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SHORT HISTORY
OF T H E SIKHS

BY

C. H. PAYNE, M.A.
L A T E OF T H E BHOPAI. STATE SERVICE

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS

THOMAS NELSON AND SONS

LONDON, EDINBURGH, DUBLIN,
N E W YORK, A N D BOMBAY.
 CONTENTS.
I. BABA NXNAK 11
II. GURU GOVIND SINGH 30
III. EARLY STRUGGLES OF THE KHXLSA 44
IV. CONSTITUTION OP THE KHXLSA 59
V. R I S E TO POWER OF RANJI'T SINGH 71
VI. CONQUEST OF THE PUNJAB 86
VII. ADMINISTRATION AND COURT OF P A N J £ T SINGH 108
V I I I . T H E LAST YEARS OF E A N J I T SINGH 125
IX. DECLINE OF THE S I K H MONARCHY 139
X. ANARCHY 153
XL THE FIRST SIKH W A R . 166
XII. U N D E R B R I T I S H PROTECTION 181
X I I I . T H E SECOND S I K H W A R 195
XIV. ANNEXATION—AND A F T E R 211
APPENDIX A.
Chronological Table I.—The Sikh Gurus and
Contemporary Moghul Emperors. 227
Chronological Table II.—Rise of the Sikh Power 228
Chronological Table III.—Life and Reign of
Ranjit Singh . . . . . . 229
Chronological Table IV.—The First Sikh W a r . 230
Chronological Table V.—The Second Sikh W a r . 231
6 Contents.
APPENDIX B.
The Rulers of Afghanistan 232
APPENDIX C.
Notes on Some Punjab Tribes . . . .234
APPENDIX D.
Sikhs and Singhs 236
APPENDIX E.
Earliest Editions of the Granth Sahib . . 237
•

APPENDIX F.
Genealogical Tree of the Families of Maharaja
- Ranjit Singh and the Sindhanwalias « . 239
APPENDIX G.
Bibliography . . . . c . 240

t
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
The Golden Temple and Tank, Amritsar Frontispiece
Ahmad Shah Durani . 51
A n Akali at the Entrance to the Golden Temple 65
Amir Dost Muhammad 105
Maharaja Ranjit Singh 115
Maharaja Kharak Singh . 149
Prince Nao Nihal Singh . 149
Maharaja Sher Singh 149
Maharaja Dhulip Singh 149
Courtyard of the Golden Temple , Amritsar 185
Mulraj, Diwan of Multan . 197
The Rani Jindan 197
Raja Ghulab Singh . 197
Sirdar Sher Singh 197

LIST OF MAPS
The Kingdom of Lahore . 8,9
India in the Fifteenth Century . 15
Sketch Map to illustrate the First Sikh W a r 173
Sketch Map to illustrate the Second Sikh W a r , 203
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I
 A SHORT HISTORY OF
THE SIKHS.

CHAPTER I.

BABA N l N A K .

A.D. is the first .date in Sikh__ history. It

was in this year, half a century before Babar laid
the foundations of the Moghul empire, and thirty
years before Vasco da Gama landed at Calicut, that
Baba Nanak, the founder of the Sikh community,
was bornj This event, so small in itself, yet fraught
with such far-reaching consequences, took place at
a little village near Lahore.^on the banks
of the Ravi.
The Ravi is one of the five branches of the river
Indus, from which the Punjab (panj, five, and ab,
water), the home of the Sikh people, derives its
name. These five streams are the Jhelum, the
Chenab, the Ravi, the Beas, and the Sutlej. The
Punjab may be described as the triangular piece of
land lying between the last-named tributary and
the Indus proper, its base being a line drawn from
Simla to the Khaibar Pass.
12 A Short History of the Sikhs.
The Sikh kingdom, at the time of its greatest
expansion under Ranjit Singh, included, besides this
triangle, the states of Kashmir and Jammu, on the
northern side of the above-mentioned base line; the
districts of Hazara, Peshawar, Kohat, and Bannu,
which make up the present North-West Frontier
1
Province; and the district of Derajat, lying between
the Indus and the Sulaiman mountains. The Punjab
is divided into live sections by the branches of the
Indus. These sections are called doabs {do, two, and
db, water), and their names, taken in order from
west to east, are the Sagar, the Jetch, the Rechna,
2
the Bari, and the Jalandhar Doabs. The Bari
Do&b, between the Ravi and the Beas, is the real
home of the Sikhs, and the history of their nation
centres round its three chief cities, Lahore, Amritsar,
and Multan.
South of the Himalayas, the Punjab consists of
one vast alluvial plain, broken only by the wide and
often shifting channels of its five rivers. These in
winter are but insignificant streams, but when the
mountain snows begin to melt, their waters rise
and overflow the surrounding country for miles on
either side, rendering the tracts thus inundated
1
Derajcit (the land of deras or camps) was the camping-ground of
many of the early Afghan invaders of India. Their halting-places
often developed into towns, some of which—such as Dera Ismail
Kh&n, Dera Ghdzi Khdn, Dera Fatteh Khdn—still bear the names
of Afghan chiefs.
2
The positions of the dodbs may be easily remembered, as the
name of each is composed of letters taken from the names of the
two rivers by which it is enclosed. Thus the Bttri Dodb is between
the Beas and the Ravi ; the Rechna is between the R&vi and the
Chenab ; the J e t c h is between the Jhelum and the Chenab ; and
the Bist J&landhar is between the Beas and the Sutlej. The
names were invented by the Emperor Akbar.
 Baba Nanak. 13
fertile. The central and higher portions of
doabs which, thanks to artificial irrigation, we
•K

now number amongst the great wheat-fields of the

empire, were, in earlier days, little better than arid
wastes, where grass and thorny bushes, struggling
through the sand, afforded fuel for the inhabitants
and a scanty pasture for their herds of camels, goats,
and buffaloes. The climate of these regions is one
of extremes. In winter the cold is more severe
than in almost any other part of India, while in the
hot weather the thermometer frequently rises to
120 degrees Fahrenheit.
The upper belt of the doabs is the richest portion
of the Punjab. The soil is fertile, and the rainfall
abundant; vegetation is, in consequence, luxuriant,
and cultivation of every kind nourishes. Valleys
rich as that of Kangra slope down from the moun-
tains, green in the spring with grass, and in
summer with rice. On these terraces plants of all
latitudes find a home, and wheat and barley grow
with the mulberry, the tea plant, and the vine.
Amongst the other products of this salubrious region
may be mentioned barley, sugar, saffron, and indigo;
the mountains themselves produce drugs, dyes, and
many varieties of fruit, while they abound in copper
*
and iron ore, and contain extensive deposits of rock
salt.
The inhabitants of the Punjab consist mainly of
three races—the Jats, the Rajputs, and the Pathans,
each split up into many tribes and classes. All the
Pathans are Muhammadans, and nearly all the Jats
are either Hindus or Sikhs. Amongst the Rajputs
14 A Short History of the Sikhs.
of the Punjab there are both Hindus and Sikhs; but
the majority profess the faith of Islam, and belong
to the class which we now call Punjabi Muham-
madans. Of the countless smaller races, those most
closely connected with Sikh history are the Khatris,
or traders, and the Dogras, a mixed race of Raj put
descent occupying the hill country about Jammu.
1
Other tribes whom from time to time we shall
have occasion to mention, may all be classed under
one or other of the three principal divisions.
I t is by no means easy for us to picture to our-
selves the state of India at the close of the fifteenth
century. To-day, the word " India " signifies a single
country controlled by a single government; a country
inhabited by many races, differing from one an-
other in religion, language, and manner of life; yet
all of them owning allegiance to one great Chief.
We think of them as a whole, and we call them
" the people of India." But when Baba Nanak first
saw the light a very different state of things pre-
vailed. Used in reference to his day, the word
" India" signifies nothing more than a geographical
area; it is the name, not of a country, but of a
collection of countries, each as distinct from, and as
independent of, the others as are the countries of
Europe or Asia to-day.
A glance at the accompanying map will afford
some idea of the position and relative importance
of the principal kingdoms which, at the time of the
birth of Nanak, made up the continent of India.
The Afghan empire, which in the days of the first
1
For an account of these tribes, see Appendix C.
 INDIA
.••*
IN THE LATTER HALF GF
THE 15™ CENTURY
English Miles J
* *

ZOO 300 4 00

Udrtholomew, fcdinT
16 A Short History of the Sikhs.
Tughlak kings * embraced nearly the whole of India,
was greatly diminished both in size and strength.
The terrible effects of Timur's invasion in 1398 had
not passed a w a y ; and though the Lodi emperors,
the last of the Afghan rulers, boasted that their
territories extended from the Indus to Bengal, their
authority was practically confined to the country
between and immediately around the cities of Delhi
and Agra. To the south of the Sutlej the Rajputs,
though hemmed in on every side by Muhammadan
powers, still maintained their ancient independence;
indeed at this time their princes, under the leader-
ship of Rana Sanga, the renowned chieftain of
Chitor, constituted the most formidable power in
the whole of India. To the south and south-west
of Rajpiitana lay the Muhammadan kingdoms of
Malwa and Gujarat. In the Deccan, the Bahmini
kingdom, founded in 1347 by one of Muhammad
Tughlak's Afghan generals, extended from the Tapti
to the Kistna, and the remainder of the peninsula,
from the Kistna to Cape Comorin, was occupied by
the famous Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar. Of the
lesser states, Khandesh, Jaunpur, and Bengal were
in the hands, of Afghan sultans; Gondwana was
tributary to the Bahmini sultan; Kashmir and Sind
were under Moslem rule; while Orissa still main-
tained its independence as a Hindu state.
I t will thus be seen that, with the exception of
1
The Tughlak dynasty, founded in 1320 by Ghiyas-ud-din
Tughlak, and firmly established by his son and successor, Muham-
mad Tughlak, lasted till 1414. The Sayads ruled from 1414 to
1450, and were followed by the Lodis, the last of whom, Ibrahim
Lodi, was defeated by Babar at the first battle of Panipat, 1526.
(1,841)
 Baba Nanak. 17
Vijayanagar and Rajptitana, practically the whole of
India was under the control of Muhammadan kings.
But though professing one faith, these alien rulers
had little else in common. The offshoots of the
various dynasties that had succeeded one another
on the imperial throne, they came of different races
and from different countries; and hence they re-
garded one another with as little good will as they
displayed towards their Hindu subjects. The hand
of each was against his neighbour, and that king
reigned longest who could longest keep his enemies
at bay. Confusion and bloodshed prevailed through-
out India, and nowhere more so than in the Punjab.
Lying in the very path of the invader, this unhappy
land had been a stranger to peace since Mahmud of
Ghazni first led his victorious armies across the Indus.
Though nominally a part of the Delhi kingdom, it
had long been at the mercy of its Afghan governors,
who, despising the authority of their weak masters,
sought only to secure their own independence, and to
enrich themselves at the expense of the unfortunate
people over whom they held their tyrannical sway.
Turning from the political to the religious world,
confusion and unrest again confront us. The
Muhammadan invaders had brought with them their
own methods of government, their own manners and
customs, their own arts, crafts, and language, all of
which were new to the peoples of India, and exer-
cised a powerful influence on their political and
social development. But nothing that the followers
of the Prophet imported from the West was more
alien to the land of their adoption than their
(1.841) 2
18 A Short History of the Sikhs.
religion. The doctrines of Islam were not only
unlike those of the religions of India, but were in
direct conflict with them. To the Muhammadan
every Hindu was an idolater, and to the Hindu every
Muhammadan was a barbarian.
Wide, however, as was the difference between
Islam and Hinduism, it was impossible that these
two faiths could exist side by side for centuries
without acting and reacting the one upon the
other; nor was it possible for two races living in
close daily contact to be for ever wrangling and
lighting. A certain degree of mutual toleration be-
came essential if the ordinary business of life was
to be carried on. Toleration soon led to a closer
intimacy; and, as time went on, the followers of
either faith began to find out that there were
aspects of the other which deserved their considera-
tion, if not their respect.
From the first, the lower orders of the Hindus
were strongly attracted by a ' people who could
despise the sanctity of the Brahmin, were as brave
as Rajputs, and laughed at the restrictions of caste.
Conversions to the new faith soon began to take
place, and their number increased year by year.
Gradually, too, the doctrine of the unity of God
and His abhorrence of images operated on the minds
of all classes of Hindus, and recalled even to the
learned the simple teaching of the Vedas.
At the same time, the reverence paid to Brahmins
excited the envy and admiration of sheikhs and
sayads, who began to claim a like sanctity and to
exact a like homage; while Moghuls and Pathans
 Baba Nanak. 19
imitated the exclusiveness of the Rajput, and arro-
gated to themselves all the privileges of a superior
caste. Many Muhammadans attended at the great
Hindu festivals, when the mirth and revelry in-
separable from such occasions afforded a welcome
contrast to the more austere ceremonial of their
own faith. The feast of Muharram, at which the
Mussalman is wont to relax somewhat the stern
discipline of his creed, was attended by so many
Hindus that it almost came to be regarded as a joint
festival. The superstitions of one faith became the
superstitions of the other. " Pirs and Shahids,
saints and martyrs, equalled Krishna and Bheiruv
in the number of their miracles, and the Mahomet-
ans almost forgot the unity of God in the multitude
of the intercessors whose aid they implored. Thus
custom jarred with custom, and opinion with opinion,
and while the few always fell back upon their
revelations, the Koran and Vedas, the public mind
was agitated, and found no sure resting-place with
x
Brahmins or Moollas, with Muhadeo or Mahomet."
" Baba Nanak was not the first religious reformer
who sought to unite Hindus and Mussalmans in the
bonds of a common faith. Early in the fourteenth
century the teaching of Ramanand, and after him
of Kabir, foreshadowed that of the founder of
Sikhism. Both these reformers had proclaimed the
unity of God, and the equality of men in the
sight of God. They had condemned caste, and
protested against the authority' of the Brahmin
priesthood. They had taught, as afterward Nanak
1
A History of the Sikhs, by J. D. Cunningham, p. 35.
20 A Short History of the Sikhs.
taught, as the great Luther himself taught, that purity
of life is of greater worth than the observance of
outward ceremonial, and that the sinful desires of
the flesh are only to be overcome by prayer and
contemplation. In many parts of India their doc-
trines are still widely known and highly regarded.
But both Ramanand and Kabir were too much
imbued with the spirit of asceticism to be the
founders of a popular religion. The seed which
Nanak sowed produced a richer harvest than theirs, I

not because he expounded a nobler philosophy or

preached a purer morality, but because he adapted
his teaching to the needs of human life—because
he realized, what they had failed to realize, that
a religion, if it is to be a living force, must be a
practical religion, one that teaches mankind, not
how to escape from the world, but how to live
worthily in i t ; not how evil is to be avoided, but
how it is to be met and overcome.
All that we know for certain of the personal
career of Baba Nanak could be told in a dozen
sentences, though the legends and traditions that
have grown up round his name would fill as
many volumes. Legends, however legendary they
may be, are seldom without historical value; for
to know the anecdotes that were current about a
man during or shortly after his lifetime is to
know at least something of the man himself.
For our present purpose, however, we must be
content with a very brief summary of the more
generally accepted story of the life of Nanak.
Those who wish to study the picture more minutely
 Bdba M n a k . 21
will find all the details they require in Trumpp's
translation of the Adi Granth, or in the more
recent and comprehensive work of Max Arthur
Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion.
Nanak belonged to the Khatri or trading
was the only son of his father, Kalu,
in the village of Talwandi the respect-
able office of patwdri, or village accountant. Even
in his early childhood, Nanak appears to have
been of a pious disposition, and much given to
contemplation. His preternatural gravity and in-
difference to the life around him caused his parents,
and his father in particular, no little concern. One
day, with a view to turning his son's thoughts into
a more practical channel, Kalu entrusted him with
twenty rupees, and bade him go forth and trade
with it and make what profit he could. Obedient
to his father's instructions, Nanak, taking with
him his servant Bala, set out for a neighbouring
village where he thought to lay out his money to
advantage. He had not proceeded far on his way
when he fell in with a company of fakirs, with
whom he entered into a discussion on the unity
of God. The learning and pious demeanour of
the fakirs so greatly pleased him that, on discover-
ing that they had tasted no food for four days,
and were without the means of procuring any, he
took from his bag the money which his father had
given to him and distributed it amongst them.
Kalu was greatly enraged at the loss of his
twenty rupees. He punished Nanak severely for
his disobedience, and strove more than ever to

«V
22 A Short History of the Sikhs.
break him of his religious habits. But Nanak paid
little attention either to persuasion or to admoni-
tion. He displayed more and more disinclination
to engage in any secular task, and passed more
and more of his time in religious contemplation.
At last, trusting that a fixed occupation and regular
duties would restore his son's mind to a normal
state, Kalu sent him away to Sultanpur, where he
had obtained for him the post of storekeeper m
one of the royal granaries.
For some years Nanak applied himself with zeal
to his uncongenial duties. He married a wife and
became the father of two sons, and Kalu congratu-
lated himself on the success of his plan. But
though Nanak made an efficient storekeeper, his
thoughts were constantly directed towards spiritual
things. He lived a life of severe abstinence, devot-
ing only a small fraction of his earnings to his
own wants, and giving the remainder to the poor.
At night he retired to the forest, where he spent
the hours in prayer and in singing hymns to the
Creator.
Once, while resting in his accustomed retreat,
God appeared to him in a vision, and bade him
go forth and proclaim His name to the world.
For three whole days Nanak remained in the
forest, absorbed in the contemplation of his divine
mission. The people of Sultanpur, to whom he
had endeared himself by his charitable deeds,
thought that he had been drowned in the neigh-
bouring river; and on his reappearance amongst
them thoy rejoiced greatly, and welcomed him as
 B d M N&nak. 23
one returned from the dead. He seemed to them
like one in a dream, and when questioned as to
what had befallen him he uttered only these words,
" There is no Hindu and no Muhammadan," and for
two whole days no other sentence escaped his lips.
Nanak now resolved to devote his whole life to
his mission. He abandoned his post at the granary,
and, having distributed his earthly goods amongst
the poor, took up his abode in the jungle, and
assumed the garb and manner of life of a fakir.
Here he practised all the austerities of his holy
calling, and began to give utterance to those inspired
songs afterwards collected and preserved in the Adi
Granth Sahib, the Sacred Book of the Sikhs. His
sole companion at this time was his faithful servant
and disciple Mardana, who attended him in all his
subsequent wanderings. Mardana was a skilled
musician, and morning and evening sang his master's
songs to the accompaniment of the rebec.
Kalu and his whole family were greatly distressed
when they learnt that Nanak had become a fakir,
and did all in their power to induce him to return
to the world. They even went in person to remon-
strate with him, and offered him land, a house to
live in, horses, jewels, rich clothes—in short, every-
thing that money could procure—if he would yield
to their entreaties. But though he received them
with every sign of affection, nothing could turn him
from his holy purpose. Their prayers and their
bribes were alike disregarded, and they were con-
strained to accept a fakir's blessing, and to depart
whence they had come, *•»
 *

24 A Short History of the Sikhs.

Baba Nanak did not remain long in the neighbour-
hood of Sultanpur. His mission was not to sit still,
but to spread the knowledge of the true God through-
out the land. From this time forward till he reached
old age he was a wanderer, journeying from country
to country, and from city to city, preaching his
gospel, making disciples, and disputing with holy
men of every caste and creed. There appear to
have been four principal " wanderings." The first
was to the east, and included visits to Benares, Gaya,
Panipat, Dharmsala, Delhi, and Sayadpur. He was
at the last-named place when it was captured by
Babar, and was himself seized and imprisoned by the
imperial troops. His captivity, however, was not
of long duration. His fame as a preacher reached
the ears of Babar, who summoned him to his presence,
and was so delighted at the eloquence with which
he expounded and defended his doctrine that he
ordered his immediate release, and directed that he
should be shown every mark of respect. The second
wandering was to the south, and is said to have
included a lengthy sojourn in the island of Ceylon.
The third was to the north, and was chiefly confined
to the district of Kashmir. The fourth and last was
to the west. This was the longest journey of all,
and is believed by many to have extended even to
Mecca and Medina. The story of this pilgrimage
is a favourite one with the Sikhs, though it rests
on somewhat slender evidence.
Towards the close of his life, Nanak laid aside
the habits and garb of a fakir, and settled down
with his family at Kartarpur. He still continued

W
 BdM N^nak. 25
to preach his gospel, and every day the Japji and
the Solaha, the morning and evening services of
prayer which he himself had composed, were chanted
in his presence. Before his death he named as his
successor BaJba^Angad, whom by many tests he had
proved to be the most faithful of all his disciples.
When it became apparent that his end was near,
a dispute arose between his Hindu and Mussalman
followers as to the disposal of his remains. The
former wished fire to consume them; the latter, to
commit them to the earth. Neither side was willing
to give way, and the question was referred to Nanak
himself. In reply, he directed that after his death
flowers should be strewn by his Hindu disciples on one
side of his bier, and by his Mussalman disciples on the
other, and that his body should be taken by those
whose flowers remained fresh till the morning.
When day dawned, it was found that the flowers
on both sides were still fresh, and on the pall being
lifted nothing was to be seen but the empty bier.
Baba Nanak did not claim to be the originator of
a new faith. He was essentially a reformer. His
desire was not to sweep away Hinduism, but to
restore it to its ancient purity. Like Luther, he
came to protest—to protest against the idolatry, the
blind superstitions, and the empty ritual which had
so long estranged religion from morality, and the
hearts of men from their Creator. But if Nanak did
not regard himself as the maker of a new religion;
still less did he profess to be the founder of a new
nation. His purpose was ethical, not political; and
though, as we shall see later, the Sikhs developed
26 A Short History of the Sikhs.
a political organization, and grew into a powerful
kingdom, they were, and are, before all else, a
religious sect. The word silch signifies " disciple,"
and was the name given by Nanak to his followers,
and the designation applies only to those who hold
1
the faith of the Khalsa. The theological and moral
teaching of Nanak differed little from that of his
successors, though many years elapsed before Sikhism
was fully developed. His waitings constitute the
most authoritative portion of the Granth Sahib, and
are looked upon by all Sikhs as the foundation of
their faith.
" There is but one God, whose name is true, the
2
Creator." These are the first words of the Granth
Sahib, and they epitomize the teaching of the whole
book. This fundamental truth, the unity of the
Supreme Spirit, Nanak made the basis of his doc-
trine. God is one. He is the God, not of the
Hindu, not of the Mussalman, not of the Christian,
but of mankind. Under whatsoever name He is
worshipped—Jehovah, Allah, or Ram—he is " The
One," invisible, eternal, uncreated. And since there
is but one God for all men, all men are equally His
servants. Hence all distinctions of caste, by which
one man claims superiority in the eyes of God over
his fellows, are worthless and meaningless. Know-
ledge of God is the most important of all knowledge.
I t is not for the Brahmin alone, but for all, and all
1
Khalsa, literally " p u r e , " "sincere," is the name of the Sikh
commonwealth or brotherhood. " Wah! Wah! Guruji kd Khalsa!"
( " V i c t o r y ! Victory to the Khalsa of the Guru!") is the formula
pronounced by every Sikh at his baptism.
? The, $ikh Religion, by Max Arthur Macauliffe (vol. i. p. 195).
 BdM Ndnak. 27
have a right to seek it for themselves. Similarly,
the worship of God is not the exclusive privilege of
a priesthood ; it is a service in which every man has
an equal right to participate, a duty which cannot
be performed by one man on behalf of another. It
must be conducted in the spirit of truth and sim-
plicity, and needs neither incense, nor burnt-offering,
nor sacrifice.
In the doctrines of Nanak morality holds a higher
place than in those of any other Hindu reformer.
Few, even of the world's greatest philosophers, have
laid down a more exalted moral code than is to be
j

found in the pages of the Grantk Sahib. Purity of

life is set forth as the highest object of human
endeavour. Nothing to which man can attain is
more acceptable to God. Without it even faith is
unavailing. Loyalty, chastity, honesty, justice, mercy,
charity, and temperance are among the virtues on
which vital stress is laid; while evil-speaking,
covetousness, anger, selfishness, extravagance, and
cruelty are denounced with equal vigour. The daily
practice of cleanliness, of almsgiving, and of absti-
nence from animal food is strictly enjoined, and
obedience to the guru is demanded of every Sikh
as his first duty.
Though for many years Nanak led the life of
an ascetic, he did not advocate this practice in
others. He taught that the dress of a fakir and
acts of penance were not in themselves evidence of
a life of purity, and that men could practise virtue
while engaged in the ordinary business of the world
as well as, or even better than, they could by with-

V
28 A Short History of the Sikhs.
drawing to the seclusion of the desert or the moun-
t
tains. I t was in this respect that Nanak taught
a more enlightened doctrine than his predecessors ;
it was this practical element which gave to his reli-
gious system the vitality which theirs had lacked.
In common with all Hindu teachers, Nanak held
the doctrine of transmigration, and regarded the final
liberation of the soul as the goal towards which
mankind is ever struggling. But whereas the Hindu
regards this goal as infinitely distant, Nanak pro-
claimed it to be within the reach, not indeed of all
his followers, but of such of them as should attain
to the highest merit; and he claimed the power to
exempt from transmigration those among his disciples
whom he counted as " the elect." The possibility
of exemption, however remote, was one of the most
attractive features of Sikhism in the days of the
gurus, and brought it many adherents.
The writings of Nanak were collected together by
Arjun, the fifth guru, at the end of the sixteenth
century. The Granth, or more reverently the
1
Adi Granth Sahib, of which they form the
principal part, contains, in addition, selections from
the writings of the compiler, and of the three gurus
who came before him, Baba Angad, Amar Das, and
Ram Das, as well as various hymns composed by
Kabir and other Hindu saints, and by the Muham-
madan saint Farid. The most sacred portion of the
whole book is the Japji, with which it opens, and to
which reference has already been made. The Japji
1
Adi in Sanskrit signifies "first," and granth a " b o o k " or
" written code."
/

B^ba Nanak. 29
is in itself a complete exposition of the Sikh faith.
Every orthodox Sikh has it by heart, and repeats it
each morning. The Granth Sahib is written for the
most part in old Punjabi and Hindi, but Persian,
Marahti, and Gujarati are also represented. The
1
character employed is that known as Gwrwmukhi,
the invention of which is attributed to Guru Angad.
The hymns are not arranged in their natural order,
but according to rags, or musical measures, and this,
combined with the mixture of languages and dialects,
and the fact that there is no separation of words,
1
renders their correct interpretation by no means easy.
The Sikhs are not as a rule highly educated, and
there is little doubt that inability to read their
scriptures has contributed to the decadence in recent
times of their religious zeal. The original com-
pilation is said to be preserved at Kartarpur; but
the oldest copy now in use is that which is enshrined
in the Har Mandar, or Golden Temple, at Amritsar,
where it is daily read aloud. The Granth Sahib is
highly reverenced by the Sikh community, and a
copy of it is still carried at the head of every Sikh
2
regiment.
i

1
See Appendix E.
2
To each regiment of Ranjit Singh's army " a t least one
'Grunt'hee,' or reader of the scriptures, was attached, who, when
not paid by the government, was sure of being supported by the
men. The Grunt'h was usually deposited near the ' j h u n d a ' or
flag, which belonged to the regiment, and which represented its
headquarters." (See Cunningham's History of the Sikhs, p . 185.)
 CHAPTER II

G U R U GOVIND SINGH.

BABI NiNAK died in the year 1539. Of the nine

gurus who came after him, the last, Guru Govind
Singh, is the most famous, and the only one to
whom it is necessary to refer at length. The lives
of the remaining eight were, with one exception,
comparatively uneventful, and demand only a
1
passing notice. During the period over which these
extend, the Sikhs developed from a mere religious
fraternity into a strong militant power. Nanak
preached a gospel of peace; but there was no peace
for the Sikhs in the empire of the Moghuls. Just
as the Romans sought, by unremitting persecution,
to stamp out Christianity, so the Moghul emperors
sought to stamp out the Khalsa. Like the Romans,
they succeeded only in strengthening that which it
was their purpose to destroy.
The three gurus who came next after Nanak
Guru Angad, Guru Amar Das, and Guru Ram Das—
held office during the beneficent reigns of Humayiin
and Akbar, and were fortunate enough to enjoy the
good will of those magnanimous sovereigns, Guru
1
See Appendix A (1).
 Guru Govind Singh. 31
i

Angad belonged to the Khatri caste, was a zealous

preacher, and committed to writing all that he knew
of Baba Nanak. Guru Amar Das was also a zealous
preacher. He gained many new followers, and is
chiefly remembered for his vigorous crusade against
the practice of sati. Guru Ram Das, highly esteemed
on account of his piety, won the favour of Akbar,
and received from him the grant of a piece of land
some fifty miles to the east of Lahore. Here he
settled, and dug the.now famous tank of Amritsar.
Guru Ram Das died in 1581, and was succeeded
by his son Arjun, who held office for twenty-five
years. Arjun is celebrated, not only as the compiler
of the Granth Sahib, but as the first guru to assume
the temporal as well as the spiritual control of his
followers. Making Amritsar his headquarters, he
established himself as the administrative head of
their community, and framed laws to regulate their
social and political life. The rapid development of
the Sikhs at this time, and the growing influence of
their guru, soon led to trouble with the Moghuls,
and the persecution of their sect at the hands of the
Moghul emperors dates from Arjun's ministry.
In the year 1605, Jahangir ascended the throne of
Delhi, and in the following year Arjun was accused
of complicity in the rebellion of Prince Khusni. The
charge was brought against him by the Governor of
Lahore, whose enmity he had incurred by rejecting an
alliance with his family. Arjun was represented to
the emperor as a man of seditious character and
dangerous ambitions. He was cast into prison, where
he died of the tortures inflicted on him. Arjun had
32 A Short History of the Sikhs.
*

seen clearly that it was impossible to preserve his

followers without the aid of arms; and his last in-
junction to his son and successor, Har Govind, was
to sit fully armed on his throne, and to maintain the
largest military force he could muster. .
Har Govind was well qualified to carry out his
father's instructions. He was by nature more of
a soldier than a priest, and he burned to avenge
his father's death. He infused his military ardour
into his disciples, and soon had a formidable body of
fighting men at his command. At times he found it
expedient to place his force at the service of the
emperor; but his general attitude towards the
Moghuls of the Lahore province was one of uncom-
promising hostility. He was frequently in collision
with the imperial troops, and on most occasions had
the better of the encounter. So much did his royal
state and military array alarm Jahangir that he was
seized and imprisoned in the Gwalior fortress; and
though he managed to obtain his release, he died
almost immediately afterwards.
Of the three succeeding gurus there is little to
record. Their names were Har Rai, Har Krishen,
and Teg Bahadur; and their lives cover a period of
thirty years, from 1645 to 1675, during which the
hostility of the Moghuls continued unabated. When,
in 1658, Aurangzeb ascended the throne he lost no
opportunity of persecuting the gurus and their war-
like disciples. Finally he seized Teg Bahadur, and
caused him to be cruelly executed for refusing to
embrace the faith of Islam.
Govind Singh, the tenth and last of the gurus,
 Guru Govind Singh. 33
was only fifteen years old when his father was
murdered. Fearing a like fate for himself, the boy
took refuge in the hill country of Hoshiapur, and for
nearly twenty years lived in seclusion, brooding on
his own and his people's wrongs, and perfecting his
future plans. The end which he set before himself
was nothing less than the overthrow of the Moghul
empire, and the establishment of the Sikhs as
an independent power. On emerging from his
retirement, he applied himself heart and soul to
his mission. He saw that progress would be
impossible unless he could fire his followers with
new zeal and add largely to their numbers. To
accomplish this, he relied on his spiritual authority as
guru. He called an assembly, announced his mission,
and proclaimed the doctrine which was to weld
the Sikhs into a military nation. Before his audience
dispersed, he instituted the pahul, or baptismal
ceremony; * and after baptizing five of his disciples
he received the rite himself, taking the title of
2
" Singh," which he ordained should be added to the
name of every new member of the Khalsa.
1
Sikhs are not ordinarily initiated till they reach years of dis-
cretion. The essentials of the ceremony are t h a t a t least five Sikhs
should be assembled, and it is generally arranged t h a t one of the
number is of some religious repute. Some sugar and water are
stirred together in a vessel of any kind, usually with a two-edged
sword ; but any iron weapon will answer the purpose. The novice
stands with his hands folded in an a t t i t u d e of humility or supplica-
tion, and he repeats after the elder or minister the main articles of
his faith. Some of the water is then sprinkled on his face and hands,
after which he drinks the remainder, and exclaims, " W a h Guru ! "
(Hail Guru !) or " W a h Guruji k£ Khdlsa ! " (Victory to the Khalsa of
the G u r u ! ) ; and the ceremony concludes with an injunction t h a t he
be true to God, and to his d u t y as a Sikh. (Adapted from Cunning-
ham's History of the Sikhs.)
2
See Appendix D.
(1,841) 3
I

34 A Short History of the Sikhs.

I t was no part of Guru Govind's object to displace
the teaching of Nanak, but rather to adapt it to the
new needs of his people. His desire was to see his
sikhs more completely separated from the Hindus
than had hitherto been the case; to disconnect their
outside sympathies, and to instil into them the spirit
of nationality. One of the main obstacles to the
realization of this desire was the caste system, and
in dealing with it he went a step farther than Nanak.
The latter, though he had denounced caste distinctions,
had never actually forbidden their observance by his
followers, many of whom laid as much stress on them
as the Hindus themselves. The Brahmin Sikh con-
tinued to wear the triple thread, the Rajput con-
tinued to consider himself the superior of the
Khatri, and the Khatri continued to look down
upon the whole Sudra community. * Govind took the
bull by the horns. He not only reaffirmed the
absolute equality of every Sikh in the eyes of God,
but he altogether prohibited the observance of caste
distinctions within the Khalsa. This action gave
great offence to those who claimed to be of high
caste, and not a few Brahmin Sikhs preferred to
leave the community rather than discard the sacred
thread. But their loss was more than compensated
by the large numbers of the humbler classes who
now took the pahul, to whom the doctrine of social
equality was as attractive as it was distasteful to the
Brahmin or the Rajput.
Like Nanak, Govind attached the utmost im-
portance to purity of life; but on a level with it
he placed brave deeds and devotion to the Sikh

•
 Guru Govind Singh. 35
cause. There was no higher duty for a Sikh than
to die fighting in defence of his faith; and some
years later, when engaged in a fierce battle against
Muhammadan troops, Govind promised mulct, or
exemption from transmigration, to any of his
followers who should fall. The carrying of arms
was commanded as a daily duty; and the spirit of
brotherhood was still further emphasized by the
institution of a distinctive dress and the wearing
of the five " k's"—namely, the Ices or uncut hair
and beard, the Jchanda or dagger, the kanga or
comb, the kuchh or short drawers ending at the
knees, and the kara or iron bangle. Female in-
fanticide, a custom prevalent then and for many
years after in the Punjab, was strictly forbidden,
as was also the practice of sati; and rules and
regulations were enjoined relating to daily worship,
marriage, the law of inheritance, and other matters
in which the Sikhs had hitherto conformed to Hindu
law. Govind Singh had intended that his own
doctrines should form an addition to the Granth
Sahib; but finding that his idea was regarded with
disfavour by the keepers of the holy book, he wisely
•

abandoned it, and his writings were compiled into a

separate volume. This work is known as the Daswin
pddshah kd Granth, or the Granth of the Tenth
Guru; and though it lacks the sanctity and authority
of the older book, it still holds its place as a recog-
nized portion of the Sikh scriptures.
One of the most important results of Govind
Singh's activity was the large increase in the number
of his followers. The newcomers were mostly of
36 A Short History of the Sikhs.
the J a t tribe; and since the Jats have always
supplied the Khalsa with the bulk of its recruits,
a word as to their origin and character is necessary. >/»
In the Punjab, as in India generally, the Brahmins
rank above all other castes; the Rajputs stand
second, and the Khatris third. The Jats occupy*
the fourth place in the social scale, though they
assert superiority over the Khatri and claim equality
of rank with the Rajput. Their origin is uncertain.
Some writers affirm their Scythian extraction, and
hold that they are the descendants of the Getse,
one of the many Scythian tribes who swarmed into
India before the Christian era. But bevond the fact
that many of the Punjab tribes are of undoubted
Scythic origin, there seems little to support this
view. The Jats themselves claim to be derived
from the same stock as the Rajputs, and point to
Central India as the cradle of their race. Their
traditions, as well as their racial characteristics, are
in accordance with this claim; and in the absence
of any direct evidence to the contrary, there is no
reason to dispute it. The Jats are neither an in-
tellectual nor a cultured race. They care little
for education, and seldom attain to distinction in
any walk of life where learning and brain-power are
the chief qualities in demand. As courtiers, lawyers,
ministers, or diplomatists, they are no match for the
astute Brahmin or the sharp-witted Muhammadan,
and they generally prefer to leave such positions to
others, and to seek their fortunes in more congenial,
if humbler, spheres. But what the J a t lacks in
intelligence he makes up for by his courage, his

