Darbar, in his court.
The setting is the Lahore Fort.
Lahore, northwest India,
now in Pakistan, previously the capital of Punjab.
And you can get a lot of information out of this picture.
So you've got this wonderful architectural information,
the inlaid marble stone. OK.
You also have all of Ranjit Singh's courtiers here,
assembled in rank order - each of them with their wonderful
cashmere shawls and turban ornaments and feathers in their turbans.
So what kind of man was Ranjit Singh?
If we go back to the 18th century, when Ranjit Singh was a young boy
he became the head of his clan.
There were 12 clans, 12 Sikh clans that ruled Punjab
and his clan was actually one of the smallest.
His father died when he was very young and he became the leader,
he led his army into battle at the age of 12. Did he?
And by the age of 19, he'd managed to consolidate,
er, the Punjab, overwhelming the other clan leaders,
through both conquest and through a marriage of alliance.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh was the founder of a Sikh kingdom stretching
from Afghanistan to China, which he ruled for three decades.
And through his astute leadership,
he completely transformed the fortunes of the Sikhs.
So Ranjit Singh
becomes the Maharaja of the entire Punjab.
Does his wealth come from internal sources or externally?
There's some internal wealth in the sense that he is a clan leader,
but predominantly it would've come through conquest.
In addition to that, we also have Ranjit Singh
as this great patron of the arts. For example, we see Ranjit Singh here
seated in the centre of this picture, sitting on his Golden Throne.
Yes! He commissioned that after conquering Multan,
which is a region now in Pakistan,
and that was made by a local Multani artist.
The Golden Throne of Ranjit Singh wasn't just
a piece of furniture,
it was his ceremonial seat of state.
And, unlike many of his other treasures, it wasn't auctioned off
to raise money for the British.
Instead, it was shipped back to England in 1853
and it survives to this day at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Fantastic, isn't it? It is, it is.
It's one of the most famous
and greatest treasures in the V&A.
Golly. It was made for Ranjit Singh,
probably made in Lahore,
and it just says everything about the power of the man,
of the Empire, the importance of the Punjab at that time.
It's very small, isn't it? It's very small, yes,
but it's got tremendous presence even though it's not a huge object.
But he was actually rather a small man
and when visitors came from abroad and met him,
they - without exception - were disappointed,
because they thought he looked like a little old mouse.
He was usually very, very plainly dressed,
so to have something so opulent...
It's certainly there... ..the splendour.. ..to send a message
to visitors, isn't it? It is, yes.
But this throne wasn't just a status symbol.
Ranjit Singh's choice of designer was a statement of the Sikh ideals
which lay at the heart of his kingdom.
It's recorded that it was made by a Muslim craftsman
called Hafiz Muhammad Multani.
And the fact that he was a Muslim just underlines
the hybrid nature of the empire.
It was a Sikh empire, but Sikhs were actually in a minority.
So Ranjit Singh was ruling an empire where Hindus were in a majority
and there were more Muslims than Sikhs
and they were all equally able to rise to the top,
within the court hierarchy, on merit.
That reflects, almost certainly, the teachings of the founder of Sikhism.
Guru Nanak said, "There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim,"
meaning that everybody, in religious terms, was absolutely equal.
The Golden Throne demonstrated Ranjit Singh's skill
as a leader whose Sikh principles forged religious unity.
And it was also a work of such opulence that it could only
have been created by a man for whom money was no object.
Ranjit Singh was clearly a prolific patron of the arts,
but that wasn't the only way in which he showed his wealth and his power.
Amongst the treasures listed in Logan's inventories,
one category in particular stands out -
weaponry.
It's not something usually associated with religion,
but for the Sikhs,
military prowess has always been at the heart of their faith.
I've travelled to the Royal Armouries in Leeds to find out more.
Their Keeper of Armour is Thom Richardson
and he's taking me to one of the parts of the museum
hidden from the public gaze -
the weapons store, a vast room
packed with arms from every age.
Oh, my goodness!
So welcome to one of the treasure houses of arms and armour
in the United Kingdom.
It's one of our study collections
and we've got some of the pieces out here
that actually come from the treasury of Ranjit Singh in Lahore.
Because we can trace some of these pieces
back to that 19th century provenance,
we can actually now say that this matchlock musket,
rather than just being an Indian matchlock musket, actually,
we think, belonged to Ranjit Singh.
Really?
