1 MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH. 369
2 Here Réni Dia Kour, the widow of Sardar Gurbaksh Singh,* who held
3 Ambdéla, presented him with a nazrdnd. He also exacted tribute from Bhdi _ the Mahardjé levies
4 Lal Singh, of Kythal, Gurdit Singh, and Karam Singh, of Shahdbdd, Gane
5 Bhagwan Singh, of Buria, Jodh Singh, of Kalsia, and all the Sikh
6 sardars of Sirhind, and bestowed Ahilats on each in return. He then
7 marched to reduce Naraingarh, a strong fort between Ambdla and the
8 hills, held by Kour Kishen Singh, of Néhan. An attempt to carry it by _ Tesiege of Narain-
9 storm having failed, the fort was closely invested. ‘he besieged held out °°?”
10 heroically for nearly three weeks, and repeatedly repulsed the enemy in
11 their attempts to capture the fort, inflicting heavy losses upon them on each
12 occasion. The fort was ultimately stormed and taken by the Mahardja’s
13 troops, led on by Fatteh Singh, Kalianwdld, Ranjit’s famous general. This
14 was the last fight in which he ever engaged, he being killed in the assault,
15 though not until victory. was assured. In this engagement, two other
16 chiefs of the Mahardjé where killed, Mohan Singh (commandant and sardar),
17 and Dewa Singh, Bhandari, while, altogether, the Maharajd lost in this
18 engagement about 400 in killed and wounded. After the capture, the
19 Mahardjé made over the territory to Sardar Fatteh Singh, Ahluwalia, on
20 receipt of a nazrdnd of Rs. 40,000, the estate being worth Rs. 15,500 a — tne piace iscapturea
21 and made over to
22 year. Fatteh Singh,
23 The old chief, Taéré Singh, Gheba, once the leader of the Daliwald con- Abluwaiia,
24 federacy, who had followed the Léhore forces during the siege of Naraingarh,
25 died before that town. His followers secretly sent his corpse for cremation to
26 his fort at Rdhon, where the widow and the sons of the deceased lived. While
27 the body of the old sardar was on the pyre, and the funeral obsequies were be-
28 ing performed, a detachment of Ranjit Singh’s troops, who had been informed
29 of the event, appeared suddenly and demanded the deceased’s treasures and
30 estates. The widow of the aged head of the Daliwdld was, however, a
31 spirited woman. She girded up her garments, and appeared, sword in hand,
32 in the battle-field, but the battered walls of the fort of Rdhon soon gave
33 way, and the place became the prize of the invaders. A certain sum was fixed
34 The Maharaja seizes
35 Réhon.
36 Singh, son of the Raja of Patidél4, on his knee. The child, seeing the necklace of pearls on the
37 Mahardaja’s neck, cried out: ‘‘This is the same necklace which I used to wear: give me this
38 necklace.” The child wept, and insisted upon having the ornament. On this, says the Rai,
39 Ranjit Singh, out of pity for the child, gave the necklace to him, and never took it back, The
40 History of Patidid, by Khalifa Mohamed Hassan, and the Panjab Rdjds, by Sir Lepel Griffin,
41 the best authories on Patidlé affairs, however, are silent on the subject. Moreover, the
42 story is, upon the face of it, a pure invention, since Karam Singh, who was born in 1798, was
43 not at that time a little child, but a boy about 10 years of age, and the Maharaja was hardly
44 likely to cause a grown boy of that age to sit on his knee. Again, when the earnest suppli-
45 cations of the father had had no effect on the greedy Sikh monarch, it is ridiculous to suppose
46 that the wailing of a child would avail to snatch so rich a prize from his grasp. On this subject
47 Khalifa Mohamed Hassan writes as follows: ‘‘The Maharaj (Sahib Singh) had at first hesi-
48 tated in making over these articles; but the Singh Sahib (Ranjit Singh) on 26th Assoj, 1864
49 Samvat, wrote an agreement, to which he affixed his seal, promising to give Raipur and
50 Gujarwa], together with the adjoining villages, to the Maharéjé4. Upon this, the Maharaj
51 considered it advisable to deliver up the gun and necklace. Having secured these, the Singh
52 Sahib marched to Ambala.”—History of Patidld, page 197. The agreement of 26th Assoj. 1864
53 Samvat, was, according to the same author, never fulfilled by the Maharaja. Itis clear, then,
54 that the BtOry about the weeping child, and the return of the famous necklace to its owner,
55 is incorrect.
56 _ *McGregor says, at page 159 of his History, that the nazrdnd was levied from Gurbaksh
57 Singh. But the sardar had died twenty-three years before, namely, in 1783. The town
58 and district of Ambala had at first been conquered by Sangat Singh and descended_to his
59 brother-in-law, Dhian Singh, This latter appointed Gurbaksh Singh and Lal Singh as
60 thanedirs in charge, and then removed to Singhwalé, in Ferozepur. On the return of Dhian
61 Singh to Ambdla, his thanedars refused to deliver the place over to him, and so became
62 masters of it themselves. On the death of Lal Singh, Gurbaksh Singh became the sole
63 owner. Gurbaksh Singh died childless, and was succeeded by his widow, Dia Kour, in 1783.
64 Ranjit Singh temporarily ejected her, but she was restored by General Ochterlony, and held
65 it mati her death in 1823, when it lapsed to Government.—Panjaéb Rdjds, by Sir Lepel Griffin,
66 page 100.
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