•
 Guru Govind Singh. 37
honesty, his thrift, and his unfailing industry. As
a cultivator he is second to none in India; and he
can wield a sword as skilfully as he can plough a
furrow. He is of a simple-minded, patient, and
withal independent disposition; a loyal and law-
abiding citizen in times of peace, and a good fighter
in times of war. The Jat usually exhibits a splen-
did physique—tall, spare, but muscular and broad-
shouldered. His hair is black and his complexion
a deep olive brown, and he wears a long ample
beard.
During the years of his retirement Govind Singh
practised every form of manly exercise. He became
an expert horseman, swordsman, archer, and swimmer,
and was a keen follower of the chase. Armed with
no other weapon than his sword, he would hunt and
slay both lions and tigers. The Jats greatly admired
his courage and bodily prowess, and under his train-
ing they quickly developed into hardy and daring
soldiers. Anandpur, some fifty miles to the west of
Simla, on the banks of the Sutlej, was the place
selected by the guru as his headquarters; and here,
with all the state of an independent chieftain, he
held his court and trained and disciplined his troops.
It was not long before the growing power of
Govind Singh excited the jealousy of the surrounding
' hill chiefs, who saw in his democratic teaching and
the military zeal of his followers a serious menace
to their> own influence and independence. Foremost
among these was Raja Bhim Chand of Bilaspiir, who
I N

looked upon the Sikhs as upstarts, and lost no op-

portunity of molesting them. Amongst his other
38 A Short History of the Sikhs.
designs, Bhim Chand had attempted to get possession
of a valuable elephant belonging to Govind Singh,
but without success. Unable to steal the animal, he
offered to buy it, and when his offer was refused he
professed friendship for the guru and tried to borrow
i t ; but his protestations and his requests were treated
with equal contempt. Enraged at his failure and at
the haughty and threatening attitude of the guru, he
prepared for hostilities, and persuaded a number of
other chiefs to join him in a combined attack on the
forces of the Khalsa. Govind Singh was at this
time engaged in fortifying the village of Paunta,
some miles to the north of Anandpiir; and on news
being brought to him of the enemy's approach, he
decided to march out and fight in the open. The
battle which ensued, the first that the Sikhs had ever
fought, was fierce and bloody, and many fell on both
sides. But the forces of the chiefs lacked the devo-
tion and resolution with which the guru was able
to animate his followers, and they were defeated
and driven from the field.
Having completed the fortifications of Paunta,
Govind Singh returned to Anandpiir, which he like-
wise surrounded with defence works, and then pro-
ceeded to Chamkaur, a village lower down the Sutlej,
where he erected a third fortress. While he was
thus engaged, he received a visit from his late
enemy, Bhim Chand of Bilaspiir. Bhim Chand had
incurred the wrath of Mian Khan, the Muhammadan
viceroy of Jammu, by refusing the tribute demanded
of him; and pointing out that submission on his part
would undoubtedly result in a similar payment being
 Guru Govind Singh. 39
exacted from the other hill chiefs, including the guru,
he invited the latter to aid him in resisting the
demand by force of arms. Govind Singh, to whom
the chance of a conflict with his inveterate foes, the
Muhammadans, was by no means unwelcome, promised
Bhim Chand his support. He counselled him on no
account to give w a y ; and when Mian Khan ap-
proached to enforce his authority at the point of
the sword, the soldiers of the Khalsa rendered the
Raja such effectual assistance that the imperial troops
were utterly routed.
But gratitude was not among the virtues of Raja
Bhim Chand, and not long after the defeat of Mian
Khan he again took part with the hill chiefs in
an attack on the Sikh stronghold. Anandpur was
besieged on every side. But the defenders, though
greatly outnumbered, fought with such determined
courage that they not only succeeded in saving
their fortress, but marched out and routed the
besiegers in the open plain. This achievement
added greatly to the fame and influence of Govind
Singh, and brought him many new disciples. The
Sikhs now felt themselves to be on an equality
with the martial Rajputs, and with every victory
their pride in the Khalsa increased.
Finding they were unable to crush, or even
to check, the growing power of their common
enemy, the hill chiefs determined to appeal for
assistance to the emperor himself. Aurangzeb was
at this time operating in the Deccan, and thither,
accordingly, a deputation was sent. The guru was
represented as a dangerous rebel, ever engaged in
40 A Short History of the Sikhs.
stirring up hostility between Hindus and Muham-
madans, with the ultimate object of overturning the
Moghul throne. On receipt of this information
Aurangzeb dispatched orders to the viceroys of Delhi,
Sirhind, and Lahore to proceed without delay against
the guru with all the forces at their disposal, and
in a short time Anandpur was again besieged, this
time by an overwhelming army, with Wazir Khan,
the viceroy of Sirhind, in supreme command. The
devoted bravery of the Sikhs was never more con-
spicuously displayed than during the long siege which
followed. Every day their ardour was newly kindled
by the words of their leader, who bade them remember
all that their community had suffered at the hands
of the Muhammadans, and exhorted them to seek
salvation in the next world by dying in the defence
of the Khalsa. Though reduced to the utmost
straits by hunger, the vigour of their defence never
slackened. Assault after assault was repulsed ; and
it was only when the cutting off of their water
supply brought their sufferings to *a climax that
Govind Singh decided to evacuate the fortress. This
he contrived to effect without abandoning his prop-
erty ; and, with all that remained of his exhausted
garrison, he made his way to Chamkaur, and
once more stood at bay. Knowing that another
siege awaited him, he dispatched his wife and
two younger sons to Sirhind; but though they
reached the town in safety, their presence was
betrayed to the Muhammadans. By order of the
governor both the lads were cruelly murdered, and
their mother died of grief.
 Guru Govind Singh. 41
The soldiers of the Khalsa enjoyed but a short
respite. Chamkaur was soon as closely besieged as
Anandpur had been, and was as desperately defended.
The two elder sons of the guru were slain, and
many died of starvation. Even the bark of trees
was used as food. When it became evident that
the fortress was doomed, preparations were made
for flight; and again the guru with the remnants
of his band succeeded in passing through the lines
of the besiegers. He crossed the Sutlej, and sought
refuge in the deserts of the Firozpur district. In
the neighbourhood of Bathinda he once more rallied,
his forces and turned on his pursuers. The scene
of this last conflict is still known as Muktsar,
or the Field of Exemption, for it was here that
the guru fired the zeal of his disciples by promising
mukt to all who should sacrifice their lives for
the Khalsa. The battle was as desperate as any
that had preceded i t ; and though the imperial
troops gained the day, they were, for the third
time, balked ' of their prey; for the guru, with
a few chosen followers, managed to escape from
the field, and, evading pursuit, made his way in
safety to Talwandi (thenceforward known as Dam-
dama, or the " resting place") in the district of
Patiala. Wazir Khan, believing Govind Singh to
be amongst the slain, and that the power of the
Khalsa was crushed for ever, withdrew his forces,
and abandoned the campaign.
Secure in his new retreat, Govind Singh re-estab-
lished his court, and surrounded himself with all
the pomp and circumstance of royalty. It was here
42 A Short History of the Sikhs.
that he compiled the Daswin pddshah kd Granth.
Damdama became the centre of Sikhism, and a
place of resort for learned men from all parts
of the country. Numbers of new recruits joined
the ranks of the Khalsa, and the position of Govind
Singh became stronger than it had ever been.
In 1707, he received a summons to appear
at the court of Aurangzeb. This he refused to
comply with, and in reply sent a letter setting
forth the persecutions which he and his community
had suffered at the hands of the imperial govern-
ment. The result of this letter was a second
summons, couched in more conciliatory terms, and
assuring the guru of a friendly reception. To this
Govind Singh deemed it expedient to send a favour-
able reply, and escorted by a strong bodyguard he
set out for Agra. But the days of Aurangzeb were
numbered; and before the guru reached the im-
perial court, the sceptre was in the hands of his
successor, Bahadur Shah.
The new emperor received the guru with distinc-
tion, and having at that time more use for a power-
ful ally than for a dangerous foe, offered him an
honourable post in the imperial service. Whether
Govind Singh was actuated by a similar motive,
or whether he foresaw in the service of his enemy
greater opportunities for advancing the cause of
the Khalsa than he would be likely to get by open
hostility, history does not relate. But whatever
his reasons, he accepted the offer, and marched at
the head of his own troops for the Deccan on
the emperor's business. As to the nature of his
 Guru Govind Singh. 43
imperial mission, history is again silent. All we
know is that he went as far south as the Godavery,
and that he made Nander, on the banks of that
river, his headquarters. Here he spent much of
his time in the company of a Bairagi hermit, after-
wards known as Banda, the " slave," whom he con-
verted to his own faith and baptized, and to whom
he became so much attached that he nominated
him his successor, not as guru, but as commander
of the forces of the Khalsa.
Govind Singh was not destined to return to
his native country. One day, after preaching his
doctrines at Nander, he was stabbed by a Pathan
assassin; and though the physicians of Bahadur
Shah were sent to attend him, they were unable
to save his life. He died at the age of forty-eight,
in the year 1708, having reigned as guru for nearly
thirty-three years.
Guru Govind Singh left no successor. Before
his death he called his disciples about him and
told them that the mission of the gurus was com-
pleted, and that thenceforth their spirits would dwell
*

in the Granth Sahib and the Khalsa. " I have

entrusted you," he said, " t o the immortal God.
Ever remain under His protection, and trust to
none besides. Wherever there are five Sikhs
assembled, know that I am in the midst of them.
Henceforth the guru shall be in the Khalsa and
the Khalsa in the guru. I have infused my mental
and bodily spirit into the Granth Sahib and the
J
Khalsa."
1
SeelTke^Sikh Religion, vol. v. p. 244.
 CHAPTER III.
I

EARLY STRUGGLES OF THE KHlLSA.

O N the death of the last of the gurus, Banda assumed

the arms of his master, and the leadership of the Sikh
community. Acting in accordance with the instruc-
tions he had received from Govind Singh, he at once
set out for the north; and at Buria, to the east of
Ambala, he was joined by the main body of the Sikh
army. The soldiers promised allegiance to their new
commander on condition that they should receive
the arrears of pay due to them. To satisfy this
demand, Banda took the only course open to him,
that of plundering the surrounding villages, a course
which his troops appreciated more than the villagers,
who dispatched an urgent appeal for protection to
the Governor of Mustafabad. The latter immediately
set out to their assistance with two thousand imperial
troops; but his march had scarcely commenced when
it was intercepted by Banda and his army. The
governor's force was dispersed with great slaughter,
and his capital was entered and sacked by the vic-
torious Sikhs. Banda next laid siege to and captured
Samana in the Patiala district, and then proceeded to
Sirhind. On approaching the city, he was met by a

•
 Early Struggles of the KMlsa. 45
large force under the viceroy, Wazir Khan. A fierce
encounter ensued, in which the Sikhs were completely
victorious. Banda engaged Wazir Khan in single
combat, and smote off his head with one blow of his
sword. The Sikhs then entered Sirhind, which they
plundered, massacring many of the inhabitants, and
wreaking a terrible vengeance on the murderers of
the sons of Guru Govind Singh. Growing more and
more confident with each new success, Banda now
directed his arms against the hill chiefs, whom,
one after another, he brought into subjection. He
attacked and plundered Batala, defeated a powerful
force sent against him by the emperor, and entering
Lahore put the governor and all his principal officers
to the sword. He was now master of practically
the whole region lying between the Sutlej and
the Jumna, and he levied and exacted tribute from
all classes of the population. But the tide soon
turned.
•

Hearing of the defeat of his troops, Bahadur Shah

hastened in person to the Punjab at the head of a
large army. Banda declined a pitched battle, and
established himself in the hill-fort of Dabir. Here
he held out for some time, but starvation compelled
him to evacuate the fort and seek shelter in the
mountains. At this critical juncture Bahadur Shah
died, and the fugitives were thus saved from pursuit.
But for this unforeseen event, the entire Sikh com-
munity must have been exterminated. The confusion
which followedw the death of Bahadur Shah was all
in favour of the fugitive chief and his indomitable
followers. For four years he was left unmolested,
*
46 A Short History of the Sikhs.
and he was able in this time to reorganize his troops
and regain many of his lost strongholds. Once more
the long-haired troopers of the Khalsa became the
terror of the Punjab, and a formidable addition to
the dangers which surrounded the already tottering
throne of the Moghul sovereigns.
Farrukh Siyar was the next emperor to undertake
operations against the Sikhs. He entrusted the
conduct of the campaign to Abdur Samad Khan,
the Governor of Kashmir, an intrepid and skilful
general. Abdur Samad was determined to do his
work thoroughly, and the force which he took into
the Punjab was superior in numbers, discipline, and
equipment to any with which the Sikhs had hitherto
come in contact. Outnumbered and outgeneralled,
Banda suffered defeat after defeat, and was eventually
driven to bay in the fortress of Gurdaspur. Here,
after a stubborn defence, he was literally starved into
surrender. The entire garrison fell into the hands
of Abdur Samad Khan. The majority were put to
death on the spot, while Banda and more than seven
hundred of his chief retainers were sent to Delhi,
where, after being subjected to every kind of insult,
they were beheaded, a hundred at a time, on seven
successive days. " The execution' of Banda was re-
served to the end. He was paraded through the
city in an iron cage, and tortured to death. A
general proclamation was now issued for the destruc-
tion of Sikhs wherever found. They were hunted
down like wild beasts, and any man who killed a
Sikh could claim a reward from the viceroy of
Lahore. The few who escaped the persecution fled
 Early Struggles of the KMlsa. 47
to the mountains, and for a generation their history
is a blank.
But the mission of Govind Singh had not failed.
Scattered and disorganized though they were, without
a leader, without a square yard of land they could
call their own, the Sikhs were nearer to nationality
at this time than they had ever been. Hardship
and persecution had served only to strengthen their
attachment to their faith, and to draw them into
yet closer unity. They now regarded themselves
as a distinct people. They believed in their destiny
as foretold by Govind Singh, and the one determina-
tion from which they never swerved was to struggle
unceasingly for the triumph of the Khalsa. Branded
as outlaws, the hand of every man against them,
they divided themselves into bands, each under its
own leader, but all ready to combine in case of
necessity under a common head. These bands
moved rapidly from place to place, plundering vil-
lages, levying black-mail, and driving off flocks and
herds to their mountain fastnesses, where none dared
follow them. Gradually their resources and their
numbers increased, and they awaited only a favour-
able opportunity to re-establish themselves in the
lands and strongholds from which they had been
ousted. The state of the Moghul empire at this time
was altogether favourable to their plans and mode
of life. The bigotry of Aurangzeb and the incom-
petence of his successors had reduced the court at
Delhi to complete prostration. The authority of the
emperor hardly reached beyond the walls of his
capital. On every side governors and viceroys
48 A Short History of the Sikhs.
declared their independence, while the Mahrattas
dictated terms to the Moghul at the very steps of his
throne.
In 1739 Nadir Shah with his destroying host
swept through the Punjab to the sack of Delhi.
This crowning catastrophe, while it sounded the
death knell of the Moghul empire, offered the Sikhs
the chance for which they had been watching.
Taking advantage of the confusion that prevailed,
they swooped down from the mountains to plunder
the unfortunate villagers of the property they were
struggling to remove from the path of the robber-
legions of Nadir; and when these same robber-
legions, glutted with plunder, set out on their return
march, bands of Sikh horsemen hung on the flanks
and rear of the disorderly columns, cutting off all who
strayed from the protection of the main body, and
securing for themselves a by no means insignificant
share of the spoils of Delhi.
Richer than they had been for many a long
day, the Sikhs now came down from their hiding-
places in the hills and took possession of and fortified
the town of Daliwal on the banks of the Ravi.
*
i

Thither all the wanderers flocked, and many whom

fear of death had forced to abandon the brother-
hood were readmitted and rebaptized. Numbers of
new proselytes joined the ranks of the Khalsa,
and, thus strengthened, the Sikhs extended their
irruptions all over the Punjab. Amritsar was re-
gained, and once more became a place of precarious
pilgrimage. " Some performed this pilgrimage in
secret and in disguise; but in general, according to
 Early Struggles of the Khalsa. 49
a contemporary Muhammadan author, the Sikh horse-
men were seen riding at full gallop towards their
favourite shrine of devotion. They were often slain
in making the attempt, and sometimes taken prisoners;
but they used, on such occasions, to seek instead of
avoiding the crown of martyrdom, and the same
authority states that an instance was never known of
a Sikh, taken on his way to Amritsar, consenting to
» i
abjure his faith
In 1747 Nadir Shah was assassinated. The
Durani chief, Ahmad Shah Abdali, became master of
Afghanistan, and for twenty years the Punjab reeled
under the repeated visitations of this redoubtable and
relentless warrior. The Sikhs never lost an op-
portunity of profiting by the general disorder; and
the kingdom of the Punjab sprang from the very
causes that laid the empire of the Moghuls in ruins.
The conquest, or rather the plundering of India—
for he conquered only to plunder the better—was
the ruling ambition of Ahmad Shah's life. The same
year that he ascended the throne, he led his forces
across the Indus. In the Punjab he met with
little opposition, and the whole province was soon in
7
his power. When, how ever, he pressed on towards
Delhi, he was less successful; and on the eastern side
of the Sutlej he suffered so many reverses that he
was obliged to return to his own country to repair his
losses. As in the case of Nadir Shah, the Sikhs
harassed his retreating army, cutting off stragglers,
and securing considerable booty. The Punjab was
recovered to the empire, and Mir Mannu, through
1
Sketch of the Sikhs, by Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm, p. 88.
(1,841) 4
50 A Short History of the Sikhs.
whose skill the movements of Ahmad Shah had
been frustrated, was rewarded with the governorship
of the province.
Mir Mannu at once took active steps for the
suppression of the Sikhs. He marched against and
captured the fort of Ram Raoni, recently erected to
protect the approach to Amritsar, and was proceeding
to the infliction of further punishment when news of
the second approach of Ahmad Shah recalled him
hastily, to his headquarters. By promising the
invader the revenue of four districts as an annual
tribute, he obtained a temporary respite. But the
promise was soon broken, and at the head of a largely
increased force the Shah returned and invested
Lahore. Mir Mannu made a brave and protracted
defence ; but in the end he was forced to capitulate,
and Lahore became a province of the Afghan empire.
Mir Mannutransferred his allegiance to Ahmad
continued in charge of Lahore as the
deputy of his new master. The latter then pushed
on to Kashmir, which he likewise annexed, and then
returned to Kabul. Shortly after his departure Mir
Mannu died, and his widow took over the control of
the province. The weakness of her administration
enabled the Sikhs to emerge from their obscurity, and
the horsemen of the Khalsa again became the terror
of the country. Wherever protection-money was not
forthcoming, villages were sacked, cattle swept off,
and crops devastated. The greater the anarchy that
prevailed, the stronger the Sikhs became.
The next invasion of Ahmad Shah took place
in 1755. The empire was by this time too exhausted
 AHMAD SHAH DURANI.
(Victoria and Albert Museum, Indian Section.)
52 A Short History of the Sikhs.
to attempt resistance. The Punjab was traversed
without opposition, the Sutlej was crossed, Agra and
Muttra were plundered, and the capital city itself fell
a prey to the ferocious rapacity of the Afghan soldiers.
Laden with spoil, the Shah then departed for his
own country, the Sikhs easing him of a portion
of his ill-gotten gains as he passed through the
Punjab. The impotent Moghul was left in possession
of his wrecked capital, but the Punjab and Sirhind
were annexed by the conqueror, and his son Timur
was left behind to settle their administration.
Timur quickly realized that the Sikhs constituted
the chief danger to the security of his provinces,
and he resolved on active measures for their sup-
p
pression. He decided to strike at the heart ox
the Khalsa. Accordingly, having collected a large
force, he made a rapid march to Amritsar. The city
was taken by surprise and captured; the houses of
the inhabitants were pillaged, the Golden Temple was
razed to the ground, and the sacred tank filled
up with rubbish. Timur had, indeed, struck at
the heart of the Khalsa, but he had altogether mis-
calculated the effect of the blow. The destruction
and pollution of their holy city roused the Sikhs to
ungovernable fury. Uniting under the leadership
of a carpenter named Jassa Singh, they ravaged the
whole province. Timur's troops were everywhere
defeated, and he himself was driven to seek refuge in
his father's territory. The victorious Sikhs entered
and took possession of Lahore, where Jassa Singh
proclaimed the Khalsa a state, and rupees were struck
in the mint of the Moghuls, bearing the inscription,
 Early Struggles of the Khalsa. 53
" Coined by the grace of the Khalsa in the country of
1
Ahmud, conquered by Jassa the Kallal."
But many a fierce struggle intervened ere Lahore
became the undisputed capital of the Sikh kingdom.
A fresh competitor, in the person of the Mahratta
leader Mulhar Rao Holkar, had come forward to
contest the supremacy of the Punjab. The Mahrattas
were at this time by far the greatest military power
in India. They had developed as rapidly as the
empire had declined, and all the country from
Gujarat to Orissa, and from the Punjab to Mysore,
was held in their terrible grip. In Delhi the name of
Mulhar Rao inspired more dread than that of Shah
Abdali himself. To call in one of his antagonists
to aid him in crushing the other was the only
expedient that offered the helpless emperor any
chance of averting his doom. ' I t was a choice of
evils; and he took the worse. In daily fear of
another visit from the Shah, he invited Holkar
to his court. The Mahratta eagerly accepted the
invitation. He marched into Delhi, swept aside
the authority of the emperor and his ministers, and
quartered his lawless soldiery on the terrified populace.
A rich district torn by internal disorders offered
opportunities for plunder which no Mahratta leader
was ever known to neglect, and Holkar had not
been long in Delhi before he decided t h a t the
time was ripe for a predatory expedition into the
Punjab. The confusion which prevailed on every
1
The inscription commonly found on Ranjit Singh's rupees is D4gh
wuh T6gh wuh Fatteh wuh nasrut b6 dirang ydft az Ndnulc Guru Govind
Singh—that is, " G u r u Govind Singh obtained from Nanuk grace,
power, and victory—victory without pause."
54 A Short History of the Sikhs.
side rendered effectual opposition impossible; and
when Holkar crossed the Sutlej he carried all before
him. He expelled the Sikhs from Lahore and the
Afghans from Miiltan, and the whole province from
the Sutlej to the Indus was overrun and occupied by
his troops. What the people had suffered at the
hands of the Afghans was as nothing in comparison
with the horrors of the Mahratta occupation. Wher-
ever the soldiers of Holkar encamped, ruin prevailed,
while their lines of march were marked by burning
villages and devastated crops. The poor were robbed
with merciless barbarity, and the rich could only
purchase a doubtful immunity by the payment of
exorbitant fines. There is little wonder that when
news arrived that Ahmad Shah was marching to
recover his lost provinces, it was received throughout
Hindustan with feelings akin to joy.
The campaign which ensued, ending with the
crushing defeat of the Mahrattas at Panipat, and
their expulsion from the Punjab, belongs to Mahratta
rather than to Sikh history. The troops of the
Khalsa took no part in the contest, but contented
themselves with harassing the outposts and raiding
the camps of either of the combatants as occasion
offered. Under cover of the general uproar, the
chiefs of the various bands appropriated lands and
erected forts for their protection. The city of
Amritsar was rebuilt, and once more the cupolas and
minarets of the Golden Temple were reflected on the
surface of the sacred lake. Immediatelv after his
* /

victory at Panipat, Ahmad Shah returned to

Afghanistan, leaving Khwaja Obaid Khan, a Durani
 Early Struggles of the Khalsa. 55
chieftain, and a Muhammadan noble named
Khan as the governors respectively of Lahore
irhind.
The renewed activity of the Sikhs seriously
alarmed Khwaja Obaid, and with a strong force he
marched to attack Gujranwala, where the Sikhs had
taken up a strong position. A sharp encounter
resulted in the complete rout of the Muhammadan
troops, and the Durani chief was forced to barricade
himself in Lahore. The news of the disturbance
reached Kabul, and the Shah at once returned to
the Punjab. Uniting with Zin Khan, who was
already marching to the assistance of Khwaja
Obaid, he set out in pursuit of the Sikhs, who,
following their usual tactics, withdrew in the
direction of the hills, to avoid, if possible, a pitched
battle. In this, however, they were unsuccessful.
Moving with great rapidity, the Afghans came up
with them near BatalaP and forced them to give
battle. The Sikhs were completely taken by sur-
prise, and although they made a desperate fight,
were defeated with the loss of 20,000 men. Ala
Patiala chieftain, and the foremost of the
Sikh leaders, was amongst the prisoners who fell into
the hands of Ahmad Shah, and a ransom of five
lakhs of rupees was demanded for his release. With
great difficulty the money was raised, and the Shah,
in token of his admiration for Ala Singh's valour,
bestowed upon him a robe of honour and the title of
Before returning to Afghanistan, the Shah
again sacked Amritsar, and caused the Golden
Temple to be blown up with gunpowder.

»
56 A Short History of the Sikhs.
No sooner had the Afghans departed, than the
exasperated Sikhs reopened the struggle. After
holding a gurumata, or public council, at Amritsar,
they marched southward with a force of nearly forty
thousand men. Having captured and sacked Kasiir,
a town near Sobraon, on the banks of the Sutlej,
they pressed on to Sirhind. Zin Khan, who came
out to meet them, was defeated and killed, and for
the second time the murder of the sons of Govind
Singh was avenged. The Sikhs left not a house
standing in Sirhind, and the place was pronounced
accursed for evermore. The whole province fell into
their hands, and the districts around the capital were
added to the domain of Ala "Singh of Patiala.
I t was not long before intelligence of this daring
exploit reached K a b u l ; and for the seventh time
Ahmad Shah led his forces across the Indus. As
usual the Sikhs scattered at his approach, and when
he reached the plains of Sirhind he searched for them
in vain. I t was not until he was well on his way
home t h a t a sharp attack on his rearguard apprised
him of the whereabouts of his ubiquitous foes. The
end of the struggle seemed as far off as ever; and even
the indefatigable Shah at last began to show signs of
wearying of a warfare in which he was never able to
make full use of his strength. He was too e-ood
a soldier himself not to admire the indomitable
courage of the Sikhs, and if in the end he preferred
to conciliate rather than to exterminate them, we may
believe that his policy, though dictated by necessity,
was not altogether opposed to his inclinations. As
a first step towards a more friendly understanding,
 Early Struggles of the Kh&lsa. 57
he had, before quitting Sirhind, appointed Ala Singh,
the Patiala chieftain, his governor in that province.
By the Sikhs this step was regarded as a con-
cession rather than a favour; and knowing that the
Shah was occupied with dissensions in his own king-
dom, they seized the opportunity to march against
Lahore. The Muhammadan garrison made but an
indifferent defence, and was easily overcome. The
Afghan governor was expelled, and the affairs of the
city were entrusted to the joint administration of the
three chiefs who had effected its capture.
In 1767 Ahmad Shah invaded India for the
eighth and last time. The Sikhs were routed on the
banks of the Sutlej, and dispersed to their hill
retreats, and the ejected viceroy was reinstated at
Lahore. But ill-health and the unsettled condition
of his own kingdom obliged the Shah to cut short
his operations in the Punjab, and inclined him more
than ever to conciliatory methods. He abandoned
all idea of annexing Sirhind, and acknowledged Raja
Ala Singh as independent ruler of the province;
while other districts were ceded to the Sikh sirdars
who had held Lahore, in the hope of inducing them
to uphold the authority of the Afghan governor.
Then, for the last time, the Durani warrior recrossed
the Indus; and, for the last time, he suffered the
mortification of having his baggage-train plundered
by the inexorable Sikhs. As before, conciliation was
regarded as a proof of weakness. Hostilities were
at once renewed: Lahore was recaptured, and in a
short time not a vestige of Afghan authority re-
mained in the Punjab. The Sikhs spread themselves
58 A Short History of the Sikhs.
over the province, seizing estates, and establishing
themselves as joint proprietors of the domain of the
Khalsa.
The life of Ahmad Shah Abdali, statesman, warrior,
and brigand, terminated in what was in his day
a very unusual manner. He died in his bed.
Cancer in the cheek is said to have caused his death,
which took place in the year 1773. He was suc-
ceeded by his son Timur, who, after an unsuccessful
attack on the lower Punjab, made no further effort to
regain his father's Indian possessions. He reigned
for twenty years, during which the Sikhs were left
unmolested. At the end of this period the sirdars
had developed into influential chiefs, each with a
considerable military force at his command; and
only their mutual jealousies and impatience of control
hindered the fulfilment of Govind Singh's prophecy.
The Khalsa had attained independence, but it still
awaited the master hand that was to subdue and
weld into a nation the turbulent elements of which
it was composed.
 CHAPTER IV.

CONSTITUTION OF THE KHALSA.

BEFORE proceeding to an account of the greatest of

Sikh leaders, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, it is necessary
that we should understand something of the form
of government which prevailed among the Sikhs at
this time, and the principles on which it was based.
Their political organization was of a very primitive
character. I t consisted of a federation of clans, each
under the leadership of a sirdar or military chief.
T
The cause which gave unity to the whole w as two-
fold : the preservation of the Sikh faith, and the
promotion of the welfare of the Khalsa. As far
as their attachment to this cause was concerned, t

the Sikhs were one people; but in all other respects

the clans were as independent of one another as the
several states of Rajputana or Central India. As
they would brook no interference from the outside
world in matters touching the interests of their
community as a whole, so they would brook none
from one another in the management of their several
domains.
The administration of the Khalsa, as well as of
the individual clans, was democratic—that is to say,
60 A Short History of the Sikhs.
it was based on the principle of equality as taught
by Guru Govind Singh. The clans varied both in
size and importance, but all sirdars were regarded
as of equal r a n k ; and though one amongst them
was selected by common consent to be the leader
of the confederacy, his authority was strictly limited
to matters affecting the general policy of the Khalsa,
and even here his duties were those of a superin-
tendent rather than a ruler. In the constitution of
the clans or misls, as these minor associations were
termed, the same principle held good. There were
no degrees of rank, and no tables of precedence.
Membership of a misl conferred political, religious,
and social equality. The qualifications looked for
in a leader were personal courage and military skill.
A proved man-at-arms needed neither wealth nor
high birth to support his claims to the office of
sirdar, which, as in the case of Jassa Singh the
carpenter, was frequently conferred on men of
humble and obscure origin. The profession of arms
was regarded as the most honourable of all occupa-
tions. Military service was entirely voluntary: it
could be entered or abandoned at will; and the man
who was dissatisfied with his position under one
leader could leave him and transfer his allegiance
to another. The fruits of conquest, whether land,
money, or property, were shared equally by those
who had taken part in their capture; and it was
the duty of the sirdars to see that the distribution
was justly carried out.
The larger mists were twelve in number; and
their names, derived from those of famous sirdars or
 Constitution of the Khalsa. 61
their places of birth, or sometimes from the practice
of peculiar customs, were as follows:—

Ahluwalia. Phiilkia.
Bhangi. Singhpuria.
Ramgarhia. Nishania.
Sukarchakia. Krora Singhia
Kanheya. Dulelwala.
Nakkai. Shahid.

The first six were located to the north of the Sutlej,

and are usually referred to as the Manjha Sikhs,
though, strictly speaking, this designation belongs
only to those who occupied the Manjha district,
between the Ravi and the Beas. The remaining six
held lands to the south of the Sutlej, in the district
1
of Malwa, and are known as the Malwa, or Cis-
Sutlej, Sikhs.
the Manjha clans, the Bhangi, the Ramgarhia,
and the Kanheya, who shared the districts around
Amritsar, were the most important. The first of
these is said to have derived its name from the
addiction of its members to the use of bhang. Under
their famous leader Hari Singh, the Bhangis rose to
a very powerful position, Amritsar being the head-
quarters of the clan. The second, named after a
village near Lahore, was founded by the redoubtable
carpenter, Jassa Sinffh. Both these mists were
crushed by Ranjit Singh, as was also the third, the
Kanheya; but this last escaped complete extinction
through a marriage connection with the Maharaja.
1
Not to be confused with Mulwa of the Pcccan.
62 A Short History of the Sikhs.
The Aliluwalias occupied the district between the
Sutlej and the Beas, including the state of Kapur-
thala. They were led by a powerful and capable
chief named Jassa Singh, a distiller by caste, who
did much to consolidate the power of the Sikhs.
T h e ^ i ^ a r ^ a k i a ^ ^ r u l e ^ b j i ^ a j i j i t Singh, and the
Nakkais were the least important of the Manjha
Sikhs. The former were located to the west and
the latter to the south of Amritsar.
Of the Malwa clans, the Phulkian was by far the
most powerful. I t rose to prominence under Raja Ala
Singh of Patiala, and is represented at the present
time by a large number of states, of which Jind,
Nabbha, Rampur, and Dialpur are the most important.
The Singhpiirias ranked second, their territory in-
cluding portions of the Ludhiana, Jalandhar, and
Ambala districts. The remaining four were of minor
significance; and on the rise to power of Ranjit
Singh, they, together with the Phulkian and Singh-
puria misls, placed themselves under the protection
of the British Government. -

But one other association, that of the Akalis,

remains to be mentioned. This was not a misl, but
a band of religious devotees, who were looked upon
as the guardians of the shrine at Amritsar, and the
directors of religious ceremonial. The Akalis, alone
among the Sikhs, continued to wear the blue
chequered robes and steel bracelets ordained by Guru
Govind Singh, by whom their order was founded.
They were turbulent and fanatical, and a constant
source of terror to the more peaceable classes of the
community. In war they fought on foot, and were

*
 Constitution of the Khdlsa. 63
the only formidable portion of the Sikh infantry.
Ranjit Singh did much to reduce the Akalis to a
state of subjection, but for many years they were
the most troublesome element in the Khalsa. Never-
theless, their desperate bravery rendered them a very
valuable asset in times of war, and they were always
employed on the most dangerous service.
The general policy of the Khalsa was decided by a
national council, or gurumata, held twice a year at
Amritsar. I t was presided over by the leader of the
confederacy, and was attended by all the principal
sirdars. The business of the assembly was preceded by
a religious ceremony conducted by the Akalis, which
is thus described by Sir John Malcolm : " When a
Gurumata or national council is called, all the Sikh
chiefs assemble at Amritsar. The assembly is con-
vened by the Acalis; and when the chiefs meet on
this solemn occasion, it is concluded that all private
animosities cease, and that every man sacrifices his
personal feelings at the shrine of the general good ;
and actuated by principles of pure patriotism, thinks
of nothing but the interests of the religion and
commonwealth to which he belongs.
" When the chiefs and principal leaders are all
seated, the Adi Grant'h and Dasama Padshah ka
Grant'h are placed before them. They all bend their
heads before the scriptures, and exclaim, Wd!
Guruji ka Khalsa! Wd! Guruji ki Fateh! A
great quantity of cakes made of wheat, butter, and
sugar are then placed before the volumes of their
sacred writings, and covered with a cloth. These
holy cakes, which are in commemoration of the
64 A Short History of the Sikhs.
injunction of Nanac, to eat and to give others to eat,
next receive the salutation of the assembly, who then
rise, and the Acalis pray aloud, while the musicians
play. The Acalis, when the prayers are finished,
desire the council to be seated. They sit down, and
the cakes being uncovered, are eaten by all classes of
Sikhs: those distinctions of original tribes, which are,
on other occasions, kept up, being on this occasion
laid aside, in token of their general and complete
union in one cause. The Acalis then exclaim,
' Sirdars! (chiefs) this is a Giirumata!' after which
prayers are again said aloud. The chiefs after this
sit closer, and say to each other: ' The sacred Grant'h
is betwixt us, let us swear by our scriptures to forget
all internal disputes, and to be united.' This moment
of religioustervour and ardent patriotism is taken to
reconcile all animosities. They then proceed to con-
sider the danger with which they are threatened, to
settle the best plans for averting it, and to choose
the generals who are to lead them against the
common enemy. The first Gurumata was assembled
by Guru Govind: and the latest was called in 1805,
when the British army pursued Holkar into the
55 1
Penj ab.
Primitive though this form of government was,
it had, nevertheless, served to hold the Sikhs
together so long as they were called upon to face
a common enemy. Whilst Moghul and Mahratta
threatened the existence of the Khalsa, the sirdars,
as a matter of course, fought shoulder to shoulder
in its defence. But the moment that danger from
1
Sketch of the Sikhs, by Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm, p. 120-3.
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66 A Short History of the Sikhs.
without disappeared, the bonds of unity were
snapped, and the limited authority of the general
leader rendered him incapable of controlling the
unruly sirdars, or allaying the feuds which arose
throughout the length and breadth of the Punjab.
So thoroughly had the Sikhs become imbued with
the militant spirit, that to fight was the very breath
of their being; and rather than allow their swords
to rust in their scabbards, they preferred to turn
them against one another.
In a country partitioned, as was the Punjab, amongst
a . number of independent chiefs, each of whom
maintained a band of followers, armed to the teeth
and paid out of the spoils of war, pretexts for
quarrelling could-^not but be abundant, and the
Sikh sirdars fought with and plundered one another
with all the zest they had formerly displayed in
assailing the legions of Holkar and the Shah. I t
would be tedious to follow the course of the many
quarrels which, at the close of the eighteenth century,
endangered the dearly purchased independence of the
Khalsa. We must, however, briefly refer to those
in which the immediate ancestors of Maharaja
Ranjit Singh were involved, so that we may under-
stand the nature and extent of the difficulties by
which, at the commencement of his career, this
famous chief, the national hero of the Sikhs, was
surrounded.
The Sukarchakia misl, to the leadership of which
Ranjit Singh succeeded, was founded early in the
eighteenth century. It rose to prmninence under
Maharaja's grandfather, Charrat Singh, a brave J a t

y*J>
^
 Constitution of the Khalsa. 67
sirdar, who repeatedly distinguished himself in the
early struggles with Ahmad Shah. Shortly after
the defeat of Tinmr's deputy, Obaid Khan, Charrat
who on that occasion had led the Sikhs
to victory, marched with his followers to Kashmir,
to espouse the cause of Brij Raj, then in rebellion
against his father, Raja Ranjit Deo, the chief of
Jammu. Ranjit Deo had called to his aid the
Bhangis under Jhanda Singh, at that time the most
powerful of all the Sikh sirdars, while the Kanheyas
under Sirdar Jai Singh took sides with the Sukar-
chakias. The rival armies encamped within a • few
miles of each other, and preparations were being
\ made for battle, when Charrat Singh was killed
by the bursting of his own matchlock. This event
would probably have given the victory to Ranjit
Deo, had it not been counterbalanced, on the follow-
ing day, by the assassination of the Bhangi chief,
4

Jhanda Singh. The deaths of the two leaders

brought about a cessation of hostilities, and the
Sikh forces withdrew to their respective districts,
leaving Ranjit Deo and his son to settle their quarrel
as best they could.
These events took place in the year 1773.
Mahan Singh, the son and successor of Charrat
Singh, was only ten years old when he succeeded
to the chiefship of the Sukarchakias. The year
after his father's death, he was married to Raj
Kour, the daughter of the Raja of Jind, who,
six years later, became the mother of Ranjit Singh.
During his minority, Mahan Singh remained under
the guardianship of his mother, a shrewd and
>N

x
68 A Short History of the Sikhs.
courageous woman, who ruled the misl with tact
and ability. In 1780, the year of the birth of
Ranjit Singh, Mahan took the power into his own
hands, and at once made preparations for carrying
on the feud with the Bhangi misl.
In the meantime, Raja Ranjit Deo of Jammu
had died, and the state was now in the hands of
Brij Raj, with whom Mahan Singh had exchanged
turbans as a token of everlasting friendship. When
the latter assumed control of the Sukarchakias, Brij
Raj appealed to him for assistance against the
Bhangis who were marching to attack his capital.
Mahan Singh eagerly welcomed the chance of a
conflict with his hereditary foes, and set out for
Jammu with all the troops he could muster. The
Kanheyas likewise joined in the struggle; but, on
this occasion, they ranged themselves on the side
of the Bhangis. This powerful combination was
more than Mahan Singh could withstand: his forces
were defeated, while Brij Raj was compelled to
pay tribute to the victorious misls.
A few months later, the Kanheyas, finding that
the stipulated tribute was not forthcoming, invited
the Sukarchakias to join them in raiding the capital
of Brij Raj. Forgetful of his pledge, Mahan Singh
signified his readiness to take part in the expedition.
He lost no time in making his preparations; and
such was the speed of his movements that he
entered Jammu, sacked the town and the surrounding
villages, and departed with his plunder, before the
Kanheyas appeared on the scene. Jai Singh, the
Kanheya chief, enraged at this breach of faith,
 Constitution of the Khalsa. 69
led his forces against Mahan Singh, and defeated
him with considerable loss, annexing, at the same
time, a large portion of his territory. Realizing that
he had more than met his match, Mahan Singh
sought and obtained the support of the Ramgharia
misl, which had also suffered loss of territory at
the hands of the Kanheyas; and, thus strengthened,
he fell upon Jai Singh at Batala, and the allied forces
gained a complete victory. The Kanheya chief was
forced to restore to the Sukarchakias and the
Ramgharias all their lost possessions, and
escaped further penalties by bestowing on Ran jit
Singh the hand of his granddaughter Mahtab Kour,
whose father had been killed in the battle of
Batala.
The remaining eight years of Mahan Singh's
brief career (he died in 1792 at the age of twenty-
seven) were devoted to the extension of the influence
and possessions of the Sukarchakia misl. He waged
unceasing war against the Bhangis, and overcame
many of the sirdars who held lands in the neighbour-
hood of his capital, Gujranwala. His most formid-
able opponent was a Bhangi sirdar named Sahib
Singh, to whom he had formerly given his sister
in marriage. This chieftain he engaged in many
conflicts, and finally laid siege to his capital, Gujrat,
on the banks of the Chenab. While directing opera-
tions he was taken suddenly ill, and his troops, find-
ing themselves without their leader, lost heart and
abandoned the siege. Mahan Singh was conveyed
to Gujranwala, where he died three days later.
He left to his son and successor a state beset by
 70 A Short History of the Sikhs.
dangers; but he bequeathed to him at the same
time the qualities by which dangers are best over-
come—courage combined with a natural genius for
command, and enterprise tempered by prudence and
foresight.

