1 MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH, 459
2 Hari Singh subsequently routed the Muhammadan tribes above Atak, and
3 ensured their better obedience by building a fort on the right bank of the
4 Indus,
5 At the close of the year Sadé Kour, who had been held a close prisoner
6 since 1820, died at Amritsar. The Mahardjd at once sent Misser Beli
7 Rdm to Amritsar to confiscate all the property and valuables left by the
8 deceased. Her funeral ceremonies were performed by Prince Nou Nehal
9 Singh, and the Mahardjd himself repaired to Amritsar, and went to the
10 deceased Rdni’s house to condole with his relations. Médi Dasi, her prin-
11 cipal slave girl, was then called upon to deliver up all her property and
12 valuables, and, a close search having been made in the Rdni’s private rooms,
13 assets belonging to her, valued at two lakhs of rupees, were found and con-
14 fiscated to the State. Among the confiscated jewels was a necklace of
15 pearls valued at sixty thousand rupees,
16 The pleasant dream of an Afghdn empire, extending from the border
17 of Belochistén to the Kabul river, had not yet forsaken the exiled monarch
18 Shah Shujd, who with his blind brother, was now living on the bounty
19 of the English at Ludhidnd. In his leisure hours he brooded over schemes
20 of conquest ‘and territorial aggrandizement and opened a correspondence
21 with Ranjit Singh, who, for a time, amused him with vain hopes. The
22 relations between. the two chiefs became more cordial in 18382, when
23 the rumoured advance of the Persians against Herat gave further
24 encouragement to the Shah to prosecute his designs against his lost king-
25 dom. In return for assistance in men and money, the Shah proposed to
26 Ranjit Singh the permanent relinquishment of all claims to the countries
27 west of the Indus, conquered by the Mahardj4, which were originally pari
28 and parcel of the Kdbul kingdom of the Durdnis, and to deliver also
29 an acquittance for the famous diamond, the Kohintir. The Shah
30 was at this time in the neighbourhood of Shikdrpur, whence he sent a
31 vakil, Mulla Shakur, to remain in attendance at the Lahore Darbdr, the
32 Mahardajé deputing his agent Alif Shah to remain in attendance on His
33 Majesty. It is now necessary to explain how the kingdom of Afghanistdn,
34 as founded by the adventurous Durrdnis, was parcelled out among various
35 pa about this time, and how they stood in relation to one
36 another,
37 When Kdémrdan succeeded his father Shah Mahmud on the K4bul throne,
38 in 1819, the man in chief power in Afghanistdn was the Barakzai Sardar, Mu-
39 hammad Azim Khan, the brother and eldest survivor of the family of Fatteh
40 Khan, the gallant Kébul Wazir, who had been cruelly put to death by K4m-
41 rénin 1818.* He had several brothers, all of whom rebelled against the new
42 king, and Muhammad Azim Khan joined them to dethrone the murderer
43 of his brother. He recalled Shuja-ul-Mulk from his exile, promising him
44 the restoration of the throne of his ancestors, and sending the ex-monarch
45 a Qurdn under his own seal, as a guarantee for the due fulfilment of the
46 condition, The Shah forthwith repaired to Peshdwar. After all his mis-
47 fortunes, the Shah might have yet been reinstalled on the throne of his
48 ancestors, and retained it, but fortune had always stood in the way of the
49 success of this ill-fated monarch, and an unhappy incident now happened
50 which prevented him from accomplishing his object. While Azim Khan
51 was still absent from Peshdwar, Shujé assumed an air of royalty, and began
52 to make a premature display of splendour. An Amir, a great friend of his
53 benefactor’s, while passing in a palanquin through the town, was insulted and
54 compelled to descend, on a charge of encroaching on the dignity of the king.
55 Vide page 415, ante.
56 The victory gained
57 by Hari Singh, Nalwa,
58 over the hill tribes,
59 The death of Sadé
60 Kour, 1832.
61 The revived hopes of
62 Shah Shuja,
63 Rumoured advance
64 of the Persians against
65 Herat, 1832,
66 Negotiations be-
67 tween the Shah and
68 Ranjit Singh,
69 The affairs of
70 Afghanistan, 1832,
71 Sardar Muhammad
72 Azim Khan, Barakzai,
73 in chief power,
74 He calls Shah Shujé-
75 ul-Mulk from exile,
76 with a view to placing
77 him on the throne.
78 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com