1 Return of the Sikh
2 Embassy from
3 Calcutta.
4 Victories gained over
5 the Enzafzais of
6 Panjtdy and the
7 Afrid{s of the Khaibar.
8 Exactions from
9 Sardar Atar Singh,
10 Sindhianwali.
11 _ Exactions conse-
12 quent on & royal
13 marriage.
14 The Sikhs take
15 possession of Rojhan,
16 August 1836,
17 And of the fort of
18 Kan.
19 Captain Wade comes
20 to Lahore to explain
21 personally to the
22 Maharaja the views of
23 the English regarding
24 Sindh.
25 The Maharaja yields
26 to the demand of the
27 English in spite of the
28 perverse opinion of
29 his courtiers.
30 Yet the Maharaja
31 continued by his
32 conduct to show that
33 He sever Felinguished
34 eutirely his claims t
35 Sindh. zs
36 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh
37 A474 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB,
38 Rai Gobind Jas and Sardar Gujar Singh, who had been sent on a mission to
39 Calcutta, returned to Léhore with presents from the Governor-General,
40 consisting of musical boxes, telescopes, pictures, maps of India, the Panjab
41 and Sindh, and a variety of rich stuffs. The Eusafzais of Panjtdr,
42 under Fattech Khan, who had become troublesome, were chastised by
43 Prince Sher Singh and Sardar Tej Singh. Their chief fled to Buner, while
44 Panjtdy was plundered and the neighbouring villages devastated. Abt
45 Jamriid, near the Khaibar, Hari Singh, Nalwd, routed a party of the Afridis.
46 On receipt of the news at the darbdr, a salute was fired in honour of the
47 victories. About this time, Misar Ruplal was ordered to confiscate the jdgirs
48 of Sodli Atar Singh of Anandpur. Bhdi Ram Singh was, at the same
49 time, deputed to levy 20,000 rupees from Atar Singh, Sindhianwald, as
50 tambol for the approaching marriage of Nau Nehal Singh, and 30,000 rupees
51 as nazrdnd, to which the sardar became liable, consequent on the demise
52 of Basdédwa Singh and the succession of the family to his jdgirs. Amir
53 Khan, of Oda, having been brought in chains to Lahore, was produced
54 before the Maharaja, charged with assisting Fatteh Khan, of Panjtar, in
55 his revolt against the authority of the darbdr. The Maharajd, after making
56 enquiries about his conduct from Kazi Husain Bakhsh, the confidential
57 agent of Hari Singh, and Sardar Tej Singh, ordered that he should remain
58 a close prisoner in the Bhati gate bastion of the city.
59 In consequence of the approaching marriage of Prince Nau Nehal
60 Singh, it was ordered that a month’s salary should be deducted by way of
61 tambol from all the employés of the military departments, and a fee of
62 two rupees per cent. levied from the zemindars in excess of the Government
63 revenue. A tax of five rupees per head was also imposed on all the bankers
64 of the towns of Amritsar and Lahore. ;
65 In August, 1836, Dewdén Sanwan Mal, Governor of Multdn, reported
66 to the Maharaja that, in consequence of the repeated attacks of the
67 Mazéris on the Sikh posts, he had taken formal possession of Rojhdn. In
68 October following, another action was fought between the Mazdvris and the
69 Sikhs, in which the former were defeated with heavy loss, and their fort,
70 called Kan, was occupied by the victorious Sikhs. Both the Princes, Kharak
71 Singh and Nau Nehal Singh, were about this time on the bank of the Indus
72 with large armies. These demonstrations on the part of the Maharaja
73 were distasteful to the English, whose interest it was to prevent the exten-
74 sion of the Sikh power along the bank of the Indus. Captain Wade
75 came at last to La&hore, to explain personally to the Maharajé that he was
76 incurring a great risk in acting in opposition to the declared policy of the
77 British Government. Ranjit Singh yielded, out of deference, as he said,
78 to his’ old allies. He destroyed the fort of Kan, but continued to hold
79 Rojhdn and the Mazari country.
80 His courtiers endeavoured to dissuade him from submitting to the
81 proposals of the English Government; but the Maharaja shook his head and ~
82 pointed out the danger of a rupture with a power against whom the arms
83 of the Mahrattas, with their two hundred thousand soldiers, had failed, and
84 at whose feet now lay the empire of the great Moghals, with its vast
85 resources, To show, moreover, how completely he had forgotten the check
86 put on his ambitious views on the Sindh frontier by the English, he wrote
87 a friendly letter to the Governor-General, inviting His Excellency to join in
88 the nuptials of his grandson, on whom he had fixed his eye to conquer the
89 much-coveted province of Sindh for him. Yet he kept his relations with .
90 the Amirs of Sindh on the old footing, Their agents were in attendance
91 at his darbdr, and they dreaded his power; neither did he condescend to
92 fieLibrary Natdharitlibrary@ gmail.com