I
 CHAPTER V.

RISE TO POWER OF RANJIT SINGH

MAH^RA\JA
t j^^ji
RANJfT SINGH was born at Guiranwala
in* ^ mmtma - - —~ W ' • *

on November 2, 1780. In his early infancy he was

attacked by smallpox in its most virulent form.
Huge sums of money were distributed in charity and
in gifts to temples and holy men in the hope of
averting the doom which threatened him. For many
days his life was despaired of, but at length the
fever abated, and the iron constitution which in
later life stood him in such good stead enabled him
to triumph over the disease, though he was left
permanently disfigured, and with the loss of his left
eye. When Mahan Singh died, the future Lion of
the Punjab was but twelve years old, and the affairs
of the mist were conducted by his mother, Raj Kour,
a woman of weak character and dissolute habits.
Ranjit Singh owed little of his future greatness to
his early training. His education was utterly
neglected, and he grew to manhood without learning
either to read or write. All the knowledge he
gained in his childhood related to field sports and the
art of war, in both of which he displayed the daring
and ability which marked his subsequent career.

X
72 A Short History of the Sikhs.
Before he had reached the age of ten he had already
accompanied his father on military expeditions, and
on more than one occasion had been in imminent
danger of his life.
Ranjit Singh soon grew impatient of his mother's
control. Her mismanagement of the misl, and the
intrigues in which she became involved, afforded him
a reasonable pretext for taking the reins of govern-
ment into his own hands. At the age of sixteen he
proclaimed the regency at an end, and himself the
uncontrolled chief of the Sukarchakias. Raj Kour
was confined in a neighbouring fortress, where,
shortly afterwards, she died.
But Ranjit Singh's independence was not complete.
His mother was gone; but his mother-in-law, a
woman of a very different stamp, remained to be
reckoned w i t h ; and her influence he was not yet
in a position to treat with contempt. Sada Kour
was the daughter of Jai Singh, and on the latter's
death she had succeeded to the command of the great
Kanheya confederacy. She was a masterful, un-
scrupulous, and ambitious woman; but she possessed
both courage and ability, and on several occasions
proved herself a valuable ally to her youthful son-
in-law. Her real aim was to render the whole of
the Punjab subject to her own dominion; and she
sought, by keeping Ranjit Singh under her control,
to make his power subservient to her plans. But
she mistook both the nature and the capabilities of
her son-in-law. The Lion of the Punjab had no
intention of becoming a stepping-stone for others;
and Sada Kour soon found that the rdle she had
 Rise to Power of Ranjit Singh. 73
designed for him was the very one she was destined
to play herself.
Having assumed the leadership of the Sukarchakias,
Ranjit Singh's first and chief desire was to gain
possession of Lahore, which the Sikhs had long
regarded as the political centre of their community.
The city, though nominally under the dominion of
the ruler of Afghanistan, was held by the Bhangi
confederacy, in whose hands it had remained since its
capture in 1764 by the two Bhangi sirdars, Lehna
Singh and Gujar Singh. It was now being governed,
or rather misgoverned, by Lehna Singh's three sons,
and Ranjit Singh had been given to understand that
the inhabitants would rejoice at their overthrow.
He deemed, therefore, that the time had come for
action; and, as we shall see, fortune, as well as Sada
Kour, favoured the enterprise.
Between the years 1795 and 1797, Shah Zeman,
who in 1793 had succeeded Timiir on the throne
of Afghanistan, had twice invaded India. On each
occasion the Sikhs had followed their old tactics,
withdrawing with their possessions to the hills on
the approach of the Afghan army, seizing every
opportunity to impede its movements, and returning
to their homes 'as soon as it had recrossed the Indus.
In 1798 Shah Zeman made a third invasion. This
time he occupied Lahore, and was taking steps for
the recovery of his father's lost provinces, when the
hostility of the Shah of Persia recalled him suddenly
to Kabul. So hasty was his departure, that he left
behind twelve of his guns which he had been unable
to carry across the Jhelam, the river being then in

<
 •

74 A Short History of the Sikhs.

flood, and he sent a message to Ranjit Singh prom-
ising him the grant of the city of Lahore if he
would recover the guns and convey them to Peshawar.
The request was readily complied with, and the Shah
was as good as his word, though the grant meant
little more to Ranjit Singh than the permission to
take possession of Lahore if he had the power, and
to keep it if he could. This, however, was all that
he wanted; and armed with the Shah's authority,
and supported by Sada Kour and her troops, he
appeared before the city. As he had expected, the
gates were at once opened to him, the people welcomed
him cLS a deliverer, and the Bhangi sirdars fled with-
out offering a show of resistance.
This achievement aroused bitter jealousy amongst
the Sikh sirdars, and a coalition, headed
Bhangis and Ramgarhias, was formed to wrest
Lahore from Ranjit Singh, and to check his growing
power. But neither of these things was accomplished ;
in fact, the coalition defeated its own object. The
Maharaja—the title was assumed by Ranjit Singh
in 1801—did not wait to be attacked. Placing
himself at the head of a large force, he fell upon and
subdued one Bhangi stronghold after another; and
at last, allying himself with the Ahluwalia misl,
marched against and captured the holy city of
1
Amritsar. The Bhangi confederacy never recovered
from this blow; and in the course of a few years all
1
On this occasion the famous Zamzama gun, which had been
captured from Ahmad Shah in 1764, fell into the hands of Ranjit
Singh. I t was afterwards mounted on the walls of Miilt&n, and, on
the fall of t h a t fortress in 1849, came into the possession of the
British. I t now stands in front of the Lahore Museum.
 Rise to Power of Ranjit Singh. 75
its possessions were annexed by Ranjit Singh. The
Ramcrarhia misl lingered on for another decade in
semi-independence, and then it, too, was absorbed
into what we may now justly term the kingdom of
Lahore.
In 1804, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, taking advan-
tage of the dissensions prevailing at the court
of Shah Zeman, entered upon a campaign in the
north-western portion of the Punjab with the object
of wresting from the Afghan ruler his possessions
east of the Indus. Crossing the Ravi with a large
army, he reduced the town of Jhang, and then,
proceeding southward, exacted tribute from Nawab
Muzaffar Khan, the Governor of Multan. Content
for the time with this success, he returned to Lahore
and busied himself in bringing into subjection the
minor sirdars who held lands in the neighbour-
hood of his capital. In the following year he again
marched westward; but he had not proceeded far
when news reached him that Holkar, pursued by
General Lake, had taken refuge in Amritsar, and
was looking to the Sikhs for support. Realizing the
serious consequences which might result from the
presence of the Mahratta chief in his dominions, he
at once abandoned his expedition, and hastened to
Amritsar.
The second Mahratta war, which was at this time
nearing its termination, had commenced in 1802.
Before the close of 1803, the battles of Assaye and
Argaum in the south, and Aligarh and Laswari in
the north, had completely broken the power of
Sindhia and of Nagpur; Delhi was in the hands of
76 A Short History of the Sikhs.
the British; and Jaswant Rao Holkar was the only
Mahratta leader who remained unsubdued. The war
seemed practically at an end, when the rout of
Colonel Monson's brigade in Central India by the
last-named chief completely changed the aspect of
affairs. Elated with his success, Holkar marched
upon and laid siege to Delhi, which was garrisoned
at the time by " a mere handful of sepoys." The
gallantry of the defence went far to wipe out the
stain of Monson's defeat. Holkar was forced to raise
the siege, and marching southwards with his army,
he commenced ravaging the Company's territory
between the Jumna and the Sutlej. Before a month
had passed, he was utterly routed by General Frazer
at Dig; and at Farukhabad, three da}^s later, a large
body of his cavalry was cut to pieces by Lake.
Holkar's position was now desperate, and the pos-
sibility of a Sikh alliance seemed his only chance of
escaping annihilation.
As soon as Ranjit Singh reached Amritsar, a
gurwmata—the last ever held—was called together.
Many of the sirdars, including the Maharaja him-
self, were at first inclined to support Holkar; but
eventually, and mainly through the efforts of the
Ahluwalia chief, it was decided that the army of
the Khalsa should remain neutral. Lake had
already reached the banks of the Beas; and had
the bold policy of Lord Wellesley been followed,
Holkar must have been finally crushed, and the
second Mahratta war would have been the last.
But the Monson disaster had created a panic amongst
the Directors of the Company. Wellesley was
 Rise to Power of Ranjit Singh. 77
recalled; and Lord Cornwallis, armed with the futile
policy of non-intervention, was sent out to conclude
the war. Instead of crushing Holkar, Cornwallis
made terms with him, and restored to him the
greater part of the territory he had lost. At the
same time, a vague and indefinite treaty was entered
into with Ranjit Singh, by which the latter agreed
to have no further connections with the Mahratta
chief, and to see that he left Amritsar without delay;
while the British Government promised, so long as
these conditions were observed, to respect the posses-
sions of the Maharaja, and undertook that no British
force should enter his dominions
Y
This treaty left Ranjit Singh free to carry on his
L tree
plans for the subjugation of the Punjab; and as
nothing was stipulated regarding the eastern limit
of his dominions, he still cherished his project of
bringing the Cis-Sutlej Sikhs under his sway. But
perhaps the chief interest of the treaty lies in
the fact that it was Ranjit Singh's first transaction
with the British Government, and brought him for
the first time into personal contact with British
olitical and military officers and troops trained
nd disciplined on Western lines. There is little
oubt that this experience, coupled with what he
heard from Holkar of European methods of warfare,
sowed the seeds of that respect and friendship for the
British so strikingly manifested in the later years
of his life. Ranjit Singh was a man of shrewd
judgment and keen political foresight. He never
doubted the permanency of the British power in
India, and he foresaw, more clearly than any of
78 A Short History of the Sikhs.
his contemporaries, the greatness of the future that
lay before it. He had been brought up to regard
the British as his enemies, and some years had
still to elapse before this early prejudice was entirely
overcome. On this occasion he would, doubtless,
have lent his aid to Holkar, had he not seen the
folly of engaging in a conflict in which he knew
he must eventually be worsted. At the same time,
he was not blind to the advantage of having the
British for his neighbours. And that advantage
was a very great one; for it was the knowledge
that his eastern frontier was secure from attack
that enabled him, throughout his reign, to devote
his entire strength to the extension and consolidation
of his power. Had the British been conquered
in the second Mahratta war, had Delhi become
a Mahratta capital and Malwa a Mahratta country,
the building up of the kingdom of Lahore could
never have been accomplished—could never even
have been attempted.
The Malwa Sikhs, over whom Eanjit Singh was
determined, if possible, to extend his dominion, had
no sooner been freed from the anarchy which had
prevailed during the Mahratta occupation than they
commenced quarrelling amongst themselves. As has
already been stated, the Phulkian misl was by far
the most powerful of the Cis-Sutlej confederacies.
Its founder was one Phul, a Jat, whose ancestors
had, as early as the eleventh century, migrated
from Rajputana to the district of Sirhind. In 1640
Phul became a convert to the Sikh faith. He built
a town named after himself, where, under the pro-
 Rise to Power of Ranjit Singh. 79
tection of the Great Moghul, he lived and flourished,
and became the father of seven sons, the ancestors
of the reigning families of Patiala, Jind, Nabbha,
and the other minor states of which the misl was
composed. The leadership was in the hands of the
Patiala chief whose ancestor, Ala Singh, had been
invested by Ahmad Shah with the governorship
of Sirhind and the title of Raja. >y^
Shortly after the conclusion of the treaty above
mentioned, a dispute arose between the states of
Patiala and J i n d ; and the chief of the latter,
Raja Bhag Singh, sent a message to Ranjit Singh
begging him to come and act as mediator. The
invitation exactly suited the Maharaja's plans, and
was accepted with alacrity. He crossed the Sutlej
in July 1806, taking with him an army considerably
larger than the peaceful nature of his mission
warranted; and, having settled the dispute in ques-
tion—a task which he performed with much more
advantage to himself than to the parties concerned,
he commenced operations on his own account.
Ludhiana, a town then held by a Muhammadan
chieftain, was seized and plundered by his troops,
as was also Ghumgrana, while a number of smaller
towns opened their gates to him. In each of his
newly acquired possessions he left a sirdar in charge;
and by the time he withdrew to his own kingdom,
he had established a firm foothold in Cis-Sutlej
territory.
The next year a quarrel arose between the Raja
of Patiala and his wife, Rani Aus Kour, and again
the question at issue was referred to the ruler of
80 A Short History of the Sikhs.
Lahore for decision, a famous brass cannon and
a necklace of diamonds being offered as payment
for his services. This time the dispute was ended
before the umpire arrived on the scene, and Ranjit
Singh had some difficulty in establishing his claim
to the promised reward. But the army at his back
was a powerful argument in his favour, and the
gun and necklace were handed over. As before,
the Maharaja turned the occasion to his own ad-
vantage, and, ere recrossing the Sutlej, he had
reduced the greater portion of the Firozpiir district.
These aggressions were viewed with apprehension
both by the British and by the Cis-Sutlej chiefs.
The latter had no desire to accept the ruler of
the Punjab as their overlord, and to preserve their
independence, which they regarded as the birth-
right of every true Sikh, they decided to appeal
to the British Government for protection. Accord-
ingly, a deputation, headed by the chiefs of Jind
and Patiala, was dispatched to Delhi to lay their
cause before Mr. Seton, the Resident. Had the
policy of the British not been influenced by other
I

and weightier causes, there is no doubt that the

request of the chiefs would have been fully complied
with, and steps would then and there have been
taken to confine Ranjit Singh to the north of the
Sutlej. But the dread of Napoleon and his scheme
for the establishment of a French-Indian empire
was, at this time, the dominating factor in Asiatic
politics. In the council chamber at Calcutta the
possibility of a French invasion influenced the de-
cisions on all questions of foreign policy, and
 Rise to Power of Ranjit Singh. 81
particularly those relating to native states and their
rulers, on whose aid Napoleon was said to be
counting for the success of his enterprise.
In these circumstances, the request of the Cis-
Sutlej deputation caused the British Government
no little embarrassment. Ranjit Singh's ambition
to extend his authority over the entire Sikh com-
munity was well known. To thwart this ambition
would be to make an enemy of one whose friend-
ship was, at this juncture, of paramount importance.
On the other hand, to refuse the protection asked
for would mean abandoning a number of friendly
states to a neighbouring power whose disposition
had yet to be tested. The reply to the deputation,
though straightforward, was cautious and vague.
I t practically amounted to this: We can promise
nothing definite; but you have our sympathy, and
we will do what we can.
To Ranjit Singh the tactics of Napoleon were
of no great concern, except in so far as they en-
hanced the value of his friendship in the eyes of
the English. His main desire at this time was
to extend his dominion to the banks of the Jumna.
He knew that the British Government viewed his
project with strong disfavour, and that they were
well able to prevent its accomplishment. But he
hoped to obtain by diplomacy what he was too weak
to take by force; and the prospect, remote or other-
wise, of a French invasion added considerably to
his chances of success. He had, himself, no desire
to see the French enter India, nor any intention
of taking sides with them if they did. But these
(1,841) Q
82 A Short History of the Sikhs.
feelings he was careful to conceal, for he was de-
termined, if the English wanted his assistance, to
make them pay for it.
The reply to the deputation, however unsatis-
factory it may have seemed to the Malwa chiefs,
caused no little anxiety to Ranjit Singh, and he
hastily summoned the Phulkian Rajas to his own
court, where he did his best to convince them of
his goodwill, and to induce them to break off their
connection with the ' British. Their conference was
still in progress when intelligence was received of
the approach of an envoy from the British Govern-
ment, whose mission, as Ranjit Singh was fully
aware, was to conclude a defensive alliance against
the supposed designs of Napoleon. I t was arranged
that the meeting should take place at Kasur, on
the banks of the Sutlej, and there the Maharaja
encamped, surrounded by a large army.
The envoy to whom these negotiations had been
entrusted was Mr. C. T. Metcalfe, then a young man
of twenty-three, but, as subsequent events proved,
a born diplomatist. His reception by the Maharaja
was marked by courtesy not amounting to cordiality.
He lost no time in stating the object of his mission,
and Ranjit Singh declared himself ready to enter
into the proposed alliance on condition that the
Jumna was recognized as the eastern limit of his
territory. With such a condition Mr. Metcalfe had
no power to comply; nor was he able to hold out
any hope that his Government would view it with
favour. As the negotiations proceeded, the attitude
of Ranjit Singh grew less uncompromising; and
 Rise to Power of Ranjit Singh.
Mr. Metcalfe had already written to inform the
Governor-General that a satisfactory solution was
probable, when, without any announcement of his
intentions, the Maharaja broke up his camp and
marched his army across the Sutlej.
Paying no heed to the remonstrances of the
British envoy, Ranjit Singh proceeded to seize what-
ever he could of Cis-Sutlej territory. Faridkot was
occupied, and then Ambala; and tribute was exacted
from Maler Kotla, Shahabad, Thanesur, and other
towns of importance in the Patiala district. For
two months Ranjit Singh remained in Cis-Sutlej
territory, and then returned to Amritsar, where
he was speedily rejoined by Mr. Metcalfe. In the
meantime, news of a more reassuring nature had
come from Europe. The great struggle in the
Peninsula had commenced, and the danger of a
French invasion of India was no longer regarded
as imminent. I t was now the turn of the British
to dictate terms; and Ranjit Singh was informed
that the Government had definitely decided to
take the Cis-Sutlej chiefs under its protection. He
was also given to understand that he must abandon
whatever he had seized during his recent raid, and
withdraw all his troops to the north of the Sutlej.
Such possessions as he had held on the southern
side of the river previous to the commencement of
the negotiations he would be permitted to retain, but
on the same terms as had been granted to the Malwa
chiefs. For the rest, the river Sutlej would be recog-
nized as the boundary of his territory, and beyond it
he would be subject to no interference of any kind.
84 A Short History of the Sikhs.
For a long time Ranjit Singh declined to accept
an alliance based on such terms. He even made
preparations for war; and a force under Colonel
Ochterlony was sent across the Jumna to hold him
in check. In the end, however, wiser considerations
prevailed. The approach of Colonel Ochterlony con-
vinced him that the British were in earnest, and
he was growing apprehensive lest the unsubdued
chiefs of the Punjab should follow the example
of those of Malwa, and seek British protection.
At the same time an incident took place in the
envoy's camp which still further inclined him to
a peaceable settlement. I t was the month of
Muharram, and the Muhammadan retainers of the
envoy were engaged in celebrating the festival with
the customary procession, when they were attacked
by a large body of Akalis. Mr. Metcalfe was forced
to call out his escort, which, though it consisted only
of two companies of native infantry and sixteen
troopers, completely routed the Akalis, who out-
numbered them by ten to one. The Maharaja pro-
fusely apologized for the outrage, complimented Mr.
Metcalfe on the bravery of his soldiers, and sent
a detachment of his own troops to guard the envoy's
camp. The affair made a deep impression on Ranjit
Singh, and convinced him of the unfitness of his own
ill-organized levies to oppose the disciplined armies
of the British.
Having once made up his mind to comply with
the terms offered him, Ranjit Singh lost no time
in recalling his troops to the Punjab, and on April
25, 1809, the treaty was signed. I t was by
 Rise to Power of Ranjit Singh. 85
no means a bad bargain for the Sikh ruler; for,
though forced to abandon all hope of Cis-Sutlej
supremacy, he had the enormous advantage of know-
ing that, from that time forward, he would never
be called upon to defend his eastern frontier. For
this his sole guarantee was the word of the British
Government; but the character of the recent
negotiations had taught him that that word was
to be relied upon. He loyally abided by the terms
of the treaty, and from the moment he signed
it he became the firm and devoted friend of the r

paramount power.

4
 •

CHAPTER VI.

CONQUEST OF T H E PUNJAB.

T H E kingdom of Lahore was now firmly established,

though twenty years of hard and constant fighting
were yet to intervene ere its ruler could claim the
title, Lord of the Punjab. The northern and central
districts, together with the provinces of Multan,
Peshawar, and Kashmir, were still in the hands of
Muhammadan chiefs and governors, while many even
of the Sikh sirdars remained unsubdued. In the
present chapter we shall briefly trace the steps by
which Ranjit Singh extended his power, westward up
to and even beyond the banks of the Indus, south-
wards to Multan, and northwards to the borders of
Tibet. I t was not a series of easy victories, but of
fierce and stubborn contests, which a leader with
less determination than Ranjit Singh could never
have won. That the Sikhs venerate the memory of
their great Maharaja is little to be wondered a t :
his conquest of the Punjab was an achievement of
which Napoleon himself, with the same means at his
disposal, might have been proud.
In his talent for military organization Ranjit Singh
stands supreme amongst Indian leaders, though others
 Conquest of the Punjab. 87
have equalled him in personal courage and surpassed
him in generalship. But if he owed much of his
success to the skill of his commanders, it was he
himself who created the army which made success
possible. The manner in which Mr. Metcalfe's escort
met and repulsed the attack of his fanatical Akalis
had shown him the effect of discipline on the Indian
soldier, and he at once made up his mind to train his
own army on European lines. He formed his men
into battalions, dressed them in red coats with facings
to distinguish the different regiments, and with the
aid of instructors from the Indian army equipped
and drilled them after the manner of Western troops.
The men were well paid, and the chances of plunder
being many, the service rapidly became popular. In
addition to the regular army, which, at the time of
Ranjit Singh's death, consisted of some 30,000 men
with 200 guns, there was a considerable force of
irregular cavalry composed of the contingents of the
Sikh sirdars. The strength of this force varied, but
at times equalled, or even exceeded, that of the regular
army. Each contingent was armed and accoutred
after its own fashion; and when massed together on
parade, they constituted by far the most picturesque
portion of the. Sikh army. The appearance of one of
these contingents is thus described by Baron Htigel:
" The strange troop before me was most peculiarly
Indian. The uniform consisted of a velvet coat or
gaberdine, over which most of them wore a shirt of
mail. A belt round the waist, richly embroidered in
gold, supported the powder horn covered with cloth
of gold, as well as the Persian katdr and the pistols

*
88 A Short History of the Sikhs.
which many of them carried in addition to these
weapons. Some wore a steel helmet, inlaid with
gold and surmounted with a kalgi or black heron's
plume; others wore a cap of steel worked like the
cuirass in rings; this cap lies firmly on the turban,
and covers the whole head, having openings for the
eyes. The left arm is often covered from the hand
to the elbow with a steel cuff inlaid with gold. The
round Sikh shield hangs at the back, fastened with
straps across the chest, a quiver at the right side and
a bow slung at the back being carried as part of the
equipment; a bag made in the belt holds the balls;
and a tall bayonet, frequently ornamented with gold,
held in the right hand when the man is on foot,
and carried over the shoulder when in the saddle,
1
completes the costume."
The artillery, next to the infantry the most
important arm, was thoroughly reorganized. The
Maharaja placed great dependence on this section of
his army, and personally superintended its training
and equipment. The guns, most of them of brass,
were cast in his own foundries at Lahore, and with
them the Sikhs made excellent practice. Later on,
Ranjit Singh took into his service a number of
foreign officers, some of them men of considerable
note, who had fought in the Napoleonic wars.
General Ventura, an Italian officer of distinction, held
^^^^__ __^^* ^ • • • • i p p v ^ ' r ^ • * ' ^^^^^^RV^VW^V^W^B^^'

for many years the command of the Fouj Khds, or

household troops, the most famous and efficient
brigade in the Khalsa army. The same officer held
the post of Governor of Lahore. General Allard, a
1
Travels in Kashmir and the Punjab, by Baron Hiigel, p. 331,
 Conquest of the Punjath 89
Frenchman, raised and commanded a regiment of
dragoons which formed part of the Fouj Khds.
General Court commanded the Gurkha regiments, and
Colonel Gardner, an Irishman, was employed in the
artillery. Altogether Ranjit Singh employed some
twenty European officers, some of whom, like General
Avitabile, who was placed in charge of the Peshawar
district, were employed in administrative work.
They were all well paid, and enjoyed the considera-
tion and confidence of the Maharaja. On the death
of the latter the majority of them resigned, or were
dismissed by the sirdars, who became jealous of their
powers. The employment of these officers increased
enormously the efficiency of Ranjit Singh's army, and
had not a little to do with the success of his later
campaigns, though the chief command in time of war,
if not taken by himself, was always entrusted to one
of his own sirdars. Amongst the latter there were
generals of great ability, such as Diwan Mokham
Chand, who was commander-in-chief from 1806 till
his death in 1814 ; Misr Diwan Chand, who captured
Multan in 1818 ; Sirdar Attar Singh, known for his
great strength and courage as the champion of the
Khalsa; Sirdar Fateh Singh, Sirdar Hari Singh, and
many others.H
After the conclusion of the treaty with the British,
Ranjit Singh first turned his attention to the hill-
fortress of Kangra, which the Gurkhas, under their
leader Ummar Singh, were then endeavouring to
wrest from its rightful possessor, Raja Sansar Chand
of Katoch. The Raja, hard pressed, and worn out by
a long siege, called on the Sikhs to assist him, a step
90 A Short History of the Sikhs.
which he must afterwards have bitterly regretted,
for Ranjit Singh straightway led his army into the
hills, and ended the dispute by taking possession of
the fortress himself. Had Sansar Chand held out a
little longer, the Gurkhas, who were equally worn
out, would probably have abandoned the siege. The
unlucky chief died soon afterwards ; but it was not
until 1829 that Katoch and the other states of the
f

Kangra districts were finally annexed to the territory

of Lahore.
On his return to his capital, Ranjit Singh was met
by Shah Shuja, the exiled monarch of Afghanistan,
who, having been ousted from his throne by his
brother Mahmud, had crossed the Indus in search of
any assistance that might be forthcoming. Ranjit
Singh, foreseeing that the ex-king's influence might
be of use to him, offered him an asylum at Lahore,
which was accepted, and discussed a proposal for a
joint attack on Multan. But Shah Shuja did not
remain long at the Sikh capital. An unexpected
offer of assistance tempted him to march on Peshawar,
which he seized and for a time succeeded in holding.
But Fateh Khan, Mahmud's wazir, and the virtual
ruler of his kingdom, soon drove him out again; and
after an unsuccessful attempt to win over Muzaffar
Khan, the Governor of Multan, the royal exile was
captured by the Governor of Attock, who sent him to
Kashmir, where for twelve months he was kept in
confinement.
The misfortunes of Shah Shuja in no way affected
Ranjit Singh's determination to seize Multan ; and in
February 1810 a strong force under Diwan Mokham
 -

Conquest of the Punjab. 91

Chand was dispatched for its reduction. The Sikhs
were soon in possession of the town; but the citadel,
gallantly defended by Nawab Muzaffar Khan, defied
all their efforts. Mokham Chand was obliged through
illness to relinquish the command; and at the end of
a month, every general capable of taking the lead
having been slain, Eanjit Singh made terms with the
Nawab and raised the siege, the latter engaging to
pay him two and a half lakhs of rupees.
The remainder of this year was spent in bringing
under subjection the Muhammadan tribes of the
central and western Punjab, a task which, for many
years, occupied the Maharaja's spare time. These
1
tribes included the Ghakkars, Tiwanas, Awans, and
many other warlike clans, who, had they been able
to combine under a single leader, might have formed
themselves into a power which it would have taxed
the utmost resources of the ruler of Lahore to over-
come. As it was, Ranjit Singh was able to proceed
against them singly, and their subjugation was, in
consequence, merely a matter of time. \y
Early in 1811, the Maharaja turned his eyes in
the direction of Kashmir, the annexation of which
was one of the main objects of his ambition. Since
the downfall of the Moghul empire, the province had
been under the sway of the Durani kings of Afghan-
istan, having been conquered in 1752 by Ahmad
Shah. I t was governed at this time by an officer
named Atta Muhammad Khan, of whose allegiance
— . | ._ HI ^

the new Shah entertained considerable doubt, and the

fact that Shah Shuja, was now a captive in his hands
1
See Appendix C.
92 A Short History of the Sikhs.
did not tend to allay the suspicion with which he
was regarded. I t happened, therefore, that while
Ranjit Singh was arranging his plan of campaign,
preparations for a similar expedition were being made
by Shah Mahmud, or rather by his all-powerful
minister, Fateh Khan.
Ranjit Singh commenced operations by subduing
the hill-states of Bhimbar and Rajaori, situated to
the west and north-west of Jammu, which latter
place, it will be remembered, had been reduced by
his father, Mahan Singh; and it was while he was
thus engaged that he became aware that the quarry
he was hunting was also being pursued by Fateh
Khan. Neither party desired to come to blows, and
neither was inclined to advance into the hills with
the possibility of having its retreat cut off by the
other. There was but one alternative. The leaders
met and agreed to finish the hunt together, and
divide the spoil. On this understanding the parties
advanced, each having made a mental reservation to
outwit the other if the opportunity offered.
The expedition now became a race for Kashmir,
and Fateh Khan won. The Sikhs were no match for
the Afghans when it came to mountaineering, and a
heavy fall of snow added to their difficulties. Diwan
Mokham Chand, with a few picked troops, pressed on
in advance of the main body; but by the time he
had descended into the valley of Kashmir, all resist-
ance had been overcome by the Afghan troops.
Fateh Khan, on the ground that the Sikhs had taken
no part in the fighting, refused them their share of
the plunder, and the only prize that Mokham Chand
 Conquest of the Punjab. 93
carried back to Lahore was the person of Shah Shuja,
whom Fateh Khan had allowed to slip through his
fingers.
Ranjit Singh was justly enraged at the manner in
which he had been duped ; and, by way of vengeance,
entered into negotiations with the Governor of Attock,
one of the most important posts on the Afghan
frontier, and induced him to surrender it to a Sikh
force. Fateh Khan immediately set out with his
army to recover the fort, leaving his brother Azim
Khan in charge of Kashmir. Diwan Mokham Chand,
who had been sent from Lahore to the relief of the
Sikh garrison, encountered the wazir at Haidaru, a
few miles to the north of Attock, and for the first
time in their history the Sikhs had the satisfaction
of defeating the troops of the Shah in a pitched
battle. Fateh Khan was forced to withdraw to
Kabul. and Attock_ remained _in the possession of
RanjiJSingh; ^ Q ^
On the whole, the ruler of Lahore had no reason
to be dissatisfied with the results of the Kashmir
expedition. The moral effect of his victory over the
troops of the Shah was worth even more to him than
the fort of Attock, in itself a valuable acquisition;
while the capture of Shah Shuja resulted in his
gaining possession of the Koh-i-nur diamond, valued
at that time at close on a million sterling. This
famous stone, taken originally from the mines of
Kolliir, was, in 1656, presented by Mir Jumla, at
1
that time Vizier of Golconda, to the Emperor Shah
1
Mir Jumla, before joining the service of Aurangzeb, had farmed
the mines at Kolliir and other places.
94 A Short History of the Sikhs.
Jahan. In 1739, it formed part of the plunder
which Nadir Shah carried away with him to Persia.
On the murder of the Shah at Kelat in 1747, it
passed to his grandson, Shah Rukh, by whom, four
years later, it was presented to Ahmad Shah, the
founder of the Durani dynasty at Kabul. I t came
into the possession of Shah Zeman in 1793, and of
Shah Shuja in 1795. As to the means by which
Ranjit Singh induced his captive to part with the
diamond accounts differ. There is no doubt, however,
that Shah Shuja held on to his treasure as long as he
could, and that he eventually handed it over as the
price of the Maharaja's friendship. According to
Sir J. D. Cunningham, the latter, after much chaffer-
ing, " visited the Shah in person, mutual friendship
was declared, an exchange of turbans took place, the
diamond was surrendered, and the Shah received the
assignment of a jaghir in the Punjab for his main-
1
tenance, and a promise of aid in recovering Kabul."
Even after the bargain had been struck, Shah Shuja
found his position at Lahore too like that of a
prisoner to be pleasant. He therefore contrived to
make his escape; and after a brief refuge with the
chief of Rajaori, found his way across the Sutlej to
Ludhiana, where he was received by the British
Government, if not with open arms, at least witli
kindness, and was granted a pension of Rs. 4,000 a
month for his maintenance.
Ranjit Singh's next attempt on Kashmir, made the
following year, 1814, ended in disaster. Emboldened
by his recent victory and by the knowledge that
i Cunningham's History of the Sikhs, p. 161.

*
 Conquest of the Punjab. 95
Fateh Khan was well out of the way, he determined
to try conclusions with Azim Khan. This time,
owing to the ill-health of Diwan Mokham Chand, he
led the expedition in person. Acting on the advice
of the chief of Rajaori, he divided his force into two
portions, which advanced into the valley by different
routes. The result was calamitous. Ere the two
divisions could unite, the foremost was met and
completely routed by Azim Khan, and Ranjit Singh
was forced to order a general retreat. In the mean-
time the hill-chiefs had risen behind him, and it was
only with great difficulty that he was able to fight
his way back to Lahore. Soon afterwards Fateh
Khan rejoined his brother Azim; and Ranjit Singh
wisely determined, as far as Kashmir was concerned,
to hold his ambition in check and bide his time.
1
The condition of affairs at Kabul made it unlikely
that Fateh Khan would absent himself for any long
period from the side of his feeble lord and master.
The Barakzai brothers, of whom he was the eldest,
were now the dominant power in Afghanistan; and
for some years to come their doings kept the Eastern
world in a state of ferment. Dost Muhammad Khan,
the most capable of them all, and the founder of the
present Barakzai dynasty, was the governor of the
provinces of Ghazni and Kabul; Kashmir was held by
Azim Khan, and Peshawar by Yar Muhammad Khan;
while Shah Mahmud was a puppet in the hands of
his skilful and crafty wazir. It was obvious that
the downfall of the Durani dynasty was imminent,
and in the scramble for power that was bound to
1
See Appendix B.
96 A Short History of the Sikhs.
ensue, Ranjit Singh knew that his opportunity would
come. He had only to wait four years.
In the meantime, there was plenty of work for
the Sikh army to do. Between the years 1815 and
1819, operations were carried on against the tribes
lying between the Chenab and the Indus, of whom
the most formidable were the Ghakkars and the
Tiwanas. The former were finally subdued in 1818,
and the latter, one of the bravest of the Punjab races,
were driven out of their chief stronghold. The
Tiwanas made a gallant struggle for independence;
and it was not till 1821 that their chief, Ahmad Yar
Khan, tendered his submission. But the greatest
triumph of this period was the capture of Miiltan,
which was effected in the year 1818.
This city, which had so long defied the forces of
the Khalsa, was still held by the redoubtable Nawab
Muzaffar Khan, to whose keeping it had been en-
trusted by Ahmad Shah in 1779. In 1816, and
again in the following year, Ranjit Singh attempted
to carry the fortress by storm ; but on both occasions
his attack was repulsed, and he was forced, as in
1810, to retire with such tribute as he could exact.
Nothing daunted, he prepared for a third attempt in
which his full strength was to be put forth; and in
the beginning of 1818, Multan was invested by
an army of 18,000 men. Muzaffar Khan's force
numbered but 2,000, and with this he determined
to defend his citadel to the last. The Sikhs were
commanded by the Maharaja's son, Kharak Singh,
then a lad of sixteen, the siege operations being in
the charge of General Misr Diwan Chand. The
 Conquest of the Punjab. 97
i

bombardment lasted for four months, during which

time many assaults were repulsed. When the major
portion of the defence works had been demolished,
and the gates of the fortress had been blown in,
1
Ranjit Singh offered Muzaffar Khan a jdgir if he
would surrender without further opposition; but the
offer was unheeded. The final assault was made on
June 2nd. I t was led by an Akali named Sadhu
Singh, who with a band of his desperate followers
stormed the battered defences, while the main body of
the Sikhs forced an entry through the gateway. The
garrison, reduced to barely three hundred men, was
soon overpowered. The brave old Nawab, with four
of his sons, made a last stand at the door of his
residence, where he fell sword in hand, having held
Multan against all comers for close on forty years.
Everything of value in the city was seized upon by
the Sikh soldiers; but on the return of the army to
Lahore, Ranjit Singh compelled them to disgorge
their plunder into the State treasury.
Whilst these events were taking place, Fateh Khan
was summoned to Herat to repel a Persian invasion;
and in 1819 news arrived that he had been assas-
sinated by Prince Kamran, the son of Mahmud Shah.
Azim Khan no sooner_heard of his brother's death
than he hastened to Kabul, leaving another brother,
Jabbar Khan, in charge of Kashmir. On reaching
Afghanistan, he defeated the troops of the Shah,
dislodged his garrisons from Kabul, Ghazni, and
Kandahar, and made himself master of the whole
1
Jdgir (Persian/a, a place ; gir, to hold), a grant of land made by
the Government as a reward for good service.
(1,841) 7
98 A Short History of the Sikhs.
country east of the plains of Herat, where Mahmud
was left clinging to the remnants of his authority.
For the sake of appearances, Azim set up a king in
Kabul, in the person of Ayub Khan; but his title
was Ayub's only kingly attribute.
Ranjit Singh's opportunity had now come, and he
was not slow to take advantage of it. Part of the
garrison of Kashmir had accompanied Azim Khan to
Kabul, and the force which was now dispatched from
Lahore under Diwan Misr Chand was more than
sufficient to overcome the troops left with Jabbar
Khan. The latter did, indeed, make a show of re-
sistance, but he was soon forced to take refuge in
flight, and the valley of Kashmir was left in the
possession of the conqueror of Multan. The province
was formally annexed to the dominions of the ruler
of Lahore, and Moti Ram, the son of Diwan Mokham
Chand, was appointed its first governor. The news of
these events was received with the greatest joy at
Lahore and Amritsar, and for three nights both
cities were illuminated.
The next year saw the commencement of the long
struggle between Lahore and Afghanistan for the
possession of Peshawar. But before passing on to
this the last of Ranjit Singh's campaigns, we must
briefly refer to another event which took place at this
time—namely, the downfall of the famous Sada Kour,
through whose support Ranjit Singh had been enabled,
in the early years of his career, to shake off his
mother's control, and to make himself master of
Lahore and Amritsar. I t had been Sada Kour's hope
that her daughter would bear Ranjit Singh a son, and
 Conquest of the Punjab. 99
that thereby the importance of her own position
would be assured. When, however, years passed by
without the desired development taking place, she
resolved to take matters into her own hands; and,
during one of her son-in-law's military expeditions,
she procured a boy, whom she named Slier Singh, and
passed him off as her daughter's child. Ranjit Singh
was anxious at that time to avoid a breach with
Sada Kour; and on his return to Lahore, though
fully aware of the fraud that had been .practised on
him, treated Sher Singh like a son, and allowed him
the title of prince.
In 1820, when the so-called prince had reached his
twelfth year, Sada Kour requested that an estate
suitable to his rank might be granted him. The
Maharaja was not unwilling to promote the welfare of
a youth whose good looks and high spirits had already
won his favour, but he was by no means disposed to
advance the position and influence of his ambitious
mother-in-law. He accordingly suggested to her that
she should relinquish the management of her own
lands (the remains of the Kanheya estates), and make
them over to her grandson. This the old lady
resolutely declined to do; and then, in fear of the
consequences of her refusal, she left Lahore by night
in a covered litter, and endeavoured to make her way
into Cis-Sutlej territory. The troopers of the Maha-
raja were soon in pursuit, and before she had covered
half the distance to the Sutlej, Sada Kour was
captured and brought back to Lahore. A few days
later she was confined in a neighbouring fortress,
where she passed the remainder of her days. Ranjit

