1 POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF THE SIKHS. 285
2 to have his eyes put out, and, after this decree had been executed, was‘put
3 to death. Sur Buland Khan was now sent as governor to Kashmir, and
4 Nur-ud-din Khan was recalled. Inthe meanwhile, news of disturbances at
5 Kandahar having reached the Shah, he hastened to Kabul at the end of 1762,
6 leaving a Hindu, named Kabuli Mal, as his governor in Lahore.
7 The severe chastisement inflicted by the Shah on the Sikhs, for the in-
8 dignities to which they had subjected the Mahomedan mosques and shrines
9 was not of a nature to be easily forgotten; thirst for revenge rankled
10 in their breasts, and, now that an opportunity occurred for carrying
11 their cherished desire into effect, they convened a Guru Matta, or cabinet
12 council, and determined their future plan of operations. The Muslim
13 troops had scarcely reached the Chinéb when the Sikhs concentrated their
14 forces at Amritsar and marched upon Kasur, a Pathan settlement, which
15 they surprised and plundered, and from which they carried off considerable
16 booty. They then captured and sacked Malerkotla, and slew their old
17 enemy, Hingan Khan, its veteran chief. lated with these successes, they
18 aimed at acquiring territory, and, with a well equipped force of forty
19 thousand men, they attacked Sirhind in December 1763. The Court at
20 Delhi being incapable of rendering avy assistance to the governor of
21 Sirhind, or perhaps being indifferent to Sikh supremacy, Zen Khan, the
22 Afghan governor, was obliged to sally forth to attack the Sikhs. A battle
23 was fought at Pir Zen Minera, a village seven miles east of Sirhind, between
24 the Sikh and Mahomedan forces, which ended in the complete defeat of the
25 latter, and in which Zen Khan and the Muslim leaders were killed. The
26 whole country from the Sutlej to the Jamna was occupied by the victors with-
27 out opposition. The town of Sirhind itself was sacked and its buildings were
28 either razed to the ground or set on fire. This being the place in which
29 the mother and children of Govind had been murdered by order of Wazir
30 Khan, Aurangzeb’s general, they were determined upon retributive justice.
31 Not a house was left standing, and a custom exists to this day, by which
32 it is considered a meritorious act for every Sikh to carry away a brick from
33 the place and throw it into the Sutlej, to mark his detestation and
34 abhorrence of the place.* The Sikhs divided the plains between the Sutlej
35 and the Jamna among themselves, establishing military posts at important
36 places, Ala Singh, the Patiéla chief, purchased the ruins of Sirhind from
37 the Sikhs for a sum of Rs. 25,000. The seller was the Jumla chief Bhai
38 Budh Singh, an old companion of Govind, to whom the town had been assign-
39 ed unanimously by the Sikh confederates, who had captured it,
40 Now that the Sikhs had tasted the fruits of their conquest, their longing
41 for dominion and power became insatiable. They crossed the Jamna and
42 suddenly appeared under the walls of Saharanpfr; but the appearance of
43 Najib-ud-doula, from the Jéé country, prevented them from becoming perma-
44 nently masters of the place.
45 The Sikhs had by this time, by force of their audacity, become com-
46 plete masters of the country between the Sutlej and the Jamna. The Hindu
47 governor of Lahore, left by the Abdali Shah, with Khwajd Obed as his assist-
48 ant, possessed no control over the people beyond the city walls. Every one
49 feared the Sikhs, whose power was supreme, Out of the regard which, as
50 Hindus, they have for the sacred cow, they now insolently demanded of
51 Kabuli Mal, the subedar of Lahore, the surrender of all the beef butchers in
52 the city. The Hindu governor of Lahore was on the horns of a dilemma.
53 To surrender himself to the Sikhs was not altogether in accord with his
54 * The aceount given by Sir John Malcolm represents the Sikhs as having also made them-
55 selves masters of Lahore at this period ; but it is quite unconfirmed.
56 Ahmad Shah retires
57 to Kabul, end of 1762.
58 Kabuli Mal governor
59 of Lahore.
60 The Sikhs appear
61 again on the scene,
62 They plunder/Kasur,
63 And sack Malerkotla,
64 The Afghans defeat-
65 ed at Sirhind, Decem-
66 ber 1763.
67 Zen Khan, the
68 Afghan governor,
69 hilled.
70 Sirhind destroyed
71 and permanently ocen-
72 pied by the Sikhs,
73 The Sikhs masters of
74 the country between
75 the Sutlej and the
76 Jamna,
77 Punishment of the
78 becf butchers at
79 Lahore.
80 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com