1 Mohkam Chand
2 seizes the possessions of
3 the Fyzulpuria mzs?,
4 Jalandar, Phillour,
5 Patti and Hetpur, 1811.
6 He is created a
7 dewan.
8 Nidhin Singh,
9 Kanhia, made pri-
10 soner,
11 The policy of Ranjit
12 Singh one of systema-
13 tic usurpations and
14 forfeitures,
15 He receives a charp
16 rebuke from Sarday
17 Jodh Singh, Ram-
18 garhia,
19 His intimate friena-
20 ship with the sardar,
21 390 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
22 his own strength, had assumed independence. The Mahardja promised the
23 Majithia sardar half of the Tilok Nath estate asa jagir, if he succeeded
24 in reducing the fort within a week, and the gallant sardar, having captured
25 the fort within the appointed time, obtained from his royal master a jdgir
26 worth Rs. 7,000. Budh Singh, of the Fyzulpuria msl, whose possessions
27 lay on both sides of the Sutlej, and who had aniformly refused personal
28 attendance at Court, now showed a rebellious disposition, and the quick-
29 sighted dewdén, Mohkam Chand, promptly entered the Jalandar Dodb in
30 Assoj (September,) at the head of a large number of troops, having, in his
31 train, Jodh Singh, Ramgarhia, Fateh Singh, Ahluwalia, and other sardars.
32 The fort of Phillour was garrisoned, and the city of Jalandar closely besieg-
33 ed. The refractory chief fled to Ludhidnd, to seek British protection; but
34 his troops, actuated by an impulse of honour, made a desperate resistance.
35 Their chief disadvantage was in the approaches to the town being open
36 with no ramparts to afford protection against attack, and, after several days’
37 hard fighting, the city fell into the hands of the besiegers, who plundered
38 the inhabitants of all their property and reduced them to great straits.
39 The forts of Jalandar, Patti and Hetpur were then reduced, and the whole of
40 the territory belonging to the Fyzulpurias, valued at upwards of three lakhs
41 of rupees, annexed to the State. All the valuables in these forts belonging to
42 Sardar Budh Singh were confiscated. Horsemen were also sent in pursuit of
43 the sardar, but he had crossed the Sutlej before they reached the bank. He
44 was subsequently forced to content himself with the position of a protected
45 chief under the British Government, subsisting on the possessions left to
46 him east and south of the river, For his conspicuous services, Mohkam
47 Chand was created a dewdn, and a rich khilat was granted him, together
48 with a sword set in diamonds and an elephant with a golden howdah.
49 In December of the same year, Nidhdu Singh son of Jay Singh, the great
50 Kanhia chief, incurred the displeasure of the Mahardjd4, and was put in
51 irons, his ja4gir of Hajipur and Phulwara being confiscated at the same time.
52 The policy of Ranjit Singh was to abolish the system of feudal tenures
53 altogether, and to reduce to subjection all chiefs and sardars having any
54 pretensions to power and independence, or who attributed their rise to
55 worldly distinction and fame, or to the warlike deeds of their ancestors.
56 The old Sikh confederacies had either all been swept away by his
57 systematic usurpations and grasping policy, or, like the Phulkia and the
58 Nihang, had sought the protection of a power greater than his, by settling
59 east of the Sutlej. The Kanhia, Ramgarhia and Ahluwalia misls ranged them-
60 selves under his banner and took pride in following him to the battle-field,
61 Ties of affinity had no weight with a chief whose policy, was to leave no one
62 in a position to defy his authority, or, in any way, to interfere with his vast
63 schemes of conquest and ambition. For this he once received a sharp rebuke
64 from Jodh Singh, Ramgarhiay who had just aided in the reduction of the
65 Jalandar territory. Ranjit Singh ordered presents to be given him, as a
66 mark of special favour, on his taking leave of the Court, to join the expedi-
67 tion. The old sardar, with his usual candour and frankness, begged to be
68 excused from an honour of the permanence of which there was no certain-
69 ty, for, he said, he would think himself most fortunate, if allowed, in these .
70 times, to keep his own turban on his head. Ranjit Singh, who always
71 valued real merit and loyalty, and at times allowed great latitude to his
72 courtiers, and was more familiar with them than with the rest of his sardars,
73 passed over this outspoken remark as a jest, and, smiling, told tlie, sardar,
74 to persevere in his good work with the devotion that had throughout marked -
75 Sri Satg una agit Brak Patan a vow of Gternal fig PS GiB ee EC and,