I
100 A Short History of the Sikhs.
Singh annexed the whole of her lands, of which he
granted a portion, including the town of Batala, in
jdgir to Sher Singh.
Previous to the capture of Kashmir, Eanjit Singh
had seized and occupied Peshawar; but the town was
soon after recovered, and was in 1820 held
Muhammad Khan. The Maharaja now determined
to regain his hold on the frontier province; and as a
preliminary measure an ambassador was dispatched
to Yar Muhammad with a demand for tribute, a
demand which the latter, remembering Haidaru,
deemed it expedient to comply with. This transaction
was duly reported at Kabul; and Azim, Khan, enraged
that a Barakzai chief should enter into a subordinate
alliance with the Sikh ruler, the sworn enemy of his
race and country, marched at the head of a large
army to Peshawar, with a view to restoring his
authority and the credit of his family. The Yuzafzai
tribes, ever ready for a jihad against the unbelievers,
joined him en route, and made a formidable addition
to his strength. The Sikhs advanced from Attock in
two divisions, one on either side of the Kabul river:
those on the left bank, under the personal command
of the Maharaja, to oppose the Yuzafzais; and those
on the right, under Sirdar Hari Singh Nalwa and
General Ventura, to do battle against the troops of
Azim Khan. The fight took place some twenty
miles from Attock ; and on both sides of the river the
Sikhs were equally successful, though on the left
bank the struggle was fierce and bloody. Azim
withdrew to Kabul, and the Sikhs entered Peshawar
unopposed. Having sacked the city and the villages
 Conquest of the Punjab. 101
of the Khaibar, the Maharaja reopened negotiations
with Yar Muhammad Khan. The hostile spirit of
the surrounding- tribes rendered Peshawar a difficult
place to hold, and he decided, for the time being, to
reinstate Yar Muhammad, who, having little to hope
for at the hands of his brother, willingly became the
tributary of Lahore. Azim Khan did not long survive
his defeat, and his death in 1823 produced further
confusion in the affairs of Afghanistan. The Barakzai
brothers were now without any acknowledged head,
and their quarrels led to a period of uninterrupted
anarchy.
During the three succeeding years, no operations
of importance were undertaken by the Sikh army.
r
This unwonted inactivity w as mainly due to the
ill-health of the Maharaja, who, for the greater part
of 1825, lay sick in Amritsar. Towards the end of
1826, a serious rising took place amongst the
Yuzafzais and other tribes in the neighbourhood of
Peshawar, who, stirred to action by a Wahabi leader,
Sayad Ahmad Shah, made an attempt to drive the
Sikhs out of Hazara. This district, lying to the north
of Rawal Pindi, and enclosed between the Indus and
the hills of Kashmir, was brought under Sikh control
by the subjugation of the Ghakkars in 1818, and
had proved a continual source of trouble to its
possessors. The Maharaja went himself to the
assistance of the governor, Sirdar Hari Singh Nalwa,
and having defeated the tribesmen with great loss,
he marched on to Peshawar to punish the gover-
nor for conniving at the designs of the Wahabi
leader. The tribute of Peshawar was increased, and
 *

102 A Short History of the Sikhs.

Yar Muhammad's son was carried to Lahore as a
hostage.
In 1829, the Say ad again collected the tribesmen
round his standard, this time for an attack on
Peshawar, in order to punish the governor for his
submission to the Sikh unbeliever. When his
assailant descended the hills, Yar Muhammad
marched out and attacked him. But he lost both
the battle and his life, and Peshawar was only
saved from capture by the timely arrival of General
Ventura. With his disciplined troops, the general
had little difficulty in scattering the fanatical
followers of Sayad Ahmad, after which he entered
Peshawar, and conferred the governorship on Sultan
Muhammad Khan, the brother of Yar Muhammad.
But the Sayad was not yet done with. No sooner
*

had General Ventura departed, than he once more

swooped down on Peshawar; and before any steps
could be taken to oppose him, he had driven out
Sultan Muhammad and made himself master of
the city. This necessitated the dispatch of another
Sikh force, which set out early in 1830. Sayad
Ahmad evacuated Peshawar on its approach, but for
a year longer maintained a desultory warfare in the
surrounding hills. He was then defeated and slain
by Hari Singh Nalwa, and Sultan Muhammad was
reinstated as tributary governor.
Ranjit Singh was beginning to find his vassal
province an expensive luxury. The tribute he had
received from Sultan Muhammad and his predecessor
was considerably less than the amount he had spent
in protecting them; and when later he discovered

^
 Conquest of the Punjab. 103
that Sultan Muhammad was even less trustworthy
than his brother, he came to the conclusion that the
cheapest and safest way of dealing with Peshawar
would be to annex it and administer it himself. This,
however, was not a step to be taken in a hurry.
Peshawar was still, in name at least, a province
of Afghanistan; and its occupation by the Sikhs
would undoubtedly lead to a conflict with Dost
Muhammad Khan, who by this time was firmly
seated on the throne of the Durani kings, and who
was, as Ranjit Singh well knew, the strongest ruler
who had occupied that throne for many generations.
In these circumstances, it is not surprising that
Ranjit Singh lent a sympathetic ear to a proposal
made to him at this time by his old friend Shah
Shuja. For reasons best known to himself, the
Durani exile had decided that 1833 was the year in
which he was destined to regain his lost inheritance.
He first appealed for assistance to his British
protectors ; but he was informed that the British
Oovernment, though it had no intention of interfering
with his enterprise and would even be glad to see it
succeed, could not do otherwise than remain neutral.
Shah Shuja, therefore, laid his plans before Ranjit
Singh. His intention was to march through Sind,
and having persuaded the Amirs of that country to
join his standard, to make for Kabul by way of
Kandahar. In return for the assistance of the
Sikh ruler, he promised, on his restoration to
power, to abandon his claims on Peshawar and all
other possessions held by his ancestors east of the
Indus. Ranjit Singh had no very ardent desire
104 A Short History of the Sikhs.
to see Shah Shuja regain his throne, and no belief
that he would keep his promises if he did. But his
attempt to do so, whether successful or not, would
for a time at least occupy the attention and re-
sources of Dost Muhammad Khan, and thereby render
the Sikh occupation of Peshawar a comparatively
easy undertaking. Moreover, if Shah Shuja was
again to become the ruler of Afghanistan, it was just
as well that he should owe his throne to Sikh
assistance. Accordingly, Ranjit Singh, having as-
certained that his action would not be regarded as
unfriendly by the British Government, promised his
co-operation, and the Afghan expedition was fitted
out at his expense. 1 J
I t is unnecessary to follow in detail the fortunes
of Shah Shuja. His attempt to win over the
Amirs of Sind was a signal failure, and it was only
by the force of arms that he was able to extract
from them either money or supplies. In Afghanistan
he was for a time more successful. He defeated the
Kandahar forces, and had almost effected an entry
into the town when Amir Dost Muhammad, at the
head of a large army, came to its relief. A fierce
battle followed in which the Amir was victorious.
Shah Shuja fled from the field, and with the
remnants of his expedition found his way, through
Baluchistan and Sind, back to Ludhiana. Better
fortune attended Ranjit Singh. While Barakzai and
Durani were struggling for supremacy under the
walls of Kandahar, a Sikh force of 8,000 men, led
by Sirdar Hari Singh, set out for Peshawar. The
Barakzai governor, who might have held out had
/

AMIR DOST MUHAMMAD.

(Portraits of the Princes and Peoples of India, by the Hon. Emily Eden.)
 t

106 A Short History of the Sikhs.

there been any chance of relief from Kabul, deserted
his charge, and the Sikhs took possession of the
city almost without striking a blow.
The Maharaja had had quite enough of tributary
governors. Peshawar was made a part of the
kingdom of Lahore, and Sirdar Hari Singh was left
in command of the town and province. But Dost
Muhammad had no intention of leaving the Sikh
lion in peaceful possession of his prey, and from
that time forward the recovery of Peshawar was an
object for which he never ceased to strive. His
first invasion of the district took place in 1835, and
might have been successful but for the skilful part
played by Azziz-ud-din, Ranjit Singh's most trusted
counsellor, who contrived to open negotiations with
Amir Dost Muhammad and thereby delay his advance.
This gave the Sikhs time for preparation ; and they
mustered so formidable a force that the Amir deemed
discretion the better part of valour, and withdrew
his army to Kabul. To guard against a second
surprise, the Sikhs the following year established a
fortress at Jamrud, at the entrance to the Khaibar.
This was more than Dost Muhammad could stand;
and in April 1837 he dispatched his son, Muham-
•4

mad Akbar Khan, with a force of over 30,000

men for its reduction. Sirdar Hari Singh lav ill
at Peshawar, but the garrison of Jamrud, only 800
strong, managed to hold out until he was able to
march to its relief. Meanwhile, reinforcements had
been sent for from Lahore, where the Maharaja was
engaged in celebrating with great pomp the marriage
of his grandson, Prince Nao NihaJ. Singh. AH_
1
 Conquest of the Punjab. 107
the troops assembled at the capital in honour of
the royal nuptials were at once sent off to the
frontier, led by the bridegroom himself and General
Ventura. Once more Peshawar was saved by the
arrival, in the nick of time, of a relieving force. A
desperate encounter had taken place at Jamrud, in
which the brave Hari Singh fell mortally wounded.
The Sikhs, bereft of their leader at the most critical
moment of the fight, had been forced back on
Peshawar, where they were immediately besieged.
But the Afghans had hardly commenced their attack
before the prince and Ventura were upon them.
r
There w as no fight to speak of. Backed by the
whole might of the Khalsa, the Sikh leaders had
little difficulty in convincing Muhammad Akbar that
it was time to decamp, and in a short time he and
his whole force were in full retreat towards Jalalabad.
 CHAPTER VII.

ADMINISTRATION AND COURT OF

R A N J I T SINGH.

BY the end of 1834 there remained not a vestige of

Afghan authority east of the Indus. The kingdom
of Lahore had reached the zenith of its power and
prosperity, and its ruler who, twenty-five years
before, was but the chieftain of an insignificant clan,
had become a sovereign whose actions were a matter
of concern to the world's greatest Powers. But the
strength of the Khalsa lay in the strength of Ranjit
Singh; and when death removed the sceptre from his
hand, the fabric of power, which for close on half a
century he had laboured to build up, crumbled to
pieces in less than five years. Before passing on to
the events which immediately preceded its downfall,
let us endeavour to get a closer view of the Sikh
monarchy in the days of its glory.
In the early part of the nineteenth century the
population of the Punjab numbered, roughly, twenty
millions. The Sikhs constituted barely one-tenth of
this total. Of the remaining nine-tenths, rather more
than half were Muhammadans and the rest Hindus,
the latter being more numerous in the south and
the former in the north and north-west, whilst the
 Administration of Ranjit Singh. 109
Sikhs themselves were mainly confined, as they are
to-day, to the regions around Lahore, Amritsar, and
Jalandhar. As the ruling race, the Sikhs were better
treated and enjoyed greater privileges than their
Hindu or Muhammadan fellow-subjects: their lands
were more lightly assessed, and they were given a
readier access to lucrative posts, particularly in the
army, the most highly favoured and the best paid
service in the State. They regarded Hindus and
Muhammadans alike as the enemies of their faith
and the legitimate objects of their oppression. They
valued them as payers of revenue, and allowed them
just sufficient prosperity to enable them to satisfy the
demands of the State.
But though the rank and file of these two less
favoured communities were in many parts reduced
to abject poverty, there were men belonging to both
who held offices of high importance at the court of
Ranjit Singh. This was the result of necessity
rather than choice. The Jats—and nearly all Sikhs
were Jats—made fine soldiers but poor civil ser-
vants ; and no one understood their limitations
better than the Maharaja. In the army there
was no rank which a J a t could not hold with
distinction, but he lacked the intellectual qualities
essential to success in the field of diplomacy or civil
administration. Ranjit Singh is said to have been
unusually fortunate in the officers who controlled the
various branches of his government; but if he was
well served, it was because he had the sagacity to
select the right men for his service. If the right
man happened to be a Sikh, so much the better; but
no A Short History of the Sikhs.
if he happened to be a Brahmin or a Mussalman, his
alien creed was no bar to his preferment. One of the
most prominent officers at the court of Lahore was a
Muhammadan named Azziz-ud-din. He joined the
service of the State as durbar physician, and in
course of time rose to be the Maharaja's chief and
most confidential counsellor. Equally distinguished
for his learning, his skill as a diplomatist, and the
courtly urbanity of his manners, he became the chief
intermediary between the Lahore court and the
British Government. He was a staunch upholder of
the British alliance; and the manner in which he
conducted the business of his chief won the admira-
tion of British officials, and on more than one
occasion called forth a warm encomium from the
Governor-General.
Raja Dina Nath, another officer of distinction, was
a Hindu. Scarcely inferior in attainments to Azziz-
ud-din, but of a more crafty disposition, he rose
in 1834 to the position of Minister of Finance, and
both during and after the lifetime of Ranjit Singh
his influence over the Sikh sirdars was very great.
He enjoyed the full confidence of his master, and in
later years of the British Government, who, on the
annexation of the Punjab, appointed him to the
Council of Regency, where his experience and skill
as a revenue officer rendered his services of great
value. Of equal importance in the State were the
Jammu brothers, Ghulab Singh, Dhian Singh, and
Suchet Singh. These belonged to a family of Dogra
Rajputs. They entered the Sikh army as troopers,
and by their conspicuous abilities raised themselves
 Administration of Ranjit Singh, ill
«

high in the Maharaja's service. Dhian Singh, as

controller of the royal household, was the most in-
fluential officer in the State. Ghulab Singh held a
high command in the army, and was afterwards
installed by the British Government as the first
independent ruler of Kashmir. Suchet Singh held
no office of importance, but was a prominent figure at
the Maharaja's court. Amongst other " foreigners"
who obtained favour or preferment may be mentioned
the two_sons of Nawab Muzaffar Khan, the defender
of Multan, both of whom received pensions and
positions at court. Khuda Yar Khan, the chief of
the conquered Tiwanas, received like consideration;
while jdgirs and minor appointments were conferred
on many lesser chiefs, both Hindu and Muhammadan,
who had been forced to surrender their independence.
This liberal policy, though it helped to heal the
wounds of the conquered, was viewed with con-
siderable alarm by the Sikh sirdars, who remembered
the warnings of Guru Govind Singh, and looked
upon the advancement of the Brahmin, the Rajput,
and the Mussalman as a violation of the fundamental
principles of their faith, and a menace to the very
existence of the Khalsa as the brotherhood of the
Sikhs. Towards the end of his life, even Banjit
Singh found it difficult to control the diversified and
antagonistic elements of which his court was com-
posed ; and when the reins of government passed
from his hands to those of his incompetent successor,
order speedily gave way to anarchy and bloodshed.
The army became supreme, and the rival princes and
politicians who endeavoured to buy its support
ft
112 A Short History of the Sikhs.
succeeded only in driving it and themselves farther
and farther along the road to destruction.
Ranjit Singh's government was a military despotism.
The breaking up of the misls changed the whole
character of the Sikh constitution. Together with
their individual independence, the sirdars lost all
share in the direction of the affairs of their com-
munity. The gurwmata, or parliament of the
Khalsa, became a thing of the past; the last was
» . ^ ^ - W ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ B ^ ^ - * - —- ^

called in 1805, and from that time forward the

word of the Maharaja was the law of the land. The
army, almost exclusively composed of Sikhs, was
the only effectively organized department in the State,
and constituted the ruler's sole instrument for the
control of his executive and the enforcement of his
decrees. The army was, in fact, the Khalsa, and it
was with the Sikh army and not with the peoples of
the Punjab that the^British were, ten years later,
forced into collision;/'-" Ranjit Singh kept his im-
petuous and restive soldiery under control by the
maintenance of an iron discipline which they would
have been slow to endure at the hands of a less
courageous, less able, or less successful leader. That
they must get out of hand under Kharak Singh was
obvious to all who knew anything of that prince's
character; but probably no one foresaw the violence
of the storm that was impending.
The revenue of the State amounted at this time
to nearly one and a half crores of rupees, or about
£1,500,000. Nearly five-sixths of this sum was
derived from land revenue, and the remainder from
customs and stamp duties. The accumulated incomes
 Administration of Ranjit Singh, lis
of the jdgirddrs, who contributed nothing to the
State, exceeded a crore of rupees; so that the total
resources of the kingdom of the Khalsa amounted, in
round figures, to two and a half crores of rupees, or
£2,500,000. The average _rate of assessment for
land was two-fifths of the yearly produce, and was
usually paid in kind. The manner in which the
assessment was collected was unsystematic and
vexatious. The country was divided up into districts,
which were leased out to kdrddrs, or revenue-farmers,
were responsible to the government for the
revenues of the areas over which they presided.
Within the neighbourhood of the capital, the kdrddrs
were subject to a certain amount of supervision,
but in the outlying provinces their rapacity was
practically unchecked. Ranjit Singh had himself
little taste for, and little time to devote to, the
detailed work of civil administration; and pro-
vided his exchequer was kept well supplied, he left
the department of finance to manage its own affairs.
Nevertheless, he kept a watchful eye on the district
accounts, and the kdrddr whose payments were in
arrears could count on a swift and sharp punishment.
The kdrddr was not only a farmer of land
revenue; he was also an excise officer, and the chief
£L

magistrate of his district. Duties were levied on

almost every article in common use, and the poor
were as heavily taxed as the rich. The trader,
hampered on every side by tolls and State monop-
olies, was no better off than the cultivator. Both
were taxed almost to the limit of endurance, and
hence the resources of the country remained un-
(1,841) 8
 114 A Short History of the Sikhs.
developed and commerce was practically non-existent.
In his judicial capacity the kdrddr exercised extensive
powers. All civil disputes and criminal cases came
u n d e r h i s jurisdiction. For most offences the punish-
ment inflicted took the form of a fine; and though
the money thus collected became State property, it
can easily be imagined that the kdrddr found his
magisterial duties a source of considerable profit.
But the^ government of Ranjit Singh, though un-
doubtedly oppressive, was not altogether unpopular.
Whatever its faults, it was a settled government,
and that alone was an unwonted luxury in the
Punjab. If the people were heavily taxed, they
were not taxed out of existence. They had at least
a ruler who knew that he could not strengthen him-
self by ruining his subjects; a ruler who, if he took
much from them, gave them in return what was well
worth the price they paid—internal peace, and secu-
rity from foreign invasion.
The gifts which nature lavished on Ranjit Singh
were of the abstract rather than the concrete order.
/ H i s strength of character and personal magnetism,
the real sources of his greatness, animated a frame
which, had it belonged to one less highly endowed,
might have been deemed both mean and unprepossess-
ing. The most authentic descriptions of him relate
to his appearance in later life, when his health was
permanently broken. Baron Hiigel, who visited
Lahore in 1834, thus records his first impression of
the Sikh ruler : " Ranjit Singh is now fifty-four years
old. The small-pox deprived him when a child of
his left eye, whence he gained the surname Kana,
 latffe*m

~t —

MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH,

(India Office.)
116 A Short History of the Sikhs.
one-eyed, and his face is scarred with the same
malady. His beard is thin and grey, with a few dark
hairs in i t ; according to the Sikh religious custom
it reaches a little below his chin, and is untrimmed.
His head is square, and large for his stature, which,
though naturally short, is now considerably bowed
by disease; his forehead is remarkably broad. His
shoulders are wide, though his arms and hands are
1
quite shrunk." The same writer concludes a later
description as follows: " When he seats himself in
a common English chair, with his feet drawn under
him, the position is one particularly unfavourable to
him ; but as soon as he mounts his horse and with his
black shield at his back puts him on his mettle, his
whole form seems animated by the spirit within, and
assumes a certain grace of which nobody could believe
2
it susceptible." Mr. Prinsep, who saw a great deal
of Ranjit Singh, describes him as unprepossessing in
appearance, but adds that when the first ill impres-
sion disappeared, no one admitted to the presence of
Ranjit Singh could fail to be struck with his
extraordinary qualities, his intelligence and acuteness.
a
His penetrating look, the restlessness of his fiery eye,
which seemed to dive into the thoughts of the person
he conversed with, and the rapidity of his laconic but
searching questions, denoted the activity of his mind
3
and his insatiable curiosity." According to Sir
Lepel Griffin, his appearance even in later life was
" striking and memorable;" while, previous to his
paralytic seizure in 1834, he was " t h e beau ideal
1
Travels in Kashmir and the Punjab, by Baron Hiigel, p. 288.
2 3
Ibid., p. 380. History of the Punjab, vol. ii. pp. 171-2.
 Administration of Ranjit Singh. 117
of a soldier—strong, spare, active, courageous, and
enduring. An excellent horseman, he would remain
the whole day in the saddle without showing any
signs of fatigue. His love for horses amounted to
a passion, and he maintained an enormous stud for
his personal use collected from every part of India,
Arabia, and Persia. He was also a keen sportsman
and an accomplished swordsman. At Rupar in 1831
he competed with success with his own troopers and
those of Skinner's Horse in tent-pegging and feats of
swordsmanship." *
Ranjit Singh assumed few of the outward signs of
roj^alty. His dress was invariably of the simplest
description, his only ornaments, even on State
occasions, being a string of pearls about his waist
and the Koh-i-nur on his wrist. He never wore
a royal head-dress, and he never used a throne.
" My sword," he remarked to Baron Hugel, " is all
the distinction I require." And yet no stranger
could have entered his durbar and mistaken any other
person for the Lion of the Punjab. But though he
affected simplicity himself, his court was renowned
even in India, the home of pageantry, for its
splendour. He loved to surround himself with tall
and handsome men, and he loved to see them
sumptuously attired. At a full durbar, the brilliance
of his troops and retainers and the magnificence of
his courtiers recalled the glories of the court of Shah
J a h a n ; while the contrast provided by his own lack
of adornment served, as no doubt he knew, to
enhance the completeness of his ascendency.
1
Ranjit Singh, by Sir Lepel Griffin, p. 90.
118 A Short History of the Sikhs.
On two historic occasions, Ranjit Singh met the
Governor-General of British India. The first meeting
was with Lord William Bentinck in 1831, and took
place at Rupar, on the banks of the Sutlej. The two
courts, encamped on either side of the river, vied
with each other in the splendour of their equipment;
and such was the pomp displayed in the exchange of
visits of state that the occasion has come to be
spoken of as the Indian " Field of the Cloth of Gold."
T
The second meeting w as in 1838, when Lord Auck-
land visited the Sikh ruler in his own capital, and
the proceedings Were no less magnificent. A full and
interesting account of this pageant is to be found in
the diary of the Honourable W. Osborne, Lord Auck-
land's military secretary. Osborne also accompanied
Sir William Macnaghten on his mission to Lahore
in connection with the Tripartite Treaty, to be
referred to later on, and his diary gives the following
graphic account of the manner in which the Maharaja
received his visitors at his garden palace:
" Dismounting from our elephants at the gateway,
and entering the garden on foot, we were conducted
by the two Sikh chiefs up a broad gravel walk about
three hundred yards in length, lined on each side by
Ranjit's Ghorcharhas, handsomely dressed in chain
armour and quilted jackets, made of a rich silk of
either a bright yellow, green, or scarlet colour, giving
the walk from the gateway to the palace the ap-
pearance of a border of gaudy and gigantic tulips.
On reaching the verandah, Ranjit's Minister, Dhian
Singh, came forward and conducted us round the
palace to the hall of ^udience, at the entrance of
 Administration of Ranjit Singh. 119
which we found the Maharaja himself waiting to
receive us. After a friendly embrace, he led us to
the upper end of the hall, and seated us on golden
chairs opposite to himself. Rajah Sher Singh was
seated on his right hand, and Rajah Hira Singh, his
Minister's son, upon his left, the only two individuals
who are allowed a seat in his presence on public
occasions, with the exception of his son and heir,
Kharak Singh, though in private that privilege is
sometimes accorded to the three gurus, or priests,
who act as his spiritual advisers. The floor was
covered with rich shawl carpets, and a gorgeous
shawl canopy, embroidered with gold and precious
stones, supported on golden pillars, covered three
parts of the hall.
" The coup d'ceil was most striking; every walk in
the garden was lined with troops, and the whole
space behind the throne was crowded with Ranjit's
chiefs, mingled with natives from Kandahar, Kabul,
and Afghanistan, blazing with gold and jewels, and
dressed and armed in every conceivable variety of
colour and fashion. Cross-legged in a golden chair,
dressed in simple white, wearing no ornaments but
a string of enormous pearls round the waist and the
celebrated Koh-i-mir, or mountain of light, on his
arm—the jewel rivalled if not surpassed in brilliancy
by the glance of fire which every now and then shot
from his single eye as it wandered restlessly around
x
the circle—sat the lion of Lahore."
No political business of any importance was trans-
yf Ravjeet Singh, by Hon. W
pp. 71-2.
120 A Short History of the Sikhs.
acted at the meetings with Lord William Bentinck and
Lord Auckland. Nevertheless the proceedings, both at
Rupar and at Lahore, though confined on each
occasion to the exchange of ceremonial greetings,
were by no means devoid of useful results. They
served not only to ratify and strengthen the friend-
ship which already existed between Ranjit Singh and
the paramount power, but they were the means of
advertising that friendship to the world at large and
thereby strengthening the hands of both parties.
The maintenance of cordial relations with his English
neighbours was the key-note of Ranjit Singh's foreign
policy. " His political sagacity," says Sir Lepel
Griffin, " was great, and was shown in nothing more
convincingly than in his determined friendship with
the English, when he had once realized that they
were safe friends and very dangerous enemies." The
sincerity of this friendship was proved by the best of
all tests: it held when a strain was put upon it, and
more than once the strain was heavy. This was
strikingly illustrated during the transactions of the
British Government with the country of Sind, when
the Maharaja, rather than break the pledge he had
given more than a quarter of a century before and
despite the angry protests of his sirdars, co-operated
with his ally in furthering a policy with which he
had no sympathy, and which necessitated the abandon-
ment of a scheme that for years past he had been
longing to carry into effect. A detailed account of
the circumstances which led, in 1843, to the annexa-
tion of Sind to British India must be sought for
elsewhere, but the main events of the story as they
 •

Administration of Ranjit Singh. 121

affected the position and policy of the ruler of the
Punjab must be briefly referred to.
In 1830, Lord William Bentinck received from the
Board of Control instructions to investigate the value
of the Indus as a commercial highway, and at the
same time to cultivate friendly relations with the
Amirs of Sind with a view to opening up that country
to British trade, and securing the co-operation of its
rulers against foreign enemies. Sind, at this time,
•

consisted of three states, Mirpur in the south, Hyder-

abad in the centre, and Khairpur in the north, each
with its own government and its own ruler, or Amir.
The district which intervened between Sind proper
and the Punjab had belonged to the Durani kings of
Afghanistan, but on the death of Muhammad Azim
it came under the joint sway of the Sind Amirs. Its
principal town, Shikarpur, was an important com-
mercial centre, and was situated on one of the best
trade-routes into Baluchistan. On this district Ranjit
Singh had long cast an envious eye; and having
pushed the boundaries of his kingdom eastwards,
northwards, and westwards, as far as they could be
made to go, he turned to the south as the only
T
quarter w here further expansion was possible. He
particularly desired to take Shikarpur, the possession
of which town would give him control of the turbulent
tribes of the surrounding neighbourhood, who were
constantly committing depredations on the borders of
his Multan province. War is incompatible with
commerce, and the schemes of Ranjit Singh were
therefore in direct conflict with vhose of the British
Government. As to the Amirs, they were as little
122 A Short History of the Sikhs.
disposed to surrender a valuable strip of territory as
they were to allow a British official to pry into the
resources of their several domains.
Now it happened that, soon after Lord William
Bentinck received his communication from the Board of
Control, a present from his Majesty, King William IV.,
to the ruler of the Punjab, consisting of four English
cart-horses, arrived in Bombay. I t was necessary
that these ponderous animals should be forwarded
without delay to Lahore, and the Governor-General
decided to send them via Sind, and to make use of
the opportunity thus afforded to carry out the Board's
instructions. He accordingly entrusted the convey-
ance of the royal gift to Captain (afterwards Sir
Alexander) Burnes, and directed that officer to
ascertain in the course of his journey all that he
could of Sind trade and Sind politics, and to make a
report on the navigation of the River Indus. The
Amirs put every obstacle they could in Burnes' w a y ;
but after many wearisome and dangerous delays, the
journey was successfully accomplished, and on reach-
ing Lahore the envoy received a hearty welcome from
Ranjit Singh, who was delighted with his horses, and
deemed himself highly honoured by his Majesty's
regard.
Lord William Bentinck considered Burnes' report so
encouraging that, early in 1 8 3 1 , he dispatched a
mission to Hyderabad with the object of concluding a
commercial treaty with the Amirs. Ranjit Singh
knew little of these transactions; and, during the
meeting at Rtipar the following October, he en-
deavoured to sound his neighbours as to their real
 Administration of Ranjit Singh. 123
intentions with regard to Sind. He made no secret
of his desire to seize Shikarpur, and even hinted his
readiness to join in a combined attack on the Amirs,
alluding to their late opposition to Captain Burnes as
a justification for such a step. But his suggestions
met with little response; and before he broke up his
camp he had heard enough to convince him that the
British had no intention of engaging in hostilities
against Sind, and would regard any such action on
his part with the strongest disapproval. Though
unwilling to lay aside, even for a time, his plans for
territorial extension, he determined at all costs to
maintain his alliance with the British intact; and
before the end of the year he had not only prom-
ised to abstain from invading Sind, but had agreed
to throw open the navigation of the Sutlej in con-
tinuation of that of the lower Indus. In 1832
Colonel Henry Pottinger, the leader of the Hyderabad
mission, succeeded, despite the opposition with which
his overtures were at first received, in negotiating a
treaty which opened the roads and rivers of Sind to
British trade, though forbidding their use for military
purposes, and the same year a similar agreement
relating to the Sutlej was made with Ranjit Singh.
But the tribes of the frontier district, encouraged
by the Mir of Khairpiir, still continued their depreda-
tions; and in 1835 the Governor of Multan was
forced to take active measures for their chastise-
ment, with the result that the tribesmen were de-
feated, and the Sikhs occupied Bojhan, a position
some miles south of Mithankote. The Amirs at once
made preparations to repel an invasion; while two

•
124 A Short History of the Sikhs.
Sikh armies, one under Prince Kharak Singh and the
other under Nao Nihal Singh, were soon on the banks
of the Indus. As a collision seemed imminent, the
British Government determined to mediate. The Mir
of Khairpur was informed that the British looked to
him to restrain his unruly subjects, and, at the same
time, a special ambassador was sent to Lahore to
remonstrate with Ranjit Singh and warn him that if
he persisted in making war on Sind, the Government
would be obliged to consider his action unfriendly.
By yielding to persuasion, and thus paving the way
to a peaceful settlement, the Sikh ruler once more
showed the value he placed on British friendship.
He pledged himself to abandon once for all his de-
signs on Shikarpur, and stipulated only for the
retention of Rojhan as a Sikh possession. To this
the Amirs reluctantly consented. The Mazaris, the
tribe who had caused most of the trouble, were thus
brought under the dominion of Lahore, and the
Mazari chief soon after tendered his submission.
" Runjeet Singh," says Cunningham, " was urged by
his chiefs not to yield to the demands of the English,
for to their understanding it was not clear where
such demands would stop; but he shook his head,
and asked them what had become of the two hundred
thousand spears of the Mahrattas!—and, as if to
show how completely he professed to forget or forgive
the check imposed upon him, he invited the Governor-
General to be present at Lahore on the occasion of
the marriage of the grandson whom he had hoped to
1
hail as the conqueror of Sind."
1
A History of the Sikhs, by J. D. Cunningham, p. 219.
 CHAPTER VIII.

T H E LAST Y E A R S OF R A N J I T SINGH

T H E extent to which, as early as 1835, the fear of

Russia dominated British policy in India, may be
gathered from Lord William Bentinck's minute of
that year on the constitution of the Indian army.
In that document, fitness to cope with a Russian
invasion is laid down as the main test of military
efficiency. The possibility of trouble arising in the
Punjab is indeed mentioned; but that a storm was
gathering in that country which was to shake the
very foundations of the British Raj, there existed in
the mind of the Governor-General not the faintest
presentiment. " Of internal dangers," he wrote,
" nobody entertains less alarm than myself." But
if Chilianwala and Gujrat cast no shadows before,
a plentiful supply was provided by a danger which
never came at all. The Russians, it was said, already
had designs on Herat. In imagination, Lord William
Bentinck saw them in actual possession of the city ;
and step by step the minute traces out their subse-
quent progress, from Herat to Kandahar, from
Kandahar to Ghazni, from Ghazni to Kabul, and
from Kabul to Attock, whilst warlike tribes, eager
126 A Short History of the Sikhs.
for the plunder of India, join them at every stage.
" But however this may be,"—so runs the minute—
" it will be sufficient to assume the possibility that
a Russian force of 20,000 men well equipped,
accompanied with a body of 100,000 horse, may
reach the shores of the I n d u s ; that Ranjit Singh has
no means to resist their advance; and that the
invaders, having crossed the Indus into the Punjab,
would find themselves in possession of the parts of
India, the most fertile of resources in every kind,
and secure on every side from being harassed and
attacked even if they had not on their side a body
of irregular cavalry much more numerous and
efficient than any we have to oppose them." I t is
easy for later generations to laugh at such forebod-
ings ; but at the time they appeared, and, indeed,
were, reasonable enough. If Russia was not actually
contemplating a march on Herat, Persia undoubtedly
was; and what was Persia but the bayonet at the
end of the Russian rifle ? Russia was, in fact,
steadily advancing into central Asia, pushing Persia
along in front of her. Dost Muhammad was believed
to be in correspondence with both Teheran and
St. Petersburg, and a triple alliance between the
European and the two Asiatic powers was well
within the bounds of possibility. This was not a
state of affairs which Indian statesmen could afford
to treat with indifference, and the question how best
to deal with it was no easy one to answer. There
were two alternatives: either to avoid all political
connection with countries west of the Indus, and to
trust to the kino-dom of Lahore as a sufficient barrier
 The Last Years of Ranjit Singh. 127
against possible invasion, or to win over Afghanistan
to a British alliance, and thus to convert that country
into a buffer state. An obvious objection to the first
course was the ephemeral nature of the Lahore
barrier. Ranjit Singh was broken down in health.
He had already had more than one paralytic stroke,
and his death, which might be expected at any
moment, would in all human probability result in
the collapse of the Sikh power. On this account,
and believing as he did that the Indian garrison was
utterly inadequate for the protection of the country
against external attack, Lord William Bentinck
wisely advocated the " buffer-state " policy. Had his
successor, Lord Auckland, displayed equal wisdom in
carrying that policy into effect, the dismal tragedy
of the winter of 1841—42, perhaps even the Sikh
wars, would never have taken place. There is no
country where a reverse costs more than in India.
But for the rout of Monson's brigade in 1804, there
would have been no third Mahratta w a r ; but for the
disastrous retreat from Kabul, it is more than likely
that the Sikhs would never have had the temerity to g
cross the Sutlej.
In 1837 Burnes was sent on what was described as
a commercial mission to Afghanistan, the real object
of which was—as Dost Muhammad knew quite as
well as Burnes—to counteract Russian influence at
Kabul, and to convince the Amir that his surest
defence against Persian arms and Muscovite diplomacy
lay in united action and friendship with the Indian
Government. Burnes received a hearty welcome from
Dost Muhammad, who professed himself ready and
128 A Short History of the Sikhs.
eager to join in an alliance with the British if they,
in return for his friendship, would aid him in regain-
ing possession of the province of Peshawar. To
promise compliance with this request was obviously
impossible. Banjit Singh may have found Peshawar
a costly and troublesome possession to hold, but the
last person in the world to whom he was prepared to
surrender it was Dost Muhammad Khan. Moreover,
the Sikh ruler was still smarting from the check that
had been imposed on him in Sind; and to have
forced him at such a time, and with less excuse than
before, to make another and much greater sacrifice,
would have been as unwarrantable as it would have
been inexpedient.
In 1837 the Persians laid siege to Herat, and
Lord Auckland became more anxious than ever to
establish British influence at Kabul. An alliance
with Dost Muhammad at the expense of the friend-
ship of Banjit Singh was not to be thought of; and
the Governor-General decided, in the event of Burnes's
mission proving unsuccessful, to champion the cause
of Shah Shuja, who was still a refugee at Ludhiana,
and ready to jump at any chance which presented
itself of regaining his inheritance. Burnes worked
day and night to induce the Amir to give way in
the matter of Peshawar, or to modify his demand in
such a manner as to render a compromise possible,
for he had seen enough in Kabul to convince him
that he was dealing with a strong and capable ruler,
whose alliance would be of far greater value than
that of Shah Shuja, who, however amenable he
might be to British influence, would be utterly inca-
 The Last Years of Ranjit Singh. 129
pable of controlling his Afghan subjects. Unfortu-
nately, Lord Auckland had his own views on the
situation. He had come to the conclusion that Dost
Muhammad was not to be trusted; and he had
formed an exaggerated and altogether erroneous idea
of Shah Shuja's influence in Afghanistan, based en-
tirely on the representations of the exile himself. The
result was that Burnes's later efforts received very
cold support from Calcutta. Whether a more con-
ciliatory attitude at this juncture on the part of
the Indian Government would have induced Dost
Muhammad to change his tactics is a question on
which it is unnecessary for us to speculate. That
the Afghan ruler was genuinely anxious for the
British alliance is proved by the fact that he declared
himself ready to hold Peshawar as a fief of the
Punjab, or even to share its possession with his
traitorous brother, Sultan Muhammad Khan. But
ownership of the province, in some form or another,
he refused to forego, and from this determination
Burnes could not move him. Ranjit Singh's attitude
was equally uncompromising. Whatever else happened
to Peshawar, it should not become the property of his
worst enemy. Sultan Muhammad Khan might have
it at a price; but Dost Muhammad,—never !
In March 1838 the Amir, despairing of getting
any satisfaction out of Lord Auckland, opened
negotiations with Persia and the Tzar; Burnes was
recalled from Kabul in May; and before the end
of July a treaty had been concluded between the
Government of India, Ranjit Singh, and Shah Shuja,
for the purpose of restoring the last named to the
(1,841) 9
130 A Short History of the Sikhs.
kingdom from which he had already been twice
expelled. I t is less easy to see what Lord Auckland
ought to have done, than it is to see that what he
did was the worst thing possible. On paper, the
advantages to be gained by the treaty were tremen-
dous. British India was to be provided with an
effectual and permanent barrier against Russo-
Persian intrigue; Ranjit Singh was to be confirmed
as the rightful possessor of Peshawar and everything
else he had been able to snatch from the rulers of
Afghanistan ; and the Durani exile was to be restored
t

