Mehtab Kaur

Mehtab Kaur
Maharaja Ranjit Singh with some of his wives
Maharani of the Sikh Empire
Tenure	c. 1801 – 1813
Born	1782
Died	1813 (aged 30–31) Amritsar, India
Spouse	Ranjit Singh
Issue	Ishar Singh Maharaja Sher Singh Tara Singh
Father	Gurbaksh Singh Kanhaiya
Mother	Sada Kaur
Religion	Sikhism

Mehtab Kaur (c. 1782 – 1813) was the first wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the founder of the Sikh Empire. She was the mother of Ranjit's reputed son, Maharaja Sher Singh, who briefly became the ruler of the Sikh Empire from 1841 until his death in 1843.

Mehtab Kaur was the senior-most of Ranjit Singh's wives and according to historian Jean-Marie Lafont, the only one to bear the title of Maharani (high queen) while his other wives bore the lesser title of Rani (queen). After her death, the title was held by Ranjit's youngest widow Jind Kaur, who served as regent of the Sikh Empire (after Sher Singh's death) from 1843 till 1846 and was the mother of Maharaja Duleep Singh.

Mehtab Kaur, the only child of Gurbaksh Singh Kanhaiya and his wife Sada Kaur, was born in 1782. Although a Sikh, she bore the Muslim name "Mehtab" (مهتاب) which means 'moonlight' or 'splendor of the moon' in Persian. Her father, Gurbaksh Singh, was the only son and heir of Jai Singh Kanhaiya, the founder and chief of the Kanhaiya Misl.

The Kanhaiyas, who had replaced the Bhangis as the most powerful misl, disputed Ranjit Singh's father's (Maha Singh) right to plunder Jammu, and in one of the many skirmishes between the two misls, Gurbaksh Singh was killed in battle against Maha Singh in February 1785.

Mehtab Kaur's mother, Rani Sada Kaur, an intelligent, high spirited and ambitious woman, used to lend support of the Kanhaiya misl to Ranjit Singh till 1821, when she developed differences with him and as a consequence lost her territory to him.