1 MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH. 419
2 was given 'to the Pandit for fifty-three lakhs of rupees, and that of te shawl
3 manufacture to Jawahir Mal for ten lakhs. .
4 Thé remainder of the year 1819 was occupied in making arrangements
5 consequent on the annexation. The rdjds of Punch and Rajéuri having become
6 troublesome, Ram Dayal, the grandson of Dewin Mukham Chand was sent to
7 reduce them tosubjection. Zabbar Dast Khan, the Raja of Punch, sent his
8 son to the Mahardj& and accepted the terms offered. Hari Singh, Nalwa,
9 Sardar Dal Singh and Dewan Bhéwani Das, who had been sent to reduce
10 the fort of Darband, in possession of Payenda Khan, and other strongholds
11 in the valley, were successful in the complete subjugation of those places.
12 After celebrating the Dasahra at Lahore, and bathing at the Maghi fair at
13 Amritsar, the Mahardja, towards the close of the year, moved to Multén in
14 person, at the head of an army. The object of this expedition was to ravage
15 the country of the nawdb of Béhdwalpur, and exact contributions from the
16 Mirs of Sindh, as far as Sakkar. He first went by road to Pindi Bhattian,
17 vid Kot Hassan Khan, and thence by river to Chiniot, after stopping at which
18 place for some days he advanced to Multan. About this time, intelligence
19 was brought to him of two sons having been born to his wives, Rani Ratian
20 Kour, and Rani Daya Kour, His sons being born about the time of the
21 conquest-of Kashmir and Multan, the Maharaja, in commemoration of these
22 events, gave the son of Rani Daya Kour, the name of Kashmira Singh, and
23 the son of Rattan Kour, that of Multdna Singh. Kashmira Singh was
24 really the son of a Jammu Rajput, and Daya Kour, seeing how the plot of
25 Réni Mahtab Kour, in putting forward Sher Sing, and Tara Singh as twin
26 sons, had succeeded, followed her example, and procured two boys at dif-
27 ferent times, giving them out to be her own. These were Kashmira Singh,
28 and Pishora Singh. They were acknowledged by the Maharaja to be his
29 sons, and received a jagir in Sialkot worth Rs. 50,000.
30 . Rani Rattan Kour, the reputed mother of Multana Singh, was first the
31 wife of Mul Singh of Duburji, then of Sardar Sahib Singh of Gujrat, and
32 lastly of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. She purchased Multana Singh from a
33 Mahomedan slave girl, The Maharajd acknowledged him as his son, and
34 gave him a jagir of Rs. 20,000, in Ajndla,in the Amritsar district. The town
35 of Sialkot, where these boys were represented to have been born, was
36 illuminated in honour of the occasion, and alms were distributed in profusion
37 to the poor.
38 It was during his stay at Multan that, the Maharaji having heard of the
39 excesses committed by Sham Singh, Peshawaria, to whom the farm of that
40 country had been given some time before, for six lakhs and fifty thousand
41 rupees, the sardar was dismissed from his office and put in chains. Sawan
42 Mal, son of Hushnak -Rae, a Chopra Khatri of Akélgarh, whose abilities were
43 well-known to the Maharaja, and who had worked with his brother, Nénak
44 Chand, under Dal Singh, was appointed head of the Accounts Office, on
45 Rs. 250a month, under the new governor, Bhéi Badan Hazari, who was
46 destitute of abilities and had nothing to recommend him except his
47 sycophancy and servility.
48 About this time Jamadar Khushhal Singh seized Dera Ghdzi Khan, a
49 dependency of Kabul on the west bank of the Indus, expelling the
50 Pathan Governor, Zamén Khan. The Nawab Rukn-ud-doula, of Bahawal-
51 pur, had, two years before, successfully invaded the Durrdni chief, and the
52 farm of the newly-acquired district was given to him ata heavy rental.
53 Ranjit Singh returned to Ldéhore on 27th April 1820, after securing the
54 famous horse Sufed Pari,.or the ‘ White Fairy,’ from Hafiz Ahmad Khan,
55 of Mdnkera, who had to part with it under threats of violence from Mishar
56 Settlement of the
57 country about
58 Kashmir, 1819.
59 A tour in Multan and
60 Bahawalpur,
61 Birth of Multéna
62 Singh, Kdshmira Singh
63 and Pishoraé Singh,
64 reputcd sous of Ranjit
65 Singh, 1819.
66 Sawan Mal appoint-
67 ed head of Account
68 Otiice, Multan, 1820.
69 Jamadar Khusbhél
70 Singh captures Verw
71 gaia Khan, 1820,
72 The Mahardja secures
73 the famous hurse
74 Sufed Pari from the
75 chief of Maukera.
76 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibra¥y@ gmail.com