MORĀṄ, a Muhammadan dancing girl of Lahore whom Mahārājā Raṇjīt Siṅgh is said to have married in 1802. She was a woman of uncommon beauty and attracted the Mahārājā's notice at a nautch party set up to mark the birth of his son and heir, Khaṛak Siṅgh. Raṇjīt Siṅgh remained under her spell for a number of years and some say that he even had coins, gold as well as silver, struck in her name during 1803-09. They are known as Ārsīvālī Mohar or Morāṅshāhī coins. Though her name does not appear on the coins, Morāṅ is meant to be represented on the one side by the tail of a peacock which bird is called mor in Punjabi. Raṇjīt Siṅgh's infatuation with Morāṅ has been commented upon by several foreign visitors. It was resented by Sikhs and, as the story goes, the Mahārājā was summoned to Amritsar by the Jathedār of Srī Akāl Takht to explain his conduct, and sentenced to be flogged publicly. Raṇjīt Siṅgh willingly offered to undergo the punishment, but was let off on payment of a fine of Rs 1,25,000. He sent Morāṅ away to Paṭhānkoṭ in August 1811. Later her sister, Mamūlāṅ, had a mosque raised in her memory in Pāpaṛ Maṇḍī, near Matī Chowk, Lahore. It came to be known as Masjīd-i-Morāṅ.