The Lahore Darbar

An escorted audience

On 29 May 1838, William Godolphin Osborne attended Ranjit Singh’s court at Adinanagar. His journal places the audience in a garden palace, giving the Lahore kingdom’s court a setting beyond its capital. Sikh chiefs escorted the British mission from its camp. The visitors dismounted at the gateway and continued on foot along a walk lined with armed retainers. Dhian Singh received them near the palace and led them to the hall of audience.[1]

Seats and attendance

Osborne describes Ranjit Singh meeting his guests at the entrance, then seating them on golden chairs opposite himself. Sher Singh and Hira Singh occupied places beside the ruler, while Dhian Singh stood behind him. The arrangement made rank visible within the welcome. This is an account of a particular diplomatic audience: the visiting officer’s description records ceremony and his own position within it, rather than an impersonal plan of every court gathering.[1]

Objects and representation

Art historian Nadhra Shahbaz Naeem examines material evidence. She describes a metal chair in Lahore Museum’s Sikh Gallery with lions beneath its armrests and decoration incised on the seat and back. Its identification as Ranjit Singh’s camp chair remains probable. Her comparison of a wooden throne in the same collection with the gold throne in London concerns structure; she also relates its painted motifs to doors at Shalimar Gardens. Photographs dated 2007 and 2008 accompany these comparisons.[2]

Naeem’s discussion of Ranjit Singh’s later memorial also follows painted figures. Shepherds, ascetics and attendants appear richly dressed and adorned. Such representation extends courtly luxury into the visual world of the murals. It supplies evidence about artistic presentation, rather than a register of actual possessions. The photographs support questions of identification and comparison; the murals require attention to representation and the social world their painters fashioned.[2]