And what goes with this matchlock gun also out of the treasury is
the belt with powder flask, pouches for bullets,
all covered in velvet, and beautifully embroidered.
I've seen very poor examples coming up for sale
occasionally in the auction rooms, but that is just fantastic! It is.
And not only is it fantastic as a work of art, if you like,
but we can identify this as Ranjit Singh's own one,
as well as being a beautiful example of the type.
These incredible objects reflect the might
and prestige of a maharaja whose military prowess was legendary.
And there was a reason why his forces were so successful.
At the heart of his army were the fearsome akalis -
highly trained warrior Sikhs who for hundreds of years had
defended the Sikh people against their enemies.
The militarism of the Sikhs really goes right
back to the 17th century when the akalis appear,
and objects like this show that ancient Sikh heritage.
This is a quoit turban of the akalis and the quoits,
the discs on it, aren't for decoration.
These are deadly weapons, these are steel sharpened
throwing quoits, chakram, which are characteristic
weapon of the Punjab from at least the 16th century onwards.
And of course, Odd Job, James Bond.
I mean, I have to say that makes me look very silly.
But it's the same principle, isn't it? The sharpened bowler hat.
Absolutely the same thing
and one can't help feeling that Fleming might have been inspired
by something from the Punjab in his invention of Odd Job's bowler hat.
You know, so it's a weapon system on a turban.
And it's amazing to think of these being worn by soldiers who are
fighting on a modern battlefield with flintlock muskets, with artillery.
It's an incredible story of using the best of the ancient world
and the best of the modern world that makes the Sikh state under
Ranjit Singh what it became. It would've been a real vision.
Wouldn't it, just?
Gosh!
Ranjit Singh's armies were renowned as formidable fighters,
but there was another factor behind his military triumphs.
Here, at the Royal Chelsea Hospital in London, there's a remnant
of a Sikh artillery force that was the envy even of the British.
So, amongst this amazing collection of cannon here, we've got
two that have particular relevance to Ranjit Singh, haven't we?
That's right, yes.
Ranjit Singh loved artillery
and when he started off on his military career, he had two or
three which were inherited from his father and a few that he'd captured.
But he saw the British just across the border
and he knew he had to modernise his army fairly quickly, so from
that modest collection, he grew his arsenal to almost about 800 cannons.
But Ranjit's power and military success wasn't to last.
In 1839, the greatest maharaja in Sikh history died.
And without his charisma and force of personality,
the incredible empire he'd so successfully built began to implode.
So, tell me, how did these cannon end up here? OK.
Well, after Ranjit Singh died, there was
a period of about seven years when there was a lot of turbulence.
Nobody really at Lahore to take over the state
and run it in the same way that Ranjit Singh did.
The army had become almost the kingmakers, if you like, of Lahore.
And the Lahore government, in an effort to get them
away from Lahore, get them away from involvement with the politics,
decided to essentially have a war with the British,
really just to occupy the army. What a reason!
Well, the border was only 30-40 miles away
and there was a little bit of sabre rattling from the British
as well at that stage, so that resulted in two wars
and these are part of the guns that were actually captured,
the booty if you like, that was captured during that time. Gosh.
In 1849, after four years of bloody battles that dominated
the Punjab, the British were victorious.
The Sikh kingdom Ranjit Singh had fought
so hard to create was annexed
and Dr Logan began his vast inventory of the maharaja's
treasures, for a sale to fund the British imperial machine.
But amongst the riches Logan listed,
there was one jewel that was never destined for the auction house.
It was the legendary Koh-i-Noor diamond,
believed to be the largest in the world, and now
set into one of the most important of all the British crown jewels.
So valuable was it that the then governor general of India,
Lord Dalhousie, gave it to Queen Victoria as a personal gift.
Its fate, once in the hands of the British, summed up
the attitude of the imperialists to those that they conquered.
It also marked the end of the greatest Sikh kingdom of all time.
On the 1st of May 1851, Britain was in a state of feverish anticipation.
The trains, roads and highways were full of people from all over the
country with one destination in mind - Hyde Park, London.
They were all heading for the opening of one of the greatest
spectaculars the British had ever seen.
It was known as the Great Exhibition.
Opened by Queen Victoria and pioneered by her husband,
Prince Albert, it was a showcase for the best of the British Empire.
