1 Desa Singh marches
2 to Chiniot.
3 Is killed, 1782.
4 Gurbaksh Singh, 2
5 general of Har: Singh,
6 Bhangi.
7 He adopts Lahna
8 Singh Saddhawalla as
9 his son.
10 The latter quarrels
11 with Gujar Singh, son
12 of Gurbaksh’s
13 daughter.
14 Compromise between
15 the two sardars,
16 Kabuli Mal, the
17 Afghan king's governor
18 of Lahore.
19 Lahn& Singh and
20 Gujar Singh resolve
21 on expelling Kabuli
22 Mal from Lahore.
23 Flight of Kabuli Mal
24 from Lahore.
25 His death.
26 Tahn’ Singh and
27 Gujar Singh, Bhangis,
28 capture Lahore, 1765.
29 They are joined by
30 Sobha Singh.
31 Irruption of Ahmad
32 Shah into the Panjab,
33 1767.
34 300 ; HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
35 Sindh, who agreed to pay him subsidy. On the Talpurs agreeing to pay
36 the revenue, the Shah appointed Mir Fateh Ali Shah his viceroy in
37 Sindh.
38 After these incidents Desa Singh marched to reduce Chiniot, and had
39 many skirmishes with the Sukerchakia chief, Maha Singh, son of Charat
40 Singh, but was killed in action in 1782, having been eight years the head of
41 the Bhangi misl.
42 One of the bravest men under Hari Singh, Bhangi, was Gurbaksh Singh
43 of Aura, an associate of Bhim Singh, the founder of the misl. He was a
44 great warrior, owned about forty villages of his own, and used to scour the
45 country far and wide with bands of horsemen. Being childless, he adopted
46 Lahna Singh (son of Dargahé, a Kahilar Jét of Saddhawaild, in the Amrit-
47 sar district), as his son. On the death of Gurbaksh Singh, Lahna Singh
48 succeeded him, and he and Gujar Singh, son of Gurbaksh’s daughter,
49 quarrelled about the estates left by the deceased. After a fight between their
50 armies, an arrangement was come to between the two sardars by which the
51 estates were equally divided between them. The sardars became the most
52 powerful of the Bhangi confederacy, and, though they joined Jhandé Singh
53 and Gandd Singh, successors of Hari Singh, in many of their expeditions,
54 they have a history of their own.
55 When Ahmad Shah had left India after his last expedition but one,
56 leaving a Hindu named Kabuli Mal as his governor of Lahore, sardars
57 Labna Singh and Gujar Singh formed a design to expel the Shah’s represen-
58 tative from Lahore and capture the city for themselves. The Sikh horse
59 about this time became more daring, and plundered the country up to the
60 walls of the capital. The governor of Lahore was weak, timid and tyranni-
61 cal, and, as such, was hated by the people. On receiving intelligence of the
62 plot of the Sikhs, he became alarmed and fled, though, not without first
63 plundering the city. He robbed the shroffs and the rich people of the
64 city, carrying away everything which fell into his hands, and leaving his
65 nephew, Amar Singh, in charge. The Sikhs who had pillaged all outside
66 the city walls and its suburbs, entered the city on the second day after the
67 departure of Kabuli Mal, and the city was given up to indiscriminate
68 plunder, the conquerors dividing the booty equally among themselves.
69 Kabuli Mal sought protection with Ranjit Deo, rdéjé of Jammu. On his
70 way to the hills, he was roughly handled by some of the malcontents who
71 had abandoned Léhore in consequence of the governor’s grinding tyranuy,
72 but the escort sent by the Jammu réjé saved his life. He was sent to
73 Rawalpindi, where he was protected by a detachment of Ahmad Shah’s
74 army, stationed there, but died soon after.
75 _ Lahnd Singh and Gujar Singh captured Léhore without difficulty. The
76 victors were next morning joined by Sobha Singh, nephew of Jay Singh,
77 Kanhia, who was allowed to participate in the spoils. Other Bhangi and
78 Kanhia sardars followed, and last of all came in Charat Singh, Sukerchakia,
79 who was presented by the new masters of the city with the famous sam-
80 zama gun, which the sardar carried to Gujrénwalé. The city was then
81 divided between Lahna Singh, Gujar Singh and Sobha Singh, as was men-
82 tioned in the preceding chapter. In 1765 Gujar Singh proceeded north of
83 the Panjdb to make new territorial acquisitions, ~
84 Sobha Singh and Lahné Singh remained in peace in Léhore for two
85 years; but the spell was again broken in 1767, when the great Durréni
86 Boe ee his final descent into the Panjab. The conqueror drove before
87 dave peared Sikh chiefs, for the very name Afghan was dreaded in those
88 » prevailing idea in military circles was that the Sikhs were no
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