1 MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH.. 4.23
2 disguised as a fagir or holy mendicant and stroller; but Ranjft Singh,
3 knowing him to be an irreconciliable foe of his English allies, ordered him
4 to quit his territory. He retired to the hills and sought protection with
5 Raja Sansar Chand, of Katoch, and while there, entered into some intrigue
6 with Prince Haidar, a son of Shah Zaman, having for its object the subju-
7 gation of the whole of India, a scheme in which the prince royal was to be
8 the emperor and the Mahratta his wazir, with the Dekkan under him, as a
9 dependency of the Durrani court at Delhi. The raja had large sums of
10 money placed at his disposal ; but his dreams having been disclosed to the
11 Katoch chief, who was bound to Ranjit Singh, he looked upon the Mahratta
12 as an unwelcome visitor, and expelled him from his territory. Apa Sahib
13 then repaired to Mandi, and received eventual protection, with the cogni-
14 sance of the British Government, from the raja of Jodhpur.
15 After performing his religious duties at the temple of Amritsar, the
16 Maharaja visited Batdla, the possession of Réni Sadd& Kour, and pitched
17 his tents near the tank of Shamsher Khan, the Gokul Tash of the great
18 Akhtir. He remained at Batdla a month, spending his time apparently in
19 recreation and pastimes, but in reality devising plans to deprive his mother-
20 in-law of her extensive possessions and seize upon them himself. Sher
21 Singh, the reputed son of Maht&éb Kour, daughter of Sadd Kour, had now
22 reached manhood and was clamouring for a separate jagir and establish-
23 ment, in order to maintain his position as the son of the Maharaja. After
24 the Hazéré campaign, in which Sher Singh held the supreme command,
25 Ranjit Singh not only recognised the claims advanced by the young prince,
26 but encouraged him to press them, hoping this would induce Sada Kour
27 to assign a suitable jdgir for her grandson from the possessions of the
28 Kanhia mist under her control. Sadé Kour, on the contrary, wished to
29 force on her son-in-law the recognition of Sher Singh, and to make him
30 provide an estate for the prince independently of her own. Ranjit Singh,
31 whose ulterior object was the usurpation of all the territories that once
32 belonged to the powerful Kanhia confederacy, obstinately refused this
33 proposal, and insisted on the setting aside of a jagir for the young man in the
34 way proposed by himself. The wily Sikh ruler, in the prosecution of his
35 object, fomented an estrangement between Sher Singh and his reputed
36 mother ; and his intrigues, in which he was much assisted by the tale-bearings
37 of one Gdme Khan Khansdma, led also to a dispute between Sadd Kour and
38 Bysakha Singh, an old and trusted servant of Jey Singh, Kanhia, who was
39 in great favour with that lady. Seeing his designs so far matured, he thought
40 the time had come to attain his object by force, and, in October 1820, he sent
41 an order calling on Sadd& Kour to set apart half of her own estates for the
42 maintenance of: the two princes, Sher Singh and Tard Singh. That spirited
43 lady remonstrated against the order, and threatened to cress the Sutlej
44 and put the estate of Wadhni under British protection. On hearing this,
45 Ranjit Singh wrote conciliatory letters to her, and desired an interview, with
46 every profession of humility as a son-in-law. Thus petted and coaxed, Sada
47 Kour joined Ranjit Singh in his camp at Shahddra. Here she was compelled
48 to execute a deed, agreeing to make the assignment required for the princes,
49 and was removed to the fort. She, however, soon after plotted to effect her
50 escape, and, coming out of the fort. one evening, on the pretext of paying her
51 respects at the shrine of Guri Arjan, at the western gate, fled in the
52 direction of her territory in a closed carriage. Ranjit Singh, being informed
53 of this, sent Prince Kharak Singh in pursuit, and she was captured on her
54 way to Mukerian. She was now kept in close confinement in the palace,
55 and Mishar Dewan Chand Zaffar Jang was sent to seize all her territory,
56 Disagreement bet-
57 ween the Maharaja
58 and Sad& Kour, his
59 mother-in-law,
60 The lady fs put in
61 confinement,
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