once more to the arms of his loyal and loving

subjects. Had Shah Shuja been everything that
Lord Auckland took him to be, all these good things
might have come to pass. But it was Shah Shuja
who was the weak link in the chain. His influence
in Afghanistan, on which the success of the enterprise
depended, was a myth. He himself was vain, weak-
minded, and incapable; a man unfitted in every
particular to establish a strong government in a
country like Afghanistan. But this vital flaw in the
scheme was only discovered when it had become too
late to draw back.
The tripartite treaty thus entered into was prac-
tically a renewal of that made between Ranjit
Singh and Shah Shuja in 1833, the only important
difference being the participation in it of the British
Government. Ranjit Singh's acquiescence was not
obtained without difficulty. At the end of May, Mr.
(afterwards Sir William) Macnaghten, Chief Secretary
to Lord Auckland's Government, was sent on a special
mission to Lahore to explain to him the general plan
 The Last Years of Ranjit Singh. 131
of the undertaking, and to secure his co-operation.
The meeting (already referred to in the preceding
chapter) took place at Adinanagar, a few miles from
the capital, where the Maharaja was endeavouring to
recruit his shattered health. The mission was re-
ceived with every mark of respect and cordiality,
but more than six weeks passed away before
Macnaghten brought his negotiations to a satisfactory
conclusion. The truth was that Ranjit Singh disap-
proved of the whole enterprise. He was by no
means anxious for the restoration of Shah Shuja,
whom he distrusted quite as much as the Governor-
General distrusted Dost Muhammad ; and, strong as
was his friendship for the English, he had no desire
to see himself hemmed in on every side by British
authority. He had a rooted aversion to undertaking
a campaign in Afghanistan, and he did not consider
that confirmation in the possession of his Afghan
conquests, which he felt that he was in no danger of
losing, was a sufficient reward for his services. But '
notwithstanding these objections, he realized that if
Shah Shuja was to be reinstated, it would be to his
advantage to have a hand in the transaction. When,
therefore, towards the end of the conference, Mr.
Macnaghten informed him that the programme would
be carried through whether he came in or not, he
took the only course open to him and promised his
support. Like a true statesman, having once decided
to give way, he did so with a good grace, and set
himself to further, to the best of his ability, the plans
of the alliance.
On June 26, Ranjit Singh placed his signa*
132 A Short History of the Sikhs.
ture to the tripartite treaty, and the next day Mr.
Macnaghten set out for Ludhiana to obtain that of
Shah Shuja. This proved a much easier t a s k ;
though at the last moment even Shuja's buoyant
optimism showed signs of shrinkage, and he began
to wonder whether his position as the puppet of the
British would be altogether enviable, or likely to
enhance his dignity in the eyes of his subjects. On
July 19, Macnaghten reached Simla, and before the
end of the month the treaty had been ratified by the
Governor-General. ^
I t is unnecessary for us to follow in detail the
course of the first Afghan war. For our present
purpose, a bare outline of the events connected with
the restoration and the downfall of Shah Shuja will
suffice. I n December 1838, a British force set out
to escort the happy exile through Sind into southern
Afghanistan, while Timur, Shah Shuja's son, accom-
panied by a powerful Sikh contingent, left Firozpiir
for Kabul, by way of Peshawar and the Khaibar Pass.
Kandahar was taken the following April, and Ghazni
three months later. On the fall of the latter strong-
hold, Dost Muhammad, with 2,000 horsemen and his
son Akbar Khan, fled across the Hindu Kush, and in
August, Shah Shuja-ul-mulk, " glittering with jewels,
and mounted on a white charger, was escorted in
triumph by British officers and troops through the
streets of Kabul into the castled palace of the Bala
Hissar." Macnaghten was knighted, the commander
of the British troops, Sir John Keane, received a
peerage, and the Governor-General was created Earl
of Auckland.
 The Last Years of Ranjit Singh. 133
I t soon became apparent that the restoration of the
Durani Shah was unpopular throughout Afghanistan,
and that the withdrawal of British protection would
be the signal for his dethronement. For two years a
British army of occupation managed, with difficulty,
to keep the forces of rebellion in check. In 1840
the capture of Dost Muhammad led to a brief period
of tranquillity, but in November 1841 a general
rising took place. Burnes and Macnaghten were
murdered, and Kabul fell into the hands of the
rebels. In the depth of winter the English army set
out to find its way through the passes back to India.
There is no need to dwell on the tragedy which
followed. Of the 4,000 troops and 12,000 camp-
followers who left Kabul, one solitary survivor
struggled into Jalalabad, where General Sale, with
his " illustrious garrison," was still holding out.
Before the fall of Ghazni, the Lion of the Punjab
had breathed his last at Lahore. To those who had
seen him at Firozpur, and during Lord Auckland's
subsequent visits to Lahore and Amritsar, it had been
obvious that his life was drawing to a close. Whilst
the festivities lasted, his activity was unabated; but
this "was the last effort of his energetic spirit.
He had scarcely returned to the Punjab—Lord
Auckland being then in the act of paying his return
visit—when he was seized with one of those violent
attacks which had often before caused his death to
be reported. He, however, again recovered, but com-
pletely lost the power of speech; and a curious and
interesting sight it was now to behold the fast dying
monarch, his mind still alive; still by signs giving
134 A Short History of the Sikhs.
his orders; still receiving reports; and, assisted by
the faithful Fakeer Azeezoodin, almost as usual
attending to affairs of state. By a slight turn of his
hand to the south, he would inquire the news from
the British secretary ; by a similar turn to the west,
he would demand tidings from the invading army;
and most anxious was he for intelligence from the
Afghan quarter; doubting the success of the English
measure, seeing his own advantage in their failure, yet
unwilling or afraid to withdraw from his engage-
ments. True justice has never been done to the old
chief for his conduct at this time; when against
what he believed his own interests, he sent his whole
army to Peshawar under his grandson, Nou Nehal, to
act in concert with Captain Wade, leaving his Sutlej
frontier, then occupied by a British division, quite
unprotected. He not only did this, but the whole
resources of his country in cattle, grain, etc., were
x
thrown open to the British Government." For some
days before the end came his lower limbs were com-
pletely paralysed, but his courage even then did not
desert him. On July 29 he died " a s like the old
Lion as he had lived." The last rites were per-
formed the following evening in the presence of a
dense crowd of spectators. Four of the royal wives,
who refused to survive their lord, were burnt with
him, and the Minister, Dhian Singh, was only re-
strained by force from throwing himself on the funeral
pyre. The Maharaja's ashes were conveyed to
Benares, and scattered in the waters of the holy
Ganges.
1
Calcutta Review for August 1814, p. 475.
 The Last Years of Ranjit Singh. 135
Until his death, Ranjit Singh never lost sight of
the fact that the welfare, nay, the very existence,
of his kingdom depended on the maintenance of
friendly relations with the British. The Sikhs
supported him in this, as they would have supported
him in any other policy, not because they approved
of it, but because it was his. During the latter part
of his reign they had shown, more than once,
that they did not approve of i t ; but they had
invariably bent before the iron will of their master.
It was not that the Sikhs had any special animosity
against the British as such; they disliked the British
alliance because they distrusted British policy, the
ultimate object of which they conceived to be the
destruction of the strength of the Khalsa as a
military power. Ranjit Singh was statesman enough
to see that, so long as the British alliance existed,
it was to the advantage of the Government of India
to promote the welfare of the Sikh kingdom. Of the
two incapable rulers who followed, there is at least
this much to be said, that, in their dealings with the
paramount power, they endeavoured to follow in the
steps of their illustrious predecessor; but whereas
the latter was strong enough to dictate his own policy
to the Khalsa, the former were but tools in the hands
of their more skilful and utterly unscrupulous
ministers and favourites, and the chief reason why
they supported the alliance was that they feared their
own army even more than they feared the British.
Some time, however, elapsed before the army took
matters into its own hands by openly declaring war
against the British; but every day the spirit of
 136 A Short History of the Sikhs.
turbulent independence became more widely diffused
in its ranks, and the soldiers began to look more
and more to their officers, and less and less to
the government of the state, for the direction of
the affairs of the Khalsa. I t was not until the
evacuation of Kabul and the annihilation of the
British garrison had destroyed their belief in the
invincibility of British troops, that their attitude
became actually threatening. During the remainder
of the Afghan war, portions of the Sikh contingent,
mainly through the influence of Major Henry
Lawrence, the officer in charge of operations at
Peshawar, continued to render valuable service; but
' the demeanour of other portions was distinctly
mutinous. One regiment refused point-blank to
take any further part in the campaign, and, in
defiance of its officers, marched back to Lahore.
This, and other incidents of a similar nature, indi-
cated plainly enough the temper of the Sikh a r m y ;
and before the end of 1842, a war with the Punjab
was looked upon as a certainty.
But Ranjit Singh created more than one force
which none but himself could control. The Lahore
durbar, once his strong hand was withdrawn, became
as unmanageable as the army. The powerful chiefs
r and sirdars of whom it was composed were, as has
I already been shown, united neither by race nor creed.
The allegiance they had yielded to Ranjit Singh they
were willing to yield to no other. Each was bent on
his own aggrandizement and the downfall of his
rivals; and each was prepared, in the absence of a
strong central authority, to secure his ends by
 The Last Years of Ranjit Singh. 137
violence or by fraud, or if necessary by both com-
bined. In this unruly company, the Jammu brothers
(referred to on page 110) were by far the most
striking figures. Dhian Singh, Ghulab Singh, and
Suchet Singh were the handsomest men at the court
of Ranjit Singh, and the two former were equally
conspicuous for their intelligence and administrative
ability. Dhian Singh, who had raised himself from
door-keeper to prime minister, was now the virtual
ruler of the state, and he had an able supporter in
his son Hira Singh. Ghulab, who, in return for his
military services, had been granted the estate of
Jammu, had increased his possessions to such an
extent that he was become the greatest sirdar in the
Punjab. Both were skilled in the art of oriental
lomacy, and their manners were, when occasion
demanded it, as engaging as their looks. Suchet
Singh was handsomer than his brothers, but much
inferior to them in attainments, while all three were
equally distinguished for their cruelty, their duplicity,
and their insatiable ambition. I t was the aim of the
Jammu brothers to bring the whole of the Punjab
under their joint dominion, Dhian looking forward to
the control of the south, and Ghulab to that of the
north. Dhian speedily fell a victim to his own
intrigues; but Ghulab was luckier, and lived to
attain, through the generosity of the British, the
object of his ambition. Of the latter, the writer in
t h e . Calcutta Review quoted above gives us the
following picture: " Golab Singh is rather cor-
pulent. His features are good, and the expression of
his countenance is mild. No man better dilates on
138 A Short History of the Sikhs.
mercy and charity; but woe to the wretch who
excites his anger. He dresses simply, but is always
well attended, and is much more careful of himself
than was Dhian Singh. He constantly wears a
double-barrelled pistol in his belt, and keenly eyes
the stranger admitted to his presence. Such is
Golab Singh, who, if he lives ten years more, will
be monarch of an extensive hill territory, including,
1
in all probability, Kashmir."
The main opposition to the Jammu brothers came
from the Sindhanwalias, a powerful Sukarchakia
family closely allied to that of Ranjft Singh. The
most prominent representatives of the family at this
time were the brothers Attar Singh and Lehna Singh,
2
and the nephew of the former, Ajit Singh. All of
them played a deep part in the intrigues which
followed the accession of Prince Kharak, and all met
with violent deaths, but not before they had brought
about the downfall and death of their arch enemy
Dhian Singh.
1
Calcutta Review for August 1844, page 505.
2
See Appendix F.

-
 *

CHAPTER IX.

D E C L I N E OF T H E S I K H MONARCHY.

ON the 28th July, Prince Kharak was installed as

ruler of the Punjab, his minister, Dhian Singh,
having taken every precaution to secure his peaceful
succession. For a time all went well; and Dhian
Singh found, as he had anticipated, that the new king
was a puppet in his hands. But this did not last
long. Another aspirant to power appeared in the
person of Cheyt Singh, a man of low birth and high
ambitions, who contrived to win the favour of Kharak
Singh, and whose influence over the half-witted
monarch began rapidly to eclipse that of the prime
minister. Feeling his position growing daily more
insecure, Dhian Singh prevailed upon Prince_Nap
Nihal, Kharak's son, to join him in a plot for the
destruction of the obnoxious favourite and the
deposition of the Maharaja. Nao Nihal had no love
for the Jammu brothers; but, dreading the results
of Cheyt Singh's intrigues, he lent himself j t o the
scheme; and, in the month of October, a party of
soldiers, headed by the prince and the minister,
entered by night into the royal palace, murdered
Cheyt Singh, and made the Maharaja a prisoner.
140 A Short History of the Sikhs.
Nao Nihal Singh at once placed himself at the
head of the government, though Kharak Singh, who
was kept in confinement, continued to be the titular
ruler, and occasionally, when a king was required,
was brought forth and placed for a few royal
moments on his confiscated throne. Kharak Singh's
deposition aroused but little indignation. He was
ill-looking and almost an imbecile, and was respected
T
by none. Nao Nihal, on the other hand, w as popular
with nearly all classes, and particularly with the
T
army, for he w as a tall and handsome prince, and
was endowed with many of his grandfather's manly
qualities. He was, in addition, a capable adminis-
trator ; and during his regency he managed the
affairs of the state with vigour and skill. Dhian
Singh continued to hold office as minister; but he by
no means appreciated the masterful methods of his
new chief, under whom he found himself more of
a nonentity than ever. He soon saw that the on
way to regain his lost authority was to get rid of
Nao Nihal; and again fortune—or the devil—came
to his assistance.
On November 5, 1840, the unhappy Kharak
Singh died. Nao Nihal's accession followed as a
matter of course; but if the soldiers of the Khalsa
looked forward to a new era of military glory under
their spirited young chief, their hopes were doomed
to disappointment, for the day on which Nao Nihal
became the ruler of the Punjab was the last of his
life. In the morning he attended the obsequies of
his father; in the evening, as the royal procession
was re-entering Lahore, the city gateway collapsed,
 Decline of the Sikh Monarchy. 141
and he was crushed to death beneath the debris.
According to some, but a single beam fell, killing the
Maharaja and the son of Ghulab Singh, who was
riding on the same elephant. Others assert that it
was the brick parapet of the gateway which collapsed,
and others that the crowding of the elephants over-
strained and brought down the whole structure.
Whatever the truth may be, the minister was rid of
Nao Nihal Singh, and the Sikh people were bereft of
a gallant and promising ruler.
The most important features of Nao Nihal's
regency were the military operations carried out by
General Ventura and by Raja Ghulab Singh. The
former led an expedition into the mountainous country
to the north of the Simla hills, where he overcame
the Raja of Mandi, annexing his state, together with
the domains of other hill chieftains, including the
district of Suket. The latter, who had for some
years been extending the boundaries of Kashmir,
completed the subjugation of Ladak with its capital
Leh, and the district of Baltistan, or Little Tibet.
Dhian Singh, as soon as he knew that the Maharaja
was really dead, sent intelligence of the disaster to
Sher Sftngh, the nearest approach to a son of Ranjit
Singh that remained, urging him to hurry to Lahore
and establish his claim to the vacant throne. Sher
Singh, who was then at Batala, lost no time in
following the minister's advice. He reached the
capital on the 7th of November, and the same day
was proclaimed ruler of the Punjab. Unfortunately,
however, Sikh custom demanded that during the
days of mourning, twelve in number, he should take
142 A Short History of the Sikhs.
no part in public affairs; and before the expiry of
the prescribed period, a second candidate for the
throne appeared. This was Rani Chand Kour, the
widow of Kharak Singh. According to the law of
inheritance followed by the Manjha Sikhs, a widow,
in the absence of male heirs, succeeded to her
husband's estates; and under this law the Rani
claimed the throne in her own right. She was
supported by the Sindhanwalia brothers and also by
Ghulab Singh and his nephew Hira Singh, a com-
bination so powerful that Sher Singh was forced to
withdraw to Batala; and, on the 30th of Novembei
Kour was proclaimed the Kani of Lahore.
Dhian retained his post as minister, though
continued to espouse the cause of Sher Singh.
This apparent split in the Jammu camp has puzzled
the chroniclers. A simple explanation, however,
suggests itself. The issue of the contest for the
throne was doubtful. If both the brothers supported
the same party and lost, their cause would be done
for. But if Dhian took one side and Ghulab the
other, either Dhian or Ghulab was safe to w i n ; and
the winner would have little difficulty in securing the
loser's restoration to favour. This may not be the
correct explanation; but, at any rate, it is consistent
with the characters of the brothers, and is in accord
with the subsequent course of events. Dhian was
the winner, and Ghulab and Hira Singh shared the
winnings.
Had Chand KourjDeen a woman of strong character
and ability, she might have succeeded
ciling the Sikhs to female control. But she was
•
 Decline of the Sikh Monarchy. 143
dissolute and incapable, and used her power as a
means of ministering to her depraved desires. Her
shameless profligacy and the vices and intrigues of
her court disgusted even her own adherents, whose
numbers diminished day by day. Sher Singh,
while, was gradually strengthening his position. The
major portion of the army declared for him; and
when, in January, he was joined by General Ventura,
then on his way back from Mandi, with 6,000 troops,
he determined to strike a decisive blow, and marched
for the capital. The Rani defended her throne with
much greater energy than she had displayed in ruling
her subjects. Aided by the Sindhanwalia brothers
and Ghulab Singh, she held out in the capital, with
such troops as remained faithful to her, for eight days,
during which time the besiegers lost nearly two
thousand men. She capitulated on the 17th January,
Sher Singh having undertaken to spare her garrison,
a promise he had some difficulty in fulfilling. Ghulab
Singh withdrew his troops to the north of the Ravi,
and Attar Singh and Ajit Singh fled across the Sutlej,
where they made a vain attempt to persuade Lord
Auckland to take up the Rani's cause. On the 27 th
January, Sher Singh was again installed as Maharaja.
He treated Chand Kour with consideration, assigning
her apartments in the palace, where she was kept in
easy confinement. But his soldiers, maddened by
the loss of so many of their comrades, and balked of
what they considered their legitimate prey, wreaked
a heavy vengeance on the unfortunate citizens,
plundering bazars and dwelling-houses with merci-
less indiscrimination.
144 A Short History of the Sikhs.
When tranquillity had been in some measure
restored, Dhian Singh, who in return for his faithful
conduct was appointed to his old office, procured the
pardon of his brother and son. Ghulab Singh and
Hira Singh were recalled to court; and soon after-
wards the latter was made commander-in-chief of the
forces of the Punjab. Sher Singh, a well-intentioned
profligate, was only too glad to shift the cares of
government on to the shoulders of the willing Dhian,
who took the opportunity to fill all the most impor-
tant posts in the state service with " friends of the
family." The Jammu brothers were never more
powerful than at this juncture. They had played a
deep and daring game, and their triumph, if short-
lived, was complete.
But the kingdom of the Punjab was drifting
nearer and nearer to anarchy. Over the Sikh nation
it was impossible that a Rajput minister could have
any real hold. In the devastated capital, Dhian
Singh was able to restore some measure of order;
but without its walls his authority was treated with
contempt. The army was getting more and more
out of hand. In Lahore itself insubordination was
rife enough, but in the provinces things were much
worse. At Peshawar and Multan, in Kashmir, and
in the newly-conquered state of Mandi, the troops
rose in open rebellion ; and though these and similar
outbreaks were temporarily quelled, the drastic mea-
sures taken by the governors concerned strengthened
rather than allayed the mutinous spirit. In some
cases whole regiments were disbanded; but this
served only to increase the general disorder, for the
 Decline of the Sikh Monarchy. 145
discharged soldiers, scattering over the surrounding
districts, threw in their lot with the many robber
bands who, in the absence of any settled government,
roamed unchecked over the country side, blackmailing
the terrified cultivators, driving off their cattle, and
pillaging their farmsteads and villages.
When news reached the Punjab of the evacuation
of Kabul and the destruction of the British garrison,
the control of the Sikh army became a more difficult
matter than ever. During the remainder of the
Afghan war Sher Singh did his best to fulfil the
terms of the alliance entered into by Ranjit Singh;
but his action was thoroughly unpopular both with
the Sikh sirdars and the troops of the Khalsa, and
it required all his influence to prevent the latter from
opposing the British army on its return march through
the Punjab. Sale's defence of Jalalabad, and the
victories of Nott and Pollock, produced a wholesome
effect on the Sikh soldiers, and checked for a time
their fiery impetuosity. But they clung to their
belief that the ultimate aim of the Indian Government
was the curtailment, if not the destruction, of the
Sikh kingdom ; and splendidly as the Kabul disaster
had been retrieved, the fact remained that a British
force had suffered defeat at the hands of a foe over
whom the troops of the Khalsa had gained more than
one decisive victory. Sher Singh paid dearly for his
constancy. I t was his attitude at this time, combined
with his supposed intention of seeking British sup-
port or protection, that cost him the allegiance of his
army, and thereby hastened his own destruction.
In June 1842, Rani Chand Kour was murdered
(1,841) 10
146 A Short History of the Sikhs.
by her own attendants. There is no direct evidence
to show that Sher Singh was responsible for the
crime, so he is entitled to the benefit of the doubt.
But that the Rani's disappearance from the scene was
a relief to him we can well believe; for, as long as
she lived, the Sindhanwalia brothers continued to
scheme for her restoration, by means of which they
looked to rebuild their own fortunes, if not to secure
possession of the throne itself, which, in the absence
of any direct male descendant of Ranjit Singh, would
pass by law of inheritance to the Sindhanwalia family.
The Rani's death completely wrecked their plans;
and soon afterwards, through the mediation of the
British Government, they obtained the Maharaja's
pardon, and were once more received at the court
of Lahore. Sher Singh was the more willing to take
this obviously dangerous step because he saw in the
Sindhanwalia brothers a useful counterpoise to the
overpowering influence of Dhian Singh, while their
presence in the capital would enable him to keep a
more watchful eye on their movements.
Sher Singh had never trusted the Jammu brothers,
and his suspicions were not lessened by the intelli-
gence that the Rani Jindan, one of the wives of
Ranjit Singh, with her infant son Dhulip, had found
an asylum with Ghulab Singh at Jammu. Probably
no one believed that Dhulip was the son of Ranjit
Singh; but, on the other hand, no one could prove
that he was not; and that alone was sufficient to
render him a dangerous weapon in the hands of such
a master of intrigue as Ghulab Singh. Dhian was
not slow to perceive that his power was on the wane.
 Decline of the Sikh Monarchy. 147
Cold looks greeted his appearance in the durbar or at
court, while one by one his adherents were deprived
of their offices. The influence of the Sindhanwalias
increased as his own declined, and Dhian Singh once
more felt it to be his duty to organize a revolution.
This time, however, he laid his plans with less skill, or
perhaps his past successes had made him over confident.
It would not have suited Dhian's future plans to
be known as the assassin of the Sikh ruler. He,
therefore, determined to get the deed done by others,
and the instruments he selected were the Sindhanwalia
brothers. He told Ajit Singh that the Maharaja's
object in recalling him and his brother to court was
to bring about their destruction, and he put forward
the conspiracy as the only means of averting their
doom. This story Ajit, who was equally anxious for
the Maharaja's death, professed to believe; and it is
surprising that the readiness with which he fell in
with the minister's proposals did not arouse the
latter's suspicions, or at any rate induce him to walk
more warily.
Sher Singh knew that there was a plot against his
life. A soothsayer had foretold the very day on
which the attempt would be made—the ides of
September. On the morning in question, he went
forth to inspect a body of troops, and, remembering
the soothsayer's warning, he refused to allow his son,
Partab Singh, to accompany him, bidding him go and
watch the casting of a new piece of ordnance at the
gun-factory. The inspection was barely concluded
when Ajit Singh rode on to the parade-ground. He
was carrying a new and handsome fowling-piece,

*
148 A Short History of the Sikhs.
which he begged permission to exhibit to the Maha-
raja. Sher Singh at once held out his hand for the
weapon, and as he did so Ajit pointed it at his breast
and shot him dead. The unfortunate Partab, a high-
spirited and handsome lad of fourteen, shared his
father's fate. As he returned from the foundry, he
was met by Lehna Singh, who, with one stroke of
his sword, severed the lad's head from his body. But
their bloody work was not yet finished. Hastening
to the city, the murderers invited Dhian Singh to a
private conference to decide on the measures next to
be taken. Not without misgivings, the minister
made his way to the meeting-place. As he ap-
proached, the Sindhanwalias contrived to separate
him from his escort, and the moment he was in their
midst they fell upon him and did him to death. " A
Muhammadan, one of the few attendants with the
minister, was the only one who made any resistance,
and he was immediately cut down, and his body,
with that of his master, was thrown into the rubbish-
pit of the gun-foundry in the fort." Such was the
end of Raja Dhian Singh, a man endowed with
almost every quality that makes for greatness—
courage, energy, temperance almost amounting to
austerity, determination, discernment, tact, and
patience; but his virtues, as well as his pre-eminent
abilities, were dedicated to the service of his all-
consuming passion for power and self-aggrandizement.
In addition to his virtues and talents, he had at his
disposal every vice whicli goes to make up ambition's
outfit, and expediency alone determined the class of
instrument to be employed. .
1. Mah^r^ja Kharak Singh. Prince Nao Nih^l Singh. 3. Maharaja
Sher Singh. 4. Maharaja Dhulip Singh. {India Office.)

•
150 A Short History of the Sikhs.
Had the Sindhanwalias been able to include Hira
Singh in their list of victims, their cause might have
triumphed ; for the soldiers of the Khalsa, without
the support of which success was impossible, were
not inclined to mourn the loss of Sher Singh, still
less that of his Rajput minister, and would have
preferred to sell their services to Ajit Singh rather
than to the representative of the Jammu faction.
But at this critical juncture Hira Singh displayed
all his father's cunning and energy. The moment
the news of the murders reached him, he assembled
his troops, and in a passionate address called upon
them to avenge the deaths of their king and his own
father. The Sindhanwalias, he told them, were
intriguing with the British for the dismemberment
of the Khalsa, and soon they themselves would be
forced to give up their arms and " to seek an ignoble
maintenance from the plough." These well-chosen
words, coupled with large promises of increased pay,
completely won over his hearers. They responded in
a body to his call, and announced their readiness to
follow wherever he chose to lead them.
Three days after the murders were committed, the
Sindhanwalias were besieged in the old fort in which,
on the news of Hira Singh's approach, they had shut
themselves up with about a thousand followers. On
the 20th of September the fort was breached, and the
besiegers, who had been promised the plunder of the
citadel as the reward of success, rushed madly in to
seize their prey. The garrison made a stout resist-
ance, but the odds against them were overwhelming,
and they were practically annihilated, Ajit Singh and
 Decline of the Sikh Monarchy. 151
Lehna Singh being amongst the slain. Of the
Sindhanwalia brothers, Attar Singh alone remained
alive. He was on his way to Lahore when the siege
took place, and on learning its disastrous results, he
made his way across the borders into British territory.
On the day following the siege, Dhulip Singh was
proclaimed Maharaja, with Hira Singh as minister.
The estates of the Sindhanwalias were confiscated,
and their dwellings destroyed. The troops received
the promised increment to their pay, and in addition
each soldier received a gratuity of a month's pay as
a recompense for his services.
The army of the Khalsa was now, to all intents
and purposes, a self-governing body. Its affairs were
conducted by panchayats, or councils of " five," repre-
senting each company, and elected by the soldiers
themselves. To these panchayats the men looked for
the redress of all their grievances, and to them they
made their demands for increased pay, or the dismissal
of obnoxious officers. The system originated in the
reign of Sher Singh, and so rapidly did the power
of the councils grow that they soon acquired the
complete control, not only of the army, but of almost
every branch of the administration. The head of
each council, with whom the chief power rested, was
known as the Panch; the others were styled Kar
Panches, and were looked on as the " assistants or
tools of their principals, and their business was
chiefly to go among the soldiery and to stir them up
to anything that their chiefs might desire." On
important occasions the councils met in a general
assembly, whose decrees were regarded as the. voice
152 A Short History of the Sikhs.
of the Khalsa. But their resolutions " were often
unstable or unwise, and the representatives of different
divisions might take opposite sides from sober convic-
tion or self-willed prejudice, or they might be bribed
and cajoled by such able and unscrupulous men as
l
Raja Golab Singh."
In those days power was a dangerous possession.
Every state official knew that to incur the displeasure
of the army was equivalent to signing his own death
warrant. Hira Singh was more fortunate than many
of his contemporaries. By dint of a continuous
series of bribes and concessions he contrived to hold
on to his office and his life for fifteen months, during
which time he was responsible for the death of
twelve leading chiefs and sirdars. Hira Singh pos-
sessed both courage and ability; but he allowed
himself to be governed in all his acts by a Brahmin
pandit named Jalla, the family priest of the Jammu
brothers; and it was to the pandit's arrogance and
contempt for the Sikh sirdars, rather than to his own
faults, that Hira Singh owed his destruction.
i A History of the Sikhs, by J. D. Cunningham, p. 254.
 CHAPTER X.

ANARCHY.

THE youthful minister found himself beset by dangers.

He was threatened by no less than three powerful
rivals—Jowahir Singh, the brother of the Rani Jindan,
who considered himself the natural guardian of his
nephew Dhulip; Attar Singh, the last of the Sind-
hanwalias, who was burning to avenge the deaths
of his brothers; and his own uncle Suchet, who,
prompted more by jealousy than anything else, was
determined to supplant his precocious nephew.
In November 1843 Jowahir Singh and Suchet Singh
made a combined attempt to turn the army from its
allegiance to Hira Singh, Jowahir threatening to
remove his nephew into British territory unless the
Jammu minister was deposed. Their proposals were
debated at a meeting of the panchayats; but Jowahir's
injudicious threat of seeking British assistance offended
the Panches, who sent a report of the whole matter
to Hira Singh. Jowahir was thrown into prison, and
Suchet only escaped a similar punishment through the
mediation of Ghulab Singh. He was, however, com-
pelled to quit Lahore with all his followers. Previous
to their departure, the latter were made to surrender
154 A Short History of the Sikhs.
their arms, and the discomfited uncle, incapable of
further mischief, and uttering vows of vengeance,
retired with his brother to Jammu.
At the beginning of 1844, two brothers, Kashmlra
Singh and Peshora Singh, reputed sons of Ranjit
uchet to raise the standard
of revolt at Sialkot, proclaiming themselves the
rivals of Dhulip Singh. Several of the more dis-
contented Sikh regiments joined them, and for nearly
two months they succeeded in holding out against
Ghulab Singh, who, with his own troops and a large
detachment from Lahore, was sent to invest their
stronghold. At the end of March they agreed to
capitulate, on condition that they should be allowed to
depart with all their troops and personal possessions.
Ghulab Singh would have preferred to see them in
captivity at Jammu, where their presence would have
been of considerable value to him. But an urgent
message from Lahore obliged him to accept their
terms ; and the pretenders were permitted to evacuate
Sialkot, and to march unmolested into the Manjha
district, where they found refuge with a religious
devotee named Baba Bir Singh, a man of large
influence in his own neighbourhood and highly
esteemed throughout the Sikh community.
These operations against the reputed sons of the
great Maharaja had been regarded by the Khalsa
with strong displeasure, and it was only by promising
the Panches that no violence should be offered to the
persons of the princes that Hira Singh had been able
to prevent a serious insurrection. The instructions
sent to Ghulab Singh at Sialkot appeased the anger
 Anarchy, 155
of the troops, and tranquillity was soon restored; but
an exaggerated account of the misunderstanding
reached Jammu, and Suchet Singh rashly decided to
use th^occaidiOii_jojr_a_^ecwid afitempt to displace
ew. With a small band of followers he set out
with all speed towards Lahore. On the 26th of
March, having approached to within a few miles of
the city, he halted and occupied a small mosque on
the banks of the Ravi, from whence he sent his
agents to inform the troops of his arrival, and to win
them to his support. But Hira Singh had been
lavish in his gifts and promises, and the Panches
were, for the time being, in a contented mood.
Moreover, they saw little to be gained by deposing
one Jammu chief and setting up another in his place;
so they gave the emissaries of Suchet to under-
stand that the best thing their master could do was
to depart as speedily as possible to Jammu. But
Suchet scorned the thought of flying from his own
nephew. Despite the earnest appeals of his followers,
he refused to abandon his enterprise, and the next
day he found himself attacked by a force large
enough to repel an invasion. Suchet Singh had most
of his brothers' faults and few of their virtues ; but his
end was glorious. We may truthfully say of him
that nothing in his life so well became him as his
manner of leaving it. Sword in hand, he and his
trusty few " rushed upon the thickest mass of their
destroyers, and so furious was their onset that they
actually broke through or drove back four entire
battalions, killing upwards of thirty of the foremost
ranks. But this desperate valour availed not the
 •

156 A Short History of the Sikhs.

devoted band so fearfully overmatched: in a short
time forty-two of the men were lying dead on the
field, and four fell badly wounded, of whom only one
survived. Rajah Suchet Singh, it is hardly needful
to say, was among the slain." *
In the month of May, Attar Singh made an e
unsuccessful bid for power. Since the murder
Sher Singh he had remained in hiding on the far side
of the Sutlej ; but he now recrossed the river, and
joined forces with Baba Bir Singh and the Sialkot
princes. The minister had some difficulty in inducing
the troops of the Khalsa to take the field ; for though
they were ready enough to regard the Sindhanwalia
as a traitor who was plotting to deliver his country-
men into the hands of the British, they were much
averse from taking up arms against the descendants
of Ranjit Singh and the holy Baba, and it was not
until Hira Singh had promised to open negotiations
with the latter in order to detach them from Attar
Singh that they consented to march. Troops were
then dispatched simultaneously from Lahore, Kasur,
and Amritsar, and the three detachments, advancing
from different sides, completely surrounded the Baba's
camp. The promised negotiations were at once com-
menced ; but the imprudence of Attar Singh, who
slew with his own hand one of the Lahore deputies,
brought on a general conflict in which he and nearly
all his supporters were slain, including Kashmira
Singh and Baba Bir Singh. Hira Singh was thus
rid of a second powerful rival; but the fate of
1
History of the Feigning Family of Lahore, by Major G.
Carmichael Smyth, p. 111.
 *

