Jind Kaur was the daughter of the kennel keeper of the Lahore court, from Chachar in Gujranwala district, and the last wife of Ranjit Singh Ji. Her son Duleep Singh became Maharaja in 1843 at five, and she became regent.
She was the only member of the Lahore establishment after 1843 who was not corresponding with the British. They removed her from the regency in 1846, separated her from her son in 1847, and imprisoned her at Sheikhupura and then at Chunar fort. Their own correspondence describes her as more dangerous than an army.
She escaped from Chunar in 1849 disguised as a servant and walked to Nepal, where she was given asylum at Kathmandu for eleven years.
In 1861 she was allowed to meet her son in Calcutta and went with him to England. She was by then almost blind. She died in Kensington in 1863. Her son took her body to India and it was eventually cremated at Nashik.
In 1924 her ashes were brought to Lahore and placed beside Ranjit Singh Ji's samadhi. Duleep Singh's own attempts to return to India were blocked for the rest of his life.
She was regent for her son Duleep Singh from 1843 and was the last effective Sikh authority at Lahore, and the British removed her from the court in 1847 and from the Punjab in 1848.
She was imprisoned at Sheikhupura and then at Chunar, escaped disguised as a servant, and lived in exile in Nepal for over a decade before being allowed to join her son in England.
She died in London in 1863 and her ashes were eventually brought to India. Her son was raised in England as a ward of the state that had taken his kingdom.