1 Manni tenders his
2 * submission to the Shah,
3 Who receives him
4 with honour.
5 Conquest of
6 Kashmir.
7 The country as far
8 east as Sirhind is ceded
9 to the Abdali,
10 Distracted. state of
11 the Panjab.
12 The Sikhs appear
13 again on the scene.
14 But are defeated by
15 Adina Beg Khan, 1752,
16 224, HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
17 panic, that the.viceroy, seeing that a prolonged contest would be ruinous,.
18 prudently retired into the citadel.
19 The city fortifications were tottering, and wholly unfit for defence. The
20 troops had just received a shock which had disheartened them. To expect
21 reinforcements or other help from Delhi in time was a vain hope. The
22 citizens “were worn out with the prolonged seige. Under these circum-
23 stances Manni thought that his best policy was to submit to the conqueror.
24 He accordingly notified his intention to the Shah, and sent some influential
25 Omerahs of his court to his camp in the Shaldmadr gardens. The negotiations
26 were conducted through Shah Wali Khan, the grand wazir. The Abdali
27 was only too glad to close the campaign, and sent his principal officer, Jahan
28 Khan, to the city to conduct the viceroy to his camp. He received Mir
29 Mannt with all the honours due to his rank, and bestowed on him a high
30 eulogy for the courage and bravery displayed by him on all occasions, and
31 for his skill and dexterity as a warrior, and tact and judgment as a counsellor.*
32 The viceroy laid at the victor’s feet fifty lakhs of rupees, eleven
33 horses, with gold and silver trappings, and two elephants, with howdahs
34 wrought with silver and gold. The Shah conferred on him arich khilat,
35 with a jewelled sword and a horse, and re-instated him as his viceroy in the
36 Panjab.
37 The Shah now re-crossed the Ravi and encamped at the mausoleum of
38 Jahdngir. From this place he sent a Durréni, Amir Abdulla Khan, at the
39 head of a strong detachment, to seize Kashmir, and expel the Moghal
40 governor of that province. The delegate penetrated into the valley, and
41 reduced the province to subjection without encountering any opposition. The
42 Kébul Khatri, Sukh Jiwan Mal, was appointed the Shah’s governor in
43 Kashmir. During the same campaign the Shah, by negotiation, obtained
44 from the Delhi emperor a cession of the country as far east as Sirhind.
45 Abdulla Khan, in the meanwhile, rejoined the king at Shahdara, and, the
46 rainy season being about to set in, the Shah re-crossed the Indus, and
47 conducted his army back to Kébul.f
48 After the departure of the Abddli invader, the Panj&b remained in a
49 distracted state. A war extending over a period of half a year, carried by
50 strangers in the heart of the province, had necessarily enfeebled the adminis-
51 tration, and the Sikhs were not slow to take advantage of this state of things.
52 They extended their depredations on all sides, and laid waste the country
53 lying between Amritsar and the hills. The viceroy of Léhore ordered
54 Adina Beg Khan, whose inaction at Léhore was not altogether above
55 suspicion, to inflict on the seditious Sikhs a severe chastisement. Adina
56 Beg Khan watched for an opportunity to destroy the Sikh union, and to bring
57 them to order. During a festival at Makhowal, their holy place of worship,
58 while thousands of Sikhs had repaired thither on a pilgrimage, he suddenly
59 * An interesting anecdote is related here by Abdul Karim Ulvi, the historian of Ahmad Shah.
60 When Mir Manmt presented himself before the Abdali conqueror, the Shah sarcastically asked
61 him, “ How is it that you did not present yourself before the threshold of your lord before
62 this to do him homage?” ‘‘ Because” replied Mir Manmi, ‘I had_anothér lord to serve.”
63 * And why,” rejoined the Durrani Shah satirically, ‘‘ did not your lord and master succour
64 you at this moment of your distress?” ‘‘ Because,” answered the youthful Manni boldly, *‘ he
65 was sure that his servant would take care‘of himself.” ‘* And supposing,” continued the Shah,
66 ““T had fallen into your hands, what treatment would you have shown tome?” ‘I should
67 have severed your majesty’s head from your body and sent it to my king,” was the reply.
68 **And now that you are at my mercy, what do you expect of me?” “Tf you area merchant,”
69 said Manna, ‘sell me; if an executioner and tyrant, ent off my head; but if you area king,
70 show me kingly generosity and pardon my life.” The Shah was struck with the address and
71 dauntiless spirit of his Jove adversary, and conferred upon him the title of Farzand Khan
72 Bahadur Rustami Hind.
73 + On his return to Kandahar the Shah laid the foundation of a great city, which he called
74 after his name, Ahmad Shahi.
75 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary : NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com