Rajas of the punjab

· 1873 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

1TH E KAPU RTH ALLA STATE.

3477

4Singh in bis expedition to the south of the BafcJej in Oc-

5tober 1806. The Ahluwalia Chief did not wish to join

6the expedition,1 but ins position in the Jalandhar Doab

7was critical and he was afraid to refuse.s The next year,

81807, he accompanied the Maharaja to Jhang, when the ?^ff ,y itl<>a

9fort was captured, and the Sial Chief, Ahmad Khan, ex

10pelled.3 This expedition occupied several months, and

11on his return to Kapurthalla he sent a force to Talwandi,

12a possession of the Sodhis, but which had been seized by

13the Sikhs of Rung. With the Ahluwalia force troops of

14Ranjit Singh under Sirdar Mith Singh Padhania were

15also sent, and the fact of the Lahore contingent having

16been employed in the expedition, determined the question

17of supremacy over the Sodhi villages some twenty-four

18years later.4 Fatah Singh accompanied the Maharaja on

19his campaign against Kassur, which was captured after

20an obstinate resistance, and with, the adjoining district

21annexed to the Lahore State.

22When Mr Metcalfe reached Kassur in September 1808, mm S * 1*'*

23on a mission to Ranjit Singh, the Ahluwalia Sirdar was UhM*’

24deputed to inc-t him, with Diwan Mokam Chand and

25two thousand cavalry, at a distance of four miles from

26camp, and escort him to his tents.5 With the negotia

27tions that followed Fatah Singh had little to d o ; for the

28W L "v»ia had ceased to trust a man whose interests were

29necessarily opposed to his own, though he appears always

30to have maintained some personal affection for him. An

311 Vide Pattiala Statement for an account of this expedition.

32* Circular of the Resident of Dehli, dated 1st November 1806.

333 “ Punjab Chiefs,” p. 605.

341 Letter from Political Assistant at Ludhiana to Resident Dehli, dated

3511th September 1831; with Statement of Sirdar Fatah Singh, dated 18th

36January 1826.

375 Letter, dated 13th September 1808, from Mr C. T. Metcalfe to Govern

38ment of India, from Kassur.