In the period from the late 18th century to his death in the 1840s, maharaja Ranjit Singh had managed to form a coherent state in the Punjab, formed from the various Sikh Fiefdoms. The empire was pretty anti-communal, based on a sense of meritocracy and had even launched a counter invasion into Afghanistan ( the traditional homeland of India's Muslim invaders).
However upon Singh's death, the empire collapsed.
If by some means, e.g. A stable succession, the empire survived, what would it have meant for the future of the British Raj and the subcontinent?