1 HISTORY OF THE S1KJIS,
2 20
3 to Calcutta, on the part of the Lahore Govern¬
4 ment, with presents for the King of England.*
5 The Rambagh is 1 close to Umritsir, and consists
6 of a garden, as the name implies. An old fort
7 formerly occupied the site. The garden contains
8 several large and neat houses, which were occupied
9 by Sikh chieftains, when they visited Umritsir for
10 religions purposes, and- the celebration of the fes¬
11 tival of the Dusserah.
12 Thus much of the rivers and chief towns in the
13 Punjab. We will now address ourselves to the
14 history of that interesting country.
15 Nothing of certainty is known regarding the
16 Punjab or its kings, until the fourth century be¬
17 fore the Christian era, when the Punjab was sub¬
18 dued by Alexander the Great.
19 It is generally supposed that Alexander reached
20 the right bank of the Reas, or Hyphasis, after
21 conquering the country, and receiving the sub¬
22 mission, successively, of Porus, Sophites, and Phe-
23 gelas. The first of these is stated, by Indian histo¬
24 rians, to have been the same as Phoor, king of
25 Hindostan; but their account widely differs from
26 that of the Greek historians, and is no doubt in
27 many respect fabulous. According to them, the
28 battle between Porus and Alexander took place at
29 Sirhind, so that the conqueror must have passed
30 * This unfortunate man was addicted to the immoderate use of spirits,
31 and falling from the bastion while in a state of intoxication, was killed on
32 the spot. In the fort, or rather on the walls, the late Rajah Bhynn Singh,
33 Prime Minister of Runjeet Singh, had some of bis own guns Stationed.