1 POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF TIE SIKIMS. ; 283
2 them to many outrages, indignities and hardships. The votaries of the
3 Guru, the Dal of the Khdlsd, assembled at Amritsar on the Dewdli festival,
4 and publicly performed their ablutions in the sacred tank, and for the first
5 time a regular Gurw Matta, or assembly of chiefs and followers, was held on
6 the occasion. It was then resolved to invest Jandidlé, a place held by
7 Mohant Akil Dass, who had tendered his submission to Ahmad Shah, and,
8 having rendered him important services in connection with the war at Pani-
9 pat, had incurred the displeasure of the followers of Govind. The posses-
10 sions of Hingan Khan, chief of Malerkotla, were ravaged, and other Maho-
11 medan chiefs, such as Murtaza Khan of Baroach and Kasim Khan, Aral,
12 were harassed.* Sirhind was invested; but the Mahomedan governor Zen
13 Khan, assisted by the neighbouring chiefs, was more successful in holding
14 his ground.
15 The report of these disasters having reached the restless Ahmad Shah, he
16 determined to take the field in person, and appeared on the Indus in November
17 1762, and with a body of his chosen troops made some of those rapid marches
18 for which he was celebrated. The Sikhs were still engaged in the siege of
19 Jandidlaé when the king arrived within sight of their camp, by two forced and
20 rapid marches from Lahore, by way of Ludhiana. The insurgents, being apprised
21 of the Shah’s approach, broke up their camp and fled in all directions, the
22 majority retiring to the south of the Sutlej, with the view of assisting their
23 brethren who had invested Sirhind. The Shah established his head-quarters
24 at Léhore and issued orders to the Mussalman jagirdars and chiefs of Baroach,
25 Malerkotla and other military stations, to join the governor of Sirhind with
26 their respective contingents. His temporary absence from the field induced
27 the Sikhs to believe that he had entirely abandoned the further prosecution
28 of the war. But the Shah soon convinced them of this error. While he
29 was at Lahore, he completed all his plans for surprising the enemy, and then
30 sallied forth at the head of his troops with the utmost precaution and
31 secresy. The next evening, he crossed the Sutlej and bivouacked at Lud-
32 hidnd. After a few hours halt, he again set out with his army for Sirhind,
33 which he reached before sunrise. His opportune arrival was of the utmost
34 importance to the favourable issue of the war. Zen Khan, the governor of
35 Sirhind, had for some time been holding out against superior numbers with
36 great heroism, but it was plain that the unequal contest could not be
37 prolonged for many more days. The timely appearance of the Shah, however,
38 infused a spirit of courage into the hearts of the besieged troops. He en-
39 gaged the enemy, who were estimated at between 50,000 and 60,000 strong,
40 at Kot Rahira, south of the Sutlej, and gained a complete victory over them.
41 In this engagement the mountaineers and the Shah’s bodyguard were par-
42 ticularly conspicuous for their bravery, the latter being distinguished by the
43 peculiarity of their head-dress, which consisted of conical shaped, woolly sheep-
44 skin hats. The field was contested with great determination; but suddenly
45 a panic seemed to seize the Sikhs, and a general stampede followed. The
46 victorious troops pursued the discomfited army in a westerly direction
47 .as far as Hariana and Burala. Historians variously estimate the loss
48 of the defeated army in killed and wounded at from 12,000 to 30,000.f
49 Those who escaped the avenging sword of the victors, either made for
50 * Memoirs of Abdul Karim Ulot, page 17.
51 + According to the Tdérith-i-Ahmadi, the loss on the side of the Sikhs was 30,000 killed,
52 though, according to Captain Murray, it did not exceed 12,000. According to Rai Kanhia Lal it
53 amounted to 24,000. Sir John Malcolm says the Sikhs lost upwards of 20,000 men. I think
54 the figure given by Rai Kanhia Lal may be taken as approximately correct. All, however,
55 who neve aoe on the subject, admit that the number of killed and wounded was very
56 considerable.
57 The Sikhs assemble
58 at Amritsar, and hold a
59 national council.
60 Certain Mussalman
61 principalities ravaged.
62 Sixth invasion of
63 Ahmad Shab, 1762.
64 The great defeat of
65 the Sikhs at Kot
66 Rahira near Ludhidna,
67 February 1762,
68 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com