1 A. plot against the
2 Shah.
3 The punishment of
4 K az Sher Muhammad,
5 a follower of his
6 majesty.
7 400 HISTORY OF THE PANJAR,
8 in all its effulgence, being disclosed and identified, the Si
9 took it and deposited it in his pocket. The king had had the brilliant
10 withdrawn, and he was left more at libert
11 which he often did in a State palaaqain”.
12 sein soon eds which had the effect o
13 ing’ between the Mahardjé and the ex-king. The kdrddér of Gujrdowdld
14 warded a letter, purporting to have been w itten by K: Sheet aad
15 one of the followers of his Afghan raaiestyse (Oh es
16 taken from a Pathan. The letter was addressed to Muhammad A
17 , Which would render the assassination of the Mahardig
18 V Maharaja
19 at Lahore an easy task, and would be arranged by the Shah’s party
20 pte town. Ranjit Singh, on this letter being read out to him, sent
21 or one of the royal princes, and asked him to explain the contents to the
22 ow ies Se ae hie
23 3 _-“ is means would not allow him to funst'¢ ag liberty to deal with the kézi
24 e&-ttihg. Shah Shujd left the Maharaja-ry time his own innocence. The
25 The Shah's further
26 misfortunes.
27 Mir Abul Hasan, the
28 Shah’s faithless
29 servant.
30 Still more extortions
31 from his Afghan
32 majcaty,
33 Sri Sat
34 e should think fit, declaring, at the samé ucounn, ;
35 aie man was so severely beaten with sticks and shoes «PY. — oe
36 he fainted under the blows, but, thanks to the hardness ic eae ae
37 skull, the castigation was borne with patience, and failed to oo u oe eae
38 fession of privity on the part of the Shah from the pious kazi, w ne rs
39 last, declared his master’s entire innocence. He was then: conn : -
40 rison; but the Shah, some a dade euse 0
41 j by the payment of Rs. 20, re) ar.
42 ee ae aa i already mentioned, moved towards the er
43 to consolidate his power in the newly conquered province : oe
44 to watch the proceedings of the Kébul wazir, Fat eh Khan, he ee rie
45 Shujé in his train, with the object, apparently, of using him ie oe Me
46 his ultimate designs against Kdéshmir, as well as of establishing ie
47 authority in the territory beyond the Indus. The season san ooh ;
48 advanced, the Mahardjé suddenly returned, and the ex- re 8 tu J
49 followed, but he had traitors in his own household, and was P undere : :
50 many valuables on the way. The Shah believed the erurenaee were .
51 Sikhs themselves, though the officer who had been sent by ye meee
52 to conduct Mr. Elphinstone to Peshawar, is believed to have ha a a :
53 do with the Shah’s misfortunes on the journey. This man, Mu bu
54 Hasan, embezzled a great deal of his master’s property, and was the ae
55 who originally informed Ranjit Singh of the safety of the great diamon
56 and other valuables at Lahore. He was also the author of the plot one
57 the king, which made it appear that his majesty, in concert with the
58 overnor of Kashmir, was devising plans to overthrow the Sikh monarchy,
59 and, finally, he it was who created obstacles in the way of the exiled
60 family making their escape from the capital of the Panjab. ;
61 The next act of Ranjit Singh was still more disgracefully extortionate
62 and oppressive. The information supplied by the traitor, Abul _Hasan
63 and confirmed, in part, by the late unhappy incidents of the Shah’s journey
64 from Atak to the Sikh capital, left a strong impression on the mind of the
65 j i j je: f yar lue left with
66 gurinpaghe § ih Spates a ot collection 4 hariElibrary@ omait-com —