1 POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF THE SIKHS. 989
2 the majority of Asiatic rulers, we find him more lenient and less grasping
3 than those whom he subdued; to his subjects, considerate and just to a
4 degree ; to those whom he admitted to his society, affable, hilarious and
5 free; to those who suffered in his cause, or in any way aided him, bountiful
6 and generous; to the poor and needy, ever friendly and charitable ; and to the
7 rebellious more severe than the severest. As a conqueror, his sceptre extended
8 from Khorasén to Sirhind and from the Oxus to the Persian Gulf. His
9 enemies trembled and his friends took fresh courage at the mention of his
10 name. He courted the society of learned men, and showed the greatest
11 respect to the leaders of religion, He was himself highly educated, and he
12 encouraged learning in others, wherever he found it practicable. He main-
13 tained his dignity in public with all the solemnity and grandeur of an Asiatic
14 potentate, and was very punctilious in all State ceremonials. That he often
15 had recourse to fraudulent means and bloodshed, in order to attain his end,
16 may be admitted; but at the same time, we must look to the usages of the
17 times, and judge of his conduct by the prevailing customs of contemporary
18 Asiatic monarchs, who, we find, employed treachery in all their dealings.
19 With all his faults, we cannot but admire the man for his undaunted spirit,
20 military talent and indefatigable energy.
21 On the death of Ahmad Shab, his grand wazir, Shah Wali Khan, placed
22 his son-in-in-law, prince Suleman Shah, second son of the deceased, on the
23 Kdbul throne. Tymur Shah,* the eldest son, who was educated at his
24 father’s court, and was his companion in most of his expeditions, was at the
25 time at Herat. Hearing of the wazir’s treachery, he marched to Kandahar
26 with a large force of Durrdnis and Emaks. Suleman, on hearing of
27 Tymiur’s approach, vacated the throne, and Tymfr Shah was at once univer-
28 sally accepted, and duly proclaimed the lawful heir and successor of Ahmad
29 Shah, by the principal chiefs and supporters of his clan in A.D. 1773.
30 The first act of Tymur Shah, after establishing himself in undisturbed
31 and undisputed possession of his father’s throne, was to procure the assas-
32 sination of Shah Wali Khan, together with his two sons and two cousins.
33 He next proceeded to confer the high dignity and office of grand wazir on Kazi
34 Fyzullah, a Mullah of Doulat Shahi family, and to raise Abdul Latif Khan,
35 of Jém in Khorasén, and Mullah Abdul Ghaffar,} to high offices in the State.
36 He reposed the greatest confidence in the loyalty and prowess of his Durrdni
37 troops, and he enlisted in his army the Persians and the Tajaks, who were
38 unconnected with the Afghans, and entirely devoted to his person. His
39 mind and mental disposition were those of a financier rather than a warrior,
40 economy appearing to be his special forte, and his policy was based on the
41 conviction that internal peace was the surest means of effecting this end.
42 Tymur waged war against the Talpur family of Sindh. The possessions
43 of the Sikhs about this time in the Panjdéb extended from Sahdranpur in the
44 * He was born at Mashhed in the month of December 1746, A.D.
45 + Tymur Shah, having ascended the throne, struck a coin in his name with this inscription :—
46 * BLE dyors Eyer as Bye oi WG — glo y sh4),4 5] 5 ya 3 db of v0 Coe
47 ‘* Heaven has borrowed gold and silver from the sun and moon that the coin of Tymir
48 Shah be struck on its face.”
49 The following was the inscription on his seal :—
50 rls dyads wes cliss — ww wlylis 5) ot oe
51 iano the grace of God, the kingdom of Tymur Shah became conspicuous in the
52 world.
53 The Mullah was a native of Lihore and son of a Hindu Kaldl. He was made a convert
54 by Ahmad Shah Abdali, and under his care became an eminent Arabic scholar.
55 \
56 | 19
57 Tymir Shah, son of
58 the deceased, proclaim-
59 ed king of Kabul, 1773.
60 His administrative
61 measures at hotne.
62 He wages war
63 against Sindh.
64 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com