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[[File:Portrait painting of Rani Gaddan (alternatively spelt as Rani Guddan), one of the Queens of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, circa 19th century (cropped).jpg|thumb|Portrait of Rani Gaddan, circa 19th century, Fakir Khana Museum, Lahore.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Waheeduddin |first=Fakir Syed |title=The Real Maharaja Ranjit Singh |publisher=Lahore Book Shop |year=2022 |isbn=9789391419004 |location=Ludhiana}}</ref>]]
'''Rani Katochan''' (died 1839), also known as '''Guddan''' or '''Mahitab Devi''', was a [[Hill States of India|Pahari]] wife of [[Ranjit Singh|Maharaja Ranjit Singh]]. She was the daughter of [[Sansar Chand|Raja Sansar Chand]] of [[Kangra State|Kangra]].<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Atwal |first=Priya |title=Royals and Rebels: The Rise and Fall of the Sikh Empire |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2020 |isbn=9780197548318 |pages=}}</ref>{{Reference page|pages=55–56}}<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Shanker |first=Rajkumari |title=Religion and Women |date=Sep 21, 2015 |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=9781438419602 |editor-last=Sharma |editor-first=Arvind |pages=200 |chapter=Women in Sikhism}}</ref> Her sister, Raj Banso, was also married to Ranjit Singh but killed-herself after Ranjit Singh compared her beauty to that of a dancing-girl, which the Rajput queen took as a great-offence.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Kang |first=Kanwarjit Singh |date=Jun 28, 2015 |title='Sati' choice before Maharaja Ranjit's Ranis |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/features/sati-choice-before-maharaja-ranjits-ranis-99411 |access-date=3 August 2025 |work=The Tribune}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Patwant |title=Empire of the Sikhs: The Life and Times of Maharaja Ranjit Singh |last2=Rai |first2=Jyoti M. |date=Aug 1, 2013 |publisher=Peter Owen Publishers |isbn=9780720615241 |edition=2nd |quote=The two who deserve mention here, both of whom he married in 1828, are Mahtab Devi and Raj Banso, daughters of Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra: the first because of her deep devotion to him and the second because she committed suicide when Ranjit Singh compared her exceptionally beautiful looks to those of a dancing girl - coming from a ruling family of Rajputs, Raj Banso took this slight to heart and overdosed on opium.}}</ref>
[[File:Rani Katochan with Ranjit Singh's head laying on her lap, detail from a painting of the funeral of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, ca.1840 (cropped).png|thumb|Rani Katochan with Ranjit Singh's head laying on her lap, detail from a painting of the funeral of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, ca.1840]]
Rani Katochan was said to have been personally devoted to her husband, so much so that she burnt herself on his funeral pyre in 1839.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":02" /><ref name=":0" /> After Ranjit Singh's death, [[Dhian Singh]] visited Rani Katochan with the new Maharaja Kharak Singh.<ref name=":6" />{{Reference page|pages=145–146}} During this visit, Dhian Singh stated he wished to also burn himself on the funeral pyre of Ranjit Singh, which Rani Katochan saw as a manipulation tactic against Kharak Singh to extract political concessions, who then panicked and placed his head on Dhian Singh's feet and attempted to persuade him against this.<ref name=":6" />{{Reference page|pages=145–146}} In-response, Rani Katochan chastised Dhian Singh for his comments and that they were both disrespectful to the women preparing to commit sati and unfaithful to the maharaja.<ref name=":6" />{{Reference page|pages=145–146}} Then, she made Dhian Singh swear an oath on the Bhagavad Gita to be loyal to the new maharaja, Kharak Singh, and the younger prince, either Nau Nihal Singh or perhaps Sher Singh.<ref name=":6" />{{Reference page|pages=145–147}} Rani Katochan wanted to uphold the "sanctity of certain royal and religious rituals".<ref name=":6" />{{Reference page|pages=145–146}}

Rani Katochan was the principal mourner at the funeral of Ranjit Singh and emerged from the palace into the large courtyard for the first time in her life unveiled and barefoot, proceeding slowly toward the corpse.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gupta |first=Hari Ram |title=History of the Sikhs |publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal |year=1978 |isbn=9788121505154 |edition=3rd |volume=5: The Sikh Lion of Lahore, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, 1799-1839 |pages=534}}</ref> According to [[Sohan Lal Suri|Sohan Lal Suri's]] account of Ranjit Singh's funeral, she placed the head of Ranjit Singh in her lap as the pyre burnt them whilst the other three queens and seven concubines performing ''[[Sati (practice)|sati]]'' sat in a circle around them.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Khan |first=Nadhra Shahbaz N. |date=25 July 2016 |title=Posthumous Homage Paid to Maharaja Ranjit Singh |url=https://sikhresearchjournal.org/index.php/srj/article/view/123 |journal=Sikh Research Journal |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=33–42 |doi=10.62307/srj.v1i1.123|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }}</ref> When news of Rani Katochan's sati reached her family back in Kangra, they were very pleased and decided to commission a painting in 1840 depicting the event.<ref name=":2" />

Nau Nihal Singh also had a wife named Katochan, but this was a different woman who was the daughter of Rai Singh, the illegitimate son of Mian Fateh Singh of Lambagraon.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Saggar |first=Balraj |title=Who's Who in the History of Punjab, 1800-1849 |publisher=National Book Organisation |year=1993 |isbn=9788185135601 |pages=209–210}}</ref>

== References ==
<references />
{{Sikh Empire}}

[[Category:Indian queens consort]]
[[Category:Wives of Ranjit Singh]]
[[Category:Women from the Sikh Empire]]
[[Category:People from the Sikh Empire]]
[[Category:Queens (title)]]
[[Category:1839 deaths]]

Rani Katochan - Revision history

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