1 MUHAMMAD SHAH. Q11
2 THE REIGN OF MUHAMMAD SHAH.
3 (PERIOD FOLLOWING THE Invasion or NADIR SHAH.)
4 FORMATION OF THE SIKHS INTO CONFEDERACIES.
5 THE commotions which followed the invasion of Nddir Shah, and the
6 confusion into which the province of Léhore was thrown, were favourable to
7 the Sikhs, who, impoverished by long extortion, took again to rapine and
8 plunder, They fell upon the peaceful inhabitants of the Panjab and plun-
9 dered them of what property they were carrying to the hills to save them-
10 selves from the rapacity of the Persian conqueror. They infested the whole
11 country between the Ravi and the Bids, as well as the Madnjha jungles,
12 harassed the routes of communication, and, moving about in small armed
13 parties, began to plunder villages. At first they established secret, associa~
14 tions and contented themselves with petty acts of depredation, but the
15 impunity which attended these initial forays now encouraged them openly
16 to resort to the holy tank of Amritsar, where they held councils among
17 themselves. Their number daily increased, those who had retired to hill
18 fastnesses returning, and others joining their standard in multitudes for the
19 sake of rapine and plunder, which were considered lawful. Sikh horsemen
20 were seen riding at full gallop towards their favourite shrine at Amritsar, the
21 happening to transgress on that point, by taking the liberty to advise him in public, he imme-
22 diately ordered them to be strangled, saying, ‘such fools were not fit to live, who could not
23 distinguish between Nadir Shah and Nadir Kuli.’ He has been very kind to those who
24 please him in private conversation, and behave with a becoming decency and deference in
25 public, where they are taken no more notice of, nor have they any more influence over him than
26 others of the same rank.
27 His mother, who was living in the year 1737, (at the request of some who were attached
28 to the royal family) intreated Nadir Shah, some time after he had seized a king, to restore him,
29 not doubting but His Majesty would make him sufficient amends by creating him gencralissimo
30 for life. He asked her whether she really thonghtso? She told him she did. Upon which
31 he smiled and said, ‘If I was an old woman, perhaps I might be inclined to think so too,’ and
32 desired her to give herself. no trouble about state atfairs.
33 He was married to Shah_Thamasp’s aunt, the youngest sister of Shah Sultan Husein, by
34 whom he had one daughter. He has several young children by his concubines, and two sons
35 by a woman he married in his obscurity. The eldest Raza Kuli Mirza, is about twenty-five
36 years of aye. He was trained up from his childhood in the army, where from a subaltern he
37 has been gradually advanced to the rank of a general and appointed Viceroy of Persia
38 during his father’s expedition to India. The second son Nasrallah Mirza, who is about twenty-
39 one years of age, is nominal governor of Mashhad and the province of Khorisin, having a
40 person to direct and manage for him.
41 His eldest son, when ranked as a lieutenant, had only that pay to subsist on, and in all
42 other stations had no more than his commission entitled him to. His fatner regarded him no
43 more than he did the other officers, and permitted him to associate with them, giving him to
44 know that if he was guilty of any crime or breach of duty, he should be punished with as great
45 rigour as any of the rest. On his behaving well, he not only promoted him, but increased his
46 paternal affection for him. .
47 Among Nadir Shah’s extraordinary faculties, his memory is not the least to be admired,
48 there being few things of moment that he ever said or did, but what he remembers; and can
49 readily call all the principal officers in his numerous army by their names. He knows most of
50 the private men who have served under him at any time and can recollect when and for what
51 he punished or rewarded any of them. He dictates to one or two secretaries, and gives
52 orders about other affairs a6 the same time with all the regularity and promptness imaginable.
53 _In time of action, I am told, he is equally surprising, it being scarce credible how quick
54 he is in discerning the odds on either side, and how active in succouring his troops. If any of
55 hia general officers give ground without being greatly overpowered, he rides up and kills him
56 -with a battle axe (which he always carries in his hand) and then gives the command to the
57 nextin rank. In all the battles, skirmishes and sieges, he has been engaged in (although he
58 generally charges at the head of his troops), he never has received the least wound or scar, and
59 yet several horses have been shot under him and bullets have grazed his armour.”
60 Another eye-witness who saw him later, says about his age and description: ‘From the
61 appearance of his countenance, the strength of his limbs, and the vigour of his faculties, he did
62 not seem to be above fifty years age.” But on his death he must have been about sixty, for the
63 same authority says later on: ‘His beard was quite white, and he used to have it dyed black
64 regularly twice a week. Having lost all his double teeth, he seldom ate food that required
65 The Sikhs again b
66 come troublesome.
67 Their number in-
68 creased, and with i&
69 their audacity.
70 soundSAuD BEGUN SA LASTUBR SeAliO) SOc dita! ar Mel dha E RESTO yttFah. tom