1 MAHARASA- RANJIT SINGT, 433
2 by Gurmukh Singh and Dewan Chuni Lal, to whom Kdshmir was farmed
3 for Rs. 27,50,000, Shiv Ddydl was also removed from office, and the fort
4 of Phillour was made over to Fakir Aziz-ud-din, and- then to Sardar Desa
5 Singh, Majithia.* The appointment of Gurmukh Singh and Chuni Lal
6 ‘ proved a failure, as they were unable to remit the stipulated revenne ; and,
7 after a year and a half, the family of Mohkam Chand having again been
8 taken into favour, Kirpa Ram was sent as governor of Kashmir. Kirpa
9 Ram was a man of considerable ability. He possessed an affable and gentle
10 disposition, and was fond of show, and the administration of the valley im-
11 proved during his tenure of office. He laid out the gardens of Rédm Bagh
12 in Srinagar, where the monument of Raja Gulab Singh now stands,
13 In the course of this year, General Ventura was married to a European
14 lady at Ludhitna. The nuptials took place at Léhore, according to the
15 French form, the Maharaja presenting the bridegroom with ten thousand,
16 and his courtiers and Omerahs with thirty thousand, rupees, as tambod.
17 After the Dasahra the Maharaja marched with his army on an expedi-
18 tion to Sindh, and the camp advanced as far as Pind Dédan Khan; but,
19 it having been brought to his knowledge that the country was suffering
20 from scarcity, he abandoned the project, and retraced his steps to Lahore,
21 where he arrived on the 24th of November.
22 In December, 1825, Sardar Fatteh Singh, Ahliwalia, the old ally and
23 turban brother of Ranjit Singh, suspecting treachery at his hands, left
24 Kapirthalla, and fled to Jagraon, across the Sutlej, with the whole of his
25 family. He became alarmed at the advance of two battalions of the
26 Lahore army towards his territory, and had recently been constrained by
27 his associate in arms to leave a masonry citadel unfinished. Choudhri
28 Kadir Baksh, his agent in attendance at the darbar, sent him very un-
29 favourable accounts of the views and policy of the Maharaja, and it is said
30 he was also under the influence of his dewan, named Sher Ali, a Moghal
31 of Jalandar.f But the sardar had personally studied the character of
32 his old ally, and, however ill-founded or exaggerated his suspicions, none
33 knew better than himself what little weight solemn declarations of perpetual
34 friendship had with his “turban brother” when his own interests were
35 concerned. He had witnessed the fate of the Ramgarhia chief, with whom
36 the Maharaj4 had sworn eternal friendship,.and he was not forgetful of
37 the likelihood of his being similarly treated himself. How much afraid
38 the chief was of his old associate will appear from the fact that, as early as
39 1811, he had desired the British authorities to acknowledge him as a
40 chief separately connected with the English. On the present occasion his
41 object was to obtain a guarantee from the British Government for the
42 security of his territories north of the Sutlej. This was refused to him, on
43 the ground that, under the treaty of 1809, the British Government had no
44 excuse for interfering with the Mahardjd’s affairs on that side of the river,
45 nor, indeed, were the entire Cis-Sutlej territories under the protection of
46 that Government at this time, Jagraon, where the chief had sought refuge,
47 * Prinsep, in his “ Origin of the Sikh Power in the Panjab” mentions, at page 143, that
48 consequent upon this sequestration, Moti Ram was subjected to no indignity or diminution of
49 favour, and that he was left in his government of Kashmir. ‘This was not the case. Moti Ram
50 was recalled from his government of Kashmir and the whole family fell into displeasure.
51 Compare Panjéb Chiefs, p. 588, and Kanhia Lal’s Panjéb History, p. 312 and Dewan
52 Amar Nath’s History (manuscript).
53 + Kadir Baksh sent sealed letters to his master, imputine bad motives towards the person
54 of the sardar on the part of the Maharaji, and these letters were much coloured by Sher Ali, the
55 sardar’s dewdn. Kadir Baksh was a crafty man, and escaped the vengeance of the Lihore
56 ruler, though Sher Ali was put to such straits, that he died soon, after the visit of th
57 The marriage of
58 Gencral Ventura, 1625,
59 Tl-feeling between
60 the Maha. 4jé and
61 Sardar Fatteh Singh,
62 Ahluwalia, 1825,
63 IIe asks British in-
64 terference, which is re-
65 fused,
66 MaharajiSo| BabguhsllagHb Sing lah History (manusdvaph dhaeilibrary@ gmail.com