1 28
2 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS*
3 expelling IvuJrao from the Punjab, Kuhrao, after
4 liis defeat and flight, took refuge in the Bekhan
5 with Amrit, king of that country. The king
6 treated, the fugitive with ,great distinction and
7 kindness, bestowed his daughter on him in marriage,
8 and at his death left him heir to his kingdom. By
9 this princess, Kulrao had a son, named Sodee Rao,
10 who succeeded his father. He made conquests in
11 Hind os tan, and became a great king. One day his
12 wuzeer told Sodee Rao, that “though king of so
13 many countries, his proper kingdom was the Punjab,
14 from which his father had been expelled by Ku lput,
15 and was never able to return and regain his king
16 dom.” Sodee Rao, on hearing this, collected a
17 large army, and set out for Lahore. He engaged
18 his uncle in battle and defeated him, driving him¬
19 self and all his children out of the Punjab. After
20 this he ascended the throne of Lahore,
21 Kulput, after his defeat, became a wanderer on
22 the face of the-earth, and at length reached the
23 holy city of Kassir, known in modern times by the
24 name of Benares. It was then, as now, the great
25 resort of learned Hindoos, and here Kulput began
26 to study the books of the Hindoo religion, called
27 “ Beds.” While thus employed, he found a.passage
28 which staled that “ tyranny was a great sin, and
29 so long as a man exercised it he had no right to
30 expect mercy.” Reflecting on this sentence, and
31 considering that he himself had behaved as a tyrant
32 to his brother in making war on, and dethroning
33 him, lie resolved on going to Lahore, and asking