Anarchy. 157
Kashmira Singh, and still more that of the revered
Baba, told heavily against him. The regiments held
responsible for the " murders " were styled gurumars,
or " slayers of the guru," and were for a long time
boycotted by the rest of the army.
The minister had, indeed, swept two of his rivals
from his path ; but the third, and the most dangerous
one, had yet to be dealt with. Jowahir Singh^ after
his release from confinement (effected through the
interposition of the army), had retired to_Amxitsar,
where, for months past, he had been secretly laying
his plans for the destruction of the entire Jammu
family. During this time he had secured the support
of the Akalis and the chief bais and gurus, as well
as of many of the sirdars and military officers who
from time to time resorted to the holy city. He now
returned to Lahore, to sow the seeds of disaffection
among the numerous regiments by which the capital
was occupied.
Hira Singh was not personally unpopular; but his
government, or rather that of his favourite, the
yandit Jalla, was thoroughly obnoxious to the whole
Sikh community. Able enough in many ways, Jalla
altogether failed to appreciate the Sikh character.
He recognized as fully as his patron the necessity for
conciliating the soldiery; but, in order to furnish
himself with the funds indispensable for this purpose,
he had recourse to the doubtful expedient of plunder-
ing the Sikh sirdars. His wholesale sequestration of
fiefs and jdgirs procured him enemies in every part of
the country; while the army, though willing enough
to swallow his bribes, deeply resented his arrogance
158 A Short History of the Sikhs.
and his contemptuous treatment of men of rank of
their own faith who had occupied honourable positions
at the court of Ranjit Singh. In his dealings with
the Sikhs, Jalla underrated their national pride and
the strength of the spirit of brotherhood which gave
them unity. He forgot that the sirdars " were Sikhs
equally with the soldiers, and that the ' Khalsa' was
a word which could be used to unite the high and the
low." He forgot, too, that both he and his patron
were aliens, and that that fact was alone sufficient
to render their acts unpopular and their positions
precarious.
More than once the Panches had demanded the
dismissal of Jalla; but on each occasion Hira Singh
had contrived to put them off with excuses and
promises. Such tactics, however, were of little avail
against the machinations of Jowahir Singh, who, from
the hour of his arrival at Lahore, worked unceasingly
to feed the discontent of the troops and to fan their
smouldering animosity into a flame. The pandit
made no effort to conciliate his opponents. JowiJrir
reated with__open discourtesy, which ex-
asperated not only that chief himself but every Sikh
who witnessed his discomfiture. The climax came
when, on December 1, Jalla publicly insulted the
R&ni Jindan. J o w a h i r , T o whom the Rani Com-
plained of her ill-usage, was furious, and the entire
Khalsa shared his indignation, Other charges of a
similar nature were brought against Hira Singh, and
it was further asserted that the pandit had attempted
to take the life of the Rani by poison. A meeting of
the panchayats was hastily summoned; but before
 Anarchy. 159
their deliberations were concluded, the minister and
his favourite, perceiving that their rule was at an
end, had fled the city. Their intention was to make
for Jammu ; but the troops of the Khalsa were in hot
pursuit, and ere noon of the following day they
were overtaken and slain, and by the evening their
heads adorned the gates of the capital.
The ministerial office was not immediately refilled,
and for the time everything was in the hands of the
Panches, who were themselves little more than the
spokesmen of the soldiery. The pay of the latter
was again increased, and so often had this measure
been repeated during the previous five years that the
cost of the army, always a heavy burden to the state,
became insupportable. Since the death of Maharaja
Ranjit Singh the strength of the regular forces had
been almost trebled, and the monthly military ex-
penditure had risen from four lakhs of rupees to
nine, equivalent to a yearly expenditure of more than
a million pounds sterling. During the same five
years, owing to the complete disorganization of the
administrative machinery, the income of the state
had fallen to the lowest ebb; indeed, from some of
the more recently conquered provinces not a rupee of
revenue was coming in. To make provision for this
enormous and ever-increasing outlay was, therefore,
the first endeavour of the heads of the government.
Their second, and, it may be added, their only other
endeavour, was to find an outlet for the unwieldy
and inflammable forces whose power they dreaded
and whose growth they dared not check.
At the commencement of the year 1845 the
160 A Short History of the Sikhs.
chance of a temporary solution of this twofold
problem presented itself. I n the previous October
an estrangement had arisen between the minister and
his uncle Ghulab over the possession of the estates of
Suchet Singh and Dhian Singh, and the breach had
been widened by the action of the Jammu chief in
supporting a second attempt by Peshora Singh to
secure the sovereignty of the Punjab. Eventually,
however, a more or less amicable settlement had been
arrived at, by which Ghulab had agreed to share his
brothers' estates with Hira Singh, withdrawing at
the same time his support from Peshora Singh, who
fled for safety to the south of the Sutlej. On the
downfall of the ministry, Jowahir Singh, in pursuance
of his determination to extirpate the entire Dogra
family, set to work to rekindle the quarrel. This
was an easy t a s k ; for the Panches were ready to
jump at any opportunity likely to provide employ-
ment for the troops, while the latter welcomed with
enthusiasm the prospect of plundering so rich a city
as J a m m u ; and hence, before the end of February,
the forces of the Khalsa were on the march for the
Dogra capital.
Aware that his own soldiers were unable to cope
with those of the Khalsa, Ghulab Singh decided to
rely on the arts of diplomacy, in which he knew that
he was more than a match for Jowahir Singh. He
succeeded in opening negotiations with the advancing
army; and, on its arrival before Jammu, he went
boldly amongst the troops, assuring them of his
loyalty to the Khalsa, and distributing presents with
so lavish a hand that he came to be known as the
 Anarchy. 161
sona hi kukri, or " the golden hen." To every soldier
in the force he promised a gold bangle and twenty-
five rupees, and he offered to pay to the state a fine
of thirty-five lakhs. Whilst these transactions were
in progress, an altercation between his own followers
and some of the soldiers of the Khalsa, resulting in
the murder of the Sikh chief Fatten Singh Man,
who was conducting the negotiations on behalf of
Lahore, came very near to ruining all Ghulab's plans.
For two days his capital was in imminent danger;
but once more " the jingle of the guinea" saved the
situation. This time the Raja took up his abode in
the Lahore camp; and so successful was he in buying
over the troops to his interests, that Lai Singh, their
commander, fearing a general desertion, suggested the
propriety of concluding the negotiations at Lahore.
In April this course was adopted. Something like
half the Lahore troops had by this time sworn to
follow Ghulab Singh; and the wily Dogra set out for
the capital of the Punjab in joint command of the
army which, but two months before, had been
dispatched for his annihilation.
On arrival at the capital, Ghulab Singh was
received in audience by the Rani, to whom he
tendered his submission, and expiated his sins by
yielding up the estates and property of his deceased
brothers and nephew, and paying a second indemnity
of thirty lakhs of rupees. The Rani treated him
with much respect, and bestowed on him many marks
of her favour, even to the extent of asking him to
accept the office of minister. This dangerous honour
he declined, and it was shortly afterwards conferred
(1,841) 11
162 A Short History of the Sikhs.
on Jowahir Singh, whose installation took place on
May 14. Ghulab remained at Lahore till the middle
of August, when he returned to Jammu, poorer in
lands and money, but with his influence firmly estab-
lished over the troops of the Khalsa.
Had Ghulab Singh accepted the ministerial office,
with his disappointed enemy, Jowahir Singh, nursing
his resentment in the background, his life would not
have been worth one month's purchase. Jowahir's life,
T
on that 14th of May, was w orth just four. Only two
events in his brief ministry call for notice—namely,
the rebellion of Mulraj and of Peshora Singh. The
former of these, whose treachery afterwards became
the principal cause of the second Sikh war, had, in
September 1844, succeeded his father, Diwan Sawan
Mall, as Governor of Multan. Sawan Mall had been
appointed by Ranjit Singh. He was the most able
of all the Maharaja's provincial administrators, and
under him Multan reached a high state of prosperity,
yielding in revenue nearly forty lakhs of rupees.
Mulraj was likewise a capable man of affairs, and in
repressing a mutiny among his Sikh troops had dis-
played both vigour and resource. But he was cruel
and despotic, and the people hated him as much
as they had loved his father. On his elevation to
the governorship, Mulraj had refused to pay the
1
customary nazar to the government, and he now
resisted the latter's decision to increase the " rent" of
his province. It was, therefore, decided to dispatch
a force for the reduction of Multan. The troops,
1
Nazar (Arabic), a ceremonial gift; a fee paid to government on
succeeding to an office or to property.
 Anarchy. 163
scenting more plunder, were jubilant; but this time
their cupidity was not to be gratified. The prompt
action of the government brought Mulraj to his
senses, and he lost no time in tendering his sub-
mission. The Panches allowed him to purchase for-
giveness for eighteen lakhs of rupees, little dreaming
that for that sum they had bartered the independence
of the Khalsa.
The second rebellion was more characteristic of the
period, terminating in the death of its promoter and
of the minister of the state. Repeated assurances
of "support from the troops of the Khalsa induced
Peshora Singh to make another effort to establish
his claim to the throne of the Punjab. In the month
of July he succeeded in gaining possession of the
fort of Attock, where he boldly proclaimed himself
Maharaja. Again Ghulab Singh secretly supported
him, not, it is needless to say, from feelings of affec-
tion, but from the desire to see Jowahir Singh incur
the odium of destroying a prince whose person every
Sikh soldier regarded as sacred. Having brought
matters to this stage, and knowing that the army of
Lahore would be unwilling to take the field, the
resourceful Ghulab privately offered to place at the
minister's service tools of his own, who would be un-
hampered by inconvenient scruples. The offer was
accepted; and Fatteh Khan and Chattar Singh, the
tools in question, proceeded, with the troops under
their command, to Attock. Their method of dealing
with the situation more than justified Ghulab Singh's
guarantee. Unable to reduce the fort, they opened
negotiations, and with profuse assurances of their
164 A Short History of the Sikhs.
regard for the prince and of their deep interest in his
welfare, they offered to conduct him to Lahore, where
he would be welcomed by the troops, and all his
claims would be favourably considered. Peshora Singh
fell into the trap. On quitting the fort he was re-
ceived by Fatteh Khan and Chattar Singh with every
appearance of friendship, and the return march to
Lahore was at once commenced. At night, however,
he was made a prisoner; and in the morning he was
sent back, heavily manacled, to Attock, where he was
foully murdered. This fell on August 2 1 .
Nemesis speedily overtook one of the instigators of
this crime. Jowahir Singh had never been popular
with the army, who, from the day when he threatened
to throw himself on the protection of the British, had
not ceased to regard him with suspicion. On more
than one occasion he had given them work to do for
which they had little appetite, and at the close of the
Jammu expedition, had Ghulab Singh consented to
become their minister, they would have welcomed the
change. Raja Lai Singh, the Rani's favourite, who
aimed at the ministerial office, had for some time
been busy fomenting the mutinous spirit of the Sikh
soldiery; and hence, when the murder of Peshora
Sikh became known, a storm of indignation arose.
A meeting of the panchayats was called, and it was
settled that death was the only suitable punishment
for Jowahir Singh, who was forthwith commanded
to appear before the assembled troops. In vain were
the bribes and protestations of the minister; in vain
the Rani threatened and entreated. The Khalsa had
spoken, and its decree was inexorable. Mounted on
 Anarchy. 165
an elephant, Jowahir Singh set out to obey the
summons. He took with him his nephew, Dhulip
Singh, in the vain hope that the presence of their
Maharaja might influence the troops in his favour.
On his arrival in their midst " he endeavoured to
gain over some influential deputies and officers by
present donatives and by lavish promises; but he was
sternly desired to let the Maharaja be removed from
his side, and to be himself silent. The boy was
placed in a tent near at hand, and a party of soldiers
advanced and put the vuzeer to death by a discharge
of musketry. Two other persons, the sycophants of
the minister, were killed at the same time, but no
pillage or massacre occurred; the act partook of the
nature of a judicial process, ordained and witnessed
by a whole people." *
1
A History of the Sikhs, by J. D. Cunningham, p. 187.
 V

CHAPTER XI.

THE FIRST S I K H WAR.

THOUGH nothing could exceed the patriotic fervour

of the Sikhs, every one of whom was ready to
give up his life for the Khalsa, their community
was_jnow—divided into three distinct and mutually
antagonistic parties—the court, the sirdars, and
the army. The court regarded every sirdar as
a potential enemy, and the sirdars despised and
distrusted the court, while the army was equally
dreaded by both. The judicial murder of Jowahir
Singh left the administration once more in the
hands of the army, and the Panches met in daily
council to dictate the policy of the state. The Rani
and the officers of her government were completely
at the mercy of this armed parliament, and the
sirdars, who were robbed to satisfy its cupidity,
looked in vain for a ruler strong enough to break
its power and to establish a government under which
they could once more enjoy some semblance of
security. A second Ranjit Singh might have been
able to give them what they desired; but, alas! no
second Ranjit Singh was forthcoming.
But the very omnipotence of the army of the
Khalsa was the cause which led to its destruction.
 The First Sikh War. 167
Whilst internal anarchy had been sapping the
vitality of the stater, the attitude of the troops
towards their British neighbours had grown more
and more hostile; and, by the beginning of the
lyear 1845, the invasion of British India was a
('constant theme of discussion at the assemblies of
the panchayats. This hostility, as we have said
before, was not the outcome of racial antipathy,
ut was due to the belief of the Sikhs that the
ettled policy of the British was territorial aggran-
izement, and that they were only awaiting a favour-
able opportunity to add the Punjab to their dominions.
During the previous five years various circumstances
had contributed to strengthen this belief. The an-
nexation of Sind in 1843 was taken as evidence
the desire of the British to extend their power,
and the troops sent to occupy the province were
regarded as a direct menace to the district of
Multan. The chastisement by Sir Charles Napier
of a band of Sikh marauders, who in the early
part of 1845 raided the newly acquired province,
still further strengthened this misconception. In
a similar manner, the establishment of a garrison
at Firozpur and the strengthening of sundry posts
on the Sutlej frontier, undertaken as a precaution
against an irruption of the turbulent Sikh army
into British territory, were looked upon as prepara-
tions for the march of an army on Lahore. At
the same time, rumours were in constant circulation
the intention of the British to take possession
of the Sikh territories on the left bank of the
Sutlej ; and letters purporting to be from the kdrddrs
168 A Short History of the Sikhs.
of these districts were read to the assembled Panches,
in which it was stated that the people of their
villages were being compelled to pay tribute to
the British Government.
Various circumstances combined to precipitate the
storm; but the underlying cause of the enmity
of the Sikhs was their consistent misunderstanding;
of the aims and actions of the British authorities.
The latter had, indeed, realized that, if anarchy
continued to reign in the Punjab, the occupation
of that province might be forced upon them. But
such a necessity, so far from being one that they
were prepared to welcome, was one that they
earnestly desired to avert, nor had they taken a
single step in anticipation of its arising. The
measures adopted to strengthen the Sutlej frontier,
which the Sikhs regarded as aggressive preparations,
were of a purely defensive character, and as such
were undertaken on a much smaller scale than the
dangers of the situation demanded, so determined
was Sir Henry Hardinge, the Governor-General, to
avoid giving any grounds of provocation to the
Lahore Government.
These suspicions and rumours permeated all classes
of the Sikh community. There were at the Rani's
court, and among the better informed sirdars, those
who knew them to be groundless; but these were the
very men who gave them currency. None knew
better than the Rani herself how little likelihood
there was of the British making an unprovoked
attack on the Punjab. But she and her chief ad-
visers were now no less anxious than the Panches
 Xv

The First Sikh War. 169

to see the army of the Khalsa at war with their
colossal neighbour; not because they shared the
confidence of the troops, who already beheld them-
selves returning from a victorious campaign laden
with the spoils of Delhi, Agra, Benares, and perhaps
Calcutta itself, but because they saw in such a war
their only chance of freeing themselves from the
galling yoke of military despotism. Such men as
Ghulab Singh, Lai Singh, and Tej Singh could have
had no doubt as to the ultimate issue of the contest
they were instigating; but they knew, as did the
I

Rani, that the defeat of the army of the Khalsa

would mean the destruction of the
|
panchayats,
and that the destruction of the panchayats would
ive them back the powers they had lost. The
independence of their country might, indeed, be
curtailed; but it was better to hold office under the
aegis of the British Government than to remain sub-
servient to a host of rude and untamable soldiers.
Hence, instead of denouncing the crossing of the
Sutlej as an act of unrighteous folly, they laid
themselves out to feed the excitement of the troops,
and to spur the Panches to action.
So great was the Rani's grief at the death of
Jowahir Singh, and so terrible were the curses she
called down on the heads of his murderers, that
for a time even the rough soldiers of the Khalsa
were touched with remorse, while the Panches strove
by every means in their power to assuage her wrath.
Every day, surrounded by her women, and with
her long hair all dishevelled, the half-frantic woman
was to be seen passing on foot through the city to
170 A Short History of the Sikhs.
renew her lamentations at her brother's tomb. At
length, however, the fire of her anger having some-
what abated, she presented herself before the assem-
bled councils; and after upbraiding them for their
treachery and cruelty, she promised to forgive them
on condition that the instigators of the bloody deed
were delivered into her hands. But these, all of
them members of the Dogra faction, had in the
interval safely transferred themselves to Jammu,
and the grief-stricken Rani was fain to content
herself with a letter of condolence from Ghulab
Singh, and profuse expressions of regret that his
very limited power prevented him from punishing
her enemies as they deserved. The troops, at the
same time, renewed their assurances of loyalty to
herself and Dhulip Singh, and, to complete the
reconciliation, agreed to accept as minister whomso-
ever she chose to nominate. The Rani thereupon
dismissed them with her blessing, and the pleasing
intimation that their services might shortly be re-
quired for the invasion of British India.
Whilst the storm was gathering, an ominous calm
pervaded the Punjab. War preparations were com-
menced in earnest throughout the kingdom, and
nowhere was anything talked of but the coming
struggle. Ordinary tasks were laid aside and party
strifes and private feuds were forgotten in the
common desire to aid in the arming of the Khalsa.
Some of the older sirdars did, it is true, shake their
heads and utter words of warning; but finding
themselves unheeded, and being, before all else, Sikhs,
they gave way to the general enthusiasm, determined,
 The First Sikh War. 171
since the Khalsa was to fight, that it should at least
fight with all its strength. At the beginning of
November the Rani announced her intention of
making R4ja L41 Singh minister, and Sirdar Tej
Singh commander of the forces of the state. With
unwonted docility, the troops accepted her nominees,
and, it being felt that the occasion was a momentous
one, the process of their installation was conducted
with more than the customary solemnity. The as-
sembly was held at the tomb of Ranjit Singh, the
astrologers having first named an auspicious day.
The ceremony commenced with the reading of pas-
sages from the Granth Sahib, and then, the sacred
cakes having been distributed, all the sirdars, officers,
and Panches " were requested to lay their hands on
the grunth and on the hem of the sacred canopy
over the shrine of Runjeet, and thus to swear
allegiance to Maharaja Dulleep Singh, and obedience
to Raja Lai Singh as wuzeer, and to Sirdar Tej Singh
x
as commander-in-chief."
We have no space for a detailed account of the
Sikh wars, for which the reader must be referred to
such works as The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars, by
General Sir Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes;
The Life and Campaigns of Hugh, First Viscount
Gough, by R. S. Rait; and the biographies of
Viscount Hardinge and Lord Dalhousie. A short
summary of the outstanding features of these memo-
rable campaigns is all that can here be attempted.
Before the breaking up of the assembly above
1
The Reigning Family of Lahore, by Major G. Carmichael Smyth,
p. 170.

*
172 A Short History of the Sikhs.
referred to, definite orders were issued for the
march of the army of the Khalsa into British
territory; and within a week a body of fifty
thousand men with a numerous and powerful
artillery, and supported by the contingents of the
sirdars, whose numerical strength equalled that of
the trained force, moved from Lahore in the direction
of Firozpur, which town was to be the first object
of attack. On December 1 1 , the passage of the
Sutlej was commenced, Tej Singh commanding the
infantry and regular cavalry, and Lai Singh the
ghurcharhas, or irregular cavalry; and by the
evening of the next day the entire force was
encamped on the left bank of the stream. The
frontier force of the British consisted of the three
divisions at Firozpur, Ludhiana, and Ambala,
amounting in all to thirty thousand men ^with
seventy guns, and a reserve of nine thousand men
and twenty-six guns at Meerut. General Sir John
Littler commanded at Firozpur; Sir Hugh Gough,
the Commander-in-chief, was at Ambala ; and the
Governor-General himself was at Ludhiana.
The first action took place on December 18,
at Mudki, twenty miles to the south-east of Firoz-
pur, where Lai Singh encountered the Ambala and
Ludhiana_divisions, which had united, and ""were
advancing to the support of Sir John Littler. Lai
force was defeated with great slaughter
of seventeen g u n s ; but it was night
before the Sikhs, who had displayed unlooked-for
determination, were driven from the field. Under
cover of the darkness they made good their retreat
Bartholomew. EdinT
174 A Short History of the Sikhs.
to Ejrozshahr, a village situated half-way between
Mudki and Firozpiir, and there, during the next
two days, they threw up entrenchments and
mounted more than a hundred pieces of artillery.
Meanwhile the force under Tej Singh had taken up
its position before Firozpiir, with the object of
preventing Sir John Littler from uniting with the
commander-in-chief.
The British had lost heavily at Mudki, and it was
not until the 21st that they marched to attack Lai
Singh at Firozshahr. The assault was not commenced
till three o'clock in the afternoon, Lord Hardinge
having decided to await the arrival of Sir John Littler,
who was under orders to reinforce him with 5,000
r
men and 24 guns ; and it w as one o'clock before
the latter, having successfully evaded the vigilance of
Tej Singh, effected a junction with the main body.
The battle commenced with an artillery duel, in which
the heavier guns of the Sikhs gave them the advan-
tage. With great gallantry the British troops then'
stormed the entrenchments. The Sikhs defended
themselves and their guns with even greater deter-
mination than at Mudki, and a hand-to-hand conflict
ensued which had not ceased when darkness fell.
During the whole of this day Tej Singh lay watching
Firozpiir, under the delusion that he was keeping
Sir_John Littler a prisoner. At night he discovered that
he had been outwitted, and hastened to the support
of Lai Singh. At eight o'clock in the morning he
came in siffht of Firozshahr; but he was an hour too
late. The Sikh entrenchments were in the possession
of the British, and Lai Singh and his troops were in
 The First Sikh War. 175
full retreat towards the Sutlej. Even then, had he
only known it, he had his enemy at his mercy.
Completely worn out by many hours' continuous
fighting, their ammunition all but exhausted, the
British could never have survived the onset of the
thirty thousand fresh troops which Tej Singh had
at his back. But the Sikh commander hesitated.
At eleven o'clock he opened lire on the left of his
enemy's position, and again hesitated. Four hours
later he threatened an attack on their right, and
then, to the utter astonishment and intense satisfaction
of the weary defenders, his whole force was seen
to turn suddenly northwards and move off rapidly in
the direction taken by the vanquished battalions
of Lai Singh.
At the battle of Firozshahr the British casualties
amounted to 2,400, the killed representing consider-
ably more than half this number. The Sikhs lost
between four and five thousand men, and left seventy-
four guns in the hands of the victors. The precipitate
retirement of the Sikhs on December 22 has been
to treachery on the part of their leader,
and there was much in the conduct of Tej Singh, both
prior to and after the commencement of hostilities,
which would seem to justify such a view. But it
must be borne in mind that though Tej Singh and
Lai Singh were, nominally, the leaders of the Khalsa
army, their authority was very far from being
absolute. The army, as a whole, distrusted them,
and regarded the Panches and principal military
officers as the real directors of the campaign. I t
must, therefore, have been with the full approval of
176 A Short History of the Sikhs.
the latter that the retreat from Firozshahr was
ordered. I t may well be that Tej Singh did not urge
his troops to advance, but his influence over them
was certainly not sufficient to enable him to hold them
back against their will. Whatever lukewarmness
there may have been on the part of their leaders, the
Sikh soldiers were in deadly earnest, as is amply
proved by their desperate resistance in four pitched
battles; and had they on this occasion realized
their opportunity, they would have stormed the
British entrenchments, and it would have been
more than the life of Tej Singh was worth to
counsel a retreat.
There was now a lull in the storm, and the interval
was used by both sides to make good their losses and
gather strength for a renewal of the struggle. Guns
and supplies were hastily dispatched from Lahore
to the Sutlej, and the Sikh soldiers, their energy
and determination still unabated, laboured day
and night strengthening the defences of their
main position at Sobraon, where, in addition to a
treble line of entrenchments, they erected a bridge-
head of great strength to protect the passage of
the river. The British force remained encamped at
Firozpur, awaiting the arrival of a siege-train from
Delhi, whilst reinforcements were gradually coming
in from Meerut, Agra, and Sabathu.
Emboldened by the inactivity of their foes, the
Sikhs, on January 6, 1846, sent a force
men and 70 guns, under the command of Sirdar
Ranjur Singh, to attack Ludhiana. The town was
then very much under-garrisoned, and Sir Harry
 The First Sikh War. 177
Smith, who, with a considerable body of troops,
een sent from Firozpur to cover the approach
of the expected siege-train, was ordered to march to
its relief. His road thither lay through the village
Badhowal, where the Sikhs had entrenched them-
selves ; but desiring to effect a junction with the
Ludhiana troops before giving battle, he made a
detour, hoping to pass by unmolested. The Sikhs,
however, were on the watch for him, and as he
passed the village they opened a heavy fire on his
column; and though they failed to prevent his reach-
ing Ludhiana, they killed a number of his men and
captured the whole of his baggage. The news of this
miniature triumph created great exultation in the
ranks of the Khalsa; but other news of a far
different character was soon to follow.
On January 22, Ranjur Singh withdrew to the
Sutlej, and Sir Harry Smith occupied Badhowal.
Both sides had by this time been reinforced, the Sikhs
by 4,000 infantry and 12 guns, and the British by
a brigade under Brigajiex--Wliejeiei:. On the 28th,
Sir Harry Smith moved out to attack the enemy,
whom he found, after an eight-mile march, at the
village of Aliwalf with the river, fordable at that
spot, behind them. In the battle which ensued the
defeat of the Sikhs was complete and overwhelming.
At no time during the Sikh wars was the superiority
of the British troops so clearly manifested as at
AKwal. The most notable feature of the day was
a magnificent charge by the 16th Lancers, in the
course of which a single squadron not only broke
but rode through and through a square of Sikh
(1,841) 12
178 A Short History of the Sikhs.
infantry. The disciplined troops of the Khalsa
displayed the highest courage, but they were handi-
capped in this, as in every other battle they fought,
by the absence of generals worthy to lead them.
They gave way stubbornly; but with none to
rally them their retirement soon became a retreat.
" Pursued by the cavalry, who made repeated charges,
and pressed by the infantry, they were unable to
make any attempt to rally, and flinging themselves
into the river, fled to the right bank, leaving all their
guns, camp equipage, baggage and stores to fall into
the hands of the victors."
This signal disaster was a stunning blow to the
Sikh army. In a few hours the ill news reached
Lahore, and created the greatest dismay. The troops
had by this time lost all confidence in their leaders,
and the Panches went in a body to Ghulab Singh,
who had recently arrived at the capital, offering to
make him minister, and begging him to proceed at
once to the Sutlej and take over the chief command.
But the Jammu chief knew that the end was near.
So far he had held aloof from the war, waiting on
events. The British had as yet no reason for regard-
ing him as their enemy, and he had no intention
of endangering the reward he expected to reap for
his neutrality. He therefore temporized with the
Panches, and, without actually refusing to assume
the comma;nd of the army, contrived from day to
day to postpone his departure till the hour he had
been anticipating came—the hour when the army of
the Khalsa had no further use for a commander.
The battle of Sobraon was fought on February
 The First Sikh War. 179
10. The delay in the arrival of the British siege-
train, which only reached Firozpur on the 6th, was
made good use of by the Sikhs. Every day they
continued to add to the strength of their position;
and by the 10th the British commander, with a
force of 15,000 men all told, was faced with the
task of attacking " a position covered with formi-
dable entrenchments, and occupied by no fewer than
30,000 men with 70 pieces of artillery, united by
a bridge of boats to a reserve on the opposite bank
of the river." As at Firozshahr, the battle com-
menced with an artillery duel, in which again the
Sikhs had the better of the exchange, the lighter
guns of the British making little impression on their
works. The cannonade was kept up for nearly three
hours, after which the British advanced to the storm
of the scarcely damaged defences. Then followed
a hand-to-hand struggle of the fiercest description.
The Sikhs, knowing that they had staked their all
on the issue of the day, fought with the courage of
despair. But the British brigades, though more than
once checked by the murderous fire of the Sikh artil-
lery, captured position after position, and by one
o'clock in the afternoon their victory was complete.
But though the prize went to the British, the honours
of that great and glorious fight were shared equally
by victors and vanquished. How gallantly the Sikhs
at Sobraon upheld the honour of the Khalsa is proved
by the words of the British commander. In his
official dispatch, written on February 13, to the
Governor-General, Sir Hugh Gough thus described
the struggle after the first line of breastworks had
180 A Short History of the Sikhs.
been carried :—" The battle raged with uncontrollable
fury from right to left. The Sikhs, even when at
particular points their entrenchments were mastered
with the bayonet, strove to regain them by the fiercest
conflict, sword in hand. Nor was it until the cavalry
of the left, under Major-General Sir Joseph Thack-
well, had moved forward and ridden through the
opening in the entrenchments made by our sappers,
in single file, and re-formed as they passed them ;
and the 3rd Dragoons—whom no obstacle usually
held formidable by horse appears to check—had on
this day, as at Firozshahr, galloped over and cut
down the obstinate defenders of batteries and forced
works, and until the full weight of three divisions of
infantry, with every field artillery gun that could be
sent to their aid, had been cast into the scale, that
victory finally declared for the British. The fire of
the Sikhs first slackened and then nearly ceased, and
the victors then pressing them on every side, pre-
cipitated them in masses over their bridge and into
the Sutlej, which a sudden rise of seven* inches had
x
rendered hardly fordable."
On the British side the killed and wounded num-
bered nearly 2,500 ; while the Sikh losses amounted
to over 8,000 men, of whom a large number perished
in their efforts to cross the swollen river. On the
evening of the 10th the British force began to move
across the Sutlej, and by the 13th it had encamped
at Kasiir, thirty-six miles from Lahore, without
another shot having been fired against it.
1
Dispatch of Lord Gough to the Governor-General of India, dated
February 13, 1846.
 CHAPTER XII.

UNDER BRITISH PROTECTION.

T H E Court party at Lahore wasted no time in useless

lamentations over the fate of the army of the Khalsa,
but straightway applied themselves to the task of
getting the best terms they could out of the con-
querors. Indeed, the Rani and those about her had
no tears to shed. Their fetters were broken; and if
only the subjugation of the state could be averted,
they felt that the future could be faced with
equanimity. As for the Sikh soldiers, they were cowed
and bitterly disappointed. They had taken up arms
in the full belief that they were setting out to over-
throw the British Raj, and in the fourth round of the
contest they had been " counted out." But though
they took their punishment like men, and acknow-
ledged that they had been well and fairly beaten,
they nevertheless attributed their defeat to the in-
competence, if not to the treachery, of their leaders,
and man for man they still considered themselves a
match for their conquerors. They still believed in the
destiny of the Khalsa, and that at no distant date
they would once more raise the triumphant cry, Wd !
Guruji kd Khdlsa ! Wd ! Guruji ki Futeh !
182 A Short History of the Sikhs
On learning that the Governor-General was with
the forces at Kasur, the Rani, with the consent of
the sirdars and Panches, dispatched Raja Ghulab
Singh to meet him on her behalf, and to offer her
submission together with that of the Maharaja
Dhulip Singh. She rightly judged that the Jammu
chief would prove a more acceptable ambassador than
either Lai Singh or Tej Singh, and she 'entrusted him
with full powers to treat with the British, on condi-
tion that they were prepared to recognize a Sikh
government at Lahore. The Raja reached Kasur on
the morning of the 15 th, and was at once conducted
into the presence of the Governor-General. Being
the representative of an unfriendly power, his recep-
tion was marked by no outward ceremonial, and no
salute was fired. Sir Henry Hardinge, in the course
of the interview, pointed out to the Raja the serious
nature of the offence which his government had
committed, in that, without provocation on the part
of the British, and in the face of an existing treaty
of amity, it had permitted its army to undertake the
invasion of British India. He then informed him
that he was resolved to show to the world at large
that such insults were not to be offered to the
government of British India with impunity; and
that if the ruler of Lahore would continue to be
regarded as a friendly sovereign, he must submit to
the terms now to be offered to him—namely, the
cession to the British of " all his forts, territories, and
rights situate between the rivers Beas and Sutlej,"
the payment of a war indemnity of one and a, half
million pounds sterling, the reduction of the Sikh
 Under British Protection. 183
my to 20,000 infantry and 12,000 cavalry, and
the surrender of all the guns that had been turned
against the British in the recent campaign. Before
the proceedings terminated, the Governor-General
commended the Raja for his prudence in holding
aloof from the unwarrantable action of the Sikh
government, and assured him that his behaviour
would receive recognition.
Two days later, there arrived to make his sub-
mission in person " the little Maharaja himself
a charming child of eight years—acting his part,"
as the Governor-General describes him, " without any
fear and with all the good breeding peculiar to the
1
eastern people." Dhulip Singh remained in the
British camp with Sir Henry Hardinge, and, on the
20th of the month, accompanied him on his march to
the capital. As they approached their destination,
they were met by Ghulab Singh and the principal
sirdars, whereupon a procession was formed which
made a complete circuit of the city. Maharaja
Dhulip Singh was then escorted to his palace by four
regiments of cavalry, and, the general terms of the
treaty having been agreed to, a salute was fired by
the artillery in honour of his arrival. The main
army encamped outside the city; and two days later
" the thoroughness of its recent triumphs was pro-
T
claimed to the Indian w orld by the quartering of
British regiments within the citadel of Lahore. ?J

The Treaty of Lahore was not finally ratified till

March 9, by which time it had been found
1
Viscount Hardinge, by Charles, Second Viscount Hardinge,
p. 125.

•
184 A Short History of the Sikhs.
necessary to make some important modifications in
the terms originally proposed. I t was found that
the state was unable to pay more than a third of the
stipulated war indemnity, and, in lieu of the remainder,
the British Government was offered, and accepted, the
province of Kashmir. As, however, the latter had
no desire to be burdened with the administration of
a province separated from the frontiers of British
India by 300 miles of foreign territory, it was
decided to make it over to Raia Ghulab Sinp-h. in
consideration of his services " towards promoting the
restoration of the relations of amity between the
Lahore and British governments," and a clause binding
the Maharaja to recognize his independent authority
was inserted in the treaty, the British Government
engaging " to admit the Raja to the privilege of
a second treaty." Furthermore, the government of
Lahore, in view of the difficulties anticipated in effect-
ing the required reduction in the state army,
requested Sir Henry Hardinge to consent to the
occupation of the citadel of Lahore by British troo
till the end of the year. This request, after some
demur owing to the risks involved, was granted, and
a clause to that effect was embodied in a supple-
mentary agreement signed on March 11.
The " second t r e a t y " mentioned above was con-
cluded at Amritsar on March 16. By it the
British Government transferred the province of
Kashmir " for ever, in independent possession, to
Muharaja Golab Singh, and the heirs male of his
body ; " and the said " Muharaja " agreed, in considera-
tion of the transfer, to pay the British Government
•

A»\V.-\N ,
186 A Short History of the Sikhs.
the sum of seventj^-five lakhs of rupees, a sum
practically equivalent to the unpaid portion of the -
war indemnity. In the year 1808, Ghulab Singh
was earning three rupees a month and his rations as
a common soldier in an obscure fortress on the banks
of the Jhelam. He was now, while still under sixty
years of age, the absolute monarch of 80,000
square miles of territory. If he was not at the top
of the ladder of his ambition, he was certainly
as high up on it as he deserved to be—higher
even than that, in the opinion of many. But what-
ever his faults, Ghulab Singh was .a statesman
of proved ability. At this time he was the only
chief in the Punjab fitted to rule a wild country like
Kashmir, and the only one capable of paying seventy-
five lakhs of rupees for the privilege of doing so.
On the conclusion of these treaties, Sir Henry
Hardinge withdrew from Lahore, leaving Colonel
Henry Lawrence behind him as his agent! Th"e
government or trie state was vested m a counci
leading men, with Raja Lai Singh as minister. In
this council the influence of the court party predom-
inated, and, as a consequence, intrigues of various
kinds were soon afoot. The Rani and her advisers
had submitted to the Treaty of Lahore because no
other course was open to them; but they were
determined to place as many obstacles as possible in
the way of its enforcement. In the month of May,
the Sikh commandant at Kangra, acting under secret
instructions from Lahore, refused to deliver up his
fortress to the British, to whom, under the treaty, it
now belonged, When, however, he saw himself
 Under British Protection. 187

surrounded by a strong force with thirty guns ready

to open fire on his walls, he had the wisdom to make
his submission; but his defiance had caused the
British considerable trouble, and did not add to
their confidence in the good faith of the Lahore
Government.
In October, another and more serious rising took
place, this time in Ghulab Singh's newly acquired
kingdom. Lai Singh had witnessed the elevation of
his rival to the throne of Kashmir with anything but
satisfaction; and he now, with the connivance of the
Rani, secretl insti Sheikh Imam-ud-din, the
governor of the province, to resist orce of
arms the entry newly appointed ruler. The
matter was reported to the Governor-General, who
ordered the immediate dispatch of troops to enforce
obedience to the terms of the treaty. The result was,
as at Kangra, the speedy submission of the rebellious
governor, who, to escape the consequences of his
misconduct, placed in the hands of Colonel Lawrence
documentary evidence to prove that he had been
acting under orders from Lai Singh. The latter was,
then and there, charged before the assembled sirdars
with having treacherously violated the Treaty of
Lahore, and, his guilt having been proved, he was,
unanimous consent of the assembly, deposed
office, deprived of his jdgirs, and banished
from the kingdom of Lahore.
The trial of Lai Singh took place on December 4,
and the same day the ministry was entrusted
to a committee of four, consisting of Sirdars
Tej Singh and Sher Singh (the latter the brother-
188 A Short History of the Sikhs.
in-law of the Maharaja), Diwan Dina Nath, the
finance minister, and Fakir Nur-ud-din a brother
Ranj it Singh's favourite adviser, Azziz-ud-din.
dismissal of her favourite and accomplice was
a great blow to the Rani. With the support of
Dina Nath, she proposed that she herself should be
placed at the head of the administration; but the
sirdars, the only class in the country genuinely
anxious for the restoration of law and order, stoutly
opposed such a step. Nay, more ; so alarmed were
these men at the difficulties of the task which
confronted them, the task not only of establishing a
strong and permanent government, but of combating
the intrigues of the court and suppressing the
dangerous temper of the troops, and that without a
British force to support them—for the time for
the withdrawal of the army of occupation was
at hand—that they decided to ask the British
Government to take entire control of the administra-
tion of the state until the Maharaja should attain his
majority.
On December 15, Lord Hardinge, who the
day previous had arrived at Bhairowal, a few
marches from Lahore, received a deputation of the
sirdars, and made known to them the terms on which
he was prepared to grant their request. To these the
sirdars gave their unanimous consent, and on the
16 th the Treaty of Bhairowal was signed. Its main
provisions were as follows :—That a British Resident
at Lahore should be appointed by the Governor-
General ; that the administration of the country
should be conducted by a council of regency, com-
 Under British Protection. 189
posed of leading chiefs and sirdars, acting under the
British Resident, who should have full authority to
direct and control the duties of every department;
that a British force should remain at Lahore for
the protection of ""the Maharaja and the preservation
of the peace of the country; that the Governor-
General should be at liberty to post British troopsi
in any fortress whose occupation he might con
sider necessary; that the Lahore state should pay
to the British Government twenty-two lakhs of
rupees for the maintenance of this force, and, to
meet the expenses incurred by the British
Government, the sum of one__ and a half lakhs
should be set apart annually for the
maintenance of the mother of Maharaja Dhulip
Singh; and lastly, that the provisions of the treaty
should have effect during the minority of Maharaja
Dhulip Singh, and should cease and determine on his
Highness attaining the full age of sixteen years, or
on the 4th September of the year 1854.
The new council of regency consisted of eight
members, amongst them being the four chiefs already
mentioned as having charge of the ministry. The
first Resident was Colonel Henry Lawrence, whose
_ .^^^—^^^^^^^^^^^^^^M^^^^^^B ^^^k^h^^^V^H ^^^^HP^^^H^V^H^HflflflJ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^M^A^^^H^IflV^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^p^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

talent for administration, great nobility of char-

acter, and intimate knowledge of the Sikh people,
pre-eminently fitted him for the post. The British
officers appointed as his assistants were some of
the ablest men that the Government of India had
at its disposal; indeed, there could be no stronger
proof of the latter's desire to save the kingdom of
Lahore than the selection, for the administration of
190 A Short History of the Sikhs.
its affairs, of such men as Henry Lawrence, John
Nicholson, and Herbert Edwardes. The first measure
to which the Resident gave his attention was the
reduction of the army, a matter requiring very
delicate handling. It was, however, by a judicious
combination of tact, patience, and firmness, successfully
accomplished. The disbanded regiments received the
arrears of pay due to them, and everything was done
to induce the men either to join the British service
or to return to peaceful occupations. The recon-
struction, or rather the building anew, of the
machinery of government was then vigorously taken
in hand. A penal code adapted to the customs and
traditions of the country was drawn up, lands were
surveyed, rates and assessments were made less
burdensome, many obnoxious taxes were abolished,
and the collectors of revenue were deprived of their
facilities for robbing either the cultivators or the
state.
But though the population of the Punjab as a
whole began rapidly to appreciate the advantages of
living under an orderly and just administration, the
Sikhs themselves welcomed the new order of
things with anything but enthusiasm. They felt that
their position as the ruling community was being
undermined. British methods of government might
be superior to their own, but they did not want
British methods, and the more popular these became
the deeper grew their jealousy and resentment.
Moreover, the Hindu and Muhammadan com-
munities derived greater benefit than they did from
the reforms that were being instituted. Many of
 Under British Protection. 191
the more well-to-do Sikhs lived on rent-free lands,
and it made no difference to them whether rates of
assessment were high or low, unless they happened
to be collectors of revenue, and then they preferred
them to be high. Muhammadans and Hindus they
were accustomed to regard as mere producers of
revenue—not as fellow-subjects entitled to equal
rights with themselves. Equality within the limits
of the Khalsa was a doctrine which every Sikh
was prepared to uphold, but the equality of all
communities within the limits of the Punjab was
the worst form of heresy. Then, again, there were
the disbanded soldiers. Many of these had, it is
true, settled down to peaceful pursuits ; but there
was still a large number of them who were, as
Lawrence himself described it, " afloat on the surface
of society." These men lived by methods which
were by no means facilitated by the growth of law
and order, and every measure which tended to
promote public security increased their discontent.
No one, perhaps, was less satisfied with the terms
of the Treaty of Bhairowal than the Rani Jindan,
who found herself completely excluded from any
share in the government of the state. All that was
now left to her was the power to intrigue, and of
this, while her opportunities lasted, she made full
use. She intrigued with her banished favourite
Lai Singh, she endeavoured to corrupt the British
sepoy troops at Lahore, she plotted to assassinate
Tej Singh, and she carried on a treasonable corre-
spondence with Mulraj, the Governor of Multan. To
the remonstrances of the Government she sent only
192 A Short History of the Sikhs.
contemptuous replies, and eventually carried her
insolence to the extent of inducing the youthful
Maharaja to defy in open durbar the Resident and
his Council. This crowning insult destroyed any
remnants of patience lurking in the mind of
Colonel Lawrence, and the " Messalina of the Punjab "
was forthwith placed in a palanquin and conveyed
under a strong escort to the fortress of Sheikhpura.
Even here she did not cease her activities, and in
the end she was carried across the frontier, and
placed in confinement at Benares.
But despite the spirit of discontent which pervaded
practically every section of the Sikh community,
there reigned, at the close of 1847, such peace and
quietness in the Punjab as that country had not
known for years past. To the ordinary observer
the British protectorate appeared an unqualified
success, and as such it was regarded both in
England and India. Even Lord Hardinge, before
setting out for England in January 1848, "assured
Lord Dalhousie, his successor, that so far as human
i

foresight could predict, ' it would not be necessary

> 55 1
to fire a gun in India for seven years to come.
Colonel Lawrence, who laid down his office at the same
time, looked forward, though with less confidence, to
the success of the scheme he had laboured so hard to
establish. " I can certify," he wrote, after six months
as Resident at Lahore, " to this people having settled
down in a manner that could never have been hoped
or believed of them." But, with a true insight into
the dangers of the situation, he added that " if every
i The Marquess of Dalhousie, by Sir W. W . Hunter, p. 62.
 Under British Protection. 193
Sirdar and Sikh in the Punjab were to avow himself
satisfied with the humble position of his country, it
would be the extreme of infatuation to believe him,
or to doubt for a moment that, among the crowd who
are loudest in our praise, there are many who
cannot forgive our victory or even our forbearance,
and who chafe at their own loss of power, in
exact proportion as they submit to ours."
The fact that the Sikhs resented the control of
their conquerors is no censure on Lord Hardinge's
policy. The only alternative to a British protectorate
was annexation, which both on military and political
grounds was considered impracticable. At the close
T
of the first Sikh w ar the task of annexation would
have imposed a very severe strain on the military
resources of the Government; for, although the army
of the Khalsa had been thoroughly defeated, there
was still a sufficient force in the Punjab to render the
complete subjugation of the country a long and
extremely arduous undertaking. Moreover, the
" buffer s t a t e " policy had not been abandoned, and
both the East India Company and the Government
of India were at one in their desire for the establish-
ment of a strong and friendly government at Lahore.
In a British protectorate lay the only chance of
securing such a result. The possibilities of success
were not great, but they were sufficient to make the
risk of failure worth incurring. Difficulties were,
of course, expected. The sudden introduction into a
half wild country of the restraints of a civilized
government was bound to give rise to discontent,
mistrust, and ill-will. But, provided no untoward
(1,841) 13
194 A Short History of the Sikhs.
circumstance arose to stir such smouldering elements
of unrest into active rebellion, there was good reason
to believe that, ere the expiry of the term of the
protectorate, the British administrators of the Punjab
would have won the confidence and the co-operation
of the Sikh people, and that, on the coming of age
of the Maharaja, " his country would be made over to
l
him in a much improved and prosperous condition."
1
See Lord Hardinge's dispatches of September 1846.
 CHAPTER XIII.

