Princess Bamba Kaur of Lahore

Princess Bamba Sofia Jindan Duleep Singh Sutherland (29 September 1869 – 10 March 1957) was the eldest daughter of Duleep Singh, the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. Raised in England, she eventually settled in Lahore, where she was a supporter of Indian independence and self-rule.

Early life

Princess Bamba was born on 29 September 1869, in London, to Maharaja Duleep Singh and his Abyssinian-German first wife Bamba Müller. Princess Bamba was named after her mother, her maternal grandmother, and her paternal grandmother. The name "Bamba" means pink in Arabic.

Duleep Singh had been brought to Britain at the age of fifteen under the care of the East India Company, after he was forced to surrender his kingdom during the Second Anglo-Sikh War and the subsequent annexation of the Punjab in 1849. He became a favourite of Queen Victoria, who ensured that his children were cared for and educated after he left England in 1886.

Maharajah Duleep Singh, Bamba's father. c. 1875.Bamba was born and raised at Elveden Hall in Suffolk, before moving to London with her mother and siblings, following her father's attempt to return to India in 1886. Following her mother's death in 1887, Bamba's care was entrusted to Arthur Oliphant and his wife, in Folkestone in Kent. Her father died in 1893, in Paris, France.

Bamba and her sisters were presented to Queen Victoria as debutantes at Buckingham Palace in 1895. Unfortunately her time there was cut short when the school closed in 1902.

Life in India

Bamba hired Hungarian socialite, Marie Antoinette Gottesmann, to be her companion during her travels to India. The two made a number of visits to India, before Bamba eventually settled in Lahore. Marie's daughter, Amrita Sher-Gil, would become Bamba's goddaughter.

Sutherland was widowed in Lahore when her husband died in 1939. Dr. Sutherland was the principal of the medical college of Lahore. He had moved to Scotland many years previously, but she refused to, citing her love of her home country and her hope for their independence. She was an incredible hostess, bringing many revolutionaries that established India's independence. The home she lived in was affectionately called Gulzar (Rose Palace) and had a garden of exclusive rose varieties she cultivated herself. Her will specified that red roses be placed on her grave from time to time. She has many living relatives who were related to Maharaja Ranjit Singh who lived in what is now Punjab, India. Her family's descendants through Maharaja Ranjit Singh, including the court administrators, still own land in Amritsar, India, where her grandfather had added all the gold to the Golden Temple, Harmandir Sahib. When she finally died, her equerry and her funeral were arranged by the United Kingdom Deputy High Commissioner in Lahore, as well as a few friends as most of her comrades and companions and relatives had escaped to India during partition. She refused to leave her home and Lahore, the capital of the Sikhs, as she could not part with their kingdom. She was buried at Gora Cemetery in Lahore, with a marble plaque marking her resting place. The coordinates to her grave are 31°32'06.6"N 74°20'58.5"E.

Legacy Bamba left a large quantity of important historical items to her secretary, Pir Karim Bakhsh Supra of Lahore, who gave them to the Pakistani government to be put on display publicly. Many items are in disrepair and kept in a collection that must be granted permission to be seen. The collection consists of eighteen paintings, fourteen watercolours, 22 paintings on ivory, and a number of photos and other articles. The collection was sold to the Pakistani government, and it is kept in Lahore Fort. It is known as the Princess Bamba Collection.

The Persian distich on her gravestone has been translated as: The difference between royalty and servility vanishes, The moment the writing of destiny is encountered, If one opens the grave, None would be able to discern rich from poor.

Ancestry