And the centrepiece of this extravaganza was the celebrated
Koh-i-Noor diamond, lent by Queen Victoria herself and the single most
valuable of all the wonders to come from the treasury of Ranjit Singh.
But rather than being awed at the stone's great beauty,
the reaction of the general public was one of disappointment.
The problem was the Indian style of cut meant the jewel didn't
glitter quite as brightly as expected.
The press wrote that on viewing the stone, although the crowds
were huge, their hearts were as crushed as their bonnets.
Prince Albert took the criticism as a personal
slight against his wife
and so commissioned the diamond to be re-cut,
according to Western tastes, into a shape which would guarantee sparkle.
It was a decision that caused an outcry.
In 1852, the diamond faced its fate.
Stonecutters were brought over from Amsterdam
and a steam engine set up in the Strand.
But the cutting process proved to be anything but straightforward.
The hardness of a facet of the diamond caused it to become
so hot that it melted the pewter in which the stone was held,
threatening the implosion of the diamond itself.
It looked like disaster.
The jewel did survive, but at a tragic cost.
After 38 days and £8,000,
43% of this incredible stone was now nothing more than dust.
Today, the Koh-i-Noor can be found in the Tower of London.
It's now set into the crown of Queen Alexandra, worn
by the Queen Mother, and displayed on her coffin at her funeral.
We asked Royal permission to film the diamond, but sadly, we were
turned down, due to its sanctity and ceremonial significance.
Ironic, really, when you think Prince Albert almost
destroyed it, simply to make it more fashionable.
But there is one jewel of Ranjit Singh's kingdom that managed
to escape the imperial grasp.
It's a treasure that survives intact to this day,
something that the British couldn't dismantle,
something that the British couldn't take to a museum.
And it's a treasure that lies at the heart of the Sikh faith, even today.
Ranjit Singh's renovation of the holiest Sikh gurdwara in the world.
Wow!
Davinder has some of the earliest photos of the temple ever taken.
These photographs were taken by an Italian photographer who was
a naturalised Brit, Felice Beato, in the 1850s.
I've sold photographs by him before and they are just fantastic
quality, aren't they?
These are the second earliest photographs ever taken
of the Golden Temple, so they really do show the temple at its peak.
And we understand from these images that in many ways the temple
is one of the lasting legacies of Ranjit Singh,
one of those real treasures, because Ranjit Singh showered patronage
on the temple, he beautified that temple,
covered it in gilt copper and gold.
Just gives you an idea of how splendid it must have looked.
So, what was it like before he started his work?
Prior to that, it would have just been a sandstone
and limestone structure, quite plain.
The original building underneath dated back to 1765.
Just a very plain, stone colour. That's right.
The Golden Temple has been the focus of religious devotion,
as well as political conflict, for the past four centuries.
But it was during the reign of Ranjit Singh that this iconic
building came to look as it does today.
Of all this maharaja's incredible objects,
this temple remains his lasting legacy.
My journey to find the treasures of this dazzling Sikh kingdom is
almost at an end.
But I've still got one last question for Davinder.
Why are you prepared to spend so much time, so much effort,
and so much money on this passion of yours for collecting?
I'm on a voyage of self-discovery really.
I'm a British Sikh, brought up in Britain.
I have this wonderful connection with my ancestral home in Punjab.
I want to learn about the old customs
and traditions that essentially make me who I am.
The objects, they tell me wonderful stories that let me
learn about myself and I will continue to collect as long as
I can and I consider myself a temporary custodian really.
I'm the vehicle by which these wonderful objects come together.
And prior to me, they existed, and they will exist long after I've gone.
They've got an intrinsic value, but they're
invaluable for our people, in terms of the information that they have.
And that story desperately needs to be told. The Sikh story.
Because there's a real danger that it will just disappear
and no-one will ever know.
Well, I've got a strange feeling that as long as you keep collecting
and finding these treasures, I don't think the story will die. Thanks.
It's been an absolute pleasure. Thanks, James. I've learned so much. Thanks. Nice to meet you.
I can't really believe that the sale of a tiny watercolour
three years ago would have taken me on such an amazing journey.
I've been to some wonderful places, met some incredible people,
but also seen some real treasures.
But most of all, it's left me with
an admiration of Ranjit Singh's Sikh kingdom and all that it stood for.
I do hope that Davinder and his passion for collecting will
help those objects live on and tell the story to the next generation.
At £65,000, sold. Thank you, sir.