T H E SECOND S I K H WAR.

THANKS in no small measure to the efforts of the

Rani Jindan, the " untoward circumstance " did arise.
I n the month of March 1848, while Lord Dalhousie
was still being congratulated on having assumed office
" at a time when the last obstacle to the complete,
and apparently final, pacification of India has been
removed," there was seen from the walls of Lahore a
cloud, far away to the south-west, no bigger than a
man's hand. Before a month had passed, it had
grown into a big, angry-looking cloud; and by the
end of six months the horizon on every side was
black with the oncoming storm. For the full story
of the second Sikh war, the reader must again be
referred to the works mentioned on page 171, with
the addition to the list of A Year on the Punjab
Frontier, in 184,8—9, by Major Herbert Edwardes.
one of the most interesting of the many books dealing
with the Punjab wars. As in the case of the earlier
campaign, we shall do no more than indicate the chief
events in the last and gallant struggle of the Sikhs
for national independence.
It will be remembered that during the short min-
196 A Short History of the Sikhs.
istry of Jowahir Singh, Mulraj, the Khatri governor
of Miiltan, had refused to pay his " footing," and had
only escaped deposition by submitting to a fine of
eighteen lakhs of rupees. He now found, or professed
to find, that it was impossible to provide the yearly
revenue which his province was expected to yield,
and in the beginning of March he tendered his resig-
nation to the Government at Lahore, by whom it
was promptly accepted. Sirdar Khan Singh was
appointed to the vacant office, ^and, accompanied by~
two British officers, Mr. Vans" Agnew of the Bengal
Civil Service and Lieutenant Anderson of the Bombay
Fusiliers, he proceeded to Miiltan to take over charge
from Mulraj. The party reached Miiltan on April
18, and on the following day the new governor
was duly installed. Up to that point all had gone
well; but, as Vans Agnew and Anderson were re-
turning to their camp without the fort, they were
suddenly attacked by some of Mulraj's men. Both
were severely wounded, but managed, with the help
of their escort and Khan Singh's followers, to make
their escape to a neighbouring mosque. On the
morning of the 20th, Mulraj, who, at the commence-
ment of the previous day's affray, had galloped off to
his summer residence, returned to the fort, where he
I

R einstated himself and openly declared his hostility to

he British. The guns of the fort were turned on
the mosque in which Vans Agnew and Anderson had
taken refuge; and in the evening the two wounded
officers, deserted by their escort, were brutally
murdered.
On the night of the 19th, Vans Agnew had man-
1

1. Mulraj, Diwan of Multan. 2. The Rani Jindan. 3. Raja Ghulab

Singh. 4. Sirdar Sher Singh. (India Office.)
198 A Short History of the Sikhs.
aged to dispatch an urgent message for assistance to
Lieutenant Edwardes, the officer in charge of Derajat,
the district between the Indus and the Sulaiman
Mountains forming the western frontier of the
P

Punjab. Edwardes, with the 400 men who com-

posed his escort, at once set out for Multan. But
it was not until he was joined by General Cortlan
from Bannu, and the loyal Pathan troops
Nawab of Bahawalpur, that he was able to com-
mence active hostilities against the 4,000 men whom
Mulraj brought out to meet him. When thus rein-
forced, he succeeded, though his little army was still
many times outnumbered by that of the rebel leader,
in winning two pitched battles, one on June 18, at
Kineri, sixty miles from Multan, and the other on
Saddosam, almost within sight of the
After his second defeat, Mulraj shut himself
up in his fortress, while Edwardes sent an urgent
appeal to the Resident at Lahore for siege guns and
additional troops.
At Lahore the Multan outbreak was regarded as
an act of hostility, not against the British, but against
the Sikh government, and the only assistance that
had, so far, been sent to Edwardes consisted of Sikh
troops under the command of Sirdar Sher Singh.
The new demand for a European force and a siege-
train Lord Gough, the Commander-in-Chief, was
against complying with, partly because he deemed
the season unfavourable for the movement of troops,
and partly because he wished to avoid a step likely
to precipitate a general rising, to meet which his
preparations were not yet complete. I t was not
 The Second Sikh War. 199
until August, when it had become apparent that the
Multan revolt was spreading, and when even in
Lahore itself sedition was rife, that he decided that
active measures could no longer be delayed ; and it
was September 4 before the force which was
then dispatched — a force of 6,000 men, a third
of them English, with 37 guns—was encamped be-
fore the walls of Multan. The delay was fortunate
for Mulraj, for it enabled him to complete his pre-
parations for defence, and provided him with oppor-
tunities—at least we may safely conjecture that it did
for a clandestine correspondence with Sher Singh.
The siege commenced on September 5, and
was carried on with varying success till the 14th,
when Sher Singh, with the whole of his Sikh con-
nt over to the side of Mulraj. There was
nothing for it but to raise the siege, and the next
day the British force moved off to Suraikhund, some
seven miles to the south of Multan, there to await
the reinforcements which had already been ordered
up from Bombay. If any doubt yet remained as to
the real significance of the Multan outbreak, it was
effectually dispelled by the news of Sher Singh's
desertion. The Khalsa was up, and up not only in
the south-west, but in Bannu, in Peshawar, and in
Hazara; and if King Ghulab Singh was not up too,
it was only because that astute monarch was waiting
till the success of the Khalsa looked a little more
certain.
The chief organizer of the risings in the north-
west was Chattar Singh, the father of Sher Singh,
who held charge of the district of Hazara; and he
200 A Short History of the Sikhs.
was ably seconded by our old Barakzai acquaintance,
Sultan Muhammad Khan, the governor of Kohat.
Together they made overtures to the Amir, Dost
Muhammad Khan, offering him, as the price of his
assistance, the much coveted province of Peshawar, a
bribe which the Afghan monarch was only too ready
to swallow. By the middle of October, the whole of
the north-west, except Attock, was in the hands of
Chattar Singh; and the British officers stationed in
Hazara and Peshawar were his prisoners. Communi-
cations were opened with Sher Singh at Miiltan, and
it was arranged that he should make his way to
Gujrat where, on the fall of Attock, he would be
joined by his father, and the combined forces would
then march on Lahore. At the same time proclama-
tions were issued throughout the kingdom urging the
disbanded soldiers to join whichever leader they could
most quickly reach, and calling upon every true Sikh,
in the name of the Guru, to gird up his loins and
take part in the holy war wdiich was to free the
Khalsa from the oppression of the Feringhis. " Who-
ever acts accordingly will obtain grace in this world,
and hereafter; and he who acts otherwise is excluded
»1
from the pale of the Sikh faith
Sher Singh set out from Miiltan on October 9, and
so rapid were his movements that his whole force
was out of sight before General Whish, who had taken
over command from Edwardes, had realizecTwhat was
happening. Proceeding northwards along the right
bank of the Chenab, the Sikh commander, early in
November, reached Ramnaggar, where he entrenched
•

1
See A Tear on the Punjab Frontier, vol. ii. p. 624-
 The Second Sikh War. 201
himself so as to command the ford of the river, with
a portion of his force posted on the left bank. Here
he expected to be joined by the Bannu regiments,
some of whom had already come in, and here the
opening action of the second Sikh war took place.
On the 22nd of the month his position was attacked
by Lord Gough, who had left Lahore a week before
with 20,000 men and 100 guns. In the course of
the fight both sides lost heavily. The Sikh troops
on the left bank of the Chen&b were driven back
across the river with great slaughter; but to com-
pensate for this partial defeat, Sher Singh had the
satisfaction of cutting up a regiment of British
cavalry who had, with more gallantry than dis-
cretion, charged down into the river bed, where the
deep sand and mud rendered their horses helpless.
On December 3 another indecisive engagement took
place at Sadlilap&g, where, had not the British plans
miscarried, Sher Singh's force would have been caught
between two fires, and would in all probability have
been annihilated. As it was, the two portions into
which Lord Gough's army was divided failed to co-
operate, and the Sikhs were able to withdraw un-
molested from the Chenab to the Jhelam, and to take
up a strong position at Rassul, on the banks of the
latter river, commanding the road along which the
division under Chattar Singh was to approach.
After Sadulapur the whole British force crossed
the Chen4b; but instead of pressing on to Rassul,
Lord Gough, acting under the instructions of the
Governor-General, halted at Hela, fifteen miles from
that place, to wait until the fall of Multan should
202 A Short History of the Sikhs.
enable General Whish to join him. After a delay of
five weeks, however, during which time Sher Singh
was busy entrenching himself, news arrived that
Attock had fallen, which meant that reinforcements
would speedily arrive, not for the British but for Sher
Singh. For two months Lieutenant Herbert, the
British representative at Attock, had kept Chat tar
Singh at bay; and it was only when the latter _was
reinforced by the Pathan troops of Dost Muhammad
that Herbert was forced to evacuate his stronghold,
thus leaving the way clear for the Sikh leader to
march to the assistance of Sher Singh.
Determined to strike his blow before Chattar Singh
could effect a junction with his son, Lord Gough,
on the morning of January 13, marched on the
Sikh position, and in the afternoon the battle of
Chilianwala was fought. The results of this
sanguinary encounter were of a negative description.
By the time night put an end to the fighting, the
British were in possession of the field of battle, while
the Sikhs had made an orderly retreat into their
entrenchments at Rassul. The fight lasted for little
more than three hours, but the slaughter was
tremendous. On the side of the British "thirty-
three officers, fifty-three sergeants or havildars, five
hundred and eleven common soldiers had fallen dead,
a hundred men and four sergeants were missing, few
of whom returned alive; while the wounded came up
to ninety-four officers, one warrant officer, ninety ser-
geants or havildars, and fourteen hundred and sixty-six
men. of other ranks. Besides this fearful loss, un-
equalled in the record of Indian battles, four guns
204 A Short History of the Sikhs.
belonging to the troops of Huish and Christie, and
five or six colours borne by the 24th foot, the 25th,
30th, 56th native infantry, remaining in the enemy's
1
hands." What wonder that the Sikhs, though their
own loss nearly trebled that of the British, were
exultant, and that, on regaining the heights of
Rassul, they tired a salute in honour of their
success ?
For some days after Chilianwala, heavy and con-
tinuous rain fell, rendering further operations im-
possible. Towards evening on the 24th January a
Sikh salute of twenty-one guns told the British of the
arrival of Chattar Singh, who brought with him, in
addition to his troops, his British prisoners, George
Lawrence, Herbert, and Bowie. Two days later
a royal salute from the British camp announced
the fall of Miiltan, and the same day the Sikhs
made an attempt to negotiate terms. " I was looking
through the battery spy-glass at the Sikh camp,"
wrote a British subaltern in his diary, " when our
guns thundered out the welcome news, and I could
see as the loud report from the heavies came booming
through the air it seemed to swarm with human
beings. Thousands upon thousands seemed to be
rushing about not knowing what to make of it.
Bowie, one of our politicals, came into our camp
to-day on parole, with a proposition from Sher
Singh as to terms; but the only terms we can give
them, I suspect, they will find hard to swallow, with-
out a little more fighting—namely, unconditional
1
History of
vol. i. p. 186.
 The Second Sikh War. 205
surrender and giving up all their arms. He says
that Sher Singh treats him like a brick; he has
twenty men to guard him all day and night, and
such is their idea of us, a bottle of brandy is placed
on his breakfast-table every morning. They boast
that they are not at all afraid of us, and if it were
not for those madmen of Europeans, they would
1
thrash our sepoys hollow." Our British subaltern
was right. Bowie was instructed to inform Sher
Singh that the Government of Her Majesty the
Queen was not in the habit of making terms with
a rebel in arms.
The news of the capitulation of Multan had taken
four days to reach the British camp. The Bombay
column had joined General Whish on December 26,
and on the following day the siege of the fortress
had begun. Even with a force of 30,000 men
and 60 siege-guns, a whole month elapsed before
Mulrdj was driven to surrender. The city was
captured on January 2, a British shell having ex-
ploded the powder magazine of the besieged; but
the citadel still held out, and it was not until the
22nd, "after forty thousand shot and shell had been
poured into Mult&n," that the defence was abandoned,
and Mulr&j delivered himself up to the British. He
had put up a gallant defence, and great must have
been the eagerness of the British soldiers to set
eyes on the man who had so long held them at bay.
We can well imagine how " his spare figure and
dignified air excited their comment and admiration as
he rode down the long files of British troops from
1
Leaves from the Journal of a Subaltern, p. 124-5.
206 *
A Short History of the Sikhs.
the ' Gate of Dignity' to the tent of the general.
Mounted on a well-bred Arab splendidly caparisoned,
and himself radiant in enamelled armour and gilded
silks, he illustrated Eastern fatalism, submissive to
1
destiny, but never dejected."
On the morning of February 12 the entrench-
ments at Rassiil were found to be empty. During
the previous night, the Sikhs had evacuated their
position, and passing round the flank of the
British army had moved off eastwards, with the
apparent intention of crossing the Chenab and
marching on Lahore. By this time General Whish,
who had set out from Miiltan on December 27, had
reached Ramnaggar; and, being apprised of Sher
Singh's movements, he dispatched a brigade under
Colonel Byrne to Wazirabad to prevent the enemy
from crossing the river. Byrne was only just in time
to accomplish this. On the morning after his arrival
at Wazirabad the Sikhs appeared on the right bank,
but finding the fords guarded they withdrew to
Gujrat. Thither they were followed by the main
army under Lord Gough, which, uniting with Whish's
division, advanced on the morning of the 21st to
give battle to the Sikh host.
There was nothing indecisive about the battle
of Gujrat. Reinforced by Chattar Singh and 1,500
Afghans under the son of Dost Muhammad, Sher
Singh was now at the head of 40,000 men with 60
guns. Lord Gough's force numbered only 25,000,
but for the first time since the commencement of the
Dalhousie's Administration of British India, by Edwin Arnold,
vol. i. p. 159.
 The Second Sikh War. 207
Sikh wars he was superior to his opponent in
artillery, having at his disposal the powerful eighteen-
pounders which had been brought up from Bombay
to the siege of Multan. The action began at 7.30
a.m. with a vigorous cannonade on both sides. But
though the Sikh gunners fought with their ac-
customed skill and hardihood, " in quickness of fire
surpassing, in truth of aim very nearly equalling, the
l
world-famous artillerymen of Bengal and Bombay,"
their efforts were unavailing against the more
numerous and heavier guns of their assailants. By
11.30 their fire had practically ceased, nearly all of
their sixty guns being either dismounted or with-
drawn, whilst their defences were shattered to pieces.
When the cannonade was finished, the British infantry,
supported by the horse-artillery, advanced, and by the
end of an hour the Sikh position had been carried at
the point of the bayonet. At 1 o'clock the British
were in undisputed possession of Sher Singh's camp,
his guns, his ammunition, his baggage, and his
stores, while the cavalry on both flanks were in
hot pursuit of the now utterly routed army of the
Khalsa. On the morning after the battle a pursuing
force of 12,000 men—horse, foot, and artillery—under
General Sir Walter Gilbert, continued the chase. The
Sikhs made no attempt to rally; and at Rawal-
Pindi, on March 12, Sher Singh and all that was
left of his broken army came in and surrendered.
Thirty-five chiefs laid down their swords at Gilbert's
feet; and afterwards the Sikh soldiers, advancing one
1
History of the British Empire in India, by Lionel James
Trotter, vol. i. p. 195.
208 A Short History of the Sikhs.
by one, flung each his arms on a heap in front of the
general's tent. " I never saw "—so runs the entry in
the subaltern's diary—" anything like the reluctance
with which they seemed to part with their weapons.
Many of them were fine grey-haired old fellows,
with large flowing white beards, probably some of
Ranjeet Singh's veterans. One old fellow I noticed
in particular : he stood for a long time looking wist-
fully at his arms and the pile before him, and
evidently could not make up his mind to give them
up. At last the officer on duty came up and touched
him on the shoulder, and ordered him to move on;
he then threw down his sword and matchlock with
a crash, and turned away saying, with tears in his
eyes, ' All my work is done now.' After they had
deposited their weapons, they went away—goodness
knows where — probably without a farthing in
their pockets to buy food with. There was an
immense pile of muskets, matchlocks, tulwars, spears,
zamborucks, and six or seven guns of heavier metal,
and one ten-inch mortar. As I went away I
met a company of pioneers coming to break up
the matchlocks. The swords will probably be sold
1
by auction."
The splendid bravery and the fervid patriotism
displayed by the Sikhs throughout the Punjab wars
will always be remembered by the British with
admiration and respect. I t is difficult to read un-
moved the story of the surrender of Sher Singh's
army. But, while we pay the highest possible tribute
to the gallantry of the soldiers of the Khalsa, we
1
Leaves from the Journal of a Subaltern, p
 The Second Sikh War. 209
cannot but bear in mind how completely they brought
their fate upon themselves. They embarked on
the first Sikh war in the belief that the British
were meditating the annihilation of the Khalsa.
Their defeat laid their kingdom prostrate at the
feet of the British Government; but the latter,
instead of annihilating it, employed every means in
its power to give it life, strength, and permanence.
They had confessed their inability to administer
their own affairs, and had themselves begged for
the establishment of a British protectorate. The
request was a wise one, and was complied w i t h ;
after which only one thing was necessary to enable
the British Government to carry out its purpose of
handing over, in 1854, a " much improved and
prosperous kingdom" to Maharaja Dhulip Singh.
That one essential thing was the co-operation of
the Sikh people. Without this, the Khalsa was
doomed; with it, there was hardly a limit to the
prosperity to which it might attain.
But the Sikhs gave no thought to the future.
They were conscious only that an alien hand was
usurping their powers, restricting their liberties, and
disbanding their armies, and in this they saw, not the
future greatness of the Khalsa, but only their
present humiliation. They had asked for the
protectorate; but as soon as it became an ac-
complished fact, and they saw a British officer
virtually in possession of the throne of Ranjit Singh,
they repented of what they had done. The measures
of the new administration galled them, not because
they were strange or irksome, but because they were
(1,841) 14
 210 A Short History of the Sikhs.
4

imposed by a foreign hand. The remedy seemed

worse than the disease ; and hence the Sikhs banded
themselves together to oppose the only system which
could possibly save their kingdom. The second Sikh
war was an even greater blunder than the first—
greater because irretrievable.

•
 CHAPTER XIV.

ANNEXATION AND AFTER.

WHEN Lord Hardinge, in the hope of preserving the

Sikh kingdom, concluded the Treaty of Lahore, he
was far from confident of the ultimate success of
his scheme; but "considering the importance of the
results aimed a t " he believed it to be worth trying.
" I confess," he wrote to Henry Lawrence, " I think
the probability is against the continuance of a
1
Sikh Government;" and on March 1 1 , 1846, he thus
concluded his address to the assembled sirdars:
" Success or failure is in your own hands; my co-
operation shall not be wanting; but, if you neglect
this opportunity, no aid on the part of the British
Government can save the state." Lord Dalhousie
came to India fully prepared to continue the policy of
his predecessor; but the outbreak of the second Sikh
war rendered such a course impossible. " There was
no more sincere friend," he wrote to the same officer,
Lawrence, "of Lord Hardinge's policy to establish
a strong Hindu Government between the Sutlej and
the Khaibar than I. I have done all that man
1
See Sir Henry Laicrence, by Lieutenant-General M'Leod Innes,
p, 59,
212 A Short History of the Sikhs.
could do to support such a government and to
sustain that policy—I no longer believe it feasible
to do so."
On March 29, by order of the Governor-General,
Sir Henry Elliot^ the Foreign Secretary, held a
durbar at Lahore for the purpose of making known
the decision_of the Government of India. It was
attended by the boy-maharaja, seated, for the last
time, on the throne of his ancestors, and all the
Sikh chiefs then present in the capital, while the
proceedings were watched by a vast concourse of
spectators. Amidst a deep silence, the Proclamation
Annexation of the Punjab was read aloud in
Persian, and Hindustani. In the equally
deep silence which followed, a paper was then handed
by Tej Singh to the Maharaja, containing the condi-
tions on which he and his chiefs might assure them-
selves of generous treatment at the hands of their
conquerors. The paper was immediately signed by
Dhulip Singh, after which Sir Henry Elliot rose and
left the hall. As he did so the British flag was
hoisted on the ramparts of the citadel, and the boom-
ing of guns announced that the kingdom of Lahore
had ceased to exist.
I t is impossible to study the history of the Sikhs
during the last decade of their kingdom's existence
without being led to share Lord Dalhousie's con-
viction of the " expediency, the justice, and the
necessity" of the annexation. The considerations
which determined his policy can be best summarized
by quoting from the Proclamation itself:—
" The Government of India formerly declared that
 Annexation—and After. 213
it desired no further conquests, and it proved by its
acts the sincerity of its professions.
" The Government of India has no desire for con-
quests n o w ; but it is bound in its duty to provide
fully for its own security, and to guard the interests
of those committed to its charge.
" To that end, and as the only mode of protecting
the state from the perpetual recurrence of unpro-
voked and wasting wars, the Governor-General is
compelled to resolve upon the entire subjection of
a people whom their own Government has long been
unable to control, and whom (as events have shown)
no punishment can deter from violence, and no acts
of friendship can conciliate to peace.
" Wherefore the Governor-General has declared, and
hereby proclaims, that the kingdom of the Punjab is
at an end; and that all the territories of Maharaja
Dhulip Singh are now and henceforth a portion of
the British Empire in India."
There is little more to be told. Maharaja Dhulip
Singh was granted a pension of £50,000 a year
1
permission to reside wherever Ee" chose in
British territory outside the Punjab. His final act
of submission was to surrender the Koh-i-nur to the
British Government. The precious gem, after lying
forgotten for some weeks in the waistcoat-pocket of
John Lawrence, was sent to England, where its
adventures may be said to have terminated. I t was
presented to Queen Victoria, together with a letter
from Lord Dalhousie containing a complete record of
" the vicissitudes through which the Koh-i-noor has
passed." The letter, after telling how Shah Shuja,
214 A Short History of the Sikhs.
on being asked what the stone was worth, had
replied that its value was " good fortune; for who-
ever possessed it had conquered their enemies," ended
t h u s : " The Governor-General very respectfully and
earnestly trusts that your Majesty, in your possession
of the Koh-i-noor, may ever continue to realize its
value as estimated by Shah Sooja." Dhulip Singh
.^^ti

subsequently took up his abode in England, where

he embraced Christianitv, and lived
English country gentleman.
A few days after the annexation, the Rani
Jindan, disguised in the dress of a female attendant,
escaped from her confinement and took refuge with
the ruler of Nepal, in whose country, as her machina-
tions were no longer dangerous, she was allowed to
remain. She eventually found her way to England.
Sher Singh, Chattar Singh, and the other chiefs who
had been in arms against the British, were deprived
of their landed fiefs, their retainers, and their arms,
but were allowed sufficient pensions to enable them
to live in retirement in their own villages. To Mulraj
a sterner justice was meted out. He was tried
before a special court as an accessory, before and
after the fact, to the murders of Anderson and Vans
Agnew, and was found guilty and sentenced to death.
Through the clemency of the Governor-General, his
punishment was commuted to imprisonment for life—
a punishment which was of short duration, for Mulraj
died within a few months of his trial.

We have now carried the story of the Sikhs down

to the point where it merges with the history of
 Annexation—and After. 215
British India. I t remains only to notice very briefly
the effect of the annexation of the Punjab (1) on the
province as a whole, and (2) on the Sikh people. As
a result of the two Sikh wars, a territory of
nearly ninety thousand square miles was added to the
British dominions, and Lord Dalhousie at once took
measures for its pacification and for the establishment
of a strong and beneficent system of government.
The accomplishment of this task was entrusted to
a Board of Administration consisting of three members
Henry Lawrence, in charge of the political and
military departments and President of the Board;
John his brother, in charge of revenue and finance;
and Charles Mansel (later succeeded by Robert Mont-
gomery), as chief of the judicial branch. Amongst the
officers selected to serve under this Board were Herbert
Edwardes, John Nicholson, Reynell Taylor, George
Lawrence, Abbot, Daly, and others whose names
have become household words in the Punjab.
" With singular success and in the most thorough
detail," says John Lawrence's biographer, " the Board,
in a country totally destitute of the machinery of
government, created and established in a period of
four years a system of administration complete in all
its branches, military, civil, and financial, in addition
to which it provided roads, canals, and jails, put an
end to thuggy and dacoity, codified the laws, refined
the coinage, and promoted agriculture." It is owing
to the labours of this famous triumvirate that the
Punjab is able to-day to look back upon sixty-five
years of continuous peace, of steady progress, and
save for the occasional vicissitudes of famine, of un-

•
216 A Short History of the Sikhs.
broken prosperity. I t may be doubted whether the
history of any country in the world can show, within an
equally short period, so remarkable a record of social,
political, and material development as is to be found
in the administration reports of this province since it
fell under the control of the British Government.
The military organization of the new territory was
carried out under the personal direction of Lord
Dalhousie. For the protection of the North-West
Frontier a line of forts and cantonments 500 miles
in length was established, and to hold this line a new
force, called the Punjab Frontier Force, was created.
I t consisted of five regiments of cavalry, five of
infantry, three horse field-brigades, two companies of
sappers and miners, a camel corps, and the celebrated
corps of guides originally raised by Henry Lawrence
in 1846. The full strength of this force was 11,000
men, of whom as many as 10 per cent, were Sikhs.
To secure the internal peace of the province a police
force was formed numbering 15,000 men, and in this,
too, many Sikhs were enrolled. Half of this latter
force was organized on military lines, and special
duties were entrusted to it, such as the guarding of
jails, treasuries, and frontier posts, and the providing
of escorts for civil officers and the protection of
treasure in transit. As an additional safeguard, the
people of all districts except those on the North-West
Frontier were disarmed.
The civil administration was conducted on the
non-regulation system—that is to say, the ordinary
laws and regulations were not formally introduced,
and officers, though required to conform to the
 Annexation—and After. 217
spirit of those laws, were instructed to base their
procedure as far as possible on native customs and
institutions. For administrative purposes the country
was mapped out into districts small enough to enable
the officer in charge of each to gain a complete
knowledge of and exercise a personal influence over
its population, and every such officer was entrusted
with judicial, fiscal, and magisterial powers. The
position of these district officers was in fact not
unlike that of the kdrddrs in the days of Ranjit
Singh, and the people in consequence saw nothing
unfamiliar in the extent and diversity of their powers.
But though the new system resembled the old in its
organization, it differed from it in every other par-
ticular, and nowhere was this difference more marked
than in matters relating to the collection of revenue.
Previous to 1849, the heavy transit and customs
dues, combined with the badness and insecurity of
the roads, rendered the exportation of grain an
impossibility, and at the same time paralysed internal
trade, and that to such an extent that the people of
one district often starved for want of food while plenty
reigned in the districts around them. Of the forty-
eight imposts levied by Ranjit Singh only six were
retained under the new regime; salt was the sole
commodity subject to import duty, and that was col-
lected only along the line of the North-West Frontier.
The burden of the cultivator was similarly lightened.
" W e have substituted," wrote Ibbetson in 1 8 8 1 , " a
fixed and moderate if inelastic assessment of land
revenue for a demand about which the only certainty
was that it would be excessive. The Sikhs often
218 A Short History of the Sikhs.
took as much as a half of the year's produce, besides
a multitude of cesses ; our demand never exceeds one-
sixth, is frequently less than an eighth, a tenth, or
a twelfth, and is in some cases not more than a
fifteenth of the average gross produce." * In spite of
these reductions, the new system soon began to yield
a bigger revenue than had ever flowed into the Sikh
exchequer.
The impetus thus given to trade and agriculture
was increased ten-fold by the making of roads, rail-
ways, and irrigation canals. At the time of the
annexation there was no railway, nor was there
a yard of metalled ' road in the Punjab. The first
*

line of rail was built in 1859 from Amritsar to

Miiltan. Twenty years later there were more than
1,000 miles of line open, and to-day there are more
than 6,000. In addition metalled roads traverse the
province in every direction, with a total length ex-
ceeding 3,000 miles. Irrigation works were carried
out on an even more extensive scale. Such canals
as existed in the days of the Sikh monarchy were
few in number and ill-maintained. They were still
further neglected during the anarchy which followed
the death of Ranjit Singh, and when the province
was taken over they were in a state of ruin. During
his rule in the Punjab, John Lawrence spent £880,000
on canals. At the present time, of the 30,000,000
acres of land under cultivation, 10,000,000 acres owe
their fertility to artificial irrigation, 760,000 being
2
watered by the Bari Doab Canal alone. The
1
Census Report for the Punjab for 1881.
2
Opened in 1859.
 t

Annexation—and After. 219

Punjab triple canal scheme, now nearing its completion,
will be the means of fertilizing another 2,000,000
acres of waste land. Many crores of rupees are being
spent on this gigantic undertaking; and there could
be no better testimony to the present prosperity of
the province than the fact that the promoters of the
scheme anticipate a profit of 7 \ per cent, on the
capital outlay.
Canals and railroads have revolutionized the con-
ditions of life in the Punjab. By converting vast
arid wastes into teeming plains, and by enabling
the cultivator to place his produce on the world's
markets, they have increased enormously the ma-
terial wealth of the people; at • the same time
prices have been equalized, caste and tribal prejudices
have to a large extent been obliterated, and the
danger of serious food famines has been reduced to
a minimum. As . a recent writer has well said,
not only do such great works as these increase
prosperity: they create it. " Two of the Punjab
canals have literally converted desolate, uninhabited
places into thriving countries. Along the banks of
the Chenab Canal (a portion of the triple project)
now stretch fields and villages inhabited by a million
people, where twelve years ago a few nomads
wandered over a desert of parched earth and camel-
thorn. The State irrigation works of India are of
their kind the greatest and most beneficent triumphs
T 1
of engineering that the w orld has seen."
The judicial system set up by the Board was an
entirely new creation. Like the revenue system it
V

1
Studies of Indian Life, by Sir Bampfylde Fuller, p. 195.
220 A Short History of the Sikhs.
was framed to suit the circumstances of the country,
and was based on the " non-regulation " principle of
according the fullest possible recognition to local and
tribal usages. When Chief Commissioner of the
Punjab (the province was converted into a Chief
Commissionership in 1853) John Lawrence caused a
complete code of laws, having special reference to the
known peculiarities of the country and people, to be
compiled. This code, the work of Sir Robert Mont-
gomery and Sir Richard Temple, became the basis of
the judicial administration, and was found to be so
admirably suited to the requirements of a new
country that it was afterwards introduced into
Oudh and other non-regulation provinces. Many
changes have taken place since the days of John
Lawrence, and the Punjab is now equipped with
a supreme civil and criminal court, divisional and
sessions courts, small cause courts, and all the other
requirements of an up-to-date judicial department.
But though the earlier system has been superseded,
its character has survived and reappears in the new;
and it is still an established principle in the Punjab
" that mercantile usages and local customs affecting
the family life of the people and the disposition of
their property shall be valid and shall be recognized
by the courts of law, unless they be contrary to
justice, equity, or good conscience."
Amongst the many other beneficent objects to
which John Lawrence devoted his attention was the
promotion of education, and here again his task
was that of the pioneer, for the Punjab, so far as
education was concerned, was virgin soil. The Sikh
 Annexation—and After. 221
Government did not maintain a single school, a few
Muhammadan teachers scattered through the larger
towns providing the only instruction available, and
that of the most primitive description. The founda-
tions of the present Department of Public Instruction
were laid in 1854. The people were quick to take
advantage of the opportunities placed before them,
and during the ten succeeding years elementary
schools were opened in every district, and in 1864
the Government colleges at Delhi and Lahore were
established. In 1882, when the Punjab University
was founded, over 200,000 pupils were receiving
instruction.
This is not the place to enter upon a detailed
account of the measures adopted for the consolidation
of the Punjab. Enough has been said to give some
idea of the progress of the province under British
rule, and that for our present purpose must suffice.
How as time went on the resources of the country
were developed, how commerce leapt into being, how
the postal and telegraph services carried the message
of civilization to the remotest villages, how with the
establishment of peace and good government wages
rose and crime decreased, how the coinage was re-
fined, how hospitals were opened for the sick, how
public buildings were erected, forests conserved, wells
sunk, and rivers bridged—all these are matters be-
longing to the history, not of the Sikhs, but of the
British Empire in India. For the full story of the
Punjab since 1849—the story of one of the greatest
administrative achievements of modern times—the
reader cannot do better than study the Administra-
222 A Short History of the Sikhs.
tion Reports referred to above, together with the
biographies of Lord Lawrence and the Marquis of
1
Dalhousie.
Let us now glance for a few moments at the
effects of the annexation of the Punjab on the
Sikhs themselves. On the overthrow of the Khalsa
as a political power, Sikhism was for a time under
a cloud, and would-be converts hesitated to enrol
themselves amongst those who had taken up arms
against the British Government. But this did not
last long. I t was soon discovered that the followers
of the Sikh faith had nothing to fear at the hands of
their new masters, and that the latter, so far from
bearing them ill-will, recognized the valour they had
displayed in their final struggle for supremacy, and
were ready, not only to regard them as friends, but to
welcome them as soldiers in the ranks of their own
army. In a short time confidence was fully restored,
and was followed by an immediate revival in the
prestige of the Khalsa.
At the time of the annexation practically every
Sikh was a soldier; and when the general disarma-
ment of the province took place, though many turned
to peaceful pursuits, the pick of them enrolled them-
selves either in the newly-formed regiments or in the
military police. It was a fortunate circumstance for
1
Lord Dalhousie left India in 1856. In 1858 the Delhi territory
on the right bank of the Jumna was transferred to the North-West
Province (now the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh), and the
following year the Punjab was made a Lieutenant-Governorship,
Sir John Lawrence being the first to hold the office of Lieutenant-
Governor. In 1901 the North-West Frontier Province was formed,
consisting of Hazara and the territory west of the Indus, excluding
Dera Gh&zi K M n , the trans-Indus portion of the Isakhel, and the
Baluchistan frontier.
 Annexation—and After. 223
the followers of Guru Govind Singh that they were
thus able to find an outlet for their military zeal, and
to it they owe the strong position which their faith
holds to-day amongst the religions of India. The
martial spirit is the life of the Khalsa, and there is
little doubt that had there been no army for the
Sikhs to enlist in they would ere now have been
absorbed into the Hindu communities by which they
were surrounded. As a man of peace the Sikh is apt
to allow his religious fervour to cool; but at the first
sound of the call to arms the spirit of Govind Singh
stirs him anew, and he straightway returns, sword in
hand, to the paths of orthodoxy. A great revival of
this nature took place during the. Mutiny, and again,
though in a less marked degree, during the last
Afghan War, and in each case the restoration of
peace led to a sharp decline. Of late years the
increased demand for Sikhs in the Indian army and
farther afield has given a new and powerful impetus
to Sikhism. The revival has been assisted by the
spread of education and by the establishment of the
Singh Sabhas and the Chief Khalsa Diwan (to which
further reference will be made), and as a result the
influence of the Khalsa has never, since the reign of
Ranjit Singh, been stronger than it is to-day.
Lord Dalhousie's action in opening the ranks of
the Indian army to his late foes, though severely
criticized at the time, has been amply justified by
subsequent events, and the British Government, no
less than the Khalsa, has reaped the benefit of his
bold policy. Conspicuous alike for their fine physique,
their ready submission to discipline, and their splendid
224 A Short History of the Sikhs.
fighting qualities, the Sikhs increased the efficiency of
every regiment in which they took service, and in
a short time came to be regarded as the most useful
and reliable soldiers in the native army. They have
since fully sustained their reputation, and have served
with distinction under British colours not only in
India, but in Egypt, in Afghanistan, in China, and
in South Africa. -

In the dark days of the Mutiny, the Sikh people

as a whole loyally supported the British Raj. The
Raja of Jind was the first man, European or native,
to take the field against the mutineers. His ex-
ample was followed by the Rajas of Patiala, Nabha,
and Kaparthala, and afterwards by the Sikhs
throughout the Punjab. At the siege of Delhi the
contingents of the Sikh chiefs fought with great
gallantry and materially assisted in the subsequent
reoccupation of the surrounding territory. The fall
of Delhi was the death-blow to the rebel cause, but
the final issue of the struggle had ceased to be in
doubt when the Punjab declared itself on the side of
the British.
There are now 30,000 Sikh troops in the service
of the Government, and they constitute the flower of
the Indian army. Unhampered by caste prohibitions,
the Sikh soldier will go anywhere and do anything.
He is hardy, good-tempered, patient under privations,
and obedient to discipline, and his courage is such
that he never knows when he is beaten. " I would
venture," says Sir Lepel Griffin, " to express my
conviction, which is shared by many distinguished
officers of the Indian army, that the Sikhs, infantry
 Annexation—and After. 225
and light cavalry, are, when well and sufficiently led
by English officers, equal to any troops in the world,
and superior to any with whom they are likely to
come in contact."
The growing popularity among the Sikhs of service
in the Indian army, added to the fact that the
Government obliges every Sikh recruit, who is not
1
already a Singh, to take the pahul, has replenished
the ranks of the Khalsa, and has led to a rapid and
extensive development in its organization. The
general direction and control of religious matters is
now vested in a Council known as the Chief Khalsa
Diwan, with its headquarters at Amritsar. Like the
gurumata of former days it is a representative and
elective assembly, and is open to sirdars, military
officers, graduates, and other Sikhs of position. It
has no connection with the management of the
Golden Temple, but the superintendent of the latter
is ex officio a member of the Council. In addition to
this Council there are smaller representative bodies
at all important Sikh centres known as Khalsa
Diwans, and minor associations in the smaller towns
and villages called Singh Sabhas. All these are
affiliated to the. Chief Khalsa Diwan, and elect
representatives to serve on that body. The aim of
this organization is to further the intellectual, social,
moral, and material development of the people of the
Khalsa, to promote the study of the Granth Sahib by
providing preachers and religious instructors, and to
represent the claims of the Khalsa to the supreme
Government. The last of these functions can be
1
See Appendix D.
(1,841) 15
226 A Short History of the Sikhs.
I

performed only by the chief council at Amritsar,

the duties of the local associations being limited to
religious, educational, and philanthropic work. The
first Khalsa Diwan was established in 1901, and it
was by this association that the Khalsa College at
Amritsar, the chief educational institution of the
Sikhs, was founded. The Chief Khalsa Diwan has
since superseded the earlier association, and its off-
shoots are now to be found, not only throughout the
Punjab, but in Burmah, the Straits Settlements,
Africa, America, and England.
 APPENDIX A.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE L— THE SIKH GURUS AND

CONTEMPORARY MOGHUL EMPERORS.

