1 PART V.—PERIOD FOLLOWING THE DEATH
2 OF RANJIT SINGH.
3 OA PT ER J:
4 ne ee
5 THE SUCCESSORS OF MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH.
6 KHARAK SINGH.
7 1 Wa funeral solemnities of Ranjit Singh being over, Kharak Singh, his
8 eldest legitimate son, ascended the throne and was acknowledged
9 Mahardja of the Panjab. He was a man of weak intellect, and was more
10 addicted to opium than his father. He was in the habit of taking the drug
11 twice a day, and passed the whole of the time in a state of semi-inebriety.
12 Physiognomically he was the counterpart of his royal sire, but he possessed
13 none of his diplomatic qualifications, One Chet Singh, who had hardly
14 anything to recommend him but arrogance and sycophancy, attained such
15 an ascendancy over the weak mind of the new Mahardj& that he became a
16 mere puppet in his hands, One of Kharak Singh’s first acts was to deprive
17 Ra4jé Dhién Singh and his son, Hird Singh, of the privilege of free admission
18 into the king’s zendéna, so that the minister was unable to make import-
19 ant representations on State affairs privately to the king. Chet Singh was
20 raised to the dignity of wazir, and a plot was made to assassinate Dhidn
21 Singh. Chet Singh lived in the fortress with his master, Kharak Singh,
22 and had recently raised two battalions of bodyguards, with whom he
23 conspired to despatch Dhidn Singh one morning as he entered the fort.
24 The plot was known to Dhidén Singh, who succeeded not only in_ preventing
25 the accomplishment of the treacherous act, but, having won over Kanwar Nau
26 “Nehal Singh to his side, revenged himself on Chet Singh so completely
27 that all his plans were frustrated, and he himself met a melancholy and
28 fatal end. A rumour was set afloat that Kharak Singh had formed a
29 with the British Government and had consented to acknowledge their
30 league supremacy, to pay a tax of six annas per rupee, to disband the Sikh
31 army, and to do away with the sardars, who were to be replaced by English
32 officers. This rumour was soon circulated through the town, and became
33 the chief topic of conversation im the markets and streets. The civil and
34 military freely vented their indignation at this supposed treacherous
35 compact. Kharak Singh was openly calumniated, and the soldiery began to
36 look upon him as a traitor, unworthly of his position. Nau Nehal Singh, who
37 for some time before his father’s accession to the throne resided at Peshawar,
38 was hastily recalled, together with Rajé Gulab Singh. He entered the city
39 the avowed enemy of his father. So strong was the feeling against Kharak
40 Singh that even his wife, Chand Kour, the mother of Nau Nehal Singh,
41 became his bitterest enemy, and gave her full consent and connivance to
42 her husband’s dethronement. A plot, which obtained the concurrence and
43 support of the Minister’s brothers and of the sardars of their party, was
44 formed to assassinate Chet Singh and to depose and imprison the Mahardja.
45 The conspiracy was kept a strict secret until the plan was ripe for action.
46 When the time for active measures had arrived, the Minister, with his two
47 Kharak Singh
48 ascends the throne,
49 1939.
50 Chet Singh appoint-
51 ed Prime Minister.
52 Nau Nehal Singh ig
53 recalled from Pesha-
54 war.
55 Plot against the
56 new Maharaji and his
57 favourite Chet Singh.
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