1 The sarday-accom-
2 panies the Kangra
3 expedition, 18V9,
4 And helps Ranjit
5 Singh in defeating
6 Budh Singh of Jalan-
7 dar, 1811.
8 His war services in
9 _ the Panjab.
10 The Maharajé covets
11 Fatteh Singh’s
12 possessions,
13 Confidence restored
14 between Fatteh Singh
15 and the Maharajd.
16 The death of Sardar
17 Fattch Singh, 1837.
18 Ts character,
19 318 HISTORY OF TIE PANJAB.
20 rdj4’s possessions north of the Sutlej, while the latter agreed not to make
21 further encroachments south of that river. Fatteh Singh accompanied the
22 Mahardjé in the expedition to Kangra in 1809, and, when Ranjit Singh
23 marched to Multdn in the spring of 1810, he left Fatteh Singh in charge
24 of Léhore and Amritsar. The following year, he accompanied Ranjit Singh
25 on his visit to Sultan Mahmud, brother of Shah Sujath at Réwalpindi, where
26 Mahmid was then staying on his way to Kdéshmir, then tributary to the Kébul
27 Government. The same year he reduced Sardar Budh Singh of Jalandar,
28 accompanied by Dewén Mohkam Chand and Jodh Singh, Ramgarhia, Budh
29 Singh fled across the Sutlej, and his estates, worth Rs. 3,00,000 per annum
30 were confiscated to the Ldhore darbdr. He gallantly fought Fatteh Khan, the
31 Kabul wazir, at Haidrt in 1813, on the side of the Mahardjd, and the general
32 was defeated and expelled from the Panjab. He served the Mahardjé in the
33 Béhdwalpur, Rajori and Bhimbar campaigns, was present at the famous siege
34 of Multén in 1818, remained in charge of the capital during the campaign at
35 Kashmir in 1819, and, two years later, assisted the Maharaja in the reduction
36 of the fort of Mdnkhera.
37 But the avaricious Mahardjé now coveted the possessions of his ally, who
38 had so often served with his contingent, and rendered him so much material
39 help in his various expeditions. About this time, as before stated, the
40 Sutlej] was declared to be the boundary between the dominions of the
41 Maharajé and those of the British Government, but the Maharaja inwardly
42 disliked the terms of the treaty, and tried to find excuses for altering it. Fatteh
43 Singh’s confidential agent, Kadar Baksh, was in attendance on the Maharaja
44 in the Léhore darbar, for the management of his affairs. He proved a
45 traitor to his master, and Ranjit Singh, acting in concert with him, sent
46 two battalions of the Léhore army, under Fakir Aziz-ud-din and Anand Ram,
47 Pindari, to Bist Jalandar, to seize the Ahluwalia possessions. Alarmed
48 at the advance of the Léhore troops, Fatteh Singh, with the whole of his
49 family, fled across the Sutlej, and concealed himself in Jagrdéon. The
50 Maharaja’s officers occupied the sardar’s Trans-Sutlej territory, and expelled
51 his garrison. In the meantime, the traitor, Kadar Baksh, who was staying
52 with the Mahardjé at Amritsar, died there (it is said, a painful death), and
53 the Mahardjé bestowed Talwandi on his sons. The sardar asked for British
54 interference for the security of his Trans-Sutlej possessions, but this was
55 impossible for the British Government to grant, as, under the treaty of
56 1809, they had expressly engaged not to interfere with the Mahardjd’s
57 proceedings north of the Sutlej, But the expressed sympathy of the
58 government with the sardar, on the Maharaja's confiscating Phagwara, one of
59 the sardar’s earliest possessions, had the effect of leading to an amicable
60 settlement of the matter in dispute between the chiefs. Fatteh Singh re-
61 turned to the Jalandar Dodb, where he was reinstated in his possessions
62 by Nou Nehal Singh, and Desa Singh, on the part of the Lahore darbsr.
63 The whole of the sardar’s possessions in the Bari and the Bist were restored.
64 Fatteh Singh put the traitor, Kadar Baksh’s sons in chains, and demanded
65 large sums of money from them. Thenceforward he lived in Kapurthalla
66 in peace.
67 Fatteh Singh died in October 1837. He was possessed of an amiable
68 and liberal disposition, Sir Charles Metcalfe called him “mild and good
69 natured, seemingly simple, and undoubtedly wanting in energy.” He had
70 the greatest number of military troops under him, and was the largest land-
71 owner of all the chiefs in Ranjit’s army, and he took seniority over them
72 all. “This is the chief,” says Sir Charles, “who was in Lord Lake’s carap
73 on the banks of the Bias, He there acquired a respect for the British
74 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com