1 Captures Noushera,
2 Morinda, Bahlolpur
3 and Bharatgarh.
4 Wadni conquered by
5 Yewdn Mohkam
6 Chand.
7 The Maharaja's
8 territorial rewards to
9 his chiefs.
10 Thivace tevyeut
11 during the same cam-
12 paign, 1807,
13 Birth of Sher Singh
14 and Tara Singh, re-
15 puted sons of the
16 Mahar4ji, 1807.
17 Their true parent-
18 ge.
19 Pathankot reduced,
20 0S
21 Jasrota rendered
22 tributary.
23 Chamba and Basoli
24 meet the same fate,
25 Conqnests on the lef
26 of the Sutlej, ue
27 370 HISTORY OF TIIE PANJAB.
28 by way of maintenance for the aged widow and her sons, but its payment
29 was shortly afterwards discontinued.. The Sikh monarch then took Non-
30 shera, the jagir of Tar&é Singh, Gheba, expelling the officials of the old
31 rani, seized Morinda, south of the Sutlej, the jdgir of Dharam Singh, from
32 his son, who had refused to pay nazrénd to the invader, and captured
33 B&ahlolpur and Bharatgarh from Bhag Singh’s widow. During the same
34 campaign, his general, Mohkam Chand, conquered the district of Wadni, in
35 - Ferozepur, which Ranjit, later in the year, gave to his mother-in-law Sada
36 Kour. The same year, the Maharaja divided his conquests in Raipur,
37 Ghamgrama, Sirhind, Zira, Kot Kapurd, and Dharmkot among his favourites,
38 Sardar Fatteh Singh, Ahluwalia, R4jé Bhag Singh, of Jhind, Jaswant Singh,
39 of Nabhd, Mohkam Chand, the general and dewdn, who was fast gaining
40 favour, Gharba Singh, and Sardar Karam Singh, of Ndglé, Lahangarh, in
41 Réhon and Dhanor in Pargand Rahimdbdd, the possessions of Tard Singh’s
42 widow, were also given to Gharba Singh. Shergarh, in Pargand Thard, was
43 given to Sardar Attar Singh. The Sutlej campaign was then closed by the
44 levy of a tribute of 20,000 from Ranjit Singh, zeminddr of Manauli, Rs.
45 30,000 from Gopdl Singh, of Mani Majra, 15,000 from Sardar Hari Singh
46 of Ropar, and Rs. 80,000 from the zemindars of the Dodbd.
47 Ranjit Singh returned to Léhore in December 1807, when R&ni Mahtdb
48 Kour, daughter of Sadé Kour, presented the Mahardja with Sher Singh, and
49 Térdé Singh as her twin sons. In reality, however, she never bore any
50 children to the Mahardjé, Sad& Kour knew well that the only way of
51 increasing her power with her son-in-law was through her daughter. Rédni
52 Mahtdéb Kour had been childless, and consequently not in very great
53 favour with her royal husband. The mother-in-law, therefore, hit upon a
54 plan by which the wife of the Mahardj& was to become a mother. She had
55 it rumoured about the country that Mahtéb Kour, the wife of the Maharaja
56 was pregnant, and after some time had elasped, she had it proclaimed, with
57 great rejoicings, that the queen (her daughter) had given birth to twins. The
58 Mahardjé’s absence favoured the mother-in-law’s plans. The night previous
59 to the proclamation being made public, of the queen having given birth to
60 twins, two new-born babes were purchased, Sher Singh from his father Nehdla,
61 a chintz weaver, a native of Mokerian, in the Hoshiarpur District, which was
62 then held as jagir by Mai Sad& Kour, and Taér4 Singh from a Mahomedan
63 woman, daughter of Manki, a slave girl of the Mdi. Ranjit Singh was never
64 deceived ; but as he liked the idea of being called a father, he treated both
65 as sons, and called them Shahzadas, or princes.
66 In the beginning of 1808, Ranjit Singh reduced the fort of Pathdéukot, at the
67 foot of the hills, the possession of Sardar Jay Singh, Kéuhia, The killadér fled
68 and the sardar had to bear the loss with patience. He next marched to Jasrota,
69 the raj& of which place surrendered and became tributary, having first paid a
70 large nazrdnd. Having spent several days in hunting at Jasrota, the Maha-
71 rajé set out to invade Chambdé, He had not proceeded half way when the
72 Chambé raj4, hearing of his approach was terrified, and sent his agents to
73 settle terms. A large nazrdnd was paid by the rdjd, besides a ziydfat, or
74 present of money, for the Mahardjd, and the agents were dismissed with a
75 rich khilat for their master, Basoli was next invaded, and Rs, 8,000 exacted
76 from the raja, as an annual tribute, besides a nazrdnd. While the Mahardjé
77 was extending his conquests in the mountainous districts north of the Panjab,
78 Dewén Mohkam Chand was busy in subduing the chiefs on the left of the
79 Sutlej, formerly dependents of the Daliwdlé misl under Sardar Téré Singh,
80 Gheba. Most of these sardars were reduced, and, having transferred their
81 allegiance tothe new kingdom of Léhore, were confirmed in their possessions
82 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com