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Maharaja Sher
Singh with His hunting party
Prince Alexis Soltykoff
was a Russian visitor to the Punjab from 1841 to 1846. His
accounts of the spectacles laid on by Sher Singh, Ranjit
Singh's second son, were particularly vivid and evocative.
His writings that accompanied his sketches show how Soltykoff
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"was reminded by this vast assemblage of Sikh cavalries,
superbly dressed in chain armour…the whole plain,
which consisted of green corn fields, was covered with masses
of horse-men. Most conspicuous amongst these were the cuirassiers
of the Body Guard, in plate armour. Their flags were of
green silk of a triangular shape and covered with figures
of Indian deities; and kettledrums sounded in front of them.
At a little distance in front of them in detached groups
or single rode the most renowned Sikh warriors, some of
them in chain armour and armed with bows of prodigious strength,
others in cloth of gold, silk or velvet. The personages
of highest rank rode on elephants, superbly caparisoned
with cloth of gold and bearing seats of massive gold and
silver. In strange contrast with the noblemen so seated
whose dresses blazed with precious stones, were the grooms
and other servants who sat behind them…Not the least
curious part of the throng were the bands of elfish lads
who ran besides the horsemen and turned over on their hands
and feet in the dust, a practice well known in countries
further West." - Warm and Rich and Fearless, K.Singh,
N.Poovaya-Smith and K.Ponnapa (1991)
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