Sikh Gurus. A.D. A.D. Moghul Empero c»

r 14G9 1469

The Lodi Dynasty.

BdM Ndnak <
1526
Bdbar
1530
1539
Angad Humdyun
1552
1556
Amar D&s

1576 Akbar.
Ram Das
1581
Arjiin 1605
1606
Jahangfr.
Har Govind
1627
1645 Shah Jahdn
Har Rai 1(558
1661
Har Krishen
1664
Teg Bahddur > Aurangzeb.
1675
Govind Singh
1707 j

1708 Bahddur Shah.

.. - * - -- i I.
228 A Short History of the Sikhs
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE IL—RISE OF T H E
SIKH POWER.
MOGHUL EMPERORS
Banda succeeds Govind as tem-
[Bahadur Shah,
poral leader of the Sikhs 1708
1707-1712.
The Sikhs plunder Sirhind. 1713
Subjugation of the Sikhs by Abdur ^Farrukh Siyar,
Samad and death of Banda 1716 J 1713-1719.
Invasion of N&dir Shah 1739
First invasion of Ahmad Shah 1747-8 I Muhammad Shah,
Sikhs defeated by Mir Mannu, and 1719-1748.
second invasion of Ahmad Shah.. 1748
Third invasion of Ahmad Shah.. . 1750-2 \

Ahmad Shah annexes Lahore, death

of Mir Mannu, and Lahore re- Ahmad Shah,
annexed to Delhi
-

1752 1748-1754.
Fourth invasion of Ahmad Shah,
and Timur made governor of the
Punjab 1755-6
Timur destroys Amritsar 1756 Alamgir,
The Sikhs under Jassa Singh occupy 1754-1759.
Lahore, and Delhi occupied by
the Mahrattas 1758
Fifth invasion of Ahmad Shah 1759-61
Defeat of the Mahrattas at Panipat 1761
The Sikhs defeat Khwdja Obaid
before Gujr&nw&la, and ravage
the country on either side of
the Sutlej. Sixth invasion of
Ahmad Shah, and signal defeat
of the Sikhs near Ludhi&na 1762
The Sikhs defeat the Afghans near
Sirhind, destroy the city, and Shah Alum,
V 1759-1771
permanently occupy the province 1763
The Sikhs occupy Lahore 1764
Eighth invasion of Ahmad Shah,
and withdrawal of the Sikhs
from Lahore 1767
Death of Ahmad Shah. The
Bhangi and Sukarchakia Misls
take part in the Kashmir rebel-
lion. Death of Charrat Singh... 1773
Mahan Singh marries Raj Kour.... 1774 /
 Appendix A. 229
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE I I I . — L I F E AND R E I G N OF
R A N j f T SINGH.
GOVERNORS-GENERAL
OF BRITISH INDIA.
/ Warren Hastings,
Ranjit Singh born 1780
1 1774-1785.
fLord Cornwallis,
Becomes head of the Sukdrchakia 1786-1793.
Misl 1792 1 Sir John Shore,
I 1793-1798.
Captures Lahore.., 1799
Subdues the Bhangi Misl and cap- Lord Wellesley,
tures Amritsar 1802 1798-1805.
Holk&r takes refuge at Amritsar... 1805
>
\

First treaty of friendship between

Sir George Barlow
Ranjit Singh and the British.
(acting), 1805-
Ranjit Singh crosses the Sutlej
and captures Ludhi&na 1806 1807.
J
First attempt on Mult&n 1807 \

Cis-Sutlej Sikhs ask for British

protection. Mr. Metcalfe's mis-
sion to Lahore 1808
Sikh treaty with the British Gov-
ernment, the latter assuming I Lord Minto,
protection of the Cis-Sutlej States 1809 ^ 1807-1813.
Second a t t e m p t on Miilt&n 1810
Ranjit Singh's first expedition
against Kashmir. Defeats the
Afghans at Haiddru and captures
Attock 1813 \

Ranjit Singh acquires the Koh-i-

nur, and fails in second attempt
on Kashmir 1814
Various chiefs in the hills and Marquess of Hast-
towards the Indus reduced 1815-6 y
ings, 1813-1823.
Capture of Miilt&n 1818
Capture of Kashmir 1819
The Sikhs defeat the Afghans at
Nao-shera, and Peshdwar is made
tributary to Lahore 1823 /

Dost Muhammad supreme at Lord Amherst,

Kabul 1826 1823-1828.
Insurrection of Syad Ahmad Shah. 1827-31
230 A Short History of the Sikhs.
Lieutenant Burnes' mission to
Lahore. Meeting between Ran jit
Singh and Lord William Ben-
tinck at Riipar 1831
Indus Navigation Treaty 1832 Lord William
Shah Shuja's attempt to recover Y Bentinck,
his throne 1833-4 1828-1835.
Ladakh reduced by the Jammu
Rajahs. Dost Muhammad in-
vades Pesh&war, but retires with- ti

out giving battle 1835 <Sir Charles Met-

Ranjit Singh abandons his claims calfe (acting),
to Shikdrpur 1836 1835-1836.
" \

Battle of Jamriid 1837

Sir Alexander Burnes' mission to Lord Auckland,
K£bul 1837-8 v
1836-1842.
The Tripartite Treaty 1838
Death of Ranjit Singh, 27th J u l y . 1839 .

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE IV.—THE FIRST

SIKH WAR.
1845 December 11 The Sikh army crosses the Sutlej.
,, 13 Declaration of war by the British
Government.
> > 59 18 Battle of Mudki.
? J 55
21, 22 Battle of Firozshahr.
1846 January 21 Skirmish at Badhow&l.
55
28 Battle of Aliwdl.
55 February 10 Battle of Sobrdon.
55 99 20 British army enters Lahore.
55
March 9 First Treaty of Lahore.
55 55 11 Supplementary Treaty.
55 55 16 Treaty with Ghul&b Singh.
55
December 22 Second Treaty with Lahore.
 Appendix A. 231

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE V.—THE SECOND

SIKH WAR.
1848 April 20 Murder of Anderson and Vans
Agnew at Miilt&n.
> >
June 18 Mulr&j defeated by Edwardes at
Kin£ri.
M July 1 Mulr&j defeated by Edwardes at
Saddosam.
5> September 5 Siege of Multan begun.
M > >
14 Sher Singh joins the rebels, and the
siege raised.
M November 22 Battle of R&mnaggar.
> >
December 2 British army crosses the Chendb.
5> > >
3 Battle of Sadulapilr.
1849 January 13 Battle of Chilianw&la.
> > 55 21 Fall of Multdn.
5> February 20 General Whish's force from Miiltdn
joins the main army.
> >
21 Battle of Guj nit.
>y March 12 Sikh army surrenders at Rdwal
Pindi.
5> yy 29 Annexation of the Punjab.
 APPENDIX B.
THE RULERS OF AFGHANISTAN

Ahmad Shah Dur&ni was the first ruler under whom Afghanistan
rose to importance. He reigned for twenty-six years, from 1747 to
1773, during which time he extended his kingdom westward to the
shores of the Caspian, and eastward to the banks of the Sutlej,
though his hold over his Indian possessions was never very strong.
H e was styled Diir-i-durran, " P e a r l of the Age," from which his
clan, that of the Abdalis, derived its name, the Durdni.
Ahmad Shah's greatest achievement was the defeat of the Mah-
rattas at P&nipat, on January 6, 1761. He was succeeded by his
son Timiir, who reigned for twenty years. Timiir transferred his
capital from Kandahar to K&bul. H e made no attempt to establish
his sway over the Punjab, and with difficulty staved off the anarchy
which followed his death. H e left twenty-three sons, and was
succeeded by the fifth, Shah Zem&n. Zem&n held the throne for
six years, and was then ousted by his brother, Shah Mahmiid, who,
three years later, suffered a like fate at the hands of another
brother, Shah Shuja.
For many years the country was given over to internecine
wars. In 1809, owing to the intrigues of Napoleon in Persia,
a mission under Mountstuart Elphinstone was dispatched to
K&bul by the Government of India. The mission was well re-
ceived, but soon after its departure Shah Mahmiid succeeded in
recovering his throne, and Shah Shuja and Shah Zem&n sought
refuge in British territory. Mahmiid was a puppet in the hands
of his minister Fateh Kh&n, the eldest of the famous B&rakzai
brothers, and a redoubtable warrior and statesman.
Fateh Khan was brutally murdered in 1818 by Kamrdn, the
worthless son of Mahmiid, and his brothers, whom he had placed
in charge of the various provinces of Afghanistan, united to avenge
his death. Mahmiid was driven from Kabul and fled to Her&t,
where with the aid of Kamnin he managed to preserve for a time
 Appendix B. 233
the remnants of his power. The rest of the country was divided
amongst the B&rakzai brothers, Dost Muhammad Khdn, the ablest
of them all, getting Kabul, where, in 1826, he assumed the title of
Amir, and became the ruler of Afghanistan.
I n 1837, owing to the intrigues of Russia with Persia and the
siege of Herdt, the Government of India sent Sir Alexander Burnes
to Kcibul to negotiate an alliance with the Amir. The mission
failed in its object, and Lord Auckland, the Governor-General,
with a view to establishing British influence in Afghanistan, took
the rash determination to depose the Amir and to restore Shah
Shuja. This was successfully accomplished in April 1839, and a
British army of occupation remained in Afghanistan to protect
the newly crowned monarch, Dost Muhammad being sent to
Calcutta, where he remained a state prisoner. Two years later
an insurrection, headed by the Dost's son, Akbar Kh&n, resulted
in the murders of the British representatives, Burnes and Mac-
naghten, and the total destruction of the British garrison of K&bul.
This disaster was retrieved the same year by the advance of General
Pollock from the Khaibar Pass, and General N o t t from Kandahar.
K&bul was occupied, the British prisoners were released, Akbar
Khan was routed, and the citadel and central bazar of the city
were destroyed. The British force evacuated Kabul at the end of
the year, and Shah Shuja having, in the meantime, been assassinated,
Dost Muhammad Kh&n was allowed to return to his former position
as Amir of Afghanistan, which he continued to hold till his death
in 1865.
LIST OF T H E R U L E R S A T KABUL.
Ahmad Shah Durani 1747-1773.
Timiir 1773-1793.
1
ShahZermin 1793-1800.
2
ShahMahmud 1800-1803.
3
Shah Shuja 1803-1810.
4
ShahMahmud 1810-1818.
5
Shah A y u b 1818-1826.
6
Dost Muhammad Klidn 1826-1839.
7
Shah Shuja 1839-1842.
8
Dost Muhammad Khdn 1842-1865.
2
l Deposed by his brother Mahmtid. Deposed by his brother Shuja.
4
3 Deposed by his brother Mahmtid. Expelled by the Barakzai brothers.
6
5 Ruler in name only. Deposed by the British.
8
7 Assassinated. Founder of the present dynasty.
 APPENDIX 0.
NOTES ON SOME P U N J A B T R I B E S .
(Compiled from the Census Report of the Punjab for 1881, by
Mr. Denzil Ibbetsen, I.C.8.)

The Ghakkars.—The Ghakkars were probably emigrants from

Khor&s&n who settled in the Punjab about 300 A.D. They are Shiahs
by religion, and once ruled over large tracts of the Northern Punjab,
and also, according to their own account, over Kashmir and Tibet.
At present they are practically confined to the R&wal Pindi, Jehlam,
and Haz&ra districts. They are a sturdy, vigorous race, making
good soldiers and the best light cavalry in Upper India. Though
reduced by the Sikhs to abject poverty, they still preserve traces
of their high origin and breeding. They are proud and self-respecting,
but not afraid of hard work. Many now work as coolies on the
railways, though they prefer to serve in the army or the police.
The Awdns.—The Aw&ns are probably of R&jpiit origin, though
they claim descent from Ati, the son-in-law of the Prophet, but by
a wife other than the Prophet's daughter. They settled about
1035 A.D. in the Pesh&war district, and eventually became possessed
of the Salt Range country. Like the Ghakkars, they are a high-
spirited and brave race, but indolent, and very poor cultivators.
Their manners are frank and pleasing; but they are a headstrong
people, ever ready to quarrel, and family feuds are often kept alive
from generation to generation.
The Tiivdnas.—The Tiw&nas, the handsomest and most picturesque
of the Punjab races, are, in all probability, of Rdjput origin. There
were, according to Sir Lepel Griffin, three important Rdjpiit invasions
of the Punjab—the first in prehistoric times, perhaps not later than
2500 B.C. ; the second a thousand years after; and the third from
the tenth to the fifteenth century of the Christian era, when many
R&jput tribes migrated to the province whose descendants are the
J a t s , Tiw&nas, Si&ls, Kokhars, etc. The Tiw&nas are splendid horse-
men. After their final subjugation in 1818, Ran jit Singh took fifty
 Appendix C. 235
of them to Lahore as his personal bodyguard. As soldiers they are
behind the Sikhs in all-round usefulness ; but they have on various
occasions, notably in 1849 and 1857, fought with conspicuous bravery
on the side of the English.
The Khatris.—The K h a t r i claims to be a direct representative of
the Kohatriya of Manu. Trade is the chief occupation of this
caste, but in the Punjab they are in addition the chief civic
administrators, and have almost all the literate work in their hands.
They are not military in their character, but are quite capable of
using a sword when necessary. Bdb£ N&nak and Govind Singh were
both Khatris, as were also Diwan ScLwan Mar of Miilt&n, and his
notorious successor.Mulr&j, and many other of Ranjit Singh's chief
functionaries. The Sikh priesthood is recruited almost entirely from
this caste. The Khatris are generally well educated, and are staunch
Hindus ; and though they have given a religion and priests to the
Sikhs, comparatively few of them adopt the faith of the Kh&lsa. No
village can get on without the Khatri, who keeps the accounts, does
the banking business* and buys and sells the grain. He is a great
traveller, and is to be found as far afield as Central Asia ; but his
home, par excellence, is in the central districts of the Punjab.
The Aroras.—The Aroras are the traders of the Deraj&t and
Mult&n divisions, and to some extent also of the Central and Northern
Punjab. They claim to be of K h a t r i origin, but the claim is dis-
allowed by the more important caste. I t seems probable t h a t they
are descended from the Khatris of Aror, the ancient capital of Sindh,
now represented by the modern Rori. The Arora is, however,
inferior to the Khatri both in character and social position. He
is altogether destitute of martial instincts, and is commonly known
as a Kor&r, or shopkeeper ; but he is enterprising, industrious, and
thrifty. H e is an excellent cultivator, and will t u r n his hand to
any work. I n the Western Punjab he may be seen sewing cloths,
weaving matting and baskets, making vessels of brass and copper,
and doing goldsmith's work.* The Aroras are Hindus by religion,
b u t a few profess the faith of Islam, and about seven per cent,
are Sikhs.
The Dogras.—The word Dogra is another name for the J a m m u
territory, and the Dogras are Rajputs who inhabit t h a t region; b u t
the word Dogra is commonly applied to any inhabitant of J a m m u ,
whatever his caste. Their Rdjput origin is undoubted, but it is
equally certain t h a t they are not pure Rdjputs.

*
 APPENDIX D.
S I K H S AND SINGHS.
(Compiled from the Census Report of the Punjab for 1881.)
Sikhism has assumed two very different forms at different periods
of its history, in the tolerant Quietist doctrines of N&nak, and the;
military propaganda of Govind Singh. The admission of all castes
to equality by Guru Govind disgusted many of the higher classes,
who refused to accept his teachings though they remained faithful
to the tenets of Baba Nanak, and thus a schism arose in the faith.
In strictness the followers of both are Sikhs, a word said to be
derived from the same root as the common Sanskrit word Sewak
and meaning nothing more than a disciple ; but while the followers
of the first Gurus, or N&naki Sikhs, are Sikhs, they are not Singhs,
which is the title by which the followers of Govind, or Govindi
Sikhs, are distinguished. In common practice, however, it is the
latter only who are called Sikhs, it is they only who are ordinarily
regarded as such by the unlearned, and who are commonly referred
to when the word is used. The vast majority of those who profess
only the tenets of N&nak call themselves Hindus, and will have
returned themselves as such for the purposes of the Census Report,
though the more educated of them would explain that they are at
the same time Sikhs, though not Singhs. The N&naki Sikhs are
distinguished by no outward sign, have no peculiar customs or
observances, and though they reverence the Qranth, and above
all the memory of their Guru, have but little to distinguish them
from any other Hindu sect, except a slight laxity in the matter
of caste observances. They have a form of baptism known as
Charam Qhdwal, but it is seldom made use of. A large proportion
of the Hindus of the frontier belong to this sect, and it is probable
that a large number of the people of Sindh who have returned
themselves as Sikhs are really nothing more than Ndnaki Sikhs.
 APPENDIX E.
E A R L I E S T E D I T I O N S OF T H E GRANTH SAHIB

{Compiled from MacavliffeJs " The Sikh Religion.")

There were three editions of the Granth Sahib made in the days
of the Gurus, the first transcribed by Bhai Gur Das and dictated
by Guru Arjiin, the second by Bhai Banno, and the third by Bhai
Mani Singh under the supervision of Guru Govind Singh. The two
first are said to be in existence still, one at Kartarpur, and the other
at M&njat in the Gujarat district of the Punjab. The third and
most complete edition was either destroyed or taken away by
Ahmad Shah Dur&ni when he despoiled the temple at Amritsar.
On the arrival of Guru Arjiin at Amritsar, he made plans for the
compilation of the Granth Sahib. H e fixed for the purpose on a
secluded spot, where gand, wild caper, Indian fig, and pipal trees
yielded agreeable shade, while green herbage gratified the eye and
offered a pleasant carpet for t h e feet. The followers of the principal
Indian saints, Hindu and Muhammadan, since the days of Jaidev,
were invited by the Guru to attend and suggest suitable hymns for
insertion in the sacred volume; and such of the recitations as
conformed to the spirit of reform then in vogue, and were not
inconsistent with the teaching of the Guru, were adopted and in-
corporated. The hymns of the Granth were arranged according to
rags, or musical measures. The hymns of the first Guru, Makalla I.,
came first, those of the second Guru, Makalla I I . , second, and so
on. After the Gurus' hymns the hymns of the Bhagats, or other
Hindu saints, were inserted, though without any fixed order of
precedence.
W h e n all the hymns for insertion had been selected, the Guru
sat within his tent and dictated them to his scribe, Bhai Gur Diis.
After much time and labour, the volume was completed on the first
238 A Short History of the Sikhs.
1
day of the light half of Bhddon, Sambat 1661 (A.D. 1604). The
Guru called all his Sikhs to see the precious compilation, which was,
by t h e advice of Bhai Gur Dds, deposited in the Har Mandar.
Amongst those who came to see the Oranth was Bhai Banno, who
resided at Mdngat. H e came with a large following and begged
that he might have the loan of the book to show it to his flock.
The Guru was most unwilling to part with it, but was finally pre-
vailed on to do so. According to his order Bhai Banno might read
it to his Sikhs on his way home, but he was not to retain it in his
village for more than a single night. Bhai Banno accordingly took
the Granth, and made his journey to M&ngat so slowly t h a t he was
able to take a copy of the whole volume before returning it. There
is another story—namely, t h a t the Oranth Sahib was entrusted to
Bhai Banno to have it bound in Lahore, and that in taking it there
he had an unauthorized copy prepared. Bhai Banno inserted in his
edition selections from his own compositions.
Prior to the days of Guru Angad the compositions of the saints
and reformers were for the most part written in the Sanskrit char-
acter. On t h e death of Baba Ndnak, Guru Angad, deeming t h a t
the compositions of his master were worthy of a special character
of their own, adopted and modified a Punjabi alphabet, thencefor-
ward called Gurumukhi, to give expression to what had fallen from
the Guru's lips. The Gurumukhi character was well calculated to
make its readers part with Hindu compositions written in Sanskrit.
The Gurumukhi 8 is the Sanskrit M, the Gurumukhi M is the
Sanskrit Bh, the Gurumukhi W is the Sanskrit D, the Gurumukhi
Dh is the Sanskrit P , and the Gurumukhi B is nearly the Sanskrit
Oh. When, therefore, one has become accustomed to the use of
the Gurumukhi letters, a special and separate effort is required
to read Sanskrit, however much one may have been previously
acquainted with it. The result has been that in most cases
Gurumukhi scholars have parted company with Sanskrit and the
multitudinous works in t h a t recondite language.
1
The era commonly used by the Hindus of the northern half of India is that
called Sambat (Sanskrit, samvat, " y e a r " ) , which dates from the month Eatik of
the year 57 B.C., when King Vikramaditya is said to have ascended the throne of
Ujjain.
 APPENDIX F.
GENEALOGICAL TREE OF THE FAMILIES OF MAHARAJA RANJiT SINGH
AND THE SIN D HANWALIAS.
F a m i l y of BUDHA,
R a n jit Singh. who on becoming a Sikh was The Sindhanwalias
called Budha Singh.

N o d h Sing, Chanda Singh

died 1752. Sindhanwalia.
I
C h a r r a t Singh, Didar Singh.
died 1774.
1
Amir Singh.
M a h a n Singh = Raj Kour,
died 1792.
Maharaja 2
R a n jit Singh 1. M a h U b Kour.
died 1839. 2. Raj Kour.

Maharaja Maharaja Peshora Singh Kashmira Singh MahanCja

:;
K h a r a k Singli Sher Singh (reputed son). (reputed son). Dhulip Singh
(son by Raj Kour), (reputed son by (reputed son by the
died 1840. M a h t a b Kour), Rani Jindan),
(
died 1843. died 18 J3.
Prince
Nao Nihal Singh,
died 1840. A t t a r Singh. Baowan Singh. Lehna Singh
1
2
Daughter of Gajpat Singh of Jind.
3
Granddaughter of Sirdar Jai Singh Kanheya. Ajit Singh. Ranjur Singh
According to Sir Lepel Griffin, the only child, legitimate
or otherwise, ever born to Ranjit Singh.
 -

APPENDIX G.
*

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

W O R K S DEALING EXCLUSIVELY WITH THE SIKHS.

Sketch of the Sikhs. Sir JOHN MALCOLM. London, 1812.

Origin of the Sikh Power in the Punjab (and political life of
Mah&r&jah Ranjit Singh). H. T. P R I N S E P . Calcutta, 1834.
The Court and Camp of Ranjit Singh. The Hon. W. G. OSBORNE.
London, 1841.
Some Passages in the Life of an Adventurer in the Punjab. Sir
H. M. LAURENCE. Delhi, 1842.
The Punjab (a brief account of the country of the Sikhs by an
officer in the service of Ranjit Singh). H. STEINBACH. London,
1845. •

Despatches of British Generals (Viscount Hardinge, Lord Gough,

etc., during the campaign on the Sutlej). London, 1846.
A History of the Reigning Family of Lahore (with an account of
the Jammu Rajahs and the Sikh Sirdars). Major G. CARMICHAEL
SMYTH. Calcutta, 1847.
The History of the Sikhs. Dr. W. T. MACGREGOR. London, 1847.
A History of the Sikhs (from the origin of the nation to the end of
the first Sikh War). J. D. CUNNINGHAM. London, 1849.
Leaves from the Journal of a Subaltern (being the diary of a subal-
tern of the 2nd European Regiment during the second Sikh War).
Edinburgh, 1849.
A Year on the Punjab Frontier, 1848-49. Sir H. B. EDWARDES.
London, 1851.
Narrative of the Second Sikh War. E. J. THACKWELL. London,
1851.
The Adi Granth (translated, with introductory essays). Dr. ERNST
TRUMPP. London, 1877.

•
 Appendix G. 241
The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars. Sir C. J. E. GOUGH and A R T H U R
D. INNES, London, 1897.
Ranjit Singh. Sir L E P E L G R I F F I N . Oxford, 1905.
The Sikh Religion (its Gurus, sacred writings, and authors). MAX
A R T H U R MACAULIFFE. Oxford, 1909.

O T H E R W O R K S TO BE CONSULTED.

Travels in Kashmir and the Punjab (containing a particular account

of the government and character of the Sikhs). Baron C. A. VON
HUEGEL. London, 1845.
Travels in the Himalayan Provinces of Hindustan and the Punjab.
W. MOORCROFT and G. TREBECK. London, 1841.
The Sikhs and Afghans. SHAHAMAT A L I (Persian secretary with
the mission of Sir C. M. Wade to Peshawar in 1839). London, 1847.
The Marquis of Dalhousie's Administration of British India. Sir
E. ARNOLD. London, 1862. *

Up the Country. The Hon. E M I L Y E D E N . London, 1862.

Life of Sir H. M. Laurence, K.G.B. Sir H. B. EDWARDES and
H E R M A N M E R I V A L E . London, 1872.
Reminiscences of Forty-three Years in India. Sir GEORGE LAU-
RENCE, K. C.S.I. London, 1874.
. Report of the Census of the Punjab (taken in 1881). DENZIL C.
I BB ETSON. Calcutta, 1883.
Lord Laurence. R. BOSWORTH SMITH. London, 1883.
The Earl of Auckland. Captain L. J. TROTTER. Oxford, 1893.
Viscount Hardinge (and the advance of the British dominions into
the Punjab). CHARLES, second Viscount H A R D I N G E . Oxford, 1900.
The Life and Campaigns of Hugh, frst Viscount Gough. R. S.
RAIT. London, 1903.
Chiefs and Families of Note in the Punjab. Sir L E P E L G R I F F I N .
Lahore, 1909.
The Calcutta Review. Vols. I L , V I . , X L , XV., etc.

(1,341) 10
v

INDEX.

ABDUR SAMAD KHXN, 46. Auckland, Lord, 118, 120, 127-

Afghanistan, see Appendix B. 130, 132, 143.
Agra, 16, 176. Aus Kour, Rani, 79.
Ahluwalias, the, 61, 62, 74. Avitabile, General, 89.
Ahmad Shah Abdali, 49-58, 67, A wans, the, 91, Appendix C.
79, 91, 94, 96. Ayiib Khan, 98.
Ahmad Yar Khan, 96. Azim Khan, 93, 95, 97, 98, 100,
Ajit Singh, 138, 143, 147, 150. 101.
Akalis, the, 62-64, 84. Azziz-ud-din, 106, 110, 134.
Akbar, 30, 31.
Ala Singh, 55-57, 62, 79. BXBAR, 11, 24.
Aligarh, 75. Badhowal, 177.
Aliwal, 177. Bahadur Shah, 42, 45.
Allard, General, 88. Bahawalpiir, 198.
Amar Das, Guru, 28, 30, 31. Bahmini kingdom, 16.
Ambala, 62, 83, 172. Baltistan, 141.
Amritsar, 12, 31, 48, 52, 54-56, Banda, 43-46.
61-63, 74-76, 83, 98, 101, 109, Bannu, 12, 198, 199.
218, 225, 226. Bari Doab, 12.
Anandpiir, 37-39, 40, 47. Batala, 45, 55, 69, 100.
Anderson, Lieutenant, 196. Bentinck, Lord W., 118, 120-122,
Angad, Guru, 25, 30, 31. 125-127.
Arjun, Guru, 28, 31. Bhairowal, 188, 191.
Aroras, the, Appendix C. Bhangis, the, 61, 67, 68, 73, 74.
Assaye, 75. Bhim Chand, Raja, 37-39.
Attar Singh, 138,143,151,153,156. Bir Singh, Baba, 154, 156.
Attock, 90, 93, 100, 125, 163, 164, Bowie, Mr., 204, 205.
200, 202. Brij Raj, 67, 68.
244 Index.
Burnes, Sir A., 122, 123, 127-129, EDWAKDES, Sir H., 190, 195, 198,
133. 200.
Byrne, Colonel, 208. Elliot, Sir H., 212.

CEYLON, 24. FAR*DK(5T, 83.

Chamkaur, 38, 40, 41. Farrukh Siyar, 46.
Chand Kour, Rani, 142, 143, Farukhabad, 76.
145. Fateh Khan, 90, 92, 93, 95, 97.
Charrat Singh, 66, 67. Firozpilr, 167, 172, 174, 176, 178.
Chattar Singh, 199-204, 206, 214. Firozshahr, 174-176, 178.
Cheyt Singh, 129. Frazer, General, 76.
Chilianwala, 125, 202, 203.
Chitor, 16. GARDNER, Colonel, 89.
Cis-Sutlej Sikhs, see Malwa Sikhs. Ghakkars, the, 91,96, Appendix C.
Cornwallis, Lord, 77. Ghazni, 95, 97, 125, 132.
Cortland, General, 198. Ghulab Singh, Raja, 110, 111, 137,
Court, General, 89. 138, 141-146, 153, 154, 160-164,
Cunningham, Sir J. D., 94, 124. 169, 170, 178, 182-186, 199.
Gilbert, General Sir W., 207.
DABIR, 45. Gondwana, 16.
Dalhousie, Lord, 192, 195, 211- Gough, Lord, 172, 179, 198, 201,
216, 222, 223. 202, 206.
Daliwal, 48. Govind Singh, Guru, 30, 31, 33-
Damdama, 41, 42. 35, 37-44, 47, 58, 59, 62, 64,
Delhi, 16, 24, 46-48, 53, 75, 76, 111, 223.
176, 224. Granth Sahib, the, 21, 23, 26,
Derajat, 12, 198. 28, 29, 31, 35, 43, 63, 64, 121,
Dharmsala, 24. 125, Appendix E.
Dhian Singh, 110, 111, 118, 134, Granth, Daswin Padshah ka, 35,
137-148, 160. 42.
Dhulip Singh, Maharaja, 146, Griffin, Sir Lepel, 116, 120, 224.
153-155, 170, 171, 182,183,189, Gujarat, 16.
192, 209, 212-214. Gujranwala, 55, 69, 71.
Dialpur, 62. Gujrat, 69, 125, 200, 206, 207.
Dig, 76. Gurdaspiir, 46.
Dina Nath, Raja, 110, 188. Gurumata, 56, 63, 64, 112.
Dogras, the, 12, Appendix C. Gurumukhi, 29, 63, Appendix E.
Dost Muhammad Khan, 95, 103-
105, 124-129, 131-133, 200, 202, HAIDARU, 93, 100.
206. Hardinge, Sir H., 168, 174, 182-
Dulelwalas, the, 61. 186, 188, 192, 193, 211.
 Index 245
Har Govind, Guru, 32. 171, 181, 182, 186-188, 191,
Har Krishen, 32. 195, 214.
Har Rai, 32. Jowahir Singh, 153, 157, 158,
Hari Singh, Sirdar, 89, 100-102, 162-166, 169.
104-107.
Hazaru, district, 2, 101, 199, K's, the five, 35.
200. Kabir, 19, 20.
Hela, 201. Kabul, 50, 55, 94, 95, 97, 100, 103,
Herat, 97, 98, 125, 126, 128. 125, 127, 132, 133, 145.
Herbert, Lieutenant, 202, 204. Kalu, 21-23.
Hira Singh, 119, 137, 142, 144, Kamran, Prince, 97.
150-153, 155-158, 160. Kandahar, 97, 103, 125, 132.
Hoshiapiir, 33. Kangra, 13, 89, 90, 186, 187.
Hugel, Baron, 87, 114. Kanheyas, the, 61, 67-69, 72, 99.
Humayiin, 30. Kapurthala, 62, 224.
Hyderabad (Sind), 121, 122. Kardars, the, 113, 114, 217.
Kartarpur, 24, 29.
IBBETSON, Sir D. C , 217. Kashmir, 12, 16, 24, 50, 86,90-92,
Imam-ud-din, 187. 94, 95.
Kashmira Singh, 154, 156.
JABBAR K H A N , 97, 98. Kasur, 56, 80, 180, 182.
Jahangir, 31, 32. Katoch, 89.
Jahan, Shah, 94. Keane, Sir J., 132.
Jai Singh, Sirdar, 67-69, 72. Khaibar Pass, 11, 101, 106, 132.
Jalalabad, 133, 145. Khairpur, 121.
Jalandhar Doab, 12, 62, 108. Khairpur, Mir of, 123, 124.
Jalla Pandit, 152, 153, 157, 158. Khalsa, the, 26, 33, 43, 47, 53-60,
Jammu, 12, 14, 38, 67, 68, 137, 63, 64, 111, 181, 199, 222, 223,
146, 160. 225, 226.
Jamnid, 106. Khalsa Diwans, the, 223, 225,226.
Japji, the, 25, 28, 29. Khan Singh, Sirdar, 196.
Jassa Singh (Ahluwalia), 62. Kharak Singh, 96, 111, 118, 124,
Jassa Singh (Ramgarhia), 52, 53, 138-140, 142.
60, 61. Khatris, the, 14, 21, 34, 36, Ap-
Jaswant Rao, Holkar, 75-78. pendix C.
Jats, the, 13, 36, 37, 109. Khuda Yar Khan, 111.
Jaunpur, 16. Koh-i-nur, the, 93, 94, 116, 118,
Jetch Doab, 12. 213, 214.
Jhanda Singh, 67. Krora Singhias, the, 61.
Jind, 62, 79, 224.
Jindan, Rani, 146, 158, 161, 168- LADAK, 141.
246 Index.
Lahore, 12, 40, 45, 50, 52-55, 57, Monson, Colonel, 76, 127.
73, 74, 75, 98, 108, 183. Montgomery, Robert, 215, 220.
Lake, General, 75-78. Mudki, 172, 174.
Lai Singh, Raja, 164, 169, 171- Muktsar, 41.
175, 186, 187, 191. Mulhar Rao, Holkar, 53, 54, 64,
Laswari, 75. 75.
Lawrence, George, 204, 215. Mulraj, 162, 163, 191, 196, 198,
Lawrence, Lord, 213, 215, 218, 199, 205, 214.
220, 222. Miiltan, 12, 54, 75, 86, 89, 96, 97,
Lawrence, Sir H., 136, 186, 187, 121, 123,162, 191, 196, 198, 199,
189, 192, 211, 215, 216. 204-206, 218.
Leh, 141. Muzaffar Khan, 75, 90, 91, 96,
Lehna Singh, 138, 148, 151. 97, 111.
Littler, General Sir J., 172, 174.
Ludhiana, 62, 79, 94, 104, 132, NABBHA, 62, 79, 224.
176, 177. Nadir Shah, 48, 49, 94.
Nakkai Misl, 61, 62.
MACXAGHTEN, Sir W., 118, 131- Nanak, Baba, Guru, 11, 14, 19-
133. 28, 30, 34, 64.
Mahan Singh, 67-69, 71. Nander, 43.
Mahmiid Shah, 90, 92, 95, 97, Nao Nihal Singh, 106, 124, 134,
98. 139, 140, 141.
Mahrattas, the, 48, 53, 54, 75. Napier, Sir C , 168.
Mali tab Kour, 69. Nur-ud-din, 1S8.
Malcolm, Sir J., 63.
Maler Kotla, 83.
Malwa Sikhs, 61, 62, 78, 83, 84. OB AID K H A N , Khwaja, 54, 55,
Manjha, district, 61. 67.
Manjha Sikhs, 61, 62, 142. Ochterlony, Colonel, 84.
Mansel, Charles, 215. Orissa, 16.
Mardana, 23. Osborne, Hon. W., 118.
Mecca, 24.
Meerut, 172, 176. PXHUL, the, 33.
Metcalfe, Sir C , 82-85, 87. Panchayats, the, 151, 153, 164j
Mian Khan, 38, 39. 167, 169.
Mir Jumla, 93. Panipat, 24, 56.
Mir Mannu, 49, 50. Partab Singh, Prince, 147, 148.
Misls, the, 60. Patiala, 41, 79, 83, 224.
Misr Diwan Chand, 89, 98. Persia, 126, 129.
Mokham Chand, Diwan, 89, 9 1 - Peshora Singh, 154, 160-164.
93, 95. Petersburg, St., 126.
 Index. 247

Phillkian Misl, 61, 62, 78, 82. Sialkot, 154.

Pottinger, Colonel, 123. Sind, 16, 103, 104, 120-124, 132,
167.
RAJAORI, 92, 94, 95. Sindhanwalias, the, 138, 142, 143,
Raj Kour, 67, 71, 72. 146-148, 150-153.
Rajpiitana, 17. Sindhia, Maharaja, 75.
Rajputs, the, 13, 16, 34, 36. Singhpiiria Misl, 61, 62.
Ramanand, 19, 20. Singhs, Appendix D.
Ram Das, Guru, 28, 30, 31. Singh Sabhas, 223, 225.
Ramgarhias, the, 61, 69, 74, 75. Sirhind, 40, 44, 56, 57, 79.
Ramnaggar, 200, 201, 206. Smith, Sir Harry, 177.
Rampiir, 62. Sobraon, 176, 178-180.
Ram Raoni, 50. Solaha, the, 25.
Ranjit Deo, 67-69. Suchet Singh, 110, 111, 137, 153,
Ranjit Singh, Maharaja, 59, 61, 155, 160.
71-76, 80-136, 145, 171, 187, Sukarchakias, the,61,62,66-69,72.
208, 217, Appendices A and F. Sultan Muhammad Khan, 102,
Ranjiir Singh, 176, 177. 103, 129, 200.
Rassul, 201-204, 206. Sultanpur, 22.
Rechna Doab, 12. Surajkhund, 199.
Rojhan, 124.
Rupar, 117, 118, 122. TEHERXN, 126.
Russia, 125, 126. Teg Bahadur, Guru, 32.
Tej Singh, Sirdar, 169, 171-176,
SABXTHTT, 176. 187, 191, 212.
Sada Kour, Rani, 72, 74, 98, 99. Temple, Sir R., 220.
Sadhu Singh, 97. Thackwell, General Sir J., 180.
Sadulapiir, 201. Tibet, 86.
Sagar Doab, 12. Timilr, 52, 58, 67, 73.
Sale, General, 133, 145. Tiwanas, the, 91, 96, 111, Ap-
Samana, 44, 45. pendix C.
Sanga, Rana, 16. Tripartite Treaty, the, 118, 130,
Sansar Chand, Raja, 89, 90. 131.
Sawan Mall, 162. Tughl/ik, Muhammad, 16.
Sher Singh, Maharaja, 99, 100,
118, 141-148, 150. UMMAR SINGH, 89.
Sher Singh, Sirdar, 187, 198-206,
208, 214. VANS AGNEW, Mr., 196.
Shikarpur, 121. Ventura, General, 88, 100, 102,
Shuja, Shah, 90, 91, 93, 94, 103, 107, 141, 143.
104, 128-133, 213, 214. Vijayanagar, 16, 17.
248 Index.
WADE, Captain, 134. YXR MUHAMMAD K H X N , 95,
Wazirabad, 206. 102.
Wazir Khan, 41, 45. Yuzafzais, the, 100, 101.
Wellesley, Lord, 76.
Wheeler, Brigadier, 177. ZEMAN,Shah, 73, 75, 94.
William IV., 122. Zin